Appendix 5; Alternitive takes on the stair scene.

My original plan when it came to the stair scene was to follow the actions of the character with the music. For example, as the character runs up the stairs I would have violins increase in pitch. I spent a lot of time experimenting with this technique but decided to go a more experimental way. I still used this technique as it was a good way to build tension but didn't base the entire piece around this technique.

Appendix 4; Creation of the drones

The main drone was created using a sample instrument of a cello. I used an audio effect rack to create two separate effect chains. One with more effects to create a distorted chorus version of the cello and the other chain just had slight EQ so it would sound more like the real instrument.

Above is an example of what the chain looked like in ableton and below are the effects I used to create the more dramatic distorted version of the cello.

Appendix 3; Staircase Scene

As stated before i wanted to capture the fear and confusion that the character was feeling and took my direct inspiration from the the film Saving Private Ryan. An example of this can be seen starting at 4:25 (Warning scene contains images that may be unsettling)





The Filtered noises and constant humming noise creates dramatic focus on the images that are shown in the scene. The first thing i did was filter the Foley sounds and created a high pitched noise in the background. Later on i decided that i would not filter the breathing and add more bass to the footsteps of the woman to help enhance the thought of the viewer being in her perspective.

Appendix 2; 44.1khz vs 96khz Sample Rate

Below is an example of two shakers recorded at 44.1khz and 96khz.
Both shakers have been pitched down 12 semitones in ableton using the complex pro setting.
As you can tell, the 44.1khz recording has a more crusty high end and sounds worse quality.
This is something i wanted to avoid when recording the piano, although i didn't actually manipulate the audio it was important to record at 96khz as a safety measure.

Appendix 1; Use of music to reflect what is happening on screen.

Here is a short example of Bernard Herrmann using short string stabs to reflect what is happening on screen.