Report:
My objective was to compose a soundtrack to accompany a scene in the film Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960).
I wanted to highlight the shock of the character seeing a state trooper at her car window using stabbing chords I also wanted to emphasise the emotions the character must have been going through and provide a scene of uncertainty and suspense for the viewer, will the character be found out or not? I have done this by ebb and flow in the velocity and length of the notes played.
I was inspired by a few works by John Frizell, they are Ghost Ship (2002) and Thir13en ghosts (2001). Frizell uses a lot of dissonant tones and utilises alternative methods of creating sound of string instruments such as bowing behind the bridge for example in the piece The Freezer. I modified this using Hermann’s composition for Psycho to ensure my piece blends with the original soundtrack.
I used automation on the volume and velocity to create a scene of ebb and flow. I also studied Hermann’s original composition for psycho and tried to adopt some of the things I noticed such as his use of tritones and minor major 7th chords (which has been nicknamed “The Hitchcock Chord” as a result).
I researched by watching a number of horror films to hear how composers represent fear and build suspense and studied the techniques Bernard Herrmann used in the Psycho soundtrack; Some of these techniques are evident in my piece. I would award myself a mark of around 65-70% for this task because I feel my piece work well with the scene, builds fear and provides evidence to support my research.
word count: 277
References:
Books:
- Davis, R (2000) Complete Guide to Film Scoring. Boston: Berklee Press
- Karlin, F and Wright, R (2004). On the Track A guide to contemporary film scoring (revised second edition).London: Routledge
- Murphy, S (2009) ‘An Audio-Visual Foreshadowing in Psycho’ in Hayward, P. ed. (2009) Terror Tracks: Music, Sound and Horror Cinema, London: Equinox
- Donnelly, K (2008) The Spectre of Sound: Music in Film and Television. London: British Film Institute
Film:
- Psycho (1960) [Film] dir. A, Hitchcock. USA: Shamley Productions
- Thirteen Ghosts (2001) [DVD] dir. S, Beck. USA: Warner Home Video
- Ghost Ship (2002) [DVD] dir. S, Beck. USA: Warner Home Video
Web:
- Northern Sounds. (1998). Principles of Orchestration. Available: http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/77-Principles-of-Orchestration-On-line . Last accessed 18th Feb 2011.
- Wrobel, B. (2008). The Nature of Bernard Herrmann’s Music. Available: http://www.bernardherrmann.org/articles/misc/nature001/ . Last accessed 18th Feb 2011.
Influences
ghost ship:
In this piece you can hear the strings moving up a scale and tremolo, both things I try to adopt in my piece as methods of creating tension and suspense.
In piece he uses a lot of alternative playing methods such as scratching and playing behind the bridge, it make a a really nice sound that is used in alot of horror movies. It creates a sense of fear and adds a bit of unpredictability and uncertainty which I wanted in my composition.
thir13en ghosts
Unfortunately I could find just the audio of this film to post but this clip has a section of the film in it. The soundtrack, like Psycho uses stabbing chords and low repetitive notes similar to a beating drum or heart beat.
seen in tutorial !