Carrie the Salem Witch and Her Blazing Score

"Musical Score: A written form of a musical composition." (vocabulary.com)

Music is what gives a creator the ability to tell a story without saying a word. Much like dancing or art, it's a form of expression, utilized to explain an emotion or make a statement. In films, music works with shots, angles, and editing to develop tone, whether the tone is dark and minor or light and major.

I must admit that I am still not completely settled with what I wish to include in my opening. I have a few ideas that have nestled into different sections of my emotional heart and logical brain and the two don't appear to be ready to give up either argument quite yet. Until then, I've decided it would be best to find the exact style and tone I aspire to convey.

Maybe it's just because the album art is features a bright red background with a shadow of a girl surrounded by glowing orange flames, but one of the first concepts I jumped to is the tone established by "Carrie: The Musical." While many of the songs feature uptempo bops ("The World According to Chris," "A Night We'll Never Forget") or innocent ballads ("Dreamer In Disguise," "Once You See, "Unsuspecting Hearts"), I hope to combined the anguish established by "Carrie" and "In" with the powerful horror in "The Destruction." Actually, now that I think about it, Carrie could be considered a witch because of her powers. On top of that, she and her mother spend a great deal of time in church. In fact, in the opening number "In," Carrie is teased because of her conservative garments... interesting. While it may sound completely out of place without listening to many of the other songs in the show, "The Destruction" highlights both the female lead's fear, rage, and destruction, all the while making allusions to what has brought her to this point in time with the familiar lyrics and melodies while an ominous chorus creates a demonic rendition of the song "Evening Prayers," in which we are introduced to the church that Carrie attends with beautiful choir harmonies, the demonic imbalance in "The Destruction" alluding to how Carrie is about to destroy any purity or right to go to the church she spent so much time in at the beginning of the show.

In the song "Carrie," the audience get its first true insight into inside of the lead female's head as she describes how awful it feels to be taunted by these people at her school and how she wishes they would leave her alone. There is a specific set of lyrics that come to mind with this song,

"Sometimes their hatred is out of control, God how they hurt me. Mama says suffering is good for the soul, but they hurt me. And if I could, I’d bring them all, Down to their knees! I’d make them sorry forever for teasing Carrie, Carrie, Carrie!"

Within a few sentences, one can understand precisely what Carrie is going through. She feels isolated and confused, unsure whether to place blame on her classmates, "their hatred is out of control," or to find deeper religious meaning behind their treatment, "Mama says suffering is good for the soul." Much like the Puritans, Carrie is searching for a sign, a sign that tells her what her purpose is or if she is experiencing all of this pain for a reason. After that, she posits that "[she'll] bring them all down to their knees," which foreshadows how the story ends. Despite that, she is currently unaware of her abilities. Therefore, one may ponder, how is one girl planning to bring people to their knees? Are these people begging for forgiveness or bowing in respect? Some food for thought.

Upon looking over both the 1976 and 2013 trailer for the movie version of "Carrie," I realized two things: 1) I don't want this to be a horror film as I believe they often don't get a true message across and 2) I have absolutely no idea how I'd be able to produce special effects like the ones shown in either version without extensive planning, wiring, and a proper fishing hook (which I unfortunately do not own). While I could hypothetically borrow these materials from a friend or create a new way to illustrate such effects, these trailers made it certain that I do not hope to make them prominent features in my film opening. If performed improperly they prove silly, ineffective, and unprofessional, something that I aspire to steer clear of with my film.

There are however a series of things from those trailers that I plan to use as inspiration for my film opening. In the 1976 trailer, there is a motif of rapid high pitched strings utilized as stings whenever Carrie showcases her abilities. For instance, at 0:20, Carrie is shown from a close up low angle, alluding to her hidden powers while illuminating what causes the appearance of her abilities, her emotions. After she is called the wrong name, her frustration is evident with the close up angle, her face changing from distraught to complete hurt the shot quickly cutting to an overhead of an ashtray for less than a second before the motif is heard once more and the shot opens to show the tray flipping over in mid, a woman in the left third shocked by the movement but evidently not the focus as the ashtray's transition was closer to the center. This confirms the focus of the movie to be around Carrie's abilities, the reaction of the people around her falling flat in drawing attention regardless of the fact that those in the background are the ones who standby and let this happen. I am not yet certain of how my opening will appear but I assure you that should I elect to highlight the influence of the bystander effect, inspiration will be taken from this piece.

In the beginning of the 2013 trailer, one can hear Carrie's religious mother as she sings a tune, screams heard underneath her gentle voice. This appears between 0:13 and 0:26, the dim shots and lengthiness imparting anxiety. While I don't aspire to do this with my film with the hopes of generating anxiety, I believe illustrating how those who were accused's innocent pleas were often ignored or unheard, Carrie's desperate screams contrasting with her mother's lovely tune to highlight both how she is viewed as "demonic" (like those who were convicted) as well as how those who didn't fit in with the system established by the Puritans, symbolized by Carrie's mother in this comparison, were locked away in order to preserve the appearance they hoped to keep up.

One of the things I aspire to highlight with my film is the fact that there were no instruments in Puritan society. When researching information for my previous post I quoted this PBS article but neglected to share this piece of information,

"Their church services were simple. The organ and all musical instruments were forbidden. Puritans sang pslams a cappella."

Yeah. So, should I elect to start by highlighting a witch, expect a symphony under their voice and with every line they state, those against them with little to nothing and no underscoring for their lines.

With the guidance of some of my personal favorite composers, Pasek and Paul, Alan Menken, Drew Gasparini, Ryan Scott Oliver, and more, I aspire to find the beauty in the songs they've created that highlight chaos and madness (Mr. Gasparini & Scott Oliver, I'm looking at you) and develop my own distinct sound with their guidance. In my upcoming blog posts I'll be sharing some of my first scoring drafts, so stay tuned!

• Carrie (Molly Ranson) from "Carrie"
• Circus (Lindsay Mendez) from "I Could Use a Drink"
• Dreamer In Disguise (Derek Klena) from "Carrie"
• The Ballad of Sara Berry from "35mm: A Musical Exhibition"

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J. (2013, April 04). Carrie - Official Trailer #1 (HD) Chloe Moretz (2013). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdoVioPv0fs

Carrie Lyrics. (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://www.themusicallyrics.com/c/251-carrie-off-broadway-musical-lyrics/1892-carrie-lyrics.html

Carrie: The Musical Premiere Cast Recording. (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from https://www.amazon.com/Carrie-Musical-Premiere-Cast-Recording/dp/B008VTRJQ0

God In America. (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/people/puritans.html

INTERPRETI. (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from https://www.antoniogenna.net/doppiaggio/film/carrie.htm

Musical score - Dictionary Definition. (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/musical%20score

Pauly, S. (2014, June 12). WTF: Carrie (2013). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from https://123wtf.me/2014/01/26/wtf-carrie-2013/