Music plays such an important part if everything that we produce. The first thing we do with any of our features is to look at the footage, get a feel for the pace and the mood it sets. Then we set to work finding the music which fits our newly married couple.
In the case of Kate & Marc and their highlights this task went through a few evolutions.
Before we started to piece their highlights together we already had an idea of the song we wanted to use. We were watching an episode of Scrubs (they always end on such an emotive song), and one of the songs was Joshua Radin – Closer. It’s a beautiful song which can help me tell the story of their day. However after putting it into the editor and playing some clips it just didn’t click.
So it was onto the next one.
Next up was Alesha Dixon – Breathe Slow. Again a lovely song with a nice meaning but it had a bass beat which was too strong for this particular edit.
We watched the footage again and the shots captured with the Glidetrack meant the pace had to be a touch slower than our usual but also a bit more… epic.
Into iTunes we dive and see what we have… nope, already used that in the main edit… not this one, another well respected cinematographer has just used that… oooo that’s nice, no wait it goes a bit weird in the middle. 3 other songs were placed into our editing suite and tested but without the magic we look for.
We then spent the next 2 days browsing around Last.FM to see what is there, into the various genres until we stumbled upon Sia and LastFM automatically started playing her song, Breathe Me. This soft indie piece begins with a nice piano intro. Instantly I could imagine this being the perfect place to put the vows Marc and Kate made to each other. Shortly after the intro the song picks up with a strong, powerful beat. This beat could be used for some nice timely cuts we thought.
We must have listened to the song a dozen times, with each play we could see the highlights forming into a story of their day and at a pace which just matched the footage so well. Soft points for the Glidetrack and static shots, fast pace for the Glidecam sequences and short pauses to let your heart settle for a moment before the next powerful scene.
Already this was becoming a cinematic highlights with real emotion. To further enhance this the decision was taken to change the aspect ration from 16:9 widescreen to 2.35:1 CinemaScope. You may not notice but many of your Hollywood favourites are presented this way. It helps you feel closer to the action and the people, and in times of emotion it draws you in.
The end result is an amazing piece which fits together perfectly.
There was another song, I was watching one of the music channels and on came a song which made my heart beat faster. It was perfect, the words, the music, the pace. But after a long think we decided this other mystery song would go better with our 2009 showreel which we hope to have ready in the coming weeks. You will have to wait and see what this could have been.
-Danny
by dannyoneill
no comments
add a comment link to this post email to a friend