When I went to the Edinburgh fringe festival I went to see a production by Manual Cinema, who are a company of actors, designers and puppeteers who create films live in front of yours eyes using paper and acetate that is projected onto a screen using old projectors, silhouettes of actors that are also projected, along with a live band to soundtrack the film. Lula Del Ray, a coming of age story about a young girl obsessed with a popular band, was unlike anything I have ever seen before and really expanded the way I think about cinema.
Here is an short excerpt from their work, showing how it all works:
I was particularly inspired by their soundtracks that were performed live and were synchronised with the action. I liked the way that such a small band could create a strong mood and tone for each scene. I think their minimalistic style of music would work well with the themes in my film.
Here are the trailers to my favourite productions from them, and links to the soundtracks for each of them.
I also really love the use of piano solos in film- I think it adds a very melancholic tone to a scene and really aids the visuals, whether the music is contrapuntal or parallel to the action.
American Beauty achieves this very well as it establishes the main theme of the music at the point when Ricky discusses the beauty in the everyday, and at the end after Lester dies the theme returns but is more developed, and his voiceover references beauty again, saying 'it's hard to stay mad when there is so much beauty in the world'. I have been a fan of Thomas Newman's soundtrack for many years now and would like to develop some of the themes that he uses.
Below are two scenes from the film in which the main theme 'Any Other Name' is heard.
A Series of Unfortunate events was also soundtracked by Thomas Newman, and I like his balance between the minor chords and then modulating in the piano. It feels quite bittersweet which is exactly the mood I want. If you were to replace the harp in 'the Baudeliare Orphans' it could be a successful balance between Thomas Newman's work and the Manual Cinema soundtracks.
Here is the Beaudelaire Orphans track- I like the first minute of the piano chords, and then 1:54- 2:27 with the violins.
I have commissioned my very talented friend Eliza to soundtrack my film, and she will take inspiration from Manual Cinema and Thomas Newman, which I am sure will work brilliantly with my film.
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