Composers Challenge VII: Mischief Managed

[KK 3,307]

It`s back, after 2 successful years of many events, has returned again with exciting new possibilities for 2013. For those unfamiliar with the initiative, a few words may do you some good.

The Composers Challenge is an initiative designed to help emulate the experience of a film composer for participants. Through a long process, the composer is given a clip and asked to score it. His/her music is then passed along a panel of adjudicators made up of prominent film music critics in the community, along with other professionals in the industry (we've been known to have composers and renowned musicologists on board). The work is then reviewed and feedback is offered. The piece is finally put up to vote to determine final scores with the public and set a victor to the competition. It’s a process in which every composer learns and an experience from which all participants have something to take out of.

For this challenge, we decided to once again try something new. Fans of film music are often known to find themselves both excited and disappointed when it comes to sequels and prequels in an established film music franchise. This is largely due to their issues with thematic continuity. Everyone has a certain expectation when it comes to handling past musical themes in big sagas like Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings. Among the more controversial entities of film music is none other than the Harry Potter franchise, which has often been criticized for the nearly complete abandonment of Williams’ memorable pre-established themes for the first 3 films.

This challenge gives the opportunity to give fans (or non-fans) the chance to show how they would have handled the franchise if it was in their hands. This challenge is designed to test participants’ ability to interweave already established themes with original ones of their own, while maintaining consistency with the context.

Here is the original scene:

That should give you a sense of what you’re scoring, but it is not actually the clip you will be composing your music to.

This is the entry clip:

The clip has removed the audio save for brief moments where sound effects are allowed to shine (particularly the battle scene at the end) and has been edited to save time. Some may note the length of the clip, but as daunting as it may seem, there are many benefits to such as a scene. As a composer, the kind of narrative arc this complex scene shows allows one to develop and integrate a variety of themes (both old and new) while maintaining stylistic diversity. It’s certainly a challenge, but one that holds great potential!

Due to the nature of the clip, there will be extensive amount of time to score it (almost two months).

Tentative Deadline: Friday April 26, 2013

Joining us on the adjudicators’ panel is the venerable Craig Richard Lysy from the IFMCA and Movie Music UK, Edmund Meinerts from Tracksounds and Mikko Ojala (aka Incanus) from JWFan. Over the course of the next few weeks, they will be sharing what they expect from the entries to help guide you on scoring the clip.

We’ll start now, with a few words from Craig:

“Well, you have chosen a very demanding and complex cue to score! So, outwardly we have a battle scene where good and evil contest. This requires aggressive and kinetic scoring to assist in driving the battle.

Far more important in my mind is the emotional narrative. Several scenes will test the composer’s ability to emote powerful emotions;

1. Sirius Black being killed by Ballatrix reveals Harry in agony at the death of his friend.

2. Harry’s rage for vengeance and his inner struggle to forgive or murder Bellatrix.

3. Finally, the possession of Harry by Voldemort where he struggles to be true to himself and his values or surrender to the inner darkness that dwells in every man’s soul.

For me, the composer must speak to and emote the powerful emotions animating these scenes, not just the bombast of war.

On another note, we will also have a guest as per tradition of our Hear From the Pros feature. But more on that will be revealed later in the challenge.

Just a brief review of what to do to get onboard this great ride.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Email me at kkalaisan@hotmail.com to let me know you’re interested in participating in the challenge.

2) Score the clip and email me the piece (approximately 8 min) by the deadline. The score must incorporate at least 1 new theme and 1 previously established theme in the franchise (it doesn’t have to be a John Williams theme, it can come from any of the films).

3) Wait patiently for more news. Check email or this site for updates on a regular basis.

I hope to see many familiar names and many new candidates to return for what will be a very exciting chapter to the Composers Challenge initiative. For any questions or inquiries, please feel free to send an email to kkalaisan@hotmail.com.

This can all be found at the site:

http://composerschallenge.com/vii/

[gkgyver 1,645]

Do I have to mail you or do you accept my participation right here?

[KK 3,307]

Send a quick email, that's how I keep track of who is in and who is not.

[KK 3,307]

UPDATE:

Hi guys,

It's been about 2 weeks since the Composers Challenge was initiated. I thought it'd be nice to catch up with you folks. Have people started brainstorming yet?

It's a very difficult clip to score, perhaps more-so than previous endeavors, but it's a challenge that will truly test one's skills as a film composer.

Here are some guidelines from one of our adjudicators, Mikko Ojala:

The challenge is a very demanding one as the scene is as other judges have pointed out not only lengthy but also a very complex one on emotional level and in its quick shifts of tone and tempo. But the emotional connotations and subtext are what drive the scene beyond mere physical action and battle.

What I expect from the music in the scene are careful thematic construction and fluidity, meaning that the score can capture the events taking place beat by beat but should keep its focus in the overall musical arc and on the main character and his emotional point of view and reactions. The flow of this kind of piece is also important so that it helps to bind the various beats of the scene together as it shifts from one section to the next.

Major moments that I think should be addressed in the music:

1. The arrival of Sirius Black and his friends to turn the tide
2. Sirius Black’s death and Harry’s sorrow and following rage
3. Voldemort’s appearance
4. The Possession

As each composer develops here their own musical narrative with old themes of their choosing and new themes of their own creation it will be interesting to see what will the scoring choices, connotations and subtextual references be in each entry and how do the composers balance the need for the music to comment on the physical confrontation taking place and the concurrent strongemotional meaning of these events.

Finally, I have some good news. After some negotiation, we finally have confirmed our guest for the Hear From the Pros feature of the challenge. I'll announce the name tomorrow, but in the meantime, would anyone like to take a guess?

- KK

[KK 3,307]

I'm proud to be able to finally announce our special guest for this challenges' Hear From the Pros. We have the privilege of having two-time Golden Globe nominee Abel Korzeniowski join us!

Abel is one of the rising stars of film music, often lauded with critical acclaim for his rich, vibrant music, this talented man has agreed to help act as a professional advisor for the challenge by offering commentary on the entries. He's excited to hear all your work and looks forward to sharing this experience with us.

That's right folks, bring out your A-game!

- KK

[Jay 37,371]

Wow!

[BloodBoal 7,538]

He should score another film instead of wasting his time on such trivialities.

But more seriously, that's badass.

[KK 3,307]

But more seriously, that's badass.

It's a really funny story how this all somehow came to be. Abel is a really super-nice guy, and from all our conversations, he's spoken with the utmost sincerity. We discussed his future schedule and we found an arrangement where this won't intervene with his future projects.

Again, he's a really great guy!

[Incanus 5,715]

Wonderful news KK! Now I am doubly excited for the upcoming challenge.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

But more seriously, that's badass.

It's a really funny story how this all somehow came to be. Abel is a really super-nice guy, and from all our conversations, he's spoken with the utmost sincerity. We discussed his future schedule and we found an arrangement where this won't intervene with his future projects.

Again, he's a really great guy!

I'm sure he is! How much did you pay him in order for him to accept to participate to this cheap challenge?

[KK 3,307]

My entire life savings.

But in all seriousness, while this challenge may not seem like much to the common eye, I strongly believe this is a great thing going on in the community. My hopes have always been to see this initiative grow in scope and size, and it has! With support coming from all sorts of known film music critics from the different corners of our community (including Incanus here) and the help of big names like Abel (last time we had Doug Adams), I think that what started as a small fun activity, has become a real initiative and outlet for composers to express and improve upon their music. We can only hope this just keeps growing.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Faleel 5,359]

I wouldnt mind that, as long as it brought good scores

[alicebrallice 134]

I'm proud to be able to finally announce our special guest for this challenges' Hear From the Pros. We have the privilege of having two-time Golden Globe nominee Abel Korzeniowski join us!

that's incredibly awesome, kk!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Who are you? Alice?

[alicebrallice 134]

alice? yes... that was what they used to call me. alice the brallice. that was my name.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

[KK 3,307]

I'm proud to be able to finally announce our special guest for this challenges' Hear From the Pros. We have the privilege of having two-time Golden Globe nominee Abel Korzeniowski join us!

that's incredibly awesome, kk!

Thanks alice!

You haven't been to these parts for an age...where have you been?

[alicebrallice 134]

has it been that long?

well, time flies when you're having fun!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

You've been having fun? Where? With whom? Why wasnt I told?

[indy4 155]

That's pretty cool. Congrats KK!

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

Would I be disqualified if I looped this track I wrote once, and add some Hedwig's Theme into it?

[Faleel 5,359]

Blume, at 5 seconds it sounds like Geoffrey Burgeons BBC Narnia music, andat 0:52/53 in the piece, it sort of sounds like Snake's Remains from Oracle of Seasons.

[Incanus 5,715]

Would I be disqualified if I looped this track I wrote once, and add some Hedwig's Theme into it?

Yes. Most definitely yes!

[Faleel 5,359]

Stinking academy rules!

[Incanus 5,715]

No compositional pain, no composers challenge fame.

[Faleel 5,359]

Hey, its painful to use Headwigs theme!

[Incanus 5,715]

Evidently the composers who worked on HP franschise after JW thought so.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

This whole thing is a complete travesty.

[Incanus 5,715]

OK, that's it! You are getting 0 points for your peformance!

[KK 3,307]

Just thought I'd give you the heads up that the Composers Challenge officially has its own twitter account. I was hesitant about it, but I decided its just an easier and faster way to get updates out there. Follow us now and get on board!

https://twitter.com/ComposeChalleng

Expect another update tomorrow.

[Incanus 5,715]

Ah Composers Challenge takes a step into the realm of social media.

[KK 3,307]

Indeed! Anyways, here's the update I promised!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a prize!

Past challenges never really had a tangible prize, but this time were going to try something different. There is officially a prize!

The first place winner will receive a signed copy of the full score (as printed for the scoring stage) for one of Abel Korzeniowskis pieces. The winner gets to choose which!Many thanks goes out to Abel for offering and agreeing to offer this great treat.

Dont forget to start following us on our new twitter page!

Oh and there are 18 days left till the deadline, so I hope you've all been busy writing.

Source: http://composerschallenge.com/2013/04/08/ladies-and-gentleman-we-have-a-prize/

[KK 3,307]

Hey guys,

Some of you guys have been asking me lately how to approach submitting your work. Well here are the instructions. The more you follow them, the easier my life gets!

The Submission Process

The deadline is fast approaching with about 2 weeks left. Some of you are hard at work, some of you have finished, and some have barely started.

So I believe it’s a good time to get you guys familiar with the new submission process. That’s right, we’re going with something new this time. Due to the increased amount of participants, to avoid confusion and loss of any files, this is how its going to work.

STEP 1: Prepare your entry in an MP3 Audio format

I’m going to advise against choosing to transfer video files to me for the sake of consistency. Only if that’s the only way possible. Your audio track should preferably be ready to sync with the clip, as in I can just past your track from the beginning with the clip and the mixture of sound, music and silence will sync perfectly. If this is not the case, please send me information and instructions on specified sync points.

STEP 2: Upload your MP3 file onto dinbox.com/Kalaisan

Go to dinbox.com/Kalaisan (NO WWW) or just click here and just drag your file on there. It will then automatically be uploaded into my private DropBox account. It’s a perfect and easy way to collect submissions while maintain anonymity amongst participants. MAKE SURE YOU LABEL YOUR ENTRY WITH YOUR NAME!

STEP 3: Send a confirmation email to kkalaisan@hotmail.com

Send me an email at kkalaisan@hotmail.com letting me know that you just uploaded your entry. I will then check and confirm with a reply thanking you for your submission.

STEP 4: Let me do the rest!

If you did steps 1-3 as told, then the rest of it is up to me to screw up! All kidding aside, I will take your mp3 entry and sync it to the designated clip. If you followed step 1 correctly, the music should easily sync up to the video with silence (if there is any) and music. If not, then I will be following the sync point instructions you emailed me in your confirmation email to help edit your entry. Please help make my life easier by doing steps 1-3 right! After this, entries will be sent off to the adjudicators and eventually opened to the polls!

That’s simple enough, right? Not too hard? Good! Let me know if there’s any problems. Looking forward to hearing your entries!

[KK 3,307]

Hi guys,

Just a reminder, there are about 4 DAYS left before the deadline! I’ve received a few entries but am waiting for many more. Hopefully you guys are finishing your work up.

Let me know if there are any problem. Can’t wait to hear all your work!

All the Best!

Kalaisan K.

[KK 3,307]

Time to hand your work in! I'm fine with not getting it in by midnight. I'd just like to see the entries there when I start to process the tomorrow (Saturday).

If you have any problems, just let me know. We'll work it out. I'm keen on getting all your entries out, so keep me in the loop!

Also, please try and follow these instructions for submissions:

http://composerschallenge.com/2013/04/14/ccvii-the-submission-process/

Looking forward to hearing your work,

Kalaisan K.

[KK 3,307]

Entries are up guys! Lots of awesome music to listen to!

http://composerschallenge.com/vii/the-entries/

Here's the playlist!

[wanner251 17]

I just listened to all of them yesterday. There is some pretty fabulous writing in there! I'll send you my ratings and comments sometime this week, KK. All except my own, of course. Actually, KK, I never received a full report on the public scoring and comments from Challenge #VI. I would have liked to have known what people thought. I did read the official critiques, which I enjoyed very much.

[KK 3,307]

CCVI Results are on the site, available to look up when you please:

http://composerschallenge.com/vi/the-results/

[wanner251 17]

Yes, I've seen that of course. I was wondering about the bit where voting was opened up to the public, and also comments from other participants. I understand that they were summarized on that page, I was just curious about specifics. I suppose we don't get to see such things. I can live with that.

[KK 3,307]

Yeah, sorry about that. I get a lot of email votes. Some of them are trolls, some just number ratings and some really insightful commentaries. But it's just not smart to post them all up. So I print out all the emails. Read through them and filter out the trolls. Calculate the score, and then take notes on what people say about each entry. From those notes I write up the little blurb you see below each entry.

[wanner251 17]

That's very cool. Thanks for taking so much time to do so!

[Incanus 5,715]

Yes your enthusiastic and busy efforts are really appreciated KK.

[Uni 306]

Holy crap--you got nineteen entries?! That's a pretty spectacular turnout. Haven't had a chance yet to listen to them, but I'm going to try to plow through the group tonight and tomorrow. (Is there still time to vote? How exactly do we submit our comments?)

- Uni

[KK 3,307]

Voting will be open for quite a bit.

Send an email to kkalaisan@hotmail.com telling me what rating out of 10 you would give each entry while finishing off with your top 3 favourites. Include your criticism, your commentaries and your feedback which will all help the composers a lot.

[KK 3,307]

First reviews are up! Check out reviews by Craig Richard Lysy. And a great thanks goes out to him for his great contributions to this initiative.

http://composerschallenge.com/vii/revie … hard-lysy/

Don't forget to listen to all the entries and vote.

All the best.

[KK 3,307]

Our next set is written by our very own Mikko Ojala (Incanus!). It's a whopping 45-page read, but the level of detail and depth he goes into is most appreciated!

http://composerschallenge.com/vii/jury-reports/reviews-ii-mikko-ojala/

All the best!

[Incanus 5,715]

I just hope I didn't completely trip myself on the themes used in the compositions as my knowledge of Doyle's, Hooper's and Desplat's work is somewhat weaker than of Williams' efforts.

[wanner251 17]

Incanus, you are amazing. It was really great to be adjudicated by someone who really knows the material well. The depth of your knowledge seems quite endless. Lots of great praises and criticisms. I felt like none of us could get anything by you.

[Incanus 5,715]

Thank you for your kind words. I hope my write-ups could give some advice and constructive criticism on your wonderful compositions. It was fantastic to hear people trying their hand at composing music for Harry Potter, which really seemed to inspire the participants in the best possible way.

Also once again kudos to Mr. Craig Lysy for his sharp eared and keen sighted reviews, that were a pleasure to read as always. I am equally eager to read Edmund Meinert's, Maartan van Strein's and last but not least Abel Korzeniowski's thoughts as well.