Pre-Production - Alice Soundtrack (09/02/17)

In this post I will be discussing the soundtrack for Alice. Upon initially coming up with the idea for Alice, I knew from the start I wanted to use soundtrack to full advantage. A soundtrack can impact a film so much and elevate it to new heights. This has always been my experience with my favourite films which have inspired the creative process in Alice so much. I decided it would be the best bet to get in contact with one of my friends Liam, who is also a DJ, to see if he could meet my demands in creating an original soundtrack for the film. Upon our first chat he sent me over a sample based on the idea I'd given him of this dark and ultra-violent world which Alice lives in. He came back to me with a synth and bass heavy sample which I loved. Liam agreed to be part of the project as the soundtrack composer. Right now I'm waiting for him to get back to me with some additional samples which I'll then listen to and figure out if they can be used within a scene etc. I'm very excited to see what Liam gets back to me with and I'm confident I can work with him over the coming months to craft something unique and fitting for the film. 

As far as influence goes, I sent Liam some examples of what I was ideally looking for. I'm a huge fan of 80s inspired, dark synth soundtracks which have resurfaced over the past few years. A lot of films are now heavy on the whole 80s nostalgia soundtracks which pay homage to the era. Some examples are; Stranger Things, Drive, The Guest and It Follows. One of my main goals in Alice is to pay homage to the opening credits of 'Drive' which is one of my all time favourite films which inspires me endlessly. I aim to have an opening credit sequence between the second and third scene which shows Alice amidst the nightlife of a city, going about her shady business. The sequence will feature a very synth-esque bass heavy soundtrack that booms alongside the neon imagery. Below I have included the opening credit sequence from Drive as a reference point. 

Whilst I'm incredibly keen on the intent of bringing in someone qualified enough to create an original soundtrack, I've stumbled across some royalty free gems. As a student it goes without saying that we try to make the best use of royalty free soundtracks to avoid copyright. 90% of the time it is simply terrible and there's no denying that. With respect to the artists, there's obviously a reason and an element of justified polarisation between quality artists who would charge thousands to use their music, opposed to crediting them to use it for free. Despite this, in my experience you can find some hidden gems from unknown and undiscovered artists who will let you use it for some credit and recognition. I recently came across an artist named 'HOME' on YouTube. One of their videos is extremely popular and viral, reaching almost 10 million views. This is copyrighted, but upon searching their channel I found that they knock out some fantastic stuff weekly. They make a lot of synth wave stuff, some of which is crap, and some of which is fantastic. The vast majority of it is copyright free I found upon enquiring. As I was listening to some tracks I found it so easy to imagine them playing over some of the imagery in the film. So in this sense, even if Liam does deliver with an amazing soundtrack, I have backup stuff I can use for free. Not having to spend anything on a soundtrack at all (without the quality of said soundtrack suffering) gives us a bigger budget for production. All the artist asks for is crediting in the film or whatever creative piece is being used with the music. 

Below is a track from the artist 'HOME' which I may find myself using. I see this as a fantastic piece of music to use for the opening sequence. It is very similar to Kavinskys 'Nightcall' which is used in the drive opening credits I referenced earlier in this post. When the bass builds up and kicks in within the song I can really picture in my head what I want and it's very exciting!