Music

I knew the style of music I wanted to fir the advert, and I want to use the same soundtrack throughout the ad campaign, so there will be synergy between all the adverts, and they will be more of a unit. I came up with the following criteria:

- needs to have the right tempo - my advert is fairly quick, the movements are fast, and the tempo of the music needs to fit this. 

- preferably acoustic - I want the song to be simple, and I think an acoustic soundtrack would be more laid back, homely and connote the traditional feel I am trying to create in the advert. I will look at piano or guitar tunes, nothing too over the top.

- major not minor tones - the song needs to feel upbeat, laid back and connote happiness and excitement. Minor tones would be too despondent and would not put the product in a positive light.

- no lyrics - I dont want the music to detract from the message or mise en scene of the advert, and the speech will be entirely non diegetic, and therefore the sound needs to be very clear, and the soundtrack needs to support it, not overpower it.

- mood - I want the soundtrack to suport the connotations running through the advert - It needs to suggest happy family times, an adventure and be exciting.

First thought -

I had a look, with these critaeria in mind, at various royalty free websites, to see what was on offer. With such strict criteria, I struggled to find music that would fit it. All the royalty free music seemed to be quite busy, loud, and was not very good quality.

second thought -

My second thought was to look at existing animations, and see how they had sources their music. I found on the whole that animators had commisioned artists to compose music for them that fit with their animation, so they had full creative control of it. Otherwise, they tended to use music by artists who create and sell music for this purpose - to be fit to motion pictures. Whilst looking at various animations, I came across this artists, who sells his own music online. (http://micahdahl.bitdrift.org/)

I found his fourth song down, Danish Runaways, was the right mood/tone i wanted to create in my piece, as it uses traditional acoustic instruments and has a sense of adventure and excitement in it, whilst beng very bright and upbeat. I therefore emailed him, and asked if i could get the rights to use a short clip of this tune, for my A level media. He did not reply. I understand this, as it is his job, and the song could potentially make him hundreds of pounds. I therefor had to move on from this idea, as it wasn't going to be viable.

Final idea

I realised if i was going to find something that fit my advert perfecetly, i was going to have get a piece of music composed for e, specially to fit it, and my criteria. I approached a friend, a guitar player, who I sat with and explained my idea for the song. I told them what i wanted it to sound/feel like, and showed them the animation to help inspire them. They then composed the following for me :

I think the song is great, and is a much better fit than if i had tried to find something already available. It is also royalty free, as i have been given permission by the artist to use it. It has been specifically designed for my piece, so it is unique, and fits the themes. I also told them I wanted the tune to connote a sense of adventure and suspense, so they chose not to make it too rythmic, and add odd, unexpected notes. I am pleased with the outcome of this song, and am going to ask them to compose a range of music, one for each advert, after viewing them and responding to them.