Matthew McConway

In the original version of the opening, almost all of the riot scene is covered by ‘Burnin and Lootin’. I thought I would take a different approach, having only a short section covered by my music, with the rest being synced with foley. This feels necessary, as I wouldn’t want to have the majority of my project be simply music. By redoing this section of the movie as foley, I can incorporate more elements & techniques learned in class. 

I feel  my mix of the riot scenes should reflect what is happening visually. The director uses archival footage of riots in Paris that has a grainy, distorted texture, with quick visual chops between clips. These textures as well as the fast peace of the montage I reflected in my arrangement on mix.

I thought of each clip as its own individual scene. For each clip, I combined my street foley recordings, different impact sounds, and layered vocals, footsteps and other sounds where necessary. Each scene got its own group bus, which had distortion, eq and compression on it. By doing this, I was able to give each clip a different sonic identity and texture, tying the visual and sonic together.

REVERB

For some foley elements, they required some reverb to feel cohesive with the ‘space’ surrounding them. I found this was most noticeable on things such as impacts, voice and footsteps. To solve this, I inserted an instance of Logic’s “space designer” and sought out a small dense reverb, repeatedly testing it on necessary elements in the full mix. Once I had this set up, it was very easy to send all needed elements to the same reverb, further ‘gluing’ the audio together.

For the opening of La Haine, Kassovitz used “Burnin’ and Lootin'” a song by Bob Marley and the Wailers from their 1973 album “Burnin'”. The song captures the social and political unrest of the time, particularly in Jamaica. It addresses themes of oppression, violence, and struggle against injustice. The lyrics depict the frustration and anger felt by marginalized people who are pushed to their limits, facing poverty, discrimination, and brutality. Despite the hardships portrayed, there’s also a sense of resilience and defiance, with Marley urging listeners to stand up against oppression and fight for their rights.

My goal with the this project is not to steer away from Kassovitz’s intentions, rather use his stylistic choices as guidance for my own. To carry this on, I want to use a track that:

-speaks on themes of social/racial injustice.

-is stylistically mellow.

-has cultural importance.

After listening and looking into different tracks, I narrowed it down to 3.

-Il est cinq heures, Paris s’éveille – Jacques Dutronc

-Respiration – Blackstar (feat. Common)

-People Get Ready – The impressions

The Jacques Dutronc track was not really fitting in terms of its theme, but I wanted to see what it sounded like over the opening scene, as I thought it could be interesting to have the heavily repetitive rhythm and French lyrics over the riot scene.

I chose Respiration because of its strong message, that mirrored that of Marley’s quite well. They discuss themes such as poverty, violence, and the struggle for survival in a harsh environment. The track also aligns with the rest of the music in La Haine, and could fit nicely into the Banlieu environment, when the song is projected into the blocks through a speaker.

The final option, from the impressions, ticks all three of the boxes I had mentioned before. The song tackles themes of racial and social injustice, in a crucial time of empowerment in the USA. The song was dubbed ‘the unofficial anthem of the civil rights movement’ by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The laid back song conveys a message of hope and the importance of spiritual readiness, which I found when played over the riot scene, exhibited a beautiful juxtaposition, mirroring the use of contrapuntal sound used by Kassovitz.

The impressions it is!

Today I decided to have a session on honing in my explosions and impacts. After watching many sound design youtube tutorials, I devised my own method in which to create an explosion.

First, I needed an impact. I had many of these from my first foley session. I added an equaliser to add pronounce the low end more, and rolled off a bit of the highs. I didn’t add any distortion at this point, as this is going to be added when all the elements come together. 

Next I need the ‘fizzle’ part of the explosion. To do this, I generated some white noise using the Vital plugin. To this white noise, I added a modulated delay, a flanger and some reverb, to create variation in the sound. I then bounced a version of this sound (around 15 seconds.) so I could use different seconds, for different variations of an explosion.

Finally I got some recordings of the bucket full of different materials, to layer in to the final sound.

The initial sound is of course the ‘impact’ recording, which is then followed by the white noise and the ‘shattering’ of the bucket recordings. Using different levels, and different lengths of volume fades, I was able to create multiple different versions of an explosion sound. These were sounds were then individually compressed, distorted and equalised, before being sent to a reverb.

Doing this before hand, made the task of arranging and mixing much simpler, as I had these prepacked sounds.

Today I went around different areas of south London, trying to record the sounds of the street. I was looking for a variation of sounds. To include, quiet street ambience, loud traffic, a couple variations on sirens, and a strong rumble/hum of the city. These sounds will be used in short bursts in the final edit, so having different variations to give the illusion of change is important.

I found that just sitting still in a spot and paying attention the sounds around me for a prolonged period of time worked best, because recordings in which I am on the move created too much unwanted noise on my end. 

I recorded my way from Peckham to Elephant and Castle today. Finishing off with another little foley session. Today I got some ‘marker squeaking’ sounds, which was surprisingly a lot more difficult than I first though (the markers just did not want to squeak at all for some reason) but after lots of trial and error, I got some sounds that I think will do the trick. I also attempted to get some glass smashing sounds, but this proved difficult too. I will see what I can do with layering and manipulating the sounds, but I think I may have to use some library sounds for big glass smashes.

The intricate interplay between sound and image in the opening scenes of  La Haineis fascinating, isn’t it? Kassovitz’s deliberate use of sound not only sets the tone but also constructs layers of meaning that resonate throughout the film. The juxtaposition of silence with Hubert’s acousmatic voiceover creates a stark contrast that immediately grabs the audience’s attention. This technique not only draws viewers into the narrative but also highlights the thematic significance of sound in the film.

The choice of Bob Marley’s “Burnin’ and Lootin'” adds another dimension to the scene. While the song complements the visual imagery by addressing themes of police brutality and social unrest, its reggae rhythm creates an interesting juxtaposition with the on-screen violence. This tension between the music and the imagery enhances the complexity of the scene, inviting viewers to reflect on the underlying social and political issues depicted in the film.

Furthermore, the use of diegetic and nondiegetic sound sources, such as the ticking clock and the distant sound of the helicopter, adds depth to the auditory experience. By immersing viewers in the soundscape of the banlieue, Kassovitz creates a sense of realism that enhances the film’s impact.

The closing sequence, with Hubert’s voiceover and the ticking clock resembling a ticking bomb, is particularly powerful. The absence of visual imagery allows the audience to focus solely on the auditory elements, intensifying the emotional resonance of Hubert’s words. This convergence of sound and silence underscores the film’s central themes of violence, alienation, and the search for identity.

Theoretical discussions around the role of music in cinema often revolve around its integration into the film’s narrative world. While historically, music was considered an add-on to the visual, recent perspectives challenge this view. Claudia Gorbman highlights that music in film always carries meaning, much like poetry. It can transcend its narrative context, blurring boundaries between diegetic and nondiegetic realms.

This blurring of boundaries generates narrative tensions, creating what Robynn Stilwell calls a “fantastical gap” between diegetic and nondiegetic music. These moments of overlap or confusion are deliberate narrative tools, aimed at engaging the audience emotionally and symbolically.

Jeff Smith adds to this discourse by focusing on the relationship between diegetic music and narrative space. He introduces the concept of metadiegetic music, which straddles the boundary between diegetic and nondiegetic, enhancing the film’s communicativeness.

Michel Chion’s concept of the acousmêtre, particularly the voice, further complicates this discussion. The acousmêtre possesses magical qualities and can exist both inside and outside the film’s image, blurring distinctions between diegetic and nondiegetic sound.

The corporeality of sound, emphasized by theorists like Gilles Deleuze and Rick Altman, underscores the physical nature of sound production. Sound disrupts surrounding matter, suggesting its materiality. This materiality extends to the aural body of film, which interacts with diegetic and extradiegetic spaces.

In the context of “La Haine,” the DJ Cut Killer scene exemplifies these theoretical concepts. The DJ’s visible and aural presence extends into both diegetic and extradiegetic realms, creating a palpable impact on the audience. The physicality of sound, depicted through the DJ’s hands manipulating turntables, underscores the corporeal nature of music production. This scene exemplifies the dynamic interplay between music, narrative space, and audience engagement in cinema.

I have booked foley room today to collect some sounds. I have a list of sounds that I think I will need. I am going in with the ethos found in the pinewood studio, that gathering more than necessary to provide myself with more ‘ammunition’ in the mix, is the way to go.

Because I am redoing the sound to the opening scenes of La Haine, the majority of the sounds I will need to gather today are impacts, footsteps, fabric rustles and misc. shouting and screaming etc.

I chose to use a Zoom H5 to record sounds today, as it is an easy way to get great quality, stereo recordings. I know I could use better mics/preamps, but I will be distorting and filtering the sounds heavily in the mix, to fit the archival footage it will be on top of.

I had great fun recording! It was a fantastic way to allow my imagine to be flexible and try to create the necessary sounds out of the objects at hand.

I got different raw impact sounds by dropping different objects of different materials onto carpet and stone. These included; a mop bucket (sometimes filled with stone, glass and other metal objects), wooden planks, bricks, water bottles and any other object I could find.

To recreate the sound of fire, I recorded the rustling of some tape, some plastic bags, and some bubble wrap. I felt the bubble wrap had a nice low end to it that can definitively add to the realism of a fire sound. I think these could all be layered quite well in the mix.

Footsteps were quite simple to record, as I had 2 different pairs of shoes with me. I used the stone flooring in the foley room and stepped, jumped and shuffled around for a few minutes to get loads of variations. I will then chop and sync these later.

Finally today, I recorded a plethora of different screams and shouts. I put the H5 to one side of the room, and shouted and screamed in a French sounding accent using different pitches and tones of voice, for around 7 minutes. I am not too concerned about discernability of these noises as they will be heavily affected in the mix.

I still have quite a bit of field recording to do, and a few more foley sounds, but these can be done over this week!

-Sound of fire

-Various different street sounds (loud & quiet)

-Sirens

-Various different types of footsteeps

-Fabric Rustles

-Impacts

-Explosions

-Glass Smashing

-Impact for car rolling over

-Dog Bark

-Marker squeak

-Clock Tick

-Breath In

-Swishing sounds for camera movements

-Synthesised zoom down

-Distorted unintelligible shouts and screams