Class9

I’ve never been a fan of horror films. I’ve always found them much too scary. Ever since I was very young I would always cover my eyes or look away whenever even a preview for a horror film would appear on screen. Yet I later discovered that covering my ears instead of my eyes renders the horror films much less terrifying.
I find that it is above all else, the soundtrack in horror films that makes them scary. The heart stopping way the music swells and then falls into silence then swells again makes me jump in my seat much more than the appearance of a scary looking monster. The sounds of heartbeats, low drones, and eerie melodies manipulate audiences far more than audiences realize. I remember listening to the soundtrack of “The Matrix” as my sisters watched it from another room. The scene where Neo loses his mouth scared me to death and I hadn’t even been watching it! The sounds of him shrieking wordlessly and the nervous tone of the music were enough to provide me with a clear enough image of the scene to elicit fear.
Next time I watch a scary movie I’ll mute it and see if it manages to scare me at all. I doubt it will.

Class8

I watched two documentaries earlier this week. Both were about hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans. Though both documentaries covered the disaster in much the same way; with interviews of survivor’s accounts, the films had a very different feel to them. I believe that this difference in mood was due to the two completely different soundtracks that were used. The first film used a lot of traditional New Olean funeral procession music that involves big band instruments. This gave the film a reminiscent quality. I made me think of the many generations of people that grew up in New Orleans, and how they had become a displaced people. The second film used rap music composed by one of the poor black women whose story is followed throughout the film. The tone of her voice, lyrics, and the mood of the music spoke much more of the poor quality of life in New Orleans, even before Katrina, than it did about history. This is yet another example of how different soundtrack choices can completely change the perception of a film.

Class7

I watched the documentary Capturing the Freidman’s yesterday in my documentary film class and was surprised at the effect the soundtrack had on the film. My professor told me that the main theme song that plays throughout the film was performed and recorded in Italy by a professional big bang. This is unusual in documentary film, where the budgets are usually small and the soundtracks often seem homemade. The big band score in Capturing the Freidman’s made it seem less like a documentary and more like a Hollywood fiction film. For my class, this brought up questions of authenticity in documentary; for when a documentary starts to feel like a fictitious Hollywood film, the truth of it is questioned, and documentary is supposed to be based on truth. It seems almost unfair that a theme song can have the power to completely change our perspective on a film.