Deconstruction - Sound

Deconstruction of Sound

I wanted to investigate the kind of music and sound effects used in film noir. I began by looking at another amateur made film noir, 'Enough is Enough', so as to see what kind of sound effects would be realistic for our own performance.

The scene begins with the man switching on the radio to imply that the music is diegetic before it gradually builds up and becomes non-diegetic which I thought was an interesting idea for introducing music to our piece. The music is a downbeat jazz song which includes brass instruments which are very widely used in film noir and I think would be good for our own piece. I think a downbeat song such as this would be appropriate for our own film due to the dark nature of it. A thunderclap can also be heard partway through the song which then fades into rain, setting a dark, gloomy atmosphere. This film is more of a combination of film noir and silent movies however many of the main tropes of film noir are still present. 

In this scene the music is non-diegetic and is very quiet in the background rather than loud and upfront. This enables it to create a tense atmosphere without drawing focus away from the conversation of the characters, whereas in the previous clip there was no dialogue so the music was able to become the main focus. In this clip, stringed instruments are used, presumably a violin, and are played slowly in a minor key in order to create suspense. The tune creates mystery and suspense in order to keep the audience wondering what will happen, then as the younger man reveals what the other did a dramatic boom sound effect can be heard and the music changes slightly. From this point onwards it's in a slightly higher key and sounds almost softer, which is contrapuntal to the scene where the man is being arrested. 

In this scene the femme fatale of the film is singing an upbeat song played on several different instruments in order to get the attention of the detective. The song sounds like one that couples would dance reasonably quickly back in the 50s. It doesn't sound like the other two pieces I've found as it has the woman's singing accompanying it and it much faster and creates a relaxed atmosphere rather than a tense, mysterious one. I don't think this kind of music would be appropriate for our piece, however if we used it as a contrapuntal soundtrack it may create an interesting effect but it could just as easily simply confuse the audience if it didn't fit correctly. 

Above are two pieces of music I found which I think are similar to the kind of sound we're looking for to use in our own performance. I prefer the second one as it's more dramatic and downbeat, however the first piece I think would sound mysterious due to the ringing sound effects in the music. I don't know yet if these pieces are copyright which would make them unsuitable for use, but they give us an idea of the kind of music we're looking for. 

I have also found some dramatic, suspenseful sounding sound effects.  I think the first one would be suitable to play subtly in the background when the woman's location is revealed on the tape, and the second would be excellent for when the detective wakes up on the ground as it is disorientating and would confuse the audience. I think if played quietly it would also blend well with some downbeat jazz music.