Here are some tracks that inspired this score.
Danny Elfman’s opening titles to A Simple Plan 1998, with the intros use of dissonant and eerie notation also using pitch bends and slides on the instruments to add to the mood and feel of the track.
Thomas Newman- Root Beer the original score for this scene and the use of percussion to carry the track and his choice of instruments that contrast the typical American family, depicted at the beginning of the movie.
For example my use of Tabla, Djembes and tune percussion like Koras and Nyatiti.
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<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/21263364″>TASK6 American Beauty re-score</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user6068390″>sol bateman</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>Report
The objective for this task was to incorporate percussion into a given scene from American Beauty. Visual elements I wanted to highlight was how the father becomes hypothesized, especially the close ups shots of their faces highlighted with the use of nontraditional percussion and the use of plucked instruments like the Kora and Nyatiti. A composers technique I adopted was Danny Elfman’s beginning titles to A Simple Plan and his use of dissonant and eerie notation which I tried to ruffly emulate in the feel of my track. An audio sequencing technique I used in this task was modulating the tempo of the track to help the music fit the scene. A new musical technique I applied to this task was having a LFO modulating the pitch of the Nyatiti to create a dissonant effect, sent through a bus to be re-recorded into my arrangement. I believe this task is evidence of practice as research as I have looked into composers use of percussion in scores, for example Thomas Newman’s choice of instruments for American Beauty that oppose the traditional American family, as well as Newman’s use of nontraditional techniques for playing instruments for example incorporating scratches and pitch bends into his scores. I then Developed my research of these techniques by practicing and incorporating these techniques into an original score. I would give this task a mark of around 64, as I believe I have met the criteria for this task, also trying to incorporate and explore new audio and musical techniques for example modulating and re-recording instruments.
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Danny A Simple Plan 1998
- American Beauty (1999) [DVD] dir. Mendes,S. USA: DreamWorks Pictures.
- Youtube(2010).Danny A Simple Plan (1998) opening title scene. Available at <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz13T6pd_R0>.[accessed 20/3/2011]
- Youtube(2010).American Beauty dance scene. Available at <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a90BAwsvlA>.[accessed 20/3/2011]
