Songwriting
Chaotic Deed - My Hell
This was the first song I wrote that was released. It started off as just a bassline that I had come up with in my free time. I then showed the guitarist and we collaborated to work out a structure and other guitar parts. I took it the to the singer and we collaborated on the lyrics and vocal tone. Finally, I sent a copy of the song to the drummer who then came up with the drum pattern.
Late Night Getaway Drivers - Heard it on the Radio
This is the latest song that I had a hand in writing that has been released. This song originated from jamming with the band until we settled on a chord progression. Once we had that locked down we each worked on our own parts collectively during weekly rehearsals. Once we finalised the structure and added it to our setlist for a couple of gigs we took it to a recording studio so that it could be released.
Lead Sheets
Below are two examples of lead sheets I have created over my HNC and HND music courses. The one on the left is for Celebrity Skin by Hole and the one on the right is for Eyeless by Slipknot.
Music for Visual Arts
Metropolis
In this clip a mad scientist transfers the soul of a lady into a robot. The emotion that this score is emphasising is fear and morbid curiosity. The lady strapped down to the table with the mad scientist creates a distressing image but as you are watching the mad scientist you can't help but be curious to what he is doing. The melody rises and falls on repeat creating an uncomfortable yet intriguing feeling while listening. Towards the end of the clip the soul of the lady is almost finished being transferred. Rather than a complex instrumental I decided to use a single melody at the end to reinforce the emotion of fear through uncomfortable silence. The song uses synth keyboard and synth bass to create some form of familiarity for the listener that can be manipulated to create sense of futurism and fear. The score takes elements from the song O Superman by Booka Shade and M.A.N.D.Y. through its use of minimalism and electronic instrumentation. A lot of the parts to the song change with what the scientist is doing on in the screen before cutting to the single line melody at the end. This helps to get the listener involved emotionally. The repetitive nature of the minimalist structure this score makes the listeners start to feel like they're in a dream (or in this case a nightmare) like state.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
The clip is from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The scene follows the main characters running to a ship to escape the island. Once the characters have made it to the ship the scene shows the characters looking back at the island and see a dinosaur in the distance before in is engulfed by the island. At the beginning of the clip when the characters are running the scene is intense and the intensity grows after one of the characters gets knocked down and they start trying to get into a truck. The intensity peaks as the characters drive the truck over a ramp to make it on to the ship. The emotion then changes to a feeling of brief relief until the characters see the dinosaur where the emotion then changes to sadness/hopelessness as they can only watch the dinosaur die and have no way of helping it. In the first half of the clip the use of synth-instrumentation paired with drumbeat helps build the intensity and flow of the scene as instruments are added and then taken away for small moments of almost silence. The tempo has also been manipulated so that it gets faster and faster as the scene progress then promptly slows back down after the characters make it to the ship. The second half of the scene then opens with one instrument, a synth keyboard with reverb and other dream like effects. This helps represent that the dinosaur is on its own. The musical style of the first half of the clip is close to drum and bass as this section is rhythmically driven to emphasize that the characters are running from disaster. The composition starts off slow and ends slow but during the first half the tempo goes up three times before coming back down for the second half. This stimulates an intense emotional state until the characters are safely on the ship then the composition slows down and then changes the emotional state to dream like sadness.
Easy Virtue
The clip is from the film Easy Virtue and is set in the early 1900s. A women enters a party that is clearly not well liked by the rest of the guests. She starts dancing by herself until a man of notoriety offers to be her dance partner. While they dance someone is looking at them from a hidden place. The guests seem to change their opinion of her after seeing her dance until finally the dance comes to an end. The emotion that I'm supporting is pride and confidence. The women in the clip seems like she doesn't fit in with everyone else in the room but she still has a confident composure. I have tried to reflect this in the music by creating a score that fits the scene but at the sometime subverts expectations. Half way through the composition the tempo slows down briefly before speeding up faster than it was originally. This builds intensity in the composition and reflects the scenes dancing becoming more intense. The two dancers become more carefree as the scene develops. My musical choices were trying to support this & feedback to the viewer that 'there's a new queen in town'. The score uses very traditional instruments such as violins, piano, and a Zheng to give it a classical sound. It also uses a synth instruments such as a bass, keyboard, and drum kit to add a modern dance sound to it. Bringing all these instruments together helps people to get the feeling of being confidentially different. It was my intention, that the juxtaposition of these different instruments, keep the viewer on edge and help exaggerate the social tension in the room. The style of this composition is a hybrid of pop and folk/classical. Going for this combination styles helps elevate the feeling and emotion of being confidently different. It informs the viewer that they aren't looking into a traditional ballroom scenario, that they should expect the unexpected. At the start of the composition a single keyboard plays with a crackling effect. This cracking effect reflects the bubbles in the champagne, which is shown in the scene. The violins in this composition that come in the same time as violins are being played in the scene. Here I played with 'Diegetic' music, hopefully this gives authenticity to the viewer, that they can believe what they see / hear. If the viewer can remain immersed in the scene, then my attention to detail has paid off.
Rogue One:
A Star Wars Story
This clip is from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The clip starts of by showing rebels running to their ships preparing for battle. The clip then jumps to the battle beginning with the rebels catching the empire off guard. Finally, the battle is in full swing as the rebels begin invading the planet below.
This score has three distinct sequences as the clip features two very clearly different settings with different environments and emotions within them. Breaking up the score made it easier to highlight the emotions, action, and environments shown within the clip as it starts off dark and gritty but by towards the end it’s a CGI slugfest of lasers, spaceships, and action. For the first section I structured the score around a dark and gritty sounding bassline without a too much else going on musically to highlight the silent fear expressed on the rebels faces as they are boarding their spaceships. For the second section I used a hip-hop drumbeat as the main element to structure around to give this section an uplifting "ready to fight" feel. This informs the viewer that something big is about to happen within the scene. Finally, for the final section as the battle is in full swing the score is structured around an orchestral string accompaniment that brings back elements from the previous section to inform the viewer that the scene is in full swing and about to come to an end.
For the first section of the score I wanted a dark "Nu-Metal" style similar to "Spiders" by System of a Down. To achieve this I came up with a bassline then added compression and distortion. I also equalised the bassline to boost the low and high frequencies and took away a lot of the mid to give it that signature grungy nu-metal bassline sound. All this was to reflect the dark and gritty environment shown in the clip. I also added a synth keyboard with a vocal effect to add a sad but slightly uplifting feel to it. This not only reflects the fear and bravery of the pilots but also adds a nice contrast to the bassline. For the second section as previously mentioned I wanted a "ready to fight" feel. To achieve this I turned to "Hip-Hop" with "Sabotage" by The Beastie Boys as the main inspiration. I used a Hip-Hop inspired drum beat and bassline. The bass in this section uses the same equalization and compression as the first section but with no distortion. This is so it sound distinct but not out of place. As the action builds up in the clip the score transitions into the third section. For this section I wanted that classic Star Wars sound. To achieve this I used an Ableton plug-in called Kontakt. This allowed me to create a large orchestral sound inspired by previous Star Wars soundtracks. If the viewer has never seen a Star Wars film then it reflects the action and chaos shown in the clip, however if the viewer has seen a Star Wars film before then it also informs them that this is the big culminating action scene similar to the attack on the Darth Star in previous films.