Music ideas/suggestions for a movie idea of mine

[timbox129 5]

Hello. My name is Timothy. And I am new here to this site.

Anyway, I don't know whether or not you could lock it away for good or move it to somewhere else, but I need some help regarding any potential music ideas/suggestions for a movie idea of mine...especially with which appropriate kind(s) of musical instruments (woodwinds, percussion, etc.) as well as which appropriate musical sounds/accents for me and/or a potential music composer to employ to represent the musical sounds of two diverse cultures.

Most recently, I was talking about doing a live action/animated movie someday, a movie idea that is to be called ToonTalker, or something like that, and it is to be both an epic, Avatar-esque love story involving an animated cartoon human girl and a live action human boy as well as an animated cartoon fantasy-meets-live action reality epic coming-of-age saga.

But it is also to be one about some clash of good versus evil in which both humans and highly-stylized Genndy Tartakovsky/Samurai Jack-esque (and largely 2d hand-drawn) animated cartoons will come together into conflict with an evil Aku-like Dark Lord and his terrifying hordes of evil minions in service to said Aku-like demon—all told through the eyes of two distinct characters (one live action, the other animated) and their respective families, two distinct worlds tethered into each other by some portal (like, for example, one inside a TV set) that allows free passage between both worlds (and complete with a change in aspect ratios to contrast the two worlds: the live action world of the Humans to be shown mainly in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, with the animated world of the Toons (along with the climactic battle scenes, the great collision of the two worlds climactic finale, and the happy ending) shown in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio), and two distinct cultures.

(I am really adamant that the live action family of the live action human boy and his cultural heritage be American, and I am also really adamant that the animated cartoon family of the animated cartoon girl and her cultural heritage be Japanese)

But anyway, in the case of the music score that I have in mind for my ToonTalker movie idea (the score for which is to be at once lush, ambitious, epic, cinematic, romantic and imbued with an ethnic flavor with some bits of toon music thrown in for some of my movie idea's more comedic bits), I have a question:

Which appropriate kind(s) of musical instruments (woodwind instruments, percussion instruments, etc.) and musical sounds/accents should I, or even a potential music composer, employ in order for the music score for my ToonTalker movie idea to represent the musical sounds of the diverse cultures of the live action human boy’s live action American family and his animated cartoon love’s animated cartoon Japanese family, respectively?

That is the question.

Any suggestions?

And can any of you look up or research the appropriate kind(s) of musical instruments (woodwinds, percussion, etc.) and musical sounds/accents that is/are native to the respective American and Japanese musical cultures for me please?

Thanks!

I'd appreciate it if you do!

[Jay 37,280]

Well, that's a big, complicated post with a lot of various questions and information speckled throughout. I think you want to know what instruments could be used for a live action / animated combo scene/film? Have you checked out Jerry Goldmith's score to Twilight Zone: The Movie, specifically the "It’s a Good Life" segment?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf0J5ZKpIr0

http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/cds/detail.cfm/CDID/422/Twilight-Zone-The-Movie/

[Uni 306]

Hello. My name is Timothy. And I am new here to this site.

Welcome to JWFan, Timothy.

First question: do you read a lot of comic books? The boldface emphasis reminds me a lot of that style. Good for the graphic novel, but kinda hard on the eyes when it's on the computer screen.

But anyway, in the case of the music score that I have in mind for my ToonTalker movie idea (the score for which is to be at once lush, ambitious, epic, cinematic, romantic and imbued with an ethnic flavor with some bits of toon music thrown in for some of my movie idea's more comedic bits), I have a question:

Which appropriate kind(s) of musical instruments (woodwind instruments, percussion instruments, etc.) and musical sounds/accents should I, or even a potential music composer, employ in order for the music score for my ToonTalker movie idea to represent the musical sounds of the diverse cultures of the live action human boy’s live action American family and his animated cartoon love’s animated cartoon Japanese family, respectively?

This is a difficult question to answer, mostly because it suggests that you're not yet ready to launch into the rigors of composing music for a film (whether your own or someone else's). It's also tough because you're asking us how we would musically articulate and emphasize story points we've never even seen and aren't at all familiar with. In any real movie situation, the composer at least gets to read a finished script before beginning to make decisions about tone, theme, and voicing for a score. You could hardly hope for someone to tackle that sort of outline based on a short synopsis and nothing else. I mean, when say you want a score that's "lush, ambitious, epic, cinematic, romantic, etc.," it sounds like you're gonna want to throw pretty much the entire orchestra at the thing at one time or another. But to try to set specific sounds and motifs to scenes that don't even exist yet? That's honestly something none of us could do with any hope of success.

And can any of you look up or research the appropriate kind(s) of musical instruments (woodwinds, percussion, etc.) and musical sounds/accents that is/are native to the respective American and Japanese musical cultures for me please?

Um . . . is there a reason you can't look up or research this sort of thing? It is, after all, your project. I'm not sure how all of us doing your homework for you is going to help you bring your vision to life. If you want to compose for this film yourself, you're going to need to learn the art and craft of composition, arranging, and orchestrating. It's really not our place to do all that for you.

Having said that, I think you should pursue all of this. It's an interesting story idea you present here—sort of an epically dramatic version of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, something that hasn't really been done before (to my knowledge, anyway). I would recommend that you leave the concerns about the score aside for the time being. That's something that takes place at the end of the production process, not before the writing process has even begun. Focus on getting your story realized in a solid outline, which leads to a solid script. Follow the path from there. If you reach the point where the project actually begins to become a reality, something can be produced on some scale, that's when you can start thinking in musical terms. (And at that point you'd probably be better off speaking to a composer or two in person, rather than trying to outsource vague concepts to a bunch of strangers with credentials unknown to you.)

Keep us informed on the process, though. It would be interesting to see how this turns out.

- Uni