Creating a Sound Palette for Short Film "The Warmest Weather"

 Anna Mengani, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Music Technology with minors in Spanish and Psychology 

 

The capstone film-scoring project I worked on had a-lot to do with perspective. When first coming up with the sound palette for the short film: “The Warmest Weather,” I re-watched the short film multiple times in order to really take in the story.

The story began with a girl who was lost, clearly stranded, and going through a difficult situation. Suddenly, a man appeared. He seemed to want to help, but there was a sense of some underlying motives. Why did he invite her to his home only a few minutes after finding her on the street? Most people would not invite a stranger into their home, let alone accept an offer to go into a stranger’s home. Was it because he appeared friendly and harmless that it was deemed okay? Did he take advantage of a women in a bad situation? There were a ton of questions that could be asked only a few minutes into the short film, but they were huge questions for me going into the project. I needed to compose music that amplified my interpretation of the story, and the character’s perspectives.

Further into the short film, there were scenes that depicted body dysmorphia from the lead female character Rachel, from the scratching of her neck, discomfort looking in the mirror, excessive exercising, and more symbolisms. Many of the topics explored were in the perspective of the Rachel, so I decided to score that way.

The music had underlying feelings of loneliness, confusion, frustration, and emptiness, but lingering hope in some scenes with sparkling effects. In order to advance the sound palette, I referred to media with similar concepts such as In the Earth, The Neon Demon, and Blood Machines. Many of the sounds I loved using were drones, synthesizers, and anything mechanical or hollow sounding.

The creative process took a lot of dissecting scene-by-scene, focusing on mood, intentions, and realistically putting myself mentally in the shoes of Rachel to take the most accurate approach of how I would feel or think in her situation. I was able to jot down and brainstorm about many aspects of the project, and most of all I had fun coming up with ideas for how certain scenes should sound and which sounds would go with that character. The capstone experience allowed me to utilize my knowledge of cinema/media and expand on my production skills as a music technology student. It also allowed me to be creative and go outside of my comfort zone as a musician.