Soundtrack

"Godless" SOUNDTRACK:

INDUSTRY:

Its common in the film industry to use a films OST as a way to help market the film and earn extra revenue, most notably this was done with Baby driver.

You can see they offer the OST as a vinyl, probably as a nod to the films more retro style. This is a good marketing move as the people who are the most likely to enjoy retro music are older, so this was done to target an older demographic who are more likely to own a vinyl player.

You can also see how the OST was used in the marketing, you can see in this poster how the phrase "All you need is one killer track" was featured on the poster. This shows how music was used as one of the main draws of the film.

OVERVIEW OF MUSIC WE USED:

Track #1; Classic Rock

We observed how in baby driver the first track was rock with heavy blues influence. For this reason we chose to recreate "Sympathy for the Devil" by the rolling stones, not only because it had a lot of grove making it easier to dance to but because we thought it would play well into the antihero theme. 

Original:

Our Version:

Our Version With Vocals by Amelie Marchand:

We used this song as an audio bridge in the opening. 

The creation process/Use of technologies:

For this song I used the software Ableton Live 10, I then used and layered multiple percussion samples including one that was recorded for this project by a music teacher from our school. Then another teacher from our school generously helped us with the "woo" parts in the song.

I then added a bass line with the free plugin "Ample Bass guitar II". This plugin simulates a real electric bass guitar which is what was used in the song.

Then Bitsonics "Key Zone Classic" plugin was used for the piano chords as it simulates an acoustic piano, this is again in order to be faithful to the original song.

 

Track 2 and 3: Incidental music + Choir

We also created some incidental music, this music is very intense compared to our version of sympathy for the devil which helps the viewer feel the tone switch better. We then also created a Gothic sounding choir to create some verisimilitude in the church scene. The choir and incidental music were made so that they could be looped. The choir is also meant to be dietetic. 

Our song: (The incidental music is labeled "Riser" in the video) 

The Creation Process/Use of technologies: 

The software used was Ableton Live 10 agian;

The violin was created with the stock "string section" plugin from the software Cakewalk, this plugin is capable of simulating an acoustic violin/cello/double bass and comes free with the Cakewalk software making it almost essential for this project.

The percussion part was a stock "Tom" preset that came with the software which I found worked well in the track if you add some reverb.

The third aspect of this riser or piece of incidental music as a very simple synth I made which was made to imitate a brass instrument and played the same notes as the violin at a much lower frequency. The synth also had a very high attack, this was done to simulate a build up (or to have the volume steadily increase from zero).

 The choir section was done primarily with a plugin called "Spitfire LABS" which is a free preset loader that came with a choir patch, which simulated a choir singing in a church. Although the software was very good and we ended up with a result we were both satisfied with, it had some limitations as the sound it produced already had effects so it was almost impossible to edit or shape the sound in any way.

LABS Plugin:

WHY WE USED THESE SONGS:

Sympathy for the Devil remake:

• Sympathy for the devil is a title that is very fitting for our film as our protagonist is an antihero and even if he is a criminal, the audience can sympathize with the fact hes being forced into crime
• The song is very upbeat and accurately sets the tone for the first scene, the tone being happy and playful
• Sympathy for the devil is a very rhythmic song making it easy to dance to, and it makes it easier to make cuts in sync with the beat.

 

Incidental Music:

• Helps build tension when the tone switches (when baby picks up the phone)
• Reflects Babys emotions when he hears he has to do another job

Choir:

• The choir plays in the church in order to add verisimilitude to the scene
• It is also meant to signify that the church is occupied while the scene takes place