Being the sound designer for Twisted Ivy Productions has been a brilliant time for me. I have always thoroughly enjoyed music and I am glad to have taken on the challenging role of sound designer so that I could broaden my research and learn new things during the creative process. Primarily, to begin the process I needed to make sure I was going to get the clarity and best sounds I could for our performance, therefore I used iTunes. By using iTunes, I knew that the sound would be the best quality for the speakers in the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre auditorium. When I got into the process of searching for the sound effects, I began to really enjoy it- just by discovering the different versions of sound effects for example, it was an interesting process. However at times, the process was difficult, because I had to make sure I was finding the most suitable sounds and sometimes this was easier said than done; nevertheless I used my determined nature, and I kept searching.
The house music for the show was a fun process because I could choose any song I wanted, however I wanted the songs to relate to the themes of the performance to create the atmosphere for the audience and the actors. Each song I selected related to either the themes of the show or the show in general. The songs I chose where: Sia-California Dreamin’, Radio Head- Daydreaming (Radio Head, 2016), Fleetwood Mac- Dreams (Fleetwood Mac, 1977), Queen- I’m going slightly mad (Queen, 1991/2000-Remastered), Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are made of this) (Eurythmics, 1983) and Poison- Every Rose has it’s thorn (Poison, 1988). From looking at the songs I selected, it is clear to see that most of them relate to dreams, and the process of going mad and losing yourself (Queen-I’m going slightly mad). The song by Poison –Every Rose has its thorn, I chose because of the title of the show mainly, Every Rose… The title is open to interpretation but I felt the song related.
The show opened with the Shadow Puppet theatre, for this I chose an old Victorian music box track to underlay the voice over; as the company wanted the puppet show to have a Victorian feel to it, to differentiate between Cinderella’s reality and what was going on in her mind.
The first scene of the play was that of Film Noir. I had previously been watching video’s of Film Noir sound tracks on YouTube, so that I got a general understanding of the style of music used. A video that I looked at which was of great help to me with understanding the style was this:
(Youtube,2012)
After researching the sound of Film Noir, I found a track on iTunes that I felt was fitting with the scene and with the genre. The song being: Film Noir by Pop Art. (Pop Art, 2008). The next scene was the Western genre, for this scene I felt an appropriate song would be The Good, The Bad and the Ugly Soundtrack. (Ennio Morricone, 1966). Other sound effects I used were a gunshot and a steam train. I researched guns that were used in Western’s, and I found that a common type of gun was called a Remington model ‘Nevertheless, the Remington cartridge guns carved a niche in western history’.(Adler,2014). In addition, I wanted to find a Remington sound effect for the scene, because if I used a modern pistol, it wouldn’t have the same effect and it wouldn’t be in the correct context; I wanted it to be justifiable. I did the same for the train sound effect, I wanted to use an old fashioned steam train so that it was appropriate for the Western. The third scene was the genre of Horror. For this scene, I found sound effects that I felt portrayed an eerie atmosphere for the horror, such as: Circling crows, a thunderstorm and an angry growling wolf. With the Circling crows and the Thunderstorm sound effects, I edited them using the Audacity software, creating a horror soundscape. At first, I found the editing a little difficult as I hadn’t used the particular type of software for a while, however I managed to get the gist of it and I enjoyed editing the tracks. The fourth scene was the Silent Movie scene. For the scene, I chose two contrasting songs, one was very up beat and the other was slow and ‘sad’ in nature; as I wanted to portray the two different parts of the scene; (The fast, up beat track for the sisters and the slow song for Cinderella). The fifth scene was a Telenovela style. For this scene I only used one sound effect, because I wanted to help create the comedic effect of when Belinda dies very dramatically, therefore I chose a dramatic Timpani Drum sound effect, (Serious about sound effects,2010). The last scene was the scene when the Fairy Godmother is introduced for the first time in person to the audience, (I also had the role of the Fairy Godmother which I loved portraying). For the scene, I again, used one sound effect of a magical chime, that sounded like the shake of a Fairy’s wand. I wanted to keep it simple because it would become to over-crowded with different sounds that the essence of the scene may have become lost.
Works Cited:
Adler, D. (2014) Top 12 Western Classics [online] Guns of the old west.com Available from: http://gunsoftheoldwest.com/2014/10/top-12-western-classics/ [Accessed 12 April 2016].
Digiffects Sound Effects Library (2016) Steam Train Start, Ride, And Slow Down with Horn and Whistle. [CD Track]. 2 minutes. 3 Seconds. Train Sounds.
Ennio Morricone (1966) The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Titles). [CD Track]. 2 minutes. 42 seconds. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Original Motion Picture).
Eurythmics (1983) Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) [CD Track] 3 minutes. 37 seconds. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) [Remastered]. A. Lennox & David A. Stewart.
Fleetwood Mac (1977) Dreams [CD Track] 4 minutes. 18 Seconds. Rumours. Stevie Nicks.
Poison (2006) Every Rose Has Its Thorn [CD Track] 4 minutes. 20 seconds. The Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock (Remastered). Poison.
Queen (2000) I’m Going Slightly Mad [CD Track] 4 minutes. 9 seconds. The Platinum Collection. Brian May, Freddie Mercury, John Deacon and Roger Taylor.
Radiohead (2016) Daydreaming [CD Track] 6 minutes. 24 seconds. A Moon Shaped Pool. Radiohead.
Rami Khalife & Franesco Tristano (2008) Film Noir [CD Track] 3 minutes. 41 seconds. Pop Art. Rhami Khalife.
Serious About Sound Effects (2010) Timpani Drums Bass Drum Drama Dramatic Horror Tension Circus Scary Timp Sound Effects Musical Instruments and Sounds Drums-Timpani. [CD Track]. 0:39 seconds. Serious About Sound Effects.
Sia (2015) California Dreamin’ [CD Track]. 3 minutes. 36 seconds. San Andreas (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). Andrew Lockington.
Sound Effects Library (2012) Hand Gun – Remington New Army 1858, .44 Black Powder Revolver: Single Shot, Close Perspective 1 Handgun, Pistol & Revolver Firing. [CD Track]. 0:07 seconds. Hand Gun sound effects. Hot ideas & inc.
YouTube (2012) Jazz Music (Film Noir) [online video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwvVhXItl1w [Accessed 23 April 2016].