Monday, December 20, 2010

Final Project

Oskar & Eli by Sara Nesbitt
I wrote this song as a third person's perspective of Oskar and Eli's story.

Oskar & Eli

It was a thursday night

the first time he met her

the girl with the brown hair and black eyes

and pink sweater

he knew there was something about her

that was different

she told him they couldn't be friends

but he didn't let it

stop him

he kept pursuing this girl

who called herself eli

he wanted to save her

but didn't know how to set her free

he taught her a secret code

just for themselves to know

what they were saying

and he didn't know why

but she always asked could she come in


let me in

let me in

let me in

let me in


he hesitated the first time he heard the truth

about eli

but he didn't want to imagine

what life would be without her


the boy and the girl in the end

they lived happy





The End by Sara Nesbitt
I wrote this song from Hakan's perspective.

The End

it's something i cannot explain

the silence hides all of my pain

i'm all alone there's no one here

i can feel the end is near


i think that this could be the end for me

it feels like the end

and i think that this could be the end for me

it feels like the end


i lost it all i had no more

i couldn't face what lay before

she opened up and let me in

all i had to do commit a mortal sin


i think that this could be the end for me

it feels like the end

and i think that this could be the end for me

it feels like the end


i'm trying my best to breathe but i can't find the air

it seems hopeless, i have done too much that i cannot repair

i always thought with her was where i'd always stay

but now it's too late there's no future where everythings ok

no nothing is ok

it will never be ok


i think that this could be the end for me

it feels like the end

and i think that this could be the end for me

i just want this life to end

i just want this life to end

please just let it end




All I Need by Sara Nesbitt
I wrote this song as a conversation between Oskar and Eli. Oskar's parts are italicized, Eli's are bolded and when they're together its bolded and italicized.

All I Need

Am i alone in this world

is there anyone out there

does anyone know the way i feel

does anyone care?


i've been so long in this world

with no one to share

does anyone know the way i feel

does anyone care?


chorus

you might be the only one

who understands me

no one else can see the world

just the way i see

just let it be

you're all i need


they hate who i am

everybody hates me too

but i don't even know them

you know me and i know you

i promise that i'll never hurt you

i'm not afraid of you


chrous




For my final project in this class, I decided to write and record a series of songs that I think reflect the novel Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. I wanted to write a few songs through the eyes of what I thought to be some of the important characters of the book. The characters I picked to focus on were Oskar, Eli, and Hakan. I chose these three characters because in the first theatrical adaptation of the novel, these were the characters that were focused on. I had said in my proposal that because I saw the film, I had a visual component to rely on when writing my songs. While I was writing them, I literally could see images from the movie play back in my mind as if I was watching a music video. Having seen the film really helped me in the writing process. In the end, I wrote a total of three songs; one from the point of view of Hakan, one from the point of view of both Eli and Oskar, and one from a third person's perspective of Eli and Oskar's story.

The first song, entitled 'Oskar & Eli' is basically an overview of Oskar and Eli's story. What really started me on this song was the line about the pink sweater. This sweater is an important part of the book, Eli is wearing this the first couple times her and Oskar see each other, and it's this piece of clothing that links everything together for Oskar and makes him realize who Eli really is. So I took pieces of the novel that stuck out to me as part of their story and strung them together to make 'Oskar & Eli'. It starts out with their first meeting, which was on a thursday. The book described in great detail what Eli looked like so I included parts of that description in the song. Oskar knows there is something different about this girl and she tells him they can never be friends but he continues to see her. I mentioned in the song when Oskar heard Eli and Hakan arguing, he said he would save her but he didn't know what he could do to help her, after all he was just a kid.

I wrote the second song 'The End' about Hakan. I wanted to try to put into words what his character may have been thinking towards the end of his human life. He couldn't speak to anyone and he didn't want to so I tried to put myself in his place and in his situation and think how hopeless he felt, he just wanted to die so his pain would end. He did what he did to himself for Eli, but he wanted it all to be over.

The last song, 'All I Need' I wrote as a conversation between Eli and Oskar. I'm the only one singing on the track but I wanted both of their voices to be heard. They were both these lonely kids until they met each other and they found a friend in on another. The first verse is Oskar talking about being alone in the world and wondering if there is someone like him out there. Then it's Eli saying she's been in the world a long time but alone as well. The chorus of the song represents both of them saying that the other is the only person in the world that understands them and see things the way they do. The second part of the song is another conversation between the two but this time Oskar is comforting Eli because she is unsure of herself and she's understandably self-conscious of who she is. Oskar reassures her that they have each other and that's enough.

I really enjoyed working on this project because I love writing music but I've never really been given the opportunity to do something like this. Personally I think I did a pretty good job of doing what I set out to do with these songs. It can be difficult, there's only so much you can put into a song without it becoming something that is overworked. I like the songs as they are, without knowing what they were written about. I think if I could change anything, I would try to put a little more of the story into them, like more specific pieces of information. I think I also would try to write a song for a character that didn't play as big a role as the three I chose. I think another character would have been more challenging to write for.

For this project, I did what I normally do when I write a song. I started out with the music, either for guitar or piano. Once I had a general idea of what I wanted the music to be, I started figuring out the melody of the song. After I figured that out, I decided which character, or subject would go with what piece of music. Then I sat listening to the music and humming the melody while thinking of the first line. Once I had one line, I had the whole song set up for me. I then wrote out key pieces of information that I wanted to include in each piece and developed a song from there. I generally revise as I go along, line by line. I'll sing a thought, or a possible line and if I like it I'll write it down. If I don't then I keep singing until I find something that I like. I wrote each song from beginning to end, revising as I went, but once I came to the last line, I was done. Nothing from then on out was changed in the song. I was then able to record the songs and add in harmony and other things to make it how I wanted it.

5 comments:

  1. You are amazing. You have such a beautiful voice and these songs are so touching, very nice work.

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  2. I love this. I never thought that someone would record songs for their final project!

    I agree with Emily. Your voice is beautiful, and I love the songs!

    (:

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  3. Sara, I just listened to your songs, and I'm SO BLOWN AWAY! Do you have an album coming out soon? Seriously, if you made something, I would buy it. Your music is right up my alley, and your voice is AMAZING. Please believe me when I say that this is an incredible final project. The first song made me cry a little...WOW!!!

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  4. Thank you so much! I'm really glad you liked it! These compliments really mean a lot to me :)

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