Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 |
Position: Sound Designer
Location: Indian Hill High School Date: Fall 2015 |
Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 (MCM) was my first real experience at sound designing a play through music. After doing some listening, I came up with a few sounds and melodic ideas I liked. I then created a few motives and motifs that would be used to represent different ideas or characters throughout the play. Posted below is the opening scene where the musical ideas are first connected to the plot. This show also requires a lot of foley effects such as winds, voice overs, doors moving, and of course the radio which is heavily used throughout the show. To localize the sounds, speakers were positioned around the set (near each entrance), at the back of the audience, and behind the prop radio. Also, some lighting effects were triggered from Qlab to perfectly align some moments such as Helsa's "flashback" moment in Act 2.
Opening Scene
Audio Samples |
The opening of the play (Part 1) begins with Helsa (the maid) walking into a dimly lit room during a snow storm. Suddenly, a voice calls out "Helsa you forgot the sugar." This voice then modulates and bounces around the theater before finally being heard behind a curtain. Helsa walks toward the curtain and a masked figure jumps out and stabs her (Part 2). Here, the stabs are represented in an Alfred Hitchcock style before going into a dark but playful composition. Even though the show is rather dark, the director wanted to keep it a light-hearted comedy.
It is also worth noting that many of these themes come back throughout the play. Most notably, the staccato melody heard in Part 1 is used to accompany the "masked man" throughout the play. |
| ||||||