Task Four
Incidental Music
“Catch me if You Can” — Title Sequence
Alternative Soundtrack
- Watch in Low Quality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ip9UtVwPsU
Composer’s Notes
This score required an awesome amount of music knowledge, the majority of which I did not have or was otherwise required to dig deep! I began this composition with the concept that I would ensure this piece would capture the audience and lead them on a walk into the story. The animation sequences of the opening titles of “Catch me if you Can” are, in their own right, a feat of outstanding work and requires very little to capture someones attention. However, to imply an interesting and engaging story was about to emerge after the titles was the job I took.
So, to capture an audiences’ attention and take them on a warm-up walk before the film actually began, I decided to distinguish a few elements of the title sequence musically. First, I wanted the sound to be roughly of the era the film was set in, this being around the 1940’s I wanted to compose the score using elements of improvised Jazz. This, at first being extremely difficult not having a Jazz band at arms length, but otherwise helped me to decided upon using a regular rhythm using an upright bass phrase. The walking-bass continues to groove throughout the score in consonance suggesting a walking motion. The second distinguishable element was to assign instruments to the main characters. The first being Leonardo De’Caprio, the hunted, I gave the cheeky and flexible sound of the flute played with a slight tremolo. Tom Hanks, the hunter, was given the classic, mysterious and ‘pink panther’-like detective sound of the vibraphone. Which was also used quite commonly to my knowledge in spy films in the same era. These conceptual ideas in place, I began composing with the desire to personify each assigned instrument and give them freedom of movement in relation to the animation sequence. In other words, I scored as if both instruments where trying to out-do one another in a session of improvisation. I felt this worked very well with the movement of the animation and the overall feel of the title sequence.
In the animation sequences, it dipicts both characters, led by Leonardo, moving and following the other from sequence to sequence eventually climaxing in a chase at the end. I wanted to heighten the sense of a chase continuing and progressing but I did not want to over exemplify or resolve it. I wanted that sense of mild anticipation and suspense of the film that was about to begin to continue after the title sequence but not overwhelm the viewer before the film had begun.
In syncopation, I wanted to ensure I synchronized enough of the sounds to the image to entice the viewer’s attention but not too much as to suggest the music is a direct consequence of the animation. More or less I wanted the music’s synchronization to be a coincidence rather than a deliberate reaction. For most of the composition I have synchronized using the percussion rhythm and walking bass. However, I also recorded my own ‘breathe’ and ’sneezing’ sounds and used them to synchronize with the movements of text on-screen. Breathing and sneezing sounds seemed to fit well because I felt this is all you would want to reveal of yourself if you were being watched, chased or even if you were sneaking around.
Finally, musically, I also scored using some small orchestrated strings and a classic piano for the second-to-last sequence. This, amongst the strings adds some frame of reference for the viewer as they see a silhouette of a piano and what seems like a piano club environment on-screen. The orchestrated strings are there to add depth and emotional movement to the sequences.
- Will
