Alexandre Desplat and the Renewal of the Timbre of Hollywood Symphonies: Programmed Sounds as a Form of Casting the Orchestra into Relief with Magical Effect - Text 2
As a flautist, Desplat also enjoys working with the various textures of this section. In Twilight, he uses the alto flute and especially the bass flute, in harmony or in its sharp register, to cast a dark veil around Bella, at once gentle, gloomy, attracted to out-of-the-ordinary creatures (vampires, wolves) and agreeing to go to death’s doorstep. Here microphones are often added and placed on the bass flutes, recorded separately or overdubbed[4] in order to enable the composer to adjust their sound level in the mixing. The bass flutes come in to demonstrate Bella’s resistance to the two vampire women (Victoria, who chases after her, and Jane, of the Volturi clan). After Edward’s pleas, when Jane tries in vain to inflict the same kind of suffering on Bella, the motif is played by the bass flute in its sharp register, whose halftone strength shows that the pain has not afflicted Bella.
