Christian Filmmakers

I can’t get in-depth right now, but a few choice comments.

1.  Alex, one of your first scores was Wrath of Khan?  :D Did you know that Film Score Monthly just released the complete score?  I’m freaking out about it, but it’s an unlimited release, so I’ll probably save it for Christmas…maybe…hopefully.

2.  You guys don’t like Shostakovich?  We played his 5th Symphony for our last concert in orchestra last semester, and it was really cool.  I’m not familiar with the rest of his work, but there’s some really amazing stuff in that piece.

Ben, thanks for the heads up! I definitely need to pick up a copy. Wow, how did I miss that?

Shostakovich just doesn’t do anything for me. I’ve heard his string quartets, but I hate string quartets anyway. I heard (and played) some of his piano music back in college, but it didn’t do anything for me, either. I don’t recall ever having heard any of his orchestra music.

Alex Beard, composer
http://www.composeralex.com
http://www.myspace.com/composeralex

Well, I liked the string quartets pretty well. I had the entire set out from the library once - unfortunately I didn’t get to really listen (i.e. on repeat) to many of them because my sister was in a non-classical mood for 2 weeks straight, but I liked the ones in minor keys, to my recollection. I keep meaning to get it from the library again, but right now I have out the Fellowship soundtrack.
Haven’t played any of Shostakovitch’s piano music to my immediate recollection; I usually go for the Chopin/Debussy/Ravel kinds of pieces.

I’ll check that site out sometime if I can. Sounds interesting! I also found a bunch of interesting information on the Wikipedia page for the film scores.

Well, I’m going to check at the other library in a nearby town if I can make it there this summer. It won’t hurt to listen to them even if I am not sure I will like them.

The thing is, you have seen the films; I haven’t (and can’t). When I listen to them, I am putting the music together with my impression of the books. (which is why, while I like the Fellowship theme in the track “The Bridge of Khazad-dum”, I actually like a Dino Kartsonakis piece better for the end of that scene because it fits better with what I’ve imagined.) So the cues will have less impact because I cannot be positive where they belong.
As classical music, I like the minor pieces that are minor without being really dark. For example, The Breaking of the Fellowship is my favorite piece on the CD for that reason.

I’d wondered if the movies were longer than the Narnia movies; after all, LotR is much, much longer than the Narnia books.

I’ll finish later; have to be off for the moment…

Alex Beard wrote:

I hate string quartets anyway.

EVIL!!! :twisted:

Just kidding! It’s just that I’m a violinist and love string quartets, having played a few myself (and actually I’m writing one, I’m stuck on the third movement). But to each his own, and all that.

Ben, I think I’ve heard the ending of the 5th. Pretty powerful.

Anyway, I guess I’d better step aside and let this thread get back to it’s topic.

Benjamin

Benjamin Dawson wrote:

Alex Beard wrote:

I hate string quartets anyway.

EVIL!!! :twisted:

Just kidding! It’s just that I’m a violinist and love string quartets, having played a few myself (and actually I’m writing one, I’m stuck on the third movement). But to each his own, and all that.

Ben, I think I’ve heard the ending of the 5th. Pretty powerful.

Anyway, I guess I’d better step aside and let this thread get back to it’s topic.

Benjamin

What was the original topic?

J/k!

Dude, I played viola for 10+ years, and still could if I really wanted to (albeit at a high school, perhaps early college level).

String quartets just grate on me. I love a cello with anything ... solo, duet, trio, with whatever in the background ... I like a solo violin with a background, or a full violin section. I don’t like violas, and basses are just okay. The latter are great for effects, though!

Anyway, back to film scores for study, right?

Alex Beard, composer
http://www.composeralex.com
http://www.myspace.com/composeralex

Alex Beard wrote:

Anyway, back to film scores for study, right?

Right. Hope I didn’t offend you. :oops:

Speaking of Film scores, what did you guys think of the score for Night at the Museum 2? I thought the part with the Egyptian warriors was pretty neat. Some of it seemed to be exactly the same as in the first movie (that sounded odd, hopefully you know what I mean).

Finishing up real quick…

Thanks for the short film music history - I wasn’t aware of much of that.

I’d heard some of Aaron Copeland’s “Rodeo” (I think it’s called) on MPR (Minnesota Public Radio, the classical station). I always think it’s funny, though, when I recognize classical pieces in commercials and Looney Tunes and that kind of thing. I don’t think I could stand a whole feature-length movie with only classical music, though; you’d have to make the movie fit the music rather than the music to fit the movie.

And no, I haven’t heard the Night at the Museum soundtracks (I haven’t actually seen either movie).

Does anyone know if anyone is going to make an extended version of the Narnia soundtracks? I missed a few cues I really liked in PC - when the gryphon catches Edmund in the Night Raid scene, and then Reepicheep’s theme.

J Noordhoek wrote:

I don’t think I could stand a whole feature-length movie with only classical music

Have you seen Amadeus? What about Disney’s Fantasia?

Film music is “classical” music’s offspring. Why do you think you couldn’t stand it? Is your issue with this that the music isn’t original and customized, as opposed to a bit of this here and that there?

I could, if it was done well. Perhaps if the “classical” music was arranged and adapted by a specific composer, arranger, orchestrator, conductor, etc. On the whole, though, I’d have to say I’d generally appreciate an original score much more than a hack job of various “classical” composers’ music.

By the way, I don’t know about the second film, but Alan Silvestri scored the first Night at the Museum, and he did a wonderful job! It definitely rang with “Silvestri” ... particularly the motive for the Egyptian artifact that brought everything to life. He used that same 4-note idea in his amazing score to The Mummy Returns (which, actually, is on my list of film scores to study! ).

Alex Beard, composer
http://www.composeralex.com
http://www.myspace.com/composeralex

Alex Beard wrote:

J Noordhoek wrote:

I don’t think I could stand a whole feature-length movie with only classical music

Have you seen Amadeus? What about Disney’s Fantasia?

Film music is “classical” music’s offspring. Why do you think you couldn’t stand it? Is your issue with this that the music isn’t original and customized, as opposed to a bit of this here and that there?

I could, if it was done well. Perhaps if the “classical” music was arranged and adapted by a specific composer, arranger, orchestrator, conductor, etc. On the whole, though, I’d have to say I’d generally appreciate an original score much more than a hack job of various “classical” composers’ music.

Nope, never seen either.
Amadeus sounds like it’s about Mozart, though, so I would expect it to have a lot of his music in it. That makes sense.
Fantasia…see, this comes back to what I said about “making the movie to fit the music” versus the other way around. It really depends. **shrug** Haven’t seen it; don’t know how well it worked for them or anything.
Did Fantasia use The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Ducat? Because I think my mom used to have the Fantasia soundtrack CD but got rid of it some years ago - before I got into classical music; when she didn’t think I’d ever like classical. Now I don’t listen to much else! :D

Well, I’ve seen quite a bit of not-done-well movies that used just classical music. It’s okay, but being that I’m really into classical music, it kind of ruins the experience of a new movie to me if I can guess the next cue - or, worse, if the cue does not line up with the action on-screen (which sometimes happens) It can be done well, I’m sure, and it might be fun just to try sometime—making a movie fit a piece of music. But I’d take an original score over classical for a film any day. There’s more flexibility, you know?

So yes, it’s because it’s not customized to the film. It’s not as much about originality because I myself will assign classical music to bits of books I’m writing or reading; it’s the customizability & matching music cues with what’s happening on-screen.