The rhythm within a song will help to regulate the pace of a scene and sometimes when you are struggling with pace the easiest thing to solve this is to put a piece of music with it. If you have music and you edit your sequence in time with the music then a pace will automatically be created and formed. However, it is important to make sure that the music fits the emotion that you are trying to get across within the scene. For example, if you have a sad and meaningful scene within a film it is unlikely that you will want to put a up tempo and happy song against it as it will lose what you are trying to get across to the audience. It would be better to have a slow tempo and maybe orchestral music against a scene such as this to enhance the emotion and to put forward the meaning.
Here are a few examples from various films that use music to create pace and helps to create the emotional connection with the audience ....
Within this scene from the movie "Click" we see the death scene of the character Ben. The scene is there to create high emotion of sadness towards the character and the situation in which he is in and for the audience to be drawn into the scene. The music is of great importance as it builds up the pace and the intensity of the scene until the final moment where the character dies. The music makes an emotional connection between the viewer and what they see on the screen. It makes the scene turn into the stereotypical death scene within most films and the music is all part of the stereotype.
If we were to then take this scene and add different music with an entirely different pace and tempo then this would automatically change the meaning of the scene. So i took this video and then added some comical music to it to see what difference it would actually make to the emotion within the scene.
Again, with this scene from the film "My Girl" it is the music that creates the real emotional impact on the visuals of the scene. If you were to imagine this scene without the music then it would be far less effective and would not have that emotional link between the audience and the situation. It is a relatable situation in which most people will go through within their lives and it is the music that brings out this true emotion even further. It heightens the impact and the visuals match the rhythm and the pace of the music. For example, when the girl is sat at the stairs the music is quite slow in tempo and it then slowly starts to increase up until the point where she runs from the house where the tempo and pitch of the music is at it's highest within the scene. The music reflects the characters emotions and how they feel and this is why the visuals work so well with the music rather than the other way around.
One way in which to make sure that there is good pace within a film or a sequence is to add music to it. Songs have their own pace and rhythm and in most songs this pace changes throughout as it goes in and out of the choruses' and through difference tempo's.
Music videos - "A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music/song" - Dictionary.com
Music videos are all about matching the visuals to a piece of music or a song and i think that it is sometimes good to consider certain scenes within a film as a music video. As essentially you are doing the same thing as a music video with matching visuals to a piece of music/song. However, i think that when you are creating pace within a film the best thing to do is to add images to the music as it is the music that is the backbone to the emotion within the scene. When it comes to high drama, high action or sad and emotional scenes the best thing to do is to consider the music first rather than the visuals. When editing it is easy for me to think about the visuals first and to think about the music later on, but i think that when it comes to the most important scenes within your film that it is key that it holds real emotion it is better to think of the music first. To have music behind key scenes it builds up the tension and heightens the viewers interest in the film, that emotion and connection needs to be reached at the key scenes within your film if not anywhere else and this is why it is of such great importance to have a clear idea of the music/song that will be used.
From doing some research into music, sound and analysing how it effects a scene it has made me think about the music in which i use within my own films that I make. It has made me realise that pace and music within a film is equally as important as the actual visuals and the content of the film. As if there is no real emotion or as Mike Figgis refers it to as the "psychological backbone", then it is pointless as nothing has been gained from watching. There needs to be that emotional connection between the film, the characters and the situations and the emotions of the viewer and it is music and pace that acts as, in a sense, the glue that holds these two things together and without it a film would fall apart.
So for my future films that i make my aim is to look into what music i want to use in advance and to put this music onto the editing timeline before starting to edit. Rather than trying to put shots together and then add the music after. As the music creates the pace of the scene and it is better to follow the music and create this pace through following the beat and tempo rather than the other way around.
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