Sound/Music

The Shawshank Redemption - 1994

Clip 1

The opening track to the film immediately sets the scene as to what time of year the film is set in. The music playing is from around the 40s so therefore the audience already know that the film is set in this time. The music contrasts to the themes and ideas about the film. This is because the film is about a man named Andy Dufrence who is wrongly caused of murdering his wife and her lover and is sentenced to 20 years in prison. To add to Andy's misfortunes, he is beaten and attacked by other inmates in the prision, which creates an overall sad and depressing storyline. However, Andy meets man called Red who both end up becoming long term friends.In some ways, I don't like the opening track as it gives the wrong impression to the audience about what the film is about, however, the opening music to the prison contradicts this.

Clip 2

The music which plays as the prison is first introduced really begins to set the scene of the sadness and despair of being sent to prison. It is a slow instrumental which features violins which help to create a sad atmosphere. It's almost as if the director is trying to get the audience to feel sympathy for Andy's character.

Evaluation of Sound/Music Research
I think that the opening track to a film is extremely important as it begins to set the scene, not just with the year or the time of year, but it also begins to hint at what the film's atmosphere, themes and ideas are about. My five minute film is a drama which from the very start has sad and depressing subjects as a young girl has committed suicide. Her name was Lily and was the sister of one of the main characters. As I want to grab the attention of my audience from the start, I want to have a slow sad instrumental to open my film. This film 'The Shawshank Redemption' inspired me to use a sad instrumental because when I watched the film, I felt immediately gripped and interested as to what was going on and also as to what was going to happen. I want my audience to become emotionally attached to the characters in my film so that when the ending arises, it comes as a big shock finale.