Title, Tone and Target Audience

Title: Beyond the Soundtrack

I've chosen to use a picture taken from the movie "Psycho" due to the fact that it has a clear impact on the audience's feelings and the tagline used was taken from "The Exorcist", although it actually says ''Somewhere between science and superstition, there is another world. The world of darkness.'' Both of these movies, along with "Ringu", will be analysed in my documentary, as they are widely recognized as classic horror films and contain powerful and shocking music.

Documentary Research

Research skills.

My documentary will be the study about the effect of sounds and/or music (the soundtrack) in horror films. It will reveal how this can imply different meanings, set the mood and control the viewers’ feelings throughout a film, making the director and sound designer have complete control over the emotional resonance felt in the audience. The case studies which will help me to analyze and support my theory will be "The Exorcist" (1973), "Psycho" (1960) and "Ringu" (1998), all of which are widely recognized as classic horror films and contain powerful and shocking sounds and music.

Books to read:
Beyond the Soundtrack

Sites to visit:
Film Sound
BFI
ENG

Essays to read:
Ton & Traum: A Critical Analysis Of The Use Of Sound Effects And Music In Contemporary Narrative Films

DVD with director’s commentaries:
The Exorcist
Psycho
Ringu

People to interview:
Dougall Fergusson
Alejandro Cooper
Hilario Flores

Other: (youtube interviews, makings of…):
Inappropiate Soundtracks.

Summer Work for IB Film

During the summer, I will watch "The Exorcist" and "Psycho", due to the fact that I will need to analyze these two movies for my independent research. Besides these two, I'll probably be watching short movies to help me for my final movie and watch a certain genre to become more aware of the techniques used.
Then, I'll choose my role in the film, which will probably be scriptwriter, editor or director, based on my preferences at that time. After this, I'll choose who will be in my group.

Independent Research

My documentary will be the study about the effect of sounds and/or music (the soundtrack) in horror films. It will reveal how this can imply different meanings, set the mood and control the viewers’ feelings throughout a film, making the director have complete control over the emotional resonance felt in the audience. The case studies which will help me to analyze and support my theory will be “The Exorcist” (1973) and “Psycho” (1960), both of which are widely recognized as classic horror films and contain powerful and shocking sounds and music.