Joseph Shin

Hodge
Music 325
19 July 2016
Theoretical Statement for the Scoring of a Short Film Titled:
Memory
In composing my soundtrack, I attempted to recreate a mental state of confusion, one that
of a deep introspective questioning specifically focused on memory. I modeled it after a common
experience I usually have, in which I passively observe an action, and observe that action change
into something uncanny, or bizarre. But after normalcy is quickly reestablished, I often find
myself questioning whether that anomaly actually occurred or not. To realize this vision I utilized
a manipulation of diegetic/non-diegetic sounds, leitmotifs, and a formalist approach.
In terms of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds, my soundtrack consists mostly of the latter.
I wanted to begin with an atmosphere of calm familiarity, so I chose a vintage recording of the
folk song Red River Valley. I chose this because of its seemingly domestic and restrained
quality, which result mainly from the songs lack of significant dissonant audio fluctuations. The
upbeat tempo also serves to provide some sort of juvenile excitement to the video; all of these
contribute to a relaxed, kid-friendly exposition. I also added a loop of a crackling sound of an
old record player to produce and enhance the vintage, muted quality of the video. However I
did not attempt to mold all of the sounds to this pattern; the diegetic sounds of the musicians
magic are of very high fidelity and sound very refined. I included this in the hopes of drawing
a viewer slightly out of the familiarity and relaxed atmosphere that was established.
After the establishment of the tone, I then wanted highlight the skeleton scene as the
slight bizarre shift. I did this by adding a more dissonant magic sound to the magician on the
left as he summons the skeleton. Coupled with that I quickly begin to fade out Red River
Valley in favor of an ambient atmospheric sound I found online. I was drawn to the sound
because, like Red River Valley, its tonal range is relatively restrained. It stays within a certain
register, so it has a similar effect as Red River Valley in that it normalizes a new atmosphere by
not being too dissonant. But the shift is not hidden, as the difference in tempos is quite apparent.
I also picked this sound because, going back to the concept of leitmotif, I felt that it
represented well the style topic of mystery and suspense with its slow moving tempo and
occasional dissonant tonal flares. To emphasize this shift, I also added some muted diegetic
sounds to the second magicians attempts at removing the skeleton. These all contribute to a
strange, somewhat unwarranted shift in the narrative.
However, to end the quick foray into a darker atmosphere, I quickly faded out the
previous suspenseful music in favor of a quick entrance of Red River Valley once again. But
the way this piece is introduced is significantly different from the first. When it is introduced
here, it comes very abruptly as I opted for a very quick rise versus a slow gradient. Combined
with the fading of the previous ambient music, and the a stereotypically happy magic sound
that follows, the video then almost erases the entire mysterious phase. The main narrative ends,
but as the video is coming to a close I decided to add back the ambient atmospheric sound, in the
hopes of spurring the viewer to juxtapose the bizarre shift with the rest of the video.
In terms of the construction of my soundtrack, I decided to lean more towards a formalist
approach. It is clear through the visuals that a show is being presented, and a set is being more or
less utilized. I decided to build upon this by adding older recordings that contained the aesthetic

quality that seemed to match the aesthetic of the visuals. I keep this up for the majority of the
video, in the hopes that the sounds would cause the viewer to adopt a more passive viewing of
the video. However, during the ending credits, I decided to add a slight shift. By lingering on
the mysterious ambient sound, coupled with an absence of any narrative visuals, I hoped to
spur thought the viewers mind, and cause some questioning and processing regarding the nature
of memory, and perhaps an emulation of the aforementioned experiences I attempted to recreate.