Alma's Epic Movie (2021 film)

The Sound of Madness is a 2021 adult musical comedy animated coming-of-age film loosely based on the 2008 album by Shinedown of the same name. It is about a few middle/high school and college students who befriend each other and plan to make a low-budget comedy movie, but also have to deal with their own troubles and encounter chaos on the way.

In 2022, it got a sequel, Stupid Movie. It also got a spin-off that takes place 10 years before this film and has Leroy Juarez (who is a minor character in this film) as the protagonist.

Prologue
In late 2017, two cousins, LEON and Leonie Galán are freshmen at a public high school in a fictional neon-themed town in Utah. The film opens with Leonie playing Blood-Red String, a video game that parodies Yandere Simulator, on her XBOX ONE. She then gets a game over and gets frustrated over how hard the game is, but then LEON groggily tells her that he's trying to sleep and she should go to sleep too. Leonie then listens to him and turns the game off.

Scene 1
On the first day, they both get ready for school and catch the bus, constantly getting sidetracked as they walk to the bus stop ("Devour").

However, when they get on the bus, they realize how rowdy the students are, and Leonie is mocked by a few girls for having "tiny bitch disease" due to her height. When they get off, she is followed by the "mean girls".

The "mean girls" are then attacked by a blonde freshman girl who appears to be the same height as Leonie. After they leave, the blonde girl introduces herself as Laveer. Leonie realizes she has to go to class and checks out her schedule, only for Laveer to realize they have the same first period. They then walk to class together.

After school, LEON is walking to school when a group of 7th-8th graders and one 5th grader playing paintball accidentally hit him multiple times. LEON sighs and and continues to walk home annoyed.

The players notice him and two of them takes off their helmets. One asks "did we make him mad?". The other then replies "it looks like we did. Let's just hope he doesn't chew us out if we ever cross paths again".

Scene 2
The movie then shifts focus on Jermaine Vega, a community college student. After he finishes playing the last song with his band, sbeve (whom he is the drummer of), he goes backstage and somehow comes across his girlfriend, Abby. They have a conversation, but it quickly becomes an argument.

It then cuts to a drunk Jermaine stumbling into the band's van while Abby leaves. Jermaine wakes up in the band's condo with a hangover, then takes a cold shower to sober up.

After Jermaine gets out, Leroy scolds him for drinking again, stating "you said you would try hard to get over this addiction, but nothing seems to have changed" and then leaves.

Scene 3
The next day, it's announced that there is an upcoming school event where the students will visit the nearby community college for a tour and be partnered with a student from said college, and that it will happen next week. It then cuts to a title card saying "1 week later..."

LEON is at the community college, commenting on how fast the week passed before a teacher tells him that he will be partnered with Jermaine. They introduce themselves to each other.

Jermaine shows LEON around the college before he suddenly comes across Abby. She then tells him that they're breaking up. This puts Jermaine in a bad mood for the rest of the tour. ("What a Shame")

After the tour ends and the high school students go back to their school, Jermaine asks the viewer if he could've possibly done anything to prevent the breakup. He then considers his alcoholism as the reason why they broke up.

LEON is then seen in one of the school's courtyards explaining his experience with the tour to his friends, and that he's been thinking about if Jermaine was OK, especially because he seemed embarrassed to break up in public.

Scene 4
Haro, a sophomore who is a friend of Jermaine and is also a member of sbeve, is concerned about Jermaine's alcoholism, so he looks for someone who could possibly help him on the internet.

He finds "Smas Recer", which is supposedly the most reliable place, but appears to be a dilapidated building. He walks in, and tries to find someone (even though most of the doors are locked) almost gives up until it turns out someone else is in the building as well.

A young man named Brand finds Haro and asks him what he's here for. Haro replies by stating he has a friend in need of help. Brand then replies that he can help, but Haro has to make a sacrifice in return, and he cannot choose.

Haro tries to protest, but then Brand states that he has already chosen what sacrifice he has to make, but will not reveal it. Haro demands to know before Brand runs into another room and locks the door. Haro tries to leave, but the floor below him breaks. He wakes up tied to a chair only to find out he's been deceived, and that Brand was the kid who betrayed Haro when he was in 2nd grade. ("I Own You")

Scene 5
Jermaine realizes the breakup would've been inevitable, even if he got over his addiction before the breakup as his two-year long romantic relationship with Abby was getting more stale anyways ("The Crow & The Butterfly"), so he reminisces the times the good memories they had together as he takes pictures of them together off of his dorm room's wall.

Scene 6
LEON comes across a girl that he likes while walking down the halls at school. He stands in place frozen until someone snaps him out of it. He then goes to class, only to find missing posters of Haro on the walls. He doesn't pay attention in class due to the fact he's worried about his friend. After class ends, he bolts out of school and starts looking for him.

Brand, pretending to be alarmed, then tells his younger brothers, Jackie, Russell and Joe, that their friend, Haro, is missing. Joe then corrects Brand by stating "He's not my friend. I couldn't care less." before walking away. Brand demands Joe to come with them and they look for Haro. ("Sound of Madness")

Jackie and Russell give up, and a frustrated Brand guides Joe back to his building (which looks dilapidated again), and then tells Joe to come in, insisting that Haro is in there. Brand then traps Joe in a room and sings the last verse of "I Own You".

(W.I.P)

Production
The characters come from a story that Alma wrote when she was in 9th grade and attempted to adapt into a web series, but the attempt was shelved. She reused most of the plot from said story for this film, though it was heavily modified to stay true to most of the stories that the songs told. She also had to limit the amount of comedy in this film, the reason being "when you're making a film based on an album with songs that explore a variety of subject matter, some of the subject matter being serious, you don't want to have too much comedy in it. That's what that one godawful animated Titanic movie from 2000 did."

She also had a desire to adapt this album into a film ever since she first heard it.

Songs
Some of the songs in this film are a cover instead of the original version of the song. Some songs remain in their original form. Credit for the songs goes to the post-grunge band Shinedown. The songs from the Deluxe Edition CD/DVD and the digital-exclusive song "Diamond Eyes" are also included in the movie.

The songs from the album do not play in the same order they were in the original album. For example, "If You Only Knew" and "Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)" is the last 2 songs that play instead of "Breaking Inside" and "Call Me", and "What a Shame" plays earlier in the film instead of later.
 * 1) Devour
 * 2) What a Shame
 * 3) I Own You
 * 4) The Crow & The Butterfly
 * 5) Sound of Madness
 * 6) Cry for Help
 * 7) Second Chance
 * 8) Breaking Inside