This is an edited version of STUCK by Ali Doruk Zengin. It is here used with the author's permission, solely as an academic exercise in which the original soundtrack has been replaced by my own composition.

The main objective of this project is to deeply analyse the themes and aesthetics of the film in order to deliver a truly original and customised soundtrack that doesn’t reference anything else. A secondary objective is to work against the tendency to overdo and experience with minimalism.
There are two opposing forces in the film. The positive one would be ambition and the will to be recognised as a great author, and the negative one would be lack of confidence and the total disbelief that success is possible.
There is a very important factor in play with those two forces: loneliness. When the character is lonely, the lack of confidence is at its peak, when the character is surrounded by affection, then it gives him motivation.
The way Depression is depicted is an important part of the aesthetics of the film. Depression is an old grumpy office man, working on a desk, surrounded by folders, using a microphone to torment the hero. Sound design follows the visual aesthetics, so sounds are office sounds from the 90s. Printer, scanner, paper, cathodic screen, clipboard, pen, neon clicking and buzzing sounds cripple in every time the lack of confident surfaces in addition to music. As opposed to ambition which in the film is not portrayed in a different way than reality, therefore ambition is evoked without additional extra-diegetic sounds.
In terms of music, in the instrumentation subcategory, it makes sense to use analogue synthesisers because of the cultural link between the 90s period and those type of synthesisers. The fact that the music doesn’t go away from those tools transposes the idea that Depression is always present, and it also calls the inevitable suicide at the end of the film.
Pace, tempo and rhythm depend entirely on the action, the movement, the activity and the energy of the scene.
Harmonically, the part where the hero is stuck uses only one chord or alternate between two chords in a never-ending cycle. They are complex chords of anxiety mixed with remorse and sometimes with anger, but also with a touch of comfort which is from where laziness develops. They are dissonant but they also feel like home.
The part where ambition and affection take over uses different opening chords, with purpose and tenderness, but they are also loaded with a touch of doubt because doubt never completely goes away.
Sound textures are sharp and distorted when anger or total disarray comes in. When the lack of confidence is winning, textures are crackling, weak, cold, slightly out of tune, like they try to come out clean but can’t find a way. When the positive force takes the lead, textures are warmer, more inviting, bigger, and also more purposeful but still a bit unstable. Ambiences and voices in real life are not mixed differently, making a frank contrast with Depression’s reality where they are slightly distorted and boosted in the high frequencies.
The minimalism is conveyed through all those numerous but limited tools. They don’t expand further than needed and are detailed enough to deliver a rich soundtrack nonetheless.
All those points draw how the soundtrack is truly original and would only work on this particular film.

This is an excerpt of "No Country for Old Men", by Joel and Ethan Coen. It is here used without the authors’ permission, solely as an academic exercise in which music has been added to the original soundtrack.

The personal objective of this project is to perfect my aesthetic by using knowledge acquired in class.
The music does not present a recognisable harmonic theme or melody, it focuses on ambience, rhythm and timbre. Without counting octaves, there are only 4 different notes used in the whole work, accompanied by microtonal explorations. This harmonic sparsity avoids commanding the audience in an epic nor sentimental interpretation, but guide them into the reality of the picture. The microtones also build the tension greatly.
The distorted synthesisers come from personal preferences, however, they are congruent with the violent mood as well as the timbre of the diegetic sounds. They also allow a homogeneous genre throughout the sequence. The sense of unpredictable continuity is brought by the rhythmic composition, using an identifiable motive and contextualising it with gliders and variations.
Three different moments stand out in the sequence by their mood, pace and density. It starts with a stealth scene before the chase begins with a first part on the ground with the car, then an even denser second part in the water with the dog. The music accompanies those motions by densifying the instrumentation, the rhythmic patterns and the frequency spectrum, it also provides the missing tension in the visuals of the dog chase.
Cues have been highlighted for the audience to follow the perspective of the protagonist. In the stealth scene, diegetic sounds are governing the soundtrack in order to the audience to be alert. When danger becomes more and more apparent, the music slowly takes over until the audience is totally immersed in the dread of the protagonist.
Diegetic sounds melt into the music by being highlighted and punctuated by musical elements, by leaving a place for the music when it takes over, and by how musical instruments tend to imitate their timbre.
All those points draw why the soundtrack manages to achieve my personal objective.

This is an edited version of a "Dirty Bomb" trailer, by Splash Damage. It is here used without the author's permission, solely as an academic exercise in which the original soundtrack has been replaced by my own sound design with an edited version of "High Ball Stepper", by Jack White.

This is an edited version of "Intruders", by Matteo Giacchella. It is here used without the author's permission, solely as an academic exercise in which the original soundtrack has been replaced by my own composition.

This project presents a willingness to extend my scope of skills by making a modern soundscape, getting rid of the heavy sentimental luggage of traditional music and working in a more suggestive and discrete manner. It starts with a refusal of musical instruments and sample libraries, focusing on field recording, with a complete freedom in sound modification.
The main challenge is to anchors a sensitive reality and a subtle emotional depth to the visuals through sounds, exploring different audio-visual concepts. The intention for the emotional part of the video is to give a sense of dangerous mystery. The first element to connote the intention is the dialog between the added characters. It also defines a point of audition and extends the diegetic.
The foundation of the feeling of sensitive reality comes through quality, texture, and space. The dusty, old, rusty visual material is translated with re-amplificated, distorted, mixed with dry sounds from rubbed little stones, dirt, towels, with added white noise and vinyl crackling warmth. Appart from certain breaks of reality, most of the reverberations anchors the visual-acoustic space.
All events on screen have their own associated sound. Certain causal sounds anticipate or expand further than their expected length, and/or launch unreal effects, always either to interlink visual parameters or to connote emotions. It allows a semantic approach of those sounds and explores the boundaries between diegetic and non-diegetic.
Towards the end of the video, we can hear loud train sounds which come in opposition to the still frame but emphasize the sped up shots, connoting a false calmness and a rapidly approaching danger.
At some moments, there are a lot of sounds which fill the depth of all previously presented concepts. Those moments of density are used as tools for a contrast between loudness and silence, as they often end abruptly. It allows the structure to be well defined.