Week 13 – Please don’t stop the music

The last gasp of my editing process involved me, attempting to find suitable, royalty free music that synched up well with the overall tone of the video.   Having two separate scenes that required two distinct tones, it was a long journey in sourcing multiple tracks to transition to one another nicely.

FreeMusicArchive and Creative Commons were, on Paul’s request, the key websites I utilised, and whilst extensive, they weren’t exactly the easiest sites to navigate.  FMA featured a huge bank of free-to-use music, but the tones that categorised them were extremely vague, and it was a chore sifting through minutes and minutes of unknown experimental pieces, hoping that they would fit.

In the end, I was recommended by a friend to have a look at YouTube’s copyright free music, which was far easier on the eyes, and had more appropriate listings for the emotion that the song was supposed to emulate.  This subsequently brought me to Kevin MacLeod, whose site ‘Incompetech’ was perfect in finding cinematic scores, attuned to any mood, and any scene.

Music, or should I say, the correct music, definitely helps in amplifying mood, especially if the film is visually geared towards a drama-style narrative.  In the case of an action sequence, the pounding score often complements the rapid edits, matching what is happening onscreen with audio.   It, however, should aim to complement and not overpower the scene itself.  This would serve as a distraction and result in a form akin to a music video.

For the outdoor brawl I filmed, I felt that hip hop was perfect for its soundtrack.  The hard-hitting instrumental felt right at home with the punches, the crash tackles and the impacts and “Slay Well” achieved that sweet spot of being gripping and intense at a regular tempo.

The commons license also allows for the user to make adjustments and remixes of the music, and playing with the pitch and speed were instrumental in adapting a single track to various other moments.

The entire ordeal took a while to wrap my head around, as the primary problem was the fact that I tend to edit with existing, copyrighted songs in mind.  I see this as somewhat natural  (Who listens to Creative Commons music in their spare time), with my influence from blockbusters and Hollywood, but I should aim to develop a bank of adaptable soundtracks for the future, just to make that process less tedious.

This is just a bit of trivia, but if copyrights weren’t an issue, my ideal playlist for my project would be Swingfly’s “Winner” and DMX’s classic “X Gon’ Give It To Ya”.  Both songs are high energy with ample build-up to a soaring chorus, and whilst “Winner” is at home with chase sequences, DMX is a mainstay of close quarters combat.