I’ve been brainstorming a lot for a direction on a short film idea I had recently. So far I’ve outlined a basic plot:

Absent-minded football player Jerry and over-intelligent perfectionist Rachel, two high school enemies, are forced to endure each others company on a road trip to an electronic music festival. Attempting a speedy shortcut, Jerry’s tire is busted. Stranded in the middle of nowhere they are left alone waiting for help, forced to discuss their problems.

For a reason that can’t quite be explained, I want the music choices to play a large role in conveying emotions in the film.

 

I thought it would be helpful to engage in an exercise where I listen to a song I’ve shortlisted, and describe where I would place it in the film and why. Of course I would never be able to afford a number of these songs to be in the film, so I would then plan to find much smaller music or attempt to record my own music to replace it.

 

Eddie Vedder – Society

Vedder actually recorded this song as part of his soundtrack for Sean Penn’s incredible, Into the Wild, and as a result it has this feeling that’s reminiscent of isolation and movement.

The opening of the song is just Vedder humming a tone, and paired with the single chord strumming it mixes emotions of despair and longing with the feel of the wild. It feels so much sadder than a number of songs on his list, and stands out as a result.

A song with these sort of tones and emotions definitely has a place in the film, and it shapes the first driving scenes as depressing and isolated. Both Jerry and Rachel are stuck in a car with someone they don’t like, travelling to a festival they don’t even want to go to. When both characters are feeling this level of sadness it would be handy to have a song like this to convey it.

 

Youngblood – Ziggy Alberts

 

Being a much smaller artist, this song is one I could possibly gain permission to use, but it would still most likely be impossible. The song has a strange cynical tone to it that I would love to play over the beginning of the film. It doesn’t have emotions of happiness or sadness, rather a feeling of neutral commentary. Like the previous song, this would be a great one to play over the opening road trip, where there is a clear lack of happiness in what’s happening.

 

Such Great Heights – Iron & Wine

This is quite different from the two previous songs, where the voice of the song has quite a feeling of innocence and warmth to it. It gives off this tones of nostalgia and understanding. I would love a song with similar tones to this to be playing after Jerry and Rachel have solved their issues. The idea of the two characters in the song looking from “such great heights” is similar to the direction I wanted to take Jerry and Rachel, where they have helped each other gain confidence in who they actually are, and lose all care for any negative reception they may receive from those around them.

 

Half Moon – Blind Pilot

I love this song for the film because of the neutral tones I get from it. It’s neither happy like Such Great Heights, nor is it overly sad like Society, it’s somewhat in the middle. As a result I really love the idea of using it for the opening road trip scenes. When I listen to this song and then close my eyes and picture a car driving, it just seems to fit perfectly to me.