Final Project- Into the Grey: Ashley Schuliger (2019)
Into the Grey
Ashley Schuliger (2019)
Description:
For my final project, I wrote a song called Into the Grey. I decided to use the skills we learned in the Composing for Multimedia unit by composing this song for the ending scene in the movie, Me Before You. The movie is about a woman who works as a caretaker for a quadriplegic man. They end up falling in love, but the man is upset with his life and does not see it improving in any way. At the point in the film that I compose for, he told his lover that he has decided to go through with his Assisted Suicide. It then cuts to them traveling back home from their trip with a sad but angry song playing in the background. I was not a fan of their musical selection because I do not feel that it accurately portrays the hurt and sadness that both the woman and man feel. I fixed this by writing my song in ¾ time and playing in the key of B flat major. I chose to start off the song with a softer dynamic, but by the second verse and second chorus, I increased the intensity in dynamics and in my voice. At the end of the song, the dynamics soften and decrease as the singer fades “into the grey”. This choice in intensity fluctuations follows the main stages of grief: denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and acceptance. The beginning portrays when the main character is sad and doesn’t completely believe that it can be true, but as the intensity increases, it is seen that the thought is settling in for her, and she is angry and depressed by the reality. This continues to build until the end when she accepts the inevitable and allows him to follow through with the suicide. I wrote this song with a vague concept in the lyrics, so even though it is well suited to portray suicide, it could be used for any other sad and depressing moments. For other compositions like this one, check out my YouTube channel, leavemetomymusic, at this link https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhhnKdtRwNthJYMOGccSZA.