Docteur Qui

You know when I found out that there was over 11,000 entries I was, as a composer, overwhelmed with despair. How could I compete in an industry with so many others? Then I saw the vitriolic reaction a good half of them had to the winner and I suddenly felt a lot better about myself. The sheer lack of awareness is staggering. The whole thing is a microcosmic producer/director/composer relationship in a nutshell; they're literally disagreeing with the judgement of the show's creators and think they know better. They'll never break in with that attitude.

I think that's exactly what it is.  Young composers who take themselves too seriously and have very basic dramatic instincts.
"I'm gonna make this car chase so epic and emoshunal!!"

I wasn't too interested in this whole competition, besides maybe taking pre-existing music and lining it up with the footage for funsies. But seeing the absolute divide from the winner made me really curious in wanting to listen to it.

And honestly: I thought it was great? It's definitely the most interesting thing I've heard in ages. That chiptune/electronica/orchestral fusion is really inspired, and gave the scene a particular energy that most modern approaches would simply lack. Might it have been overdone and not fully fitting of the scene? Perhaps, but I'd much rather have something the composer really put a lot of thought into than something that feels like it came out of the factory. The initial laugh that I had (that seems to be a recurring first reaction) was more out of joy than disbelief over what I was hearing. It actually made me interested in hearing what else this guy did, so kudos for that.

Quite frankly, I do wonder if a lot of the backlash is people being too accustomed to the scores of today. Considering the most exposure the average peep has over any film music now is whatever seemed "epic" to them, is anything that's not just your regular action music too ludicrous? Like there was one video I saw a while back that slammed Ottman's X-Men theme, but absolutely adored Jackman's First Class. It just makes me go to what I've wondered about recently, if music has simply gotten too serious these days. The runner ups sounded alright, but they were mostly in line with what you'd expect from someone who's looking at modern sensibilities. Maybe that's why the winner appealed to me so much, since it has that sense of fun that I find is just missing so often now.

chen

This has also been consuming my entire feed lately. And the whole entitled fanboy response to the results has been laughable.
 
These competitions are never ideal. When you're dealing with as many entries as you are here, production quality or "what works best" is no longer good enough to make the cutoff. People want to see ideas. And the winning composer clearly knew how to make the best of a compromised situation. Makes sense to me.

You fell for it again, dude.

This situation is getting parodies now:
 
 

Did he really alter them, or just add in his own?
 
For what it’s worth I didn’t mind the winning entry. It made that terrible scene so much more enjoyable.
 
oh my lord, those YouTube comments are hilarious. so many cranky people. I never entered, I knew as soon as it reached 1000 entries that anything I did would be unlikely to win, it didn’t seem worth my time.

Maybe I’m just biased because it was so poorly executed in the show.
 
The guy in the scene isn’t injured, he’s drugged up with a substance called “genre” that changes his hallucinations/emotional reactions suddenly to align with common film genres, like noir, romance etc. It’s a nifty idea but atrociously realised in the show. The scene was originally tracked with Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” for some reason. The editing is glacially slow, the acting is flat-out weird and there’s no other cars in the middle of this supposedly high-octane sequence because they clearly only had 3 or 4 of the futuristic cars in their budget.

Fascinating that they chose possibly one of the most anaemic action sequences ever put to television for this competition.

Maybe it was the intention to send the message to nowadays composers, that it is important to break rules to succeed. It's a tough business and just following the rules doesn't help.

Just watched the clip.  That was fucking hilarious, that guy deserves the prize

Maybe I’m just biased because it was so poorly executed in the show.
 
The guy in the scene isn’t injured, he’s drugged up with a substance called “genre” that changes his hallucinations/emotional reactions suddenly to align with common film genres, like noir, romance etc. It’s a nifty idea but atrociously realised in the show. The scene was originally tracked with Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” for some reason. The editing is glacially slow, the acting is flat-out weird and there’s no other cars in the middle of this supposedly high-octane sequence because they clearly only had 3 or 4 of the futuristic cars in their budget.

Jerry Goldsmith it is then! 

Maybe I’m just biased because it was so poorly executed in the show.
 
The guy in the scene isn’t injured, he’s drugged up with a substance called “genre” that changes his hallucinations/emotional reactions suddenly to align with common film genres, like noir, romance etc. It’s a nifty idea but atrociously realised in the show. The scene was originally tracked with Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” for some reason. The editing is glacially slow, the acting is flat-out weird and there’s no other cars in the middle of this supposedly high-octane sequence because they clearly only had 3 or 4 of the futuristic cars in their budget.

If you’re done with this discussion then just be done with it, stop responding to him. I made the choice 18 months ago (god has it really been that long?), and my life is better for it. Free yourself!

For me, the problem is the culture of "you will toe the line and say exactly what is approved as of right now or you will be buuuuuuurned" that applies to people supportive of trans rights more than the ones who are actually transphobic.  Absolute no where does Rowling voice disapproval of their choices.

Not gonna happen. Neither A or B. JKR, WB, and the Fantastic Beasts series will be just fine. The only thing that could kill the film series, honestly, is if the next one is also not good and falls even further at the box office. $$$
 
 
This is a common reaction / ridicule to trans people. I don't necessarily feel malice towards anyone here for this kind of reaction, especially since I am not trans, and like I said, I don't understand the mindset fully. I'm not trans, nor do I consider myself very knowledgeable on the topic by any means, but as far as I'm aware that's not really how it works for most. For most it's a feeling that they've had their whole lives and never really knew what it was or how to describe it. I know someone who has felt this way all along, but never really knew what it was until they were older and did some research.
 
It seems quite a few members here don't really get what it is exactly and I'll admit that I don't fully get it either and I may not ever get it. It's quite a tough concept for my brain to comprehend or unravel, but so are a lot of things that absolutely do exist. But seeing how a few close to me deal with it, it's certainly a thing and something quite important to them. And I mean, as far as science and biology goes, we discover new things about science everyday. At one point people believed the Earth the center of the Universe and I highly doubt that we have uncovered all the secrets of the human body or brain yet. So, whose to say there isn't a fully fleshed out scientific reasoning for it and we just don't fully understand it yet?
 
Things change, things progress, and no one ever really likes it or understands it near the beginning.
 
And here I am, still responding to this topic after swearing it off and I'm still basically saying the same things over and over again. 
 
 
For this point, the surgery is not something that is the end all, be all for all trans people. Not everyone does it as it is a very difficult process contrary to what Rowling seems to think. You cannot simply say that you want this surgery and it will happen. There's huge amount of cost, waiting lists, gate-keeping, etc. And some trans people are content with never doing the surgery. Sometimes it's about feeling more comfortable in the body you have than changing it as far as I'm aware.
 
Okay, now I really need to be done with this. I'm not out to change minds. Just to present another perspective as I've experienced these things in my personal life. I think we all have our minds made up on the matter. 
 
EDIT: Fixing numerous typos. I'm not fit to make super long posts like this.

Saw some ridiculous tweet with the caption 'Harry Potter has no author'. 
 
Does anyone else find it frightening that JK's comments weren't only misconstrued to make out as if she had been a gun-toting anti-trans activist, but that all her Potter compatriots felt some pressure or guilt that unless they stated what everyone expected of them in faux statements of solidarity then they would be devoured by their followers?
 
We've seen so many examples of what the extreme far-right can accomplish that have scarred our society when left unchecked, but rarely have we seen the full extent of a warped leftist, PC culture when they're the one's in power. It's censorship again, silencing dissenting opinions again. There's no room for nuance when one would think that the plight of trans people and other beleaguered minorities requires a nuanced level of discourse?
 
Time and time again, celebrities, corporations and all manner of people who've erred off the PC tracks or diverged from popular opinion etc. have caved into gratifying these cancel culture types, and any apology, sincere or fake is never enough for this totalitarian ideology. There's no perceived middle-ground in the public discourse on this issue. Either you're supporting a trans hating author, or your ready to crucify her and burn the books too and that's what bothers me. 
Where's the vocal support of what's right, fair, balanced and nuanced, when the culture surrounding it has been hijacked by authoritarian types too caught up on what people write on twitter? 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I don't see how anyone could read that essay and think "What a transphobic and selfish monster."  I see a person, like me I hope, that always strives to be open-minded, that thinks pluralism and acceptance is a strength, and is earnestly struggling with this particular social movement.  I see a good-faith conversation.  And bravo for that!

My respect for her has grown a lot, sticking to her guns on this.  Her thoughts are more nuanced, important, and rational than people are giving her credit for.

Potter, no contest at all.
 
Hook has some wonderful moments, but I find the whole score just too much. Potter has much more meaning to me.

@Alex What retconning? I think I said something a few pages back that none of her amendments and twitter trivia affect the story as written. Dumbledore's sexual orientation has little to no bearing on the story just as it should as one's sexuality doesn't necessarily have to define their character...

This thread will be closed if you guys personally insult each other.

Remember: Just because someone says something on the internet that you disagree with, doesn't mean you have to respond to it.  You could always close the thread and read a different one instead.

You all continuing to engage with Matriss has kept this thread going and going, nothing else has.

There's a catastrophic issue in entertainment at the moment where composers are being left high and dry in the midst of a rapidly changing industry. Films being edited up until the last second, streaming services are weaselling out of paying royalties and any legislation that was designed to protect composers in the past is long redundant. It's hard enough to get a gig composing for anything these days, but between the shady business practices brought in by music production houses and the complete lack of a decent revenue stream through royalties we'll be better off throwing in the towel and learning how to code instead.