Hyundai - Real Fans First Project
The Hyundai UK film ‘Real Fans First: Willaston White star FC’ was a short documentary branded piece that I had the pleasure to compose, mix and master. The Director of the film, Luke Davis, sent me a rough cut of the film with a temp track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ3ECus44B8. At this point the sound designer hadn’t started working on the film so no vocal over dubs or SFX had been added so I had to be careful with what I was doing to make sure the track would sit nicely under the dialogue. I listened to the temp track along side the visuals until I felt comfortable with the pacing and structure of the film. I didn’t want to dive into composing straight away but to wait until l had established the tempo and feel of the different cues and had a full understanding of what Luke was looking for and what the music should achieve.
I like to compose alongside the visual, I generally loop a section that has a similar mood/ feeling and start working on the music this gives me more control over how well I can sync the music with the visuals and dialogue.
film split up into three main sections:
- 1st - Which entailed introducing all the people involved in the football club telling their story and what they do.
- 2nd - The issues they have had to deal with.
- 3rd - The good news that they’ve received funding from Hyundai and what they will be able to do with it.
So with that in mind I came up with 3 different pieces of thematic material conveying different moods and emotions. Although the sections are different emotionally I wanted that sense of continuity between them all. I achieved this through instrumental choice, I recorded piano and acoustic guitar and used these on all three sections.
1st section ‘0:00 - 1:50’ This worked as an introduction to the team. I wanted the music to have a solid grounding and drive but not to be over powering to avoid interfering with the dialogue. I tried to create a sense of momentum so as the music lifts so does the spirit of the football team.
2nd section ‘1:50 - 2:27’ I needed to change the feel to something a little more ambiguous and minor to underscore the issues the team were going through. The key was not to over emphasise the negative feeling of the scene as this might come across to emotional when really the point of the film is to send a positive message. I recorded a piano motif with chords and reversed it to create an obscure but subtle change in feel from the other sections, to represent a flip/ reversal in the atmosphere.
3rd section ‘2:40 - 4:15’ I composed an ostinato pattern that repeats throughout whilst other parts are gradually brought in to the mix, the aim was to achieve a sense of momentum, a feeling of moving forwards, as it builds to a climax. The shimmering plucked guitar parts separately spread left to right really enhance the bright texture. Luke didn’t want the music to build too much to avoid the risk of the mix becoming too chaotic so I kept it relatively light and open to avoid a messy, muddy mix. Along with that I used EQ and instruments that wouldn’t overpower and mask the clarity of the Dialogue. Keeping the mix clean and clear was important, I went relatively minimal on FX like reverb and delay, just using enough to sit everything naturally in the mix.
This is the first time percussion is introduced I used a short sharp clap snare that cut through easily and 808 kick just to add a slight electronic element, helping push towards a more contemporary sound.