Music

Neither Jessie nor I had ever used Soundtrack Pro before, and after experimenting on it for what felt like a very long time, we agreed that neither of us could use it to produce a tune of a good quality, and since we want to include a voiceover, the track is not vital and needs no sound effects. With this is mind Jessie and I opted to look at some royalty-free music websites, of which we found one we liked: Freeplay Music. This site had tons of different songs we could use, and specialised in acoustic guitar songs, which is exactly what we were looking for. We looked through a lot of songs to ensure that we found one perfect for our film, and we managed to devise a short-list of three possible songs. The song titles were 'Adios', the first song on the linked page, 'Final Gripe', the second song on the linked page, and 'Feathers in the Air', also the second song on its linked page.

Adios


On the website, 'Adios' is described as "A profound acoustic guitar plays a dirge-like ditty that evokes a feeling of loss." We felt that, after listening to it in time with our opening, it was slightly too (for lack of a better word) sad for our film. The film is about loss, since Katy will be talking about their relationship as a memory implying that they have split up, but we wanted the way she felt about the memories to be happy rather than mournful. We did a lot of experimentation with this track trying to make it work: for example, we attempted to change the track every time a memory was shown to a happier song, but when we watched it through with this in effect we felt that it just didn't work and would be too much of a 'mish-mash' for the viewer, especially if we wanted to include a voiceover.


Feathers in the Air


The description of this song on the website is: "Lightly strummed guitars play out a contemplative chord progression as the rhythm section provides perfect accompaniment." This does not describe the feel of the music very well, but you can imagine by the title and the instruments described indicate that the song is mellow and happy. It is, however, rather repetitive, which is not a deal-breaker in deciding which of the three to use, but we wanted to keep an audience audibly interested when the voiceover (if we have one) cuts out (as we do not plan for it to be constant).




   

Here is the full musical component to the soundtrack of our film opening, the third song, 'Final Gripe'. At the moment, the song length exactly matches the length of the video and as you will hear, is not repetitive as it includes electric guitar and piano solos which will keep our audience interested. However, we may have to cut some of the song down if we end up having to shorten our opening. Also, this will be perfect for background music with a voice over layered over the top as well as by itself because it can keep the mellow happy and positive tone that we wish to create without overpowering the voiceover when necessary, but picking up again and maintaining its own strength as a song in the parts that will not feature a voiceover.