SoundEG3: Bride of Chucky

This is the poster for the movie.

Bride of Chucky [Childs Play IV]

Ronny Yu, 1998 (Slasher, 18)
Produced by: Universal Pictures.
Distributed by: Metronome Distribution
Budget: $25m
Box Office: $50.7m worldwide. £526k UK
Trailer, Wikipedia
RottenTomatoes: Scored 42%

Synopsis:
The fourth film in the Chucky franchise, it follows on 8 years after the previous Childs Play film. Focusing on Chucky's quest to escape the doll's body he is trapped within. 

Idents:
Bride of Chucky (Yu, 2008) starts with non-diegetic music over the idents. This music creates an audio bridge between both idents and the opening shot.

Music:
The music is strings which play slow, drawn out notes, they are combined in the background with a drum, playing slow beats. This beat then builds to a faster beat after briefly stopping. This creates the tension and connotes footsteps or a heart beat (it is polysemic until we have further signifiers and therefore anchorage). The music here has been specificly designed to create tension.

Changes in the Music:
There is an increase in the pitch and a change to sharp and flat notes all this combined with the fast drum drastically increases the tension. When we do a commutation test we find that this music has been very specifically designed for creating tension and making the audience feel nervous.

Diegetics:
The non-diegetic and diegetic sound are combined and the non-diegetic sound is more exaggerated than it would be in real life (an example of this is the phone, which rings as if it were on speaker phone) the young and naive voice on the other side of the phone creates an impression on the audience.

Volume Changes:
The music quietens for the sound of drips. This makes us focus on what is happening on screen and then when the radio activates we are shocked by the loud noise of it starting happening in the quiet.
The music the returns, making the audience feel safe. It then stops just before the person dies then returns at a faster pace as the dialogue is spoken.

Why has the music been designed like this?:
The music has been specifically designed in order to create tension, it's made to make the audience feel scared and afraid before any action has happened. The music prepares the audience for what will happen throughout the film. The long and slow notes combined with the percussion has an interesting effect on the audience, the long notes make yon hold your breath but the percussion makes your heart beat faster. Within the opening within the opening has been designed to fade and stop before any action happens, the audience will get used to this and so it can be used later on by the film makers to create the right atmosphere for each kill.

SoundEG2: Bolt

Bolt

Byron Howard, Chris Williams, 2008 (Animation, PG)
Produced by: Walt Disney Animation Studios
Distributed by: Walt Disney motion Pictures
Budget: $150M
Box office: £17M (UK)
Trailer, Wikipedia
Rottentomatoes: Scored 88%

Synopsis:
Bolt, a dog, is the start of a hit TV show in which he has superpowers, he is mistakenly seperated from the studio and we follow him on his adventure back home and to his owner penny.

An ident from the film

Idents:
The idents are not linked to the main movie through the use of an audio bridge, they each have their own sound.

Music:
The music fades in along with the opening shot, this music is non-diegetic. the music sounds like a music box, this connotes memories, the ancorage provided for the fact that this is a memory is the way the scene has a sepia tone to it. The music changes key at the pivotol point that penny chooses bolt and the screen fades to black quickly.

The key decision that penny makes

Change in Music:
The music has now chasnged as the screen shows that it is 5 years later. The music is now quick paced and sounds 'action-y' it again is non-diegetic and indicates the tone for the rest of the film. This music stops when the title card comes onto screen.

Diegetics:
The music within the opening is mostly non-diegetic. For the first part I think that it is non-diegetic to emphasise the feeling that it is a memory, almost as if the music has sparked the memory of getting the dog. For the later scene the music is non-diegetic to help show that what we are watching is a TV show, it's the type of music that is expected to be found in a children/tween TV show.

Volume Changes:

The title card

The volume of the music doesn't really change whilst the music is playing. However the volume does change between scenes, in the first scene the music is soft and more atmospheric and less noticable. in the second scene the music is louder, more noticable. This makes the audience more alert and aware that there is action going on, as opposed to the scene simplly being set.

Why has the music been designed like this?
The music has been made like this very specifically, for the first scene the music is made to feel non-intrusive and reminisent, for the second scene the music has been made to make the audience feel on edge, it's the type of music that makes you sit up and pay attention as it is clear that something ionteresting will happen. This is made clear if we do a Commutation test if we were to change the music to being more quiet and less dramatic the scene has not got the same effect, it becomes just as boring as the last shot and the audience will miss the action occuring on screen because they won't be paying full attention.














SoundEG1: The Magic Roundabout

The Magic Roundabout
Dave Borthwick, Jean Deval, Frank Passingham, 2005 (Animation, U)
Produced by: Action Synthese
Distributed by: Pathé!
Budget: $20M
Box Office:£5M
Trailer, Wikipedia
Rotten Tomatoes: Scored 60% 

The Magic Roundabout(duval, passingham and borthwick, 2005) starts with 2 indents, with the latter connected by an audio bridge from it to the first shot, the two were for paithe and action synthese (with a character from the movie added into it.) and then text for the production companies which fades to the opening shot and new music starts as a pivotol and main character comes into the frame. The music sets the general tone for the rest of the movie by sounding dramatic and adventure-y. It highlights moments with creshendoes, such as the sheer cliff face in that the character faces. opening scene provides base for story before leading onto, with an non-diagetic audio bridge to the films title.

The ident with the Character in it

The point at which the music crescendos 

The title card