Opening Sountrack - Billy Elliot

Opening Soundtrack - Billy Elliot ( Cosmic Dancer)

This is the opening scene from the classic film 'Billy Elliot'. This film was very popular then and smashed the film market in its time. The film is about a young boy who secretly has a passion for dancing but with his family wanting him to box and bullying him about being a dancer. The film shows his struggle with chasing his dream and the break up of his family, but in the out come he becomes a dancer and his dream is achieved.
The opening soundtrack here is very important as the lyrics relate to the film and it sets a calming mood to the audience. The soundtrack is 'Cosmic Dancer' by t.Rex. This song has the lyrics 'I was dancing since i was tweleve' , this is very convenient as it relates to billy as he loves dancing and is around the age of twelve. The film is about dancing and so is the song, this is good as they relate and the soundtrack instantly tells the audience that billy is going to be a dancer as he listens to this and jumps on his bed.

Soundtracks

Every movie has a soundtrack at the beginning and end of the film. The beginning one is the most important as it sets the mood and genre of the film. The opening soundtrack is the first peice of music the audience hear so it is important to show the genre and to set a mood for the beginning of films.
The soundtracks of films are all diffrent. This can depend on the genre, the plot, the set etc. The soundtrack has to grab the audeinces attention as it is the crutial point to grasp them into intrest to the film. The opening soundtrack should always match the mood that is shown on screen, and flow with the MES.

Harry Potter Evaluation

Harry Potter Evaluation.

Our task was to create a sound track for the opening of Harry Potter The Order Of The Phoenix. To do this we used garage band. I worked with Chloe and Ryan.
The first part of the sequence was the credits this was of the words 'Harry Potter' that was in the clouds getting closer and larger. For this credit run we used the sound of a heartbeat which started of quiet and got louder as the words became closer and enlarged onto the screen. We used the heartbeat  sound because it is a good way to represent  the impact of the words enlarging because the heart beat got deeper and louder as the words got closer and closer. As well as the heartbeat we had a synth that faded in and then sound bridged into the next scene of the city landscape. The feel of the music built up the title sequence and drew attention to the film. Out of 10 I would give the title sequence soundtrack a 6.

The playground soundtrack was the dialogue of the characters speaking and a naturalistic synth faded in the background that set a sad mood as the boys were bullying harry. As harry got angry and brought a storm upon the boys the sound was of a thunderstorm and raging winds. This was parallel with the scene. The feel to the music was naturalistic and flowed well until the storm came and the sound changed dramatically as the surroundings changed as well. The playground science flowed very well and was naturalistic therefore I would give it a 8/10.

When the Dementors came to take harry and the other boy under the subway the sound changed from the thunderstorm to a shrieking synth which was scary and loud.  As the Dementors inhaled the boys faces we used a swooshing sound to imply that they were sucking in the boys souls. With the shrieking sound this developed the fact that they were in danger as it was a dark and shocking sound. The feel we tried to create was a scary one which also made the audience realise that the boys were in serious danger of the Dementors. Because the sound developed the mood and overall feel of the clip  and the fact that it flowed well with it also conquering that we wanted to make them feel shocked and scared I will rate the demetors bit a 7/10.

If i was to redo this task i would have used some more symbolic sounds which symbolise the mood and the feeling of the sequence. I would also involve some more voice of the characters so that the sequence isn't just music running all the way through.
I was very pleased with the overall extract  as it was creative and matched the mood and feel of the video clip. The sound was relevant to what was happening on screen and the sound never became boring or  repetitive. I think it helped me imagine sound a lot more and made me think more about the soundtracks for films and I am now noticing when I watch Films I pay attention to the soundtracks behind the films and wonder to myself that doesn't match that mood or if the soundtrack is contrapuntal or parallel to the video. Overall I do think my soundtrack for Harry's Potter was a success and I rate it 8/10.