Sequencing composition review and explanation.

For my composition I used a combination of my PRS electric guitar and an acoustic guitar. While utilising slide technique; the composition is in the key of F major7 and is set to 90bpm.

Initial conception of the compostition:

When I first watched the movie scene I immediately believed that whatever I was going to play felt like it had to be slow and it had to be subtle as to not overpower the dialogue. I didn't want to overpower the dialogue, but enhance it. When I began writing the track I had no theory knowledge, so I couldn't explain what chords I was playing at the time. I watched the scene and began playing a few chords until I had the sound I was looking for. The chord I decided on was an F major7, thus setting the key to F major. I settled on this chord because it gives dissonance and created tension, which i felt fit the mood of the actress.

Setting the scene:

I used my PRS to start with, using a clean tone and reverb to give some atmosphere and set the mood. I also used a G major7, then an A major7, ascending first, then descending back to the F major7. The actress recalls her childhood dream to be famous. Through her hard work she has achieved this dream. This is why i ascended to an A major7, to give off consonance and a bittersweet sense of pride. Counteracting this feeling is the descent back down to F major7 while the actress admits she never thought she would feel the way she does, successful and unhappy. During this part I also added some descending slide guitar (using my PRS) to excentuate the dissonance caused by the chords. It is during this part that i added some acoustic slide guitar, following the chords to give another layer to them. I also used the slide acoustic guitar just as

Slight change in mood midway through:

Where the actress changes clothes i felt that the chords needed to change to match. Now as the dialouge is a bit more uplifting, the chords should match. My objective, to enhance her mood and help get across how she feels to the audience. For this scene I use an E major and alternate with an Asus2. She begins to talk about how she chose this life for herself, wanting to be in this profession and wanting to have a succesful career, yet she still isn't truly happy. To start this scene she beings talking of how she got to this point in her life by herself, which she is proud of, so i want to back that up with the E major. As the dialouge becomes a bit more uplifting, the E major gives an uplifting sense to match her pride and joy of living her dream. Now we are back to a feeling of sadness, disappointment and this is why i swap the the Asus2. This chord again creates dissonance, which fits nicely with her conflicting thoughts. I ended on an E minor just as she admits she wants more from life. I felt by letting the E minor ring out, it carries those words on longer, emphasising them to the audience.

Final chord change, adding the minor scale:

The actress steps outside for a cigarette and she is approached by two people, one of whom asks for an autograph; this ends the actress's monologue. Since the composition no longer focuses on her monologue, i shift to match solely her mood and the situation she is in. I began a C# major, and D# major, played very slowly and softly, as i felt they again give consonance. They give an underlying tone of joy. While she is happy that somebody is congratulating her she wishes she wasn't in this situation.

Now while those chords are to represent the happier side, i played a minor scale over the chords. The minor scale happens to be the scale i have the most experiance using as I play a lot of blues music, so i had a good idea what i wanted to accomplish using it.

The minor scale creeps in and out of the audio, playing only a few notes, featuring bends and some vibrato. I made sure to play the bends slowly getting as much emotion out of them as I could. The chords give the feeling of happiness while the minor scale contrasts this with an underlying tone of dissatisfaction.