Possible Soundtrack Ideas - Thriller Planning

The soundtrack to a Thriller (or any genre of film) is essential in ensuring the motion picture is memorable. The correct soundtrack can enhance the audiences participation in the film by   reinforcing the emotions of which the film wishes to evoke. Thus we spent a lot time considering which style of music would best do this for our thriller. 

Initially we looked towards the 1994 thriller 'Heavenly Creatures' for inspiration. 'Heavenly Creatures' focuses its filming largely on the beauty of nature, and combines such with rather dramatic, orchestral pieces of music; it does so to enhance the said natural beauty, as well as to contrast with it. The music originally appears ironic as it mocks the (initially)insignificant movement of the characters within it. 

This piece, Pauline & Juliet by Peter Dasent, is comparatively less dramatic to the film's other choices, however we appreciated its melancholy tone.

Other influential pieces include: 




Daniel Perret's cover of Schubert's Ave Maria.

Similarly to Perter Dasent's piece, Ave Maria is rather somber and pensive. This piece encourages the audience to anticipate a distressing forthcoming event. 

The final piece we looked at is Pachelbel's Canon in D.




This piece is significantly upbeat in comparison to the previously suggested soundtracks. We considered a more upbeat pieces as often the juxtaposition between the soundtrack and the drama of a thriller increases the sorrowful feel. In turn, this too enhances the emotions of the audience which further engages them.

Films such as 'Ordinary People' (1980) use Pachelbel's Canon in D. 
This film specifically focuses on the past, using Pachelbel's theme to enhance such.





















Eventually we decided that our piece must contain a strong piano narrative and must convey deep, somber emotions. 



In our final edit, we used various cuts /sections mixed together of The Eternal Forest. The strong piano narrative infuses the many points we desired from the previously mentioned pieces in order to recreate our own melancholic soundtrack. We believe this piece, much like in Heavenly Creatures, increases our natural, lake location as well as heightening the characters emotions. Additionally, the pieces also encourages heightened anticipation within the audience. Once edited, the piece slowly builds up before climaxing with our cliffhanger, before returning to its normal pace; the 'normal pace' highlights our thrillers sense of life, and nature remaining constant, despite other's actions. Specifically, we used chunks ranging from 2 minutes 20 seconds to 3 minutes 20 seconds as this section best suited our intentions.