Week 10 Guys!

This week we discussed the finer points of using music in our films. Through watching a number of documentary films the following principals became apparent:

When using music: it is essential to stay minimal. This is because as a multi-modal medium, the moving image must leave conceptual room for the audio and vice versa.  With  this in mind, keeping the audio at a level that enhances and not overpowers the visuals is key. The principal can be likened  to the seasoning of food.

Purpose: this enhancing that  music does for a film is purely for  the purpose of  eliciting a specific effect in  the audience. Usually  this effect is on an emotional level; making the audience feel a certain way. In some ways, you are highjacking the sense of objectivity; as music will literally tell an audience about the tone and meaning of the visuals.

Other than the important advice on music usage, week 10 was decidedly utilitarian. Most of us were simply performing the more mundane, though very important tasks of  editing and transcribing.

Since it seemed that people were not in the process  of anything that evoked a massive degree of talking, I thought it best to ask them to say just three words to  describe their week. This,  along with  some helpful advice on structure is what composes my clip for this week.

Michael Firus