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 4
The Shape of Water creates synaesthesia by joining specific timbres (accordion, twelve flutes, whistling) – the corollary of the singular storytelling atmosphere intensified by the green and blue shades in the image – by overlapping acoustic instruments and programmed timbres, and by creating relief in the recording or mixing. To accompany the slowly wandering camera in the submerged apartment of the principal female character, Desplat composed a waltz in B flat connected to the liquid element: a harp, doubled by an electric piano, picks the ascending and descending arpeggios which seem to float with the objects. This waltz is accompanied by crystalline programmed sounds such as the celesta, marimba, vibraphone and bowed vibraphone, strings with a spare texture (mute, pizzicato, sul tasto, cello harmonies, violins in stereo). Before the melodic flourishes from the accordion rise up, following the movement of the furniture engaged in an aquatic dance under rays of light, the whistled theme (the call of the fish-man with whom Elisa will fall in love) is doubled by twelve flutes (four sopranos, four altos and four bass) which were placed throughout the breadth of the orchestra, in an arc or a circle, during the recording.
