The Advantages of Using Bird Chatter Instead of Musical Soundtracks in Movies

Hollywood producers are always looking to find new, innovative ways to create a hit movie. Some movie producers have gone as far as putting talking dogs into their films to try to make them successful, but many overlook the power of music.

One technique that a lot of Hollywood producers haven't tried yet is to use bird calls as the soundtrack of their movie.

There are many advantages to replacing the soundtrack of your movie with bird calls, but this short essay will detail a few of the most obvious ones:

Financial

According to David Bell, author of "Getting The Best Score For Your Film," a high budget feature film can cost up to $400,000 plus a $200,000 to $400,000 composer fee. That is an awful lot of money to spend on music.

When your movie is about a haunted house for example, it would make a lot of sense to invest money into bone-chilling and spooky music because that can play a big role in giving the audience they haunt they paid for, but for movies where music is less important, it might be smart to consider using bird calls to fill the dead air.

When dealing with a medium-budget film, you could decide to use bird calls instead of music and re-allocate your funds to another part of the production because you don't need to pay a bird for the music they produce.

Legal

Under U.S. law, in order to use a song in a movie you must acquire a Synchronization License from the publisher to use the song in synchronization with the video and a Master Use License from the record label to reproduce the song in your film.

The advantage of using bird chatter in your film instead of music is that you can circumvent the acquisition of these music licenses because birds won't sue you unless a human lawyer is representing them.

The chances of a human lawyer representing a bird in court are extremely low and there have been no known cases in the history of film of somebody being sued for using bird calls instead of music.

Nostalgia

Other than scent, which is known to be the human sense most strongly linked with nostalgia, hearing might be the next. In terms of hearing, here is nothing more nostalgic than hearing a bird you remember from your childhood. That memory can be very therapeutic for people and very enjoyable for others. These emotions can add to the overall enjoyment of a film.


All in all, replacing your soundtrack with bird chatter should not be overlooked by mainstream Hollywood.

13 Going on 30

13 Going on 30 (known as Suddenly 30 in Australia and some countries) is a 2004 American romantic comedy fantasy film (hybrid film)  written by Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, and directed by Gary Winick. Starring Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, Judy Greer, Andy Serkis and Kathy Baker, the film was produced by Revolution Studios for Columbia Pictures and it was released on April 23, 2004. It follows a 13-year-old girl who dreams of being popular. During her birthday party, she engages in the party game Seven Minutes in Heaven. The game turns out to be a humiliating experience for her, and she refuses to come out of the closet. She even blames it on her best friend Matt (Matty) and doesn't talk to him anymore afterwards.  When she eventually does emerge, she finds herself five days shy of her 30th birthday, uncertain to how she got there.

The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with most praising Garner's performance and its nostalgic environment. It was also praised for its humorous plot and self-empowerment message. The movie was also a commercial success, earning $22 million in its first week, and grossing over $96 million, becoming one of the year's biggest DVD rentals and sellers. The movie's soundtrack features songs spanning the 80's to the 2000s, with a range of hits from famous recording artists such as Billy Joel, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Pat Benatar and Whitney Houston. Additionally, the soundtrack charted inside the top-fifty on the Billboard 200 chart. Jennifer Garner's acting earned her nominations from both MTV Movie Awards and Teen Choice Awards, and the movie was also re-released in DVD in 2006 with a special packaging titled "Fun and Flirty Edition", and on Blu-Ray in 2009.

A girl who's sick of the social strictures of junior high is transformed into a grownup overnight because of a wish she made to be thirty, flirty, and thriving. In this feel-good fairy tale, teenager Jenna (Christa B. Allen) wants a boyfriend, and when she's unable to find one, she fantasizes about being a well-adjusted adult. She has always wanted to be popular, accepted, to be and look like the other girls, and all in all just grow up already! Suddenly, her secret desire becomes a reality, and she is transformed into a 30-year-old (Jennifer Garner). But adulthood, with its own set of male-female challenges, isn't as easy as it looks.  She works as a magazine head at the company, Poise, who has been getting sabotaged by the magazine, Sparkle, for a long time.  She finds that she is in love with Matty, makes a new face for the magazine, and has a wonderful time.  It all crashes when Lucy stabs her in the back and sells her prints to the rival magazine, Sparkle. In the end, she is transformed back to her 13 year old self, and happily marries Matty when they get older.

This is such a feel good, fun movie to watch!  It could be considered a chick-flick, but I think that it's a nice movie to watch if you want a laugh.  It teaches you to enjoy life and don't try to rush it!

The Hidden Magic: Music

Over the last week, my health has gotten worse. I hate to say it, but I think I am one of the lucky ones who caught the viral infection that is sneaking its way across campus. The wonderful thing about being sick though, is that my time for watching movies and TV shows has almost doubled. Inevitably, during my many viewings I would start to dose off. I may have been half conscious, but I could always tell what was going on in the films and shows, not based on what I could see, but on what I could hear.

I don't only mean the dialogue or the recorded sound effects, although those are obviously very important. No, I'm talking about the power of music. Think about your favorite movie, or your favorite scene. Now try to imagine that scene without the background music. Isn't that a strange thought? It is something that is almost always overlooked, yet without it, the context of the movie doesn't seem quite complete. 

Now, I danced for about nine years and I played piano for about five years. I love music. I think everyone does, but what I loved about music was how, when I was dancing or even playing piano, I was able to feel the music inside me and move me in a way that let me express the heart of the song. Something about music hits us in our core and allows us to feel emotions. Who would have thought that combining sounds, raising or lowering the levels, and tempo would allow us to feel so much? With music, we are giving almost a sixth sense, or a 4D quality to our visual or movie experience. I believe it is because we can relate to what is happening through the notes. We all have some kind of device that we use to listen to music. When do you listen to music? In the car? In the morning as you are getting ready? Walking to class? When you are doing homework? Music has become such a part of our lives that it is easily overlooked. Sometimes we even hear soundtracks to our own lives. So, if music is such a huge part of our everyday life, it only makes sense that it should also be present in the movies and shows we watch. 

Last week I wrote about Lord of the Rings, and I will use it as an example again. The music in that film is astounding. It was written in such a way that it literally brings you into Middle Earth and traps you there with its interweaving melodies and harmonies. Other movies like Avatar, Narnia, Harry Potter, and The Hunger Games have similar qualities. Movies and shows that take place in our world and our times have more modern music performed by modern artists that fits the film genre. This extends even to books. I have read several commentaries from modern authors about the music that inspired their stories. When I sit down to write my own story I'm always playing some kind of celtic or other instrumental music that helps me to see or create the story that I am writing. 

Music is a part of the world, from the birds in the trees to the notes playing through your headphones. The next time you watch a movie or show, listen for the underlying music or film score. Sometimes that music can tell a story all on its own. 

~ Amber Capogrossi

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Now, I'm not just another college girl who plasters her walls with Audrey Hepburn posters just because (though I do have one). I'm actually a true fan of the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. I probably watch it at least once a month, it's one of those movies that no matter how many times I watch it, something about it just hits me right every time.

I think this has to do with director Blake Edwards's attention to detail. In almost every scene, there is so much going on, and so much to look at. A perfect example of this is the party scene.

While the scene is a little ridiculous, it also holds true with real parties. You can wander from group to group and there is always something different going on in each one. In most movies with party scenes all you get is a few shots of people drinking and dancing. Blake Edwards actually shows you the party and what's going on, and not just with the main characters. It makes you feel like you're actually there.

There are so many things I love about this movie (the story, the sets, the costumes, and especially the characters), but since we talked about how important music is when considering your project I thought I'd talked about Breakfast at Tiffany's theme song, "Moon River".

"Moon River" was composed and written specifically for Breakfast at Tiffany's. Personally, I think it's one of the most romantic songs of all time. It's been covered by countless musicians and artists and used in TV and movies alike to help convey deeply romantic tones (Sex in the City, Gilmore Girls, Angels in America).

Funny thing is, Breakfast at Tiffany's is not really a romantic movie. Sure, Holly and Paul end up together in the end, but that's not how Truman Capote, the author of novella on which the movie was based on, intended the story to go. In fact, in the Breakfast at Tiffany's novella there is no romantic story line between Holly and Paul's characters at all. The more important story line is about how Holly is a naive-dreamer and where that takes her and Paul throughout the story.

Without the song "Moon River", I think Breakfast at Tiffany's would be a very different movie. The song opens the movie, and Holly sings it while sitting on her fire escape. I believe that it takes her character from just the naive-dreamer to also someone who is a romanic, and who dreams of love and companionship. It sets ups the love story for her and Paul which otherwise might seem unbelievable for Holly's character. The song is romantic, sad, and poignant, but also hopeful and uplifting. These are all of the things that Holly Golightly is, and have made her such an iconic character.

Sound

Below is a video that explores how the movie Inception went about creating its sound.

After the binaural sound post I found myself searching for more on just creating sound for video and stumbled upon the above video. Inception is one of my favorite recent movies and a large part of that the sound is responsible for. I think its amazing the level of detail the sound team went into when creating the movie. In the video they mention how they tried to gather as much real world sound as possible and I think this is important and really makes a difference in your final work. Although databases pre-recorded sounds are extremely helpful, especially to those without the resources, I think that getting real world sound when possible should be a priority. The most important thing I think one should come away from this video with is that sound in general is extremely important and paying close attention to it can be rewarding.