As a group we had to make a decision on whether to produce an original piece of music or to use an existing piece of music as our soundtrack for the film trailer we are currently producing.
Use of a Soundtrack:
i) The use of a soundtrack is a very common film trailer convention used for films with all types of genre. Music is a form of media that can influence how an audience feels, playing with their emotions and portraying different messages and feelings. Therefore including a soundtrack in our film trailer will hopefully enable us to induce the need for emotion upon our audience, causing them to feel more emotionally involved and improving the success of our film trailer as they feel more ‘connected’.
ii) Looking at the film trailers deconstructions we did previously, from; 'The Butterfly Effect,' and 'P.S I Love You', a soundtrack was used in both. This informed our group that a soundtrack is a commonly used film trailer convention for films with in any genre. Therefore by using this particular film trailer convention, our film trailer can be related and compared to existing media products on the market today, which is a goal we are aiming to achieve.
iii) Finally after I analysed question 7 from the audience questionnaire I produced, I can see that the audience definitely prefers the use of a soundtrack in a film trailer, due to the vast majority of the people in my sample who answered this question selecting 'yes' and agreeing that a soundtrack should be used. Another member from my group had a similar question in their questionnaire and received exactly the same outcome. This informs us that we should definitely use a soundtrack as one of our film trailer conventions in our film trailer, as the audience believes that the use of a soundtrack contributes to the success of creating the right atmosphere and setting for a film, as well as building tension, which will again increase the success of the film trailer that we are currently producing.
Original or Existing?
We took some time and thought about all the ways we could obtain a soundtrack; our options were to either create our own or use an existing soundtrack. Thinking about time constraints and the levels of skill we would need to create a original soundtrack that would be successful, we decided it would be best to use an already existing soundtrack.
However the major problem with using an existing soundtrack is that most of them, if not all, will have copyright protection. This is when a piece of work is protected from use by anyone who does not have permission to do so. In order to use an existing soundtrack you would have to obtain the right to use it by getting permission from the owner/s agreeing to let you use their material. They would also specify under what conditions you may use it.
Copyright Information:
© is the standard symbol stating that something is copyrighted and protected from use other than what is permitted.
'Copyright is the exclusive right granted to the author of an original work, including the right to authorise or ban the publication, distribution and adaptation of that work. Copyright only lasts for a certain time period after which the work is said to enter the public domain. Copyright applies to any expressible form of an idea or information that is substantive and discrete and fixed in a medium. Some jurisdictions also recognize "moral rights" of the creator of a work, such as the right to be credited for the work. Copyright is described under the umbrella term intellectual property along with patents and trademarks.' - Wikipedia
'Document granting exclusive right to publish and sell literary or musical or artistic work' - Google Definitions
Obtaining Copy
'It is normal to request permission via the publisher of the work. The publisher will often have a permissions department to deal with such requests, or may use the services of a copyright clearance or licensing service. If the publisher cannot give permission directly, they will certainly know who you should contact, (as they will have obtained permission themselves in order to use the work in the first place).
If for example, the copyright owner is personally known to you, it may be possible to obtain permission via a private agreement. In such cases you should ensure you get an agreement in writing to avoid any future disagreements.
For website content, it is normal to contact the webmaster of the site. The webmaster may either give permission directly or refer your request to someone in the company who can deal with your request.
For photographs, it is normally to contact the photographer or company, that took the images. As they will normally control the rights to the photos, and will have their own reproduction or duplication charges.' - Copyright service
However the major problem with using an existing soundtrack is that most of them, if not all, will have copyright protection. This is when a piece of work is protected from use by anyone who does not have permission to do so. In order to use an existing soundtrack you would have to obtain the right to use it by getting permission from the owner/s agreeing to let you use their material. They would also specify under what conditions you may use it.
Solution/Outcome:
We thought about each aspect thoroughly and after researching all about copyright and protection on existing media products we decided to write a letter to the company who produced the soundtrack we wanted to use for our opening scene, stating that; we would only use the soundtrack for educational purposes and so it will not ever be publicly presented or used for any commercial purposes in hope that we would get permission for the use of this soundtrack.
Because we wanted to use an existing piece it meant we had to contact the people who own the songs and who distribute the rights to use them, this being the recording companies we had to email them requesting to use the songs for educational purposes.
Below are the emails we sent:
(Click to enlarge)
(Click to enlarge)
