Emma Brown
Finding Identity Through Music
​A similar theme through all of my works is how I oftentimes let the music I was creating guide the identity of the character. I had an idea of how I wanted things to go but, in general, the identity of each character greatly changed due to how I structured the music. For instance, when creating Zuri’s Theme, the piece I made based on the sketches of my own character, I knew that I wanted hip-hop elements to be a part of it but didn’t really have an idea of how the structure of the piece was going to be. Because of this, I let the music guide me in creating her identity. I tended to gravitate towards low and intense sounds so that is what her character became associated with. This can happen with any character, and often does as I created more and more character themes. In this, I found that my greatest strength as an artist is managing to find the heart of a character even when I see no clear path.
Zuri's Theme
Since the specific sketches I have of her here are action shots, I decided to do her theme in more of a cinematic, punchy style for this project. While there isn't currently a specific scene I'm referencing, I think the overall mood of the sketches are very fast-paced, swift, but also looming. I wanted the main feel of this character to have orchestral instruments on top of a hip hop/r&b beat (something similar to what's up danger from spider verse). I think it fits the character and the mood of the sketches well since it has an intense but also mysterious flow to it. The reason I chose C major was for a similar reason. C major is simple but has the capabilities to convey intense emotion when needed. With this, I was able to show the duality with this character, since she prefers to conceal emotions but still acts very impulsively. When constructing the theme, I wanted the bass line to be the leitmotif that runs through the undercurrent of the piece. I'm a big fan of starting with a simple melody and then layering it on top of it so I decided to establish the character theme and then add the mood specific elements on top of it. I like it this way since the character is always within the undercurrent of the piece, even when certain things are being highlighted. I think this is probably my favorite piece I've made in this class since I feel I was best able to encapsulate the atmosphere I was going for here.
Big Hero 6
​For the emotion of this piece, I wanted to convey the upbeat yet serene feeling of the original. This moment is supposed to be Hiro and Baymax's first time flying together so it has many moments of fear, joy, thrill, etc. However, overall the main emotion I connected to this sequence was freedom. I used many similar instruments from the original in order to keep the emotion the same. The biggest thing I noticed was the contrast between the angelic and orchestral strings matched with the upbeat rock vibe. To emulate this I kept mostly horns in the melody with a rock drumline in the back. Eventually, the rock elements fade away towards the end to match the serene moments the two have. My general process for creating this piece was pretty similar to what I do for all my other ones. For this one, I started with the drumline and built on top of that. I collected a lot of elements I wanted to use (such as the cymbal crash) and once I was ready to utilize them, pulled them from my log and implemented them into the score. Interestingly, one thing I did differently was go back and fiddle with some of the instruments. In my first draft, I didn't really like the instruments I used in the horns and what register I had them in so I changed it a little to help it sound more natural.
Hall, Don, director. Big Hero 6. Youtube, A24, 2015, https://youtu.be/0ssX_A8xjU4
Network
This song was made based on a scene from "Network" provided to us. When I watched the scene, I felt like the speech the man was giving was motivational but not necessarily inspirational. It felt as if he was deeply disappointed but still wanted to insight change. That is why I decided to go for more of an intense melody for this one. The violins I felt best represented this since they were kind of fast-moving notes that could push the entire piece forward. That feeling of pushing was important since I felt like the scene was supposed to motivate you to do something. Once I had that part I decided to build the base. I add a few harmonizing strings that could beef up the whole orchestration and then focused on the bass line. Since I wasn't satisfied with the bass loops that were available, I decided to record my own with the keyboard. I felt that low whole notes were best for conveying the intense feeling I wanted since I felt like too much complexity could take away from it.
Lumet, Sidney, director. Network. YouTube, 1976. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRuS3dxKK9U