Presentation Ideas

Well, a wee bit of a shame that I didn't get to do my presentation in the end, but on a positive note I picked out a lot of examples of clips that I found really effective in terms of their use of both music and sound, and in end I wanted to talk a bit about all of them.

My initial example from the offset was going to be the shoot-out scene from Sam Mendes' "Road to Perdition".

This excerpt deals with the final confrontation between Sullivan and Rooney with Sullivan taking out all of his men and finally Rooney himself. The music from the film was scored by my favourite film composer Thomas Newman and adds a lot of poignancy to the visuals. 

The most important thing I noticed (when watching with the analytical eye) was the how the sound effects and music were balanced during the development of this scene, more importantly with the music against the rain sound effects / layer. Upon their leaving of the diner, we hear both the rain and the music begin to swell. The rain layer then fades as the music gains prominence following the gangsters approach to the car. 
It is hear we get our first obvious sound cue comprising of Rooney failing to open the car door and in turn, starts frantically shaking the whole car where upon the drivers head dives upon the horn, yet we still only continue to hear the music alone.       

It is in this moment the gangsters know that they are not alone in the rain.
Rooney's men then begin to fall as we see the flashes of machine gun fire in the distance. Rooney stays still as the camera pans around him, along with the glistening bells and descending piano echoing his perceived stillness in time. 

(Currently devouring a lot of Batman animated media after revisiting "Rocksteady's" Arkham titles!)

*Particular favourites;

- Batman: Under the Red Hood

- Batman: Year One 

- Batman: The Dark Knight Returns 1+2*