Soundtrack Analysis

1) The Great Gatsby - Analysis
I've chosen this movie to review because one scene really stood out for me, in terms of music, foley and fx that really put the tension in the movie which made the viewers feel the sympathy and emotion that was gathering round in the movie. The selected scene was when Gatsby loses his temper at the hotel. During the build up, you see emotion on Gatsby face but he's hiding it. At this time, there is no music bed in the background, so it's quite silent (apart from the dialogue being said). There are sounds of cups hitting the table after a person places it down, a fan blowing distantly, wine/liquid pouring into glass(es), footsteps when a character is walking and other distinctive sounds that you won't realise but made a change to the movie if it weren't there - example, the sound of blowing smoke out of mouth (from using cigarette). Since it's a build-up of anger, the antagonist, Tom Buchanan, raises his voice at certain parts but to really sell the effect, they tweak the audio. They increase the volume of his voice for that extra oomph. When he whispers, they lower it for a more subtle effect. The volume of his voice varies of who he may be speaking to. If it were Gatsby, he'd raise his voice on some words to emphasis his speech, or to his wife he'll speak in a calm and gentler tone although he was thought to have been angry.

As Tom is getting on Gatsby's nerves a lot more, there is a moment where Gatsby is breathing heavily and the music bed is becoming louder and louder - using a fade offset. The reason why they used a fade offset rather than just the track starting to play is that it brings a lot more tension into the storyline. As the music gets louder, the scene gets tenser and that's what the Director wanted to achieve. As it has gotten too much for Gatsby, he turns around, knocking everything off the table, and pushes Tom to the chair - having his fist up to punch him. The sound in this part was achieved by the foley artists and the re-recording mixers to make sure the all effects including the wine, plates & glasses on the table had a continuous smashing sound as it changed camera (avoiding audio jumps and continuity errors). As Gatsby is holding down Tom and is about to punch him, the room becomes quiet (in shock) so they only thing you can hear in the music bed in the background, but the volume slowly decreases to a point for where it could be at -20 dB. A shot of Gatsby looking into Tom's eyes, realizing what he's doing also reveals a fan right above his head. They've slowed down they footage, so the characters and objects in the room are a bit slower. During this shot, you can hear the fan slowly whooshing - brings even greater intensity into the scene. A voice-over by Nick Carraway is then heard. You can hear the breaths of the two characters, Tom and Gatsby in this stand off, but Gatsby's breaths is heard louder. As he backs away, the music bed reaches an approximate of -15 dB therefore making it appear a bit louder but also remaining it's quietness during Nick's voice-over.

Overall, in this scene it was quite tense for a viewer to watch seeing how the editor and the Director made the viewer feel the emotion in the scene, increasing sounds like the fans to push the tension a little higher and getting those non-realizable effects of smoke being blown out of mouth, etc. really made this scene a remarkable and successful one. I think the director and editor (as well as the foley artists and re-recorder mixers) did a swell job on building this scene to be a very touching and emotional scene for the viewers. Although no actual fight started, the build up and tension really pushed it to the point where viewers would actually, if put in the same situation, punch Tom themselves. It was a well composed piece, the use of the tensive music turning a calm, subtle level really pushed this scene into an uncomfortable scene.

1) DOA: Dead or Alive - Analysis
After watching this particular scene really impressed me. The massive and unexpected turn-around caught viewers by surprise! The opening shots are of the character Christie Allen taking a shower. You can hear the water pouring and the sound it's making as it hits the floor, but not actually seeing it. This is a job for the foley artists! As a foley artist, they are to reproduce sounds can be anything from the swishing of clothing, doors squeaking, footsteps and glass shattering. Without these background sounds, movies feel unnaturally quiet and sometimes uncomfortable. As soon as she comes out the shower, she is confronted by a detective and two policemen. "You're under arrest" is the first thing the detective says. Next shots are inside a cupboard. Clothes are being parted (left and right) revealing a bag. This bag is then placed on the bed in the following shot, being unzipped, clothes being removed, pocket-knife unfolding, before it pierces the bag which then reveals cash that was hidden away. All when this had happened, the combination of different sounds as it went along with the quick jump-cuts made the scene feel more tense. A sound bed is quietly heard (around -25 dB), the detective tells her about the money that had been stolen from a safe (which Christie has). "Tell me about the diamonds," demands the detective. "They're a girls bestfriend, made from carbons, projected from higher pressure; traditionally a 60th wedding gift... and they're forever," replied Christie. During her speech, the sound track crossfaded from a detective/mysterious track into a slightly happy mysterious track, then returning back to the previous track. This was purposely done to add a bit of humour to the scene, but how this played out made it work quite well!

The detective assures her that spending a few hours in a cold cell will make her more agreeable (seeing as she had failed to give him an answer he was looking for). "Well I will need to get dressed first", replied back Christie - seeing as she is still wearing only a towel because of the detective's unexpected appearance. As she grabs her underwear, an alluring soundtrack is then played. No crossfade, just a straight jump-in soundtrack. As Christie slowly puts it on, you see a close-up of her legs - the sound of the material rubbing against her legs as it she pulls it up was also added by foley artists preferably on a studio rather than a stage (to monitor the audio levels accordingly and to have better and quieter sound).

As soon as she had finished putting on her bra, she asks the detective to hand her bra. The detective walks to the other side of the room (hearing the swishing of clothes and subtle footsteps), the sound of his gun unholstering and using it to pick up the bra is heard. He walks back over to her handing her the bra (as it still as at the tip of his gun) before Christie unexpectedly kicks the gun and the bra, which sends them flying in the air [slow motion]. This sound made a massive 'whoosh' sound as well as the soundtrack turning into a more frantic and upbeat track - striking the tension. She kicks the detective, takes off her towel, flings it to the one of the policemen, it strikes his head and a "ugh!" is heard from him (re-recording mixing artist to dub the dialogue). There is a close-up shot of Christie turning her head back fast to see behind her. As she does this, her hair swishes. She wraps her towel around the policeman's gun before tripping him up over the chair. She looks up, the gun and bra are still falling, she raises her arms, the bra slips into place and she catches the gun. Without turning around, she senses the detective behind him and points the gun at his chest. "Do me up." says Christie, implying for the detective to button-up her bra. As he finishes it, she things turns and gives him a swift hit to the face with the gun, knocking him out. The sound of him hitting the fall, making a tumbling noise, is heeded.

This was a very intense scene. The amount of work that was put into getting each sound effect perfect was incredible. You see what you hear, and in this scene that is exactly what happened! Each sound was precise, the timing, textures, feel was great - it made you feel that you were right next to the action. How close the camera was to an object or person determined the volume of the object/person (the closer, the louder). The dialogue however was was normal. There wasn't much volume change to the dialogue, but they really did use the Pan effectively. At certain points you can hear the mutli-band dynamics as its best. Overall, the director succeeded on what he/she tried to achieve and made the tension and unexpected parts really come... unexpected.

- Anton Lewis