Task 4 – North By Northwest

Task 4 – Brass

Report

My objective was to create a piece for a scene in the film North by Northwest using brass. I wanted to highlight the tension as he begins to run from the plane 0.05” and use him hitting the ground at 0.13” as a trigger point. I also wanted to highlight hiding in the crops at 0.54” using a slower tempo and quietening the Tuba and finally when the plane heads towards him at 1.10” with smoke pouring out, I wanted to give a sense of immediate danger.
I have used a similar Introduction to Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra to emphasise the build up before he hits the ground.
I have tried to use techniques from John Williams’ music, particularly trying to heighten tension by moving the key up in semitones.
I learnt to adopt a better understanding of how to change tempo and time signature without losing the piece’s momentum.
I have tried to implement my understanding of building a piece up and down through using the orchestra with lots of tempo, velocity and time signature changes. I would give myself about 50% for this because I could have researched into other composers and tried to use alternative techniques for different parts of the composition, as well as using my own ideas.

References

Richard Strauss, (1995). Also Sprach Zarathustra, OP.30, Prelude (Sonnenaufgang) [CD]. London: Decca Records. 2 mins.

John Williams, (2005). The Attack on the Car [CD]. USA: Universal Music Group Recordings. 3 mins.

John Williams, (2008). Ants! [CD]. California: Concord. 4 mins.

Advertisement