Baby Driver: Opening Title

The latest film from Edgar Wright, Baby Driver, is a new kind of musical.

In Baby Driver, the music drives the story. The main character, Baby,  has tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and as a result,  listens to music through earphones to drown it out.

In this opening title, the song Harlam Shuffle by Earl & Bob constructs the entire scene. This choreographed sequence plays out like a music video.

Synchronisation plays an important part within this sequence. Every single action is precisely carried out in time to the beat of the song. As Baby is walking down roads to the rhythm of the beat, we also notice that the words, signs and graffiti on the walls around him sync up to the lyrics of the song.  00:26 – ‘right’ written on wall, Baby also turns right, 00:53 –  ATM machine beeping to the beat, 01:30 – When ordering coffee, Baby thinks and says ‘yeah yeah yeah’ together with the song.  We as the audience are hearing exactly what Baby is hearing.

In this movie, the images are subordinate to sound, giving sound a critical role in the film.

A performance by William Marx of John Cage’s 4’33

"Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise. When we ignore it, it disturbs us. When we listen to it, we find it fascinating. The sound of a truck at fifty miles per hour. Static between the stations. Rain. We want to capture and control these sounds, to use them not as sound effects but as musical instruments." - John Cage, Silence: Lectures and Writings.
John Cage is a composer well known for connecting art and music through his work. The video above shows the pianist, William Marx, walking into the opera house getting ready to play the piano; but everything sits still. The composition prepared for the pianist is solemnly made of pauses which opens the audience to focus on the “silence” in the room.
This artwork which I believe has a performative element to it, elevates the importance of the subtle sounds that we would usually discard, and consider noise perhaps, and makes them the key element of the work. It makes us interact with the ambience in the room. It challenges the concept of silence. What do we consider silence? Does silence really exist? How do we perceive our surroundings?
  
With the audio of my video, I will be experimenting with the concept of silence and background sounds. The sounds I am creating explore the experience of silence and how this is personal and individual even when it is experienced socially.

 

Bach Cello Suite No.1 played by Mischa Maisky

In this clip the famous Israeli cellist plays Suite No.1. As an Israeli I was told of Maisky as soon as I started playing cello at the age of 7. My relationship with my cello playing has not been similar to other cello students, as I had countless terrible teachers until I turned 16. It has been a huge influence on my life and I think it is important to finally write about it.

I have chosen to play a suite from Bach’s Six Suites  (composed 1717-1723) as it is one of the most important pieces for an unaccompanied cellist. I was taught that there is no correct way of playing this piece and each cellist can play it differently according to their taste. It is probably one of the most recognisable pieces for cello. I started learning this piece 4 years ago but never perfected it. My on and off practice and need to perfect this piece will be explored in my 30sec film.

 

The Hunger Games (2012)- The Games Begin

This is another example of how danger is represented through sound.

I wanted to focus on the scene where The Hunger Games (2012) actually commence as the use of sound is carefully implemented to build as much tension as possible and get the audiences blood pumping. The techniques put the audience in the shoes of the protagonist so we as an audience experience it with them.

The beginning of the scene starts with the repetitive beat at of the of the clock counting down. The repetition of this mimics the sound of a heartbeat and increasing and makes it seem like her heart is beating out of her chest. This heartbeat like countdown just helps add to the tension.

When the games has actually begun there is a loud chime sound which seems to mute everything else. The sound gradually quietens over the course of the scene however there is no diegetic sound of the tributes fighting to the death just this continuous chime sound.

The nature of the music quickly develops and becomes more frantic and fast paced as the fight for survival begins. The high pitched and panic frequency

It is only when Katniss runs for her life and moves away from the danger that the diegetic sound returns.

From both the example I have no looked at silence plays a big part in the representation of fear. Fear seems to paralyse the characters ability to hear for a brief moment in time and It is in fact what isn’t heard which makes the visuals more intense.

“Saving Private Ryan”- Omaha Beach

For my own piece, I wanted to use a high pitch ringing sound to convey a sense of panic and chaos. I looked at Saving Private Ryan (1998) the Omaha beach scene as an example.

The scene begins with Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) who has just been an explosion after reaching the shores of Omaha Beach where his comrade are under fire by the opposition. From the visuals we can see that the audio should be uncomfortably loud and however it actually sounds as if someone is underwater. The quiet muted sounds here really help to emphasise the sense of disorientation and further reinforces the horrific visuals of sheer destruction and bloodshed the surrounds them .

The silence paired with shot of the soldier talking is especially effective as our eyes are telling us what he’s saying whilst our ears are not. There is a then a faint whistling building to the point of synchronicity where the captains hearing is restored. We can then hear loud sounds of gunshots and explosions which drastically contrasts the muted audio at the begging of the scene.

From this example I can see that an element of synchronicity is a vital element to really make the most of the of the silence, as you need something to connect the audio and visuals together to really put yourself in the shoes of a character.

Automatico’s Responsive Typeface

https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/automatico-artists-and-robots-digital-graphic-design-261017

The installation works by manipulating the type on the screen in a manor that responds to human positioning. For example, the closer a viewer gets to the screen, the bolder the type becomes and the further away they are, the thinner.

I was inspired by this idea and considered applying text to my 30 second clip that could change it’s disposition based on the tone of voice being spoken.