My thriller is based around a piece of music which is synchronised with the clips and movements of the actors. After listening to a lot of music from opening titles I got the idea that I would like to create something quite heavy and textured. It was based on the opening music of 'Se7en' but with the beat 'Counting Bodies Like Sheep.
The use of mechanical sounds such as 'Information Factory' that was a Garageband preset was inspired by the TV show 'American Horror Story'. This theme has several looping noises that resemble industrial and household machines which I though would add a rough texture to my own piece. The theme can be found
here.
To record my soundtrack I used Garageband which allowed me to piece together several tracks with ease. Garageband comes with its own preset tracks and loop which I used to complete my music.
I first started by adding a beat. Garageband makes it easy to create a drum track by picking a style and adjusting kick, snare,toms, percussion etc until you have found a beat that suits you. There are also different artist that you can pick from who all have individual styles. I pick Aiden as his style was quite heavy sounding. My drum line was rather basic as I only wanted it to serve as a metronome and not to have much focus on it so that the rest of the sounds take the main role. However it is the one consistent throughout the entire piece.
Next I added something before the drum line to add ambience and quiet before the kick of the drum. I used it to build up the tension.
This is often used at the beginning of theme for horror films. It is also used in the beginning of the 'American Horror Story' opening theme tune.
To start with the mechanical sound effects I first added a squeaky buzz noise as it resembles a drill. It creates an illusion of an industrial city which suits where I planned to film my thriller. It plays with the theme of how stalking has been made easy through the world industrialising; evolving due to the advances in technology. There is also something rather eerie about industrial noises as they can be dangerous.
To find the noise I looked in the sound presets which can be found by clicking the loop button in the picture opposite. It is found to the right of the screen.
After adding the first noise I realised that I would need to start to fill in the piece a bit more quicker otherwise the main part of the the music would not come until the end of the piece. To do this I added a loop that I adjusted to be quite loud so it could compete with the drum. The loop was called 'Information Factory' and resembled the sound effects of the 'Portal' franchise which is renowned for industrial sounds.
After a while the music gets repeatitive so I added a new sound to change it. I added an echo-y scream sound which resembles 'Counting Bodies Like Sheep' where there is a male scream that is distorted and echoed. When I picked the preset sound it was much longer so I cut it using cmd + t and then used the sound line to create a fade out. By doing this it makes the effect sound cleaner then it would if I had just left the cut as it was.
I wanted to create more ambience so I added some road sound effects. Where I will be filming will be in a town where there will be the sound of cars on distant roads so I thought it would suit it especially as I would not be filming in sound so it would have sounded nice to add the ambience post-filming. There is also a low humming to the effect which builds up the texture of the sound.
Next I added 'Hit Impact' to add to the beat but also as it is a sudden noise it creates fear and tension. It has a reverb to it to make it sound more metallic sounding but it somewhat also makes its sound sinister by adding an echo-y feel to it. As it can symbolise a clock striking it creates the illusion of time running out which it is for the girl as her stalker approaches.
Lastly to end the piece I wanted a build up to the point where the stalker finally approaches his victim. I knew I wanted a swell as it would create a cresendo but I chose drone as it added to the metallic mechanical theme.
I decided after the cresendo I would end it on an anti-climax to give a eerie tone when the focus is on the board. To do this I faded out the music to the point where it is silent. After it is completely silent I will add a black screen to add to the quiet effect.
