Soundtrack

Research on Gritty Realism film soundtracks: 




First recording of the soundtrack we are using in our opening sequence:





I really like this as a soundtrack for our film as I believe it will be parallel to the visuals and narrative of our opening sequence, which is the main character listening to music on the seafront wall. The acoustic guitar creates the exact sound that we wanted for our opening sequence, which is a calming vibe (similar to the opening music of the Gritty Realism film 'Submarine'. I think it needs more depth to the sound, for example with a piano sound or maybe another guitar. I would like to do this because I feel the current track is too simple and in order to fully symbolize our opening sequence the sound needs more depth, similar to the protagonist of our film.
We chose to have a male singing voice because it follows the conventions of gritty realism as nearly all of the Gritty Realism films we watched had male singers (such as Submarine and This is England). As well as this we believed it would reflect the male protagonist well as the lyrics follow his feelings.


Second Draft recording of the soundtrack:




This second draft of the soundtrack is more professional and has the sound of an original song as it was recorded on a professional app rather than a smart phone. Gritty realism soundtracks often include original songs written for the film such as Submarine (which is a gritty realism film that consists as mostly songs made for the film). However, according to my research on Gritty Realism film's soundtracks similarly have a lot more depth and include more than just one instrument so we wish to add this to another version (and hopefully final) of the song.

Final song we are using in our opening sequence:





We are really happy with our final song that we are going to be using in the opening sequence of our final film. We believe it sounds a lot more professional due to the added instruments (cello, piano and electric guitar) as well as the originally used acoustic guitar. These give the song the depth we wished to be evident in our song. As well as this, these give the song a more conventional sound to the Gritty realism genre.

Lyrics:

"Running, running from my shadow,   
 I cant escape my shadow.
 Seems like every time I turn around he's standing there, 
 watching me.

 Got me itching,
 itching under your gaze. 
 I can't escape from your gaze.

 Seems like,
 everything I do, 
 isn't good enough for you.

 Hiding, 
 hiding from my shadow,
 cant escape my shadow. 

 Feels like,
 I spend my life trying,
 tryna' hide from my demons.

 Listenin', 
 listening for his footsteps.
 I can't unhear his footsteps

 Approaching, 
 always getting closer."

We chose to use these lyrics in our original song as we believe they represent the emotions and feelings of our protagonist. In the song the persona singing these lyrics is someone like our protagonist who experience the same mental illness, but is not the protagonist himself as this would be unconventional of the Gritty Realism genre. In the song, we believe the 'shadow' and the thing referred to as 'he/his' and 'your' is representative of the persona's embodied schizophrenia or voice in their head. As well as this we also felt these lyrics would be appropriate for use in the song to be edited into our opening sequence as non-diegetic sound because they suit the original calm atmosphere of the film and create a gentle mood and tone as well as hinting towards the themes of the film. Furthermore, the song is a parallel sound to the action in the film which is a prominent convention of the gritty realism genre, thus making the song perfect for our film. 

1 comment:

  1. Fantastic work, Beth!

    WWW: You have researched the soundtrack in detail and made evaluative comments on existing examples and copyright free examples you found online. Your group have also written and recorded an original soundtrack.

    EBI: Could you add an explanation of the lyrics and why you felt that they would be appropriate for your film?

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