ELECTION works.

Having just scored a quirky comedy of my own and being in the process of scoring another, I used this assignment as an opportunity to explore some films I feel have the same hard-to-identify tone as my film.  In the end, I chose Alexander Payne's 'Election' because of it's thoughtful, specific, and seemingly simple sound design and score.  The score develops the film's understated wit and satirical, deadpan humor immediately.  The film's humor is contextual rather than slap-stick.  The opening score, with it's ironic la-de-da tone, is introduced by the monotonous pulse/beat of a field sprinkler that transitions into opening music with the same timing.  It immediately brings the viewer into the world of a dedicated high school history teacher with his daily routine in the ho-hum heart of the Midwest and sets the tone for the entire film.

'Election' utilizes a number of stylized techniques in its storytelling.  The use of freeze frames, flashbacks, well chosen music cues and narration allow sections of the narrative to be delivered from the points of view of the  main characters. 

The composer, Rolfe Kent, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the "Best Original Score" category for 'Sideways'.  He has composed music for 'Legally Blonde', Up in the Air' and the theme song from 'Dexter' to name a few.


An excerpt that works particularly well for me runs from 6:57-11:57.  It is several scenes into the film but works as part of the film's introduction. In this sequence we meet the film's main characters. 

At 6:57, high school history professor, Jim (Matthew Broderick) can no longer avoid calling on his aggressive, over-achieving student Tracy (Reese Witherspoon).  A long silence under Jim's gaze emphasizes the single chime when Tracy begins to answer, when simultaneously a frame of Tracy freezes filling the screen in an unflattering, eyes and mouth half open, position.  An extended light stringed orchestral moment follows.  A beat and Jim's voiceover describing Tracy begins.  This small but significant 'marriage of sound and picture' moment allows us to see Tracy through Jim's eyes. 

Jim's narration ends with a snare drum beat that transitions to the high school year book opening with a confident bossa nova track under Tracy's narration and flipping pages (we hear the pages under the score) featuring Tracy and her high school accomplishments.  A 'whoosh' sound brings the audience from one of Tracy's activities to the next along with well timed whip pans and punch-ins while Tracy continues to narrate.*

Tracy's narration is replaced by more of Jim's voiceover as the chime followed by the extended light stringed orchestral moment repeats, bringing the audience back to the freeze frame before dropping us into a wood paneled basement den filled with diegetic heavy metal played by Jim and Dave, the high school math teacher and Jim's best friend.  A fade brings us up to the kitchen and 'the wives' where the heavy metal is muted but still audible.

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The kitchen door closes and the heavy metal is replaced by Tracy's voiceover under a class taught by Dave, her lover.  Her voice becomes dreamy then slightly louder as the camera punches in to an ethereal instrumental piece that becomes louder and more dramatic the closer we get to Tracy as she describes the affair with her teacher. 

Flashback.  From there we drop into a metal sided, windowless Godfather's Pizza restaurant filled with artificial plants and barely audible muzak in the background under ironically serious conversation.

Under Tracy's continued voiceover, an ironic, happy yet serious stringed piece transports us to the interior of a 70's faded mustang convertible before it pulls up to a double garage doored ranch house with an automatic garage door opener.  The brakes squeal slightly and the percussion increases as the car carrying Dave and Tracy enters the garage.

The doors close as Dave, in the wood paneled basement, turns up Lionel Richie's 'Three Times A Lady' on a stereo that would make any college guy drool.  As he sachets past tchotchkes, a baby crib, polyester drapes, mauve walls and a plastic flower arrangement to join Tracy on the polyester velvet couch, Lionel continues.  Dave sexily slurps then shares a generic can of root beer.  Lionel becomes non-diegetic as Tracy walks slowly down the hall to the bedroom.  We see Dave's arm extend from the doorway as the song ends.

The intent of this excerpt has been to set the tone of the film as well as introduce the audience to and develop each character.  I can hardly stand to look at Tracy but sympathize with Jim.  Emotionally,  I feel like I am in the film and am prepared to smile, if not laugh, through the entire film.  I feel the characters pain with a grin on my face.  The film's vocabulary and emotional context is clear to me.  The score radiates witty, ironic, satirical comedy through precise timing, choice of instrumentation and dialog. 

I quickly realized that what I initially perceived as simple and straightforward sound design and film score was multi-layered and complex.

*The classroom scene I've described above is less than 10 seconds long and yet there are a myriad of well placed sound and music cues helping to create the film's quirky tone.

DRUNKEN MASTER doesn't work.

I chose an excerpt from Drunken Master as an example of a score that doesn't work.  I am evaluating an excerpt (a single scene) that runs from 8:20-13:15 in which neither the sound effects nor the score performs.  The score and sound design bump for me throughout the film and I was more disappointed than entertained. 

Drunken Master is an action comedy.  The comedy is physical.  A typical Jackie Chan film.

The scene begins with a group of boys sitting, bantering during lunch.

The scene starts wide then moves closer.  The music starts.   The song is a non-specific 1960's American sitcom sounding instrumental with an um-pa beat.  It is not synced with the action or the dialogue but just plopped in.  It spools for about a minute.  It begins under a close up of one of the boys as he talks about at what he is looking.  I believe it is intended to arouse my curiosity but it doesn't.  It sounds corny.  I find myself focusing on the bad music rather than the action.

A Kung-Fu match followed the music in the same scene.

 
The sound design was extremely obvious and cartoony.  Each slap sounded like a whip cracking.  Clothes rustling sounded a flag flapping on a windy day.  The visual movement of an appendage was emphasized with a loud 'whooshing' sound similar to bad recording on a windy day.  The sound effects here have a Mickey Mousing feel to them.  I feel this technique sometimes works in slap-stick comedy and could work here if they weren't so loud and deliberate.

The scene ends with a long symphonic sustain that works to transition to the next scene.

I would be less distracted and more engaged by a score more specific to the culture.  Something with more of an Asian influence similar to the score from 'Firefly' composed by Greg Edmonson.

I feel the score is intended to add noise or another element rather than create any sort of emotion.

The dubbing enhanced the comedy and emotional context more than the score.