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Issues with GMAIL - UPDATED

filmmusic

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Posts posted by filmmusic

    Anyone studying at Eastman School?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    An update on this -

    Apparently getting something from the Courage collection is like getting something from a museum. My friend Dan has only ever been able to "view" items from the collection.

    I don't know about the photos but I just asked him to do everything within his power to get photocopies made of Superman 4 and that I'd pay for him to get them to me. They do have the complete score there, along with a a lot of other interesting things by Williams and Goldsmith. If he can succesfully get copies made of S4 then I think that will definately open the door to some of the other works there.

    That would be excellent!!!!

    Any "chase " cue with ONLY percussion?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    It sounds like it is quite hard to please him!

    Here's a short snippet of music I just made. I know it doesn't fit the picture but maybe it helps you with some new idea or so.

    If not, then the last 25 minutes where just fun for me to write it :(

    Cliff Chase

    Thank you very much Nemesis for your cue! It's excellent indeed but I don't think something like that would fit (according to the director always, on the contrary I would like to hear something like that with the specific scene).. I like it very much but I guess I would be told that it's too much complicated.

    Any "chase " cue with ONLY percussion?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I greatly empathize with your situation. It sounds like you're putting a lot of effort into an ungrateful task.Have you considered not scoring the panic, but rather just the drama?

    I think perhaps it could be a tempo issue. What about just low pulses/impulses on a very sonorous bass drum, or something purely textural, and not metered?

    Low, resonant percussive sounds can have a way of conveying tragedy, of impending doom even, and if that could work, you could get a lot of mileage out of very simple things, and perhaps your director really wants something simple (maybe that is what he, somewhat subconsciously, implies when he says he wants something non Hollywood?).

    What's the orchestration, percussion aside?

    I know your director says he wants only percussion, but if you were to introduce strings playing a cluster in touch 4th harmonics 'pp' as a sort of quiet pedal to your percussive propulsion, we would only 'feel' the strings, not really hear them. It can be very discreet.

    Maybe discretion could be a key word to solving this scene, even if the director thinks he wants something percussive to blatantly shout panic. Directors often lack a way of clearly communicating their musical ideas, since they don't have musical training (generally), and subsequently lack a consistent, articulate terminology, which unfortunately frequently leads to misunderstandings, because they're simply conveying a hunch, and not a complete and intelligent/intelligible idea...

    For this reason, it is our job to guide them as well.

    Good luck!

    Thank you very much for your suggestions! But I have done all that.. I have exhausted all the posibilitites that can be made... Even a dramatic cue (without panic) (the dramatic one resembles the last track from the 2nd cd of Legends of the fall complete score if anyone knows it [1.22-....]. He says all are very good but don't fit the movie. I'm so curious to see what fits...

    Here's the original version of the first cue (not from the beginning).

    original cue

    Apparently he doesn't like that piano figure and most of all the brass! He says it resembles like we're in a mafia movie.. But I don't agree because I have found many examples with this kind of orchestration in many kinds of movies.. I wouldn't put that percussion rhythm either but it was a request.. At least the part from 0.21'' and on fits perfectly because it's when the child is on the cliff, looking down, thinking of making the dive, and another one shouts "what are you doing". I was instructed to make a feeling of dizziness and I think those tremolo strings with these figures do that...

    Any "chase " cue with ONLY percussion?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Unfortunately we're still stuck on these 2 cues... I have made 4-5 alternate cues (percussive, more percussive, dramatic, adventure) and even I put 2-3 temp tracks from other soundtracks but nothing seems to please the director..

    I'm searching any similar scene from other movies... it doesn't have to have percussion only, just to see how these scenes are treated.. Although I know, and I'm telling him but I can't convince him...

    The 2 scenes which are similar are like this: A child is running towards a cliff by the sea to jump ( to show that he can do it) and someone is after him.. He eventually jumps... The first time he dies, the 2nd he's saved.. And all this is set in a greek island.

    Does anyone know any similar scene? we want mostly from European films because the director doesn't want Hollywood stuff or too big!!

    His argument is that the cue must fit the general setting of the film (greek island). But I don't agree with this.. If a film is set in China then all the music in the soundtrack must be traditional chinese? It doesn't go like this.. Of course it'll have some elements here and there but we can't expect the music always to give clues about the place..

    Can anyone suggest something of Morricone? I'm not so familiar with his work...

    Any "chase " cue with ONLY percussion?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    konstantinos, whatever you do, be sure to make it heavy on the interesting and cool-sounding stuff, such as tubular bells, tam-tam (preferably at least two - large and small), rolling upturned cymbal on timpani while glissanding them with the pedal, playing vibraslaps (with different sustain), flexatones etc. etc. ... :blink:

    Thank you very much for your suggestions.. although I have to make an only percussion piece, on the other hand i shouldn't make it too "big-sounding" like for a hollywood movie.. Difficult..

    Any "chase " cue with ONLY percussion?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Thank you all for your suggestions! I'll check them out. (I'm aware of the Aliens music. It's great but too militaristic for this kind os scene). The theme is that both me and the director are insisting on our opinions and someone has to give up eventually. If my track won't be used finally, I'll put it here so as to tell me what you think. Am I the only one who thinks that it's very "panic-y' and fitted for the scene? I'm so puzzled, because I don't know how to make with only percussion things that only harmony and different orchestration colours can do..

    I also heard the track "echo game" from House of flying daggers. This has a nice rhythm too, but it's always the same , it doesn't change a bit in all the duration of the piece..

    Edit: I heard the Attack of the clones track! Thanks, I didn't remember it, it was my least favourite score of the SW series. It has many helpful percussion only passages, but still I insist that there are more things that only percussion can't do! Oh, well....

    Any "chase " cue with ONLY percussion?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hello! I'm writing the music score for a drama film set in a Greek island. I have 2 similar cues of a child running and falling from a cliff in the sea below.. The keyword for the scene is "panic". I have written a mainstream action cue that I think best fits the scene but the director wants something with only percussion. ( I personalyy disagree with that and I don't think it fits the film and the rest of the low profile classical orchestral music) Something like the feeling of a temp piece he sent me from Beck's "We are MArshall" (track 13).

    Can anyone recommend me similar cues with ONLY percussion that bring out the sense of panic? Not any electronics (like in Terminator) but more symphonic percussion...

    How to achieve that piano sound from Newman's American beauty?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about, but you can get an ethereal type sound by playing pp on the piano parts, but turning the gain volume up high enough to be heard amongst everything else. Here are my settings for EWQLSO silver: Steinway B - Pianist Sensitive, volume +7.00 dB, Grand Hall Reverb (size 100, no dampen).

    This should give you that strange piano sound that you're looking for. Just keep it soft, as even going one level up in the dynamic stair system will distort.

    ~JW

    Thanks, but still isn't right.. I think it might have a slow attack too (because the start sounds hard).. Anyway, thanks

    How to achieve that piano sound from Newman's American beauty?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Be happy you can't acheive that sound. It is fate's way of telling you not to emulate Newman.

    I don't know if you understood correctly what i was talking about, but according to your words, everyone should stop using a sound of a horn, or violin, or celesta, or harp etc. because they have been used by a million other composers and we shouldn't emulate them??

    I was referring just to the SOUND of the piano, NOT the melody, or the harmony, or rhythm, or orchestration, or counterpoint!

    Imperial MArch & Mahler

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I have read that the Imperial MArch form ESB resembles the 2nd movement of Mahler's 2nd Symphony (the first few notes of the phrase) and the first movemnet of his 6th Symphony. But really I can't seem to find that resemblance. Does anyone know the spot in the music?

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