Comments on: Insisting on seeing music http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2007/08/21/insisting-on-seeing-music/ Roger Bourland writes about music and life Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:42:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: ComposerBastard http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2007/08/21/insisting-on-seeing-music/#comment-43959 ComposerBastard Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:24:38 +0000 http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2007/08/21/insisting-on-seeing-music/#comment-43959 hes right. film music isn't really meant to be listened in that way. then again...is it at all? * usually its third in volume...right behind dialog and sound FX...unless the director likes you or you have a bull dog of a music editor fighting for you. *my opinion is that film is like superglue...and any kind of music will stick to it. You'd have to do something really outrageous writing wise to break it. * FM tends to be derivitive and banal, and quite frankly, boring when listened to alone. It's not even close in meaning to *ahem art music. * Most of it is temp tracked, so its totally unoriginal anyway... * and many more All these negatives...So what does it leave us? Well, I think the art and craft is in the spot. Where to put music, how much, and what kind of elements is the hardest most baffling choice to make. Seeing an empty film is numbing. When so many things are going on, and when so many choices can be had...which one has the continuity and is right for the moment at hand? How do you hide the music and the seams? That's the most interesting part of FM at least when I look @ film. hes right. film music isn’t really meant to be listened in that way. then again…is it at all?
* usually its third in volume…right behind dialog and sound FX…unless the director likes you or you have a bull dog of a music editor fighting for you.
*my opinion is that film is like superglue…and any kind of music will stick to it. You’d have to do something really outrageous writing wise to break it.
* FM tends to be derivitive and banal, and quite frankly, boring when listened to alone. It’s not even close in meaning to *ahem art music.
* Most of it is temp tracked, so its totally unoriginal anyway…
* and many more

All these negatives…So what does it leave us?

Well, I think the art and craft is in the spot. Where to put music, how much, and what kind of elements is the hardest most baffling choice to make. Seeing an empty film is numbing. When so many things are going on, and when so many choices can be had…which one has the continuity and is right for the moment at hand? How do you hide the music and the seams? That’s the most interesting part of FM at least when I look @ film.

]]> By: Brad Wood http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2007/08/21/insisting-on-seeing-music/#comment-43817 Brad Wood Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:24:48 +0000 http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2007/08/21/insisting-on-seeing-music/#comment-43817 So this situation seems to suggest the intriguing possibility of filmmakers or other imagemeisters of some sort contracting to compose images for existing music. Not that this would be unprecedented, but perhaps the YouTube phenom could make it a seriously proliferating activity. As usual, these days when one thinks of something it is already happening, so I shouldn't be surprised if this sort of thing is well underway. So this situation seems to suggest the intriguing possibility of filmmakers or other imagemeisters of some sort contracting to compose images for existing music. Not that this would be unprecedented, but perhaps the YouTube phenom could make it a seriously proliferating activity.

As usual, these days when one thinks of something it is already happening, so I shouldn’t be surprised if this sort of thing is well underway.

]]> By: PK http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2007/08/21/insisting-on-seeing-music/#comment-43816 PK Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:19:57 +0000 http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2007/08/21/insisting-on-seeing-music/#comment-43816 Harry Potter, oh yeah. I love sitting in a theatre for those, as not only do you get Williams exquisite tailoring, but it is a rare day that you get to hear such a good orchestra of that size, so well orchestrated and recorded so well, AT SUCH A VOLUME!!! Yummm (expensive music productions so the producer says to the mixer, "You won't believe what I paid for that music, so let me hear it", thank you JW). It is not that I won't listen to film music on its own, it is that as soon as you seperate music and image it becomes music, not film music. It can be experienced, perceived and judged and discussed as music, but to be film music it has to be experienced in situ. Our brains do something funny to music when it is combined with image, so that almost any music with any image will have a chemical like interaction, affecting each element. When you post those YouTubes of wonderful 60s hits, it feels so strange, having lived with the songs/recordings almost all my life and never having "watched" them before. I am still enthralled with the Janis Ian. Harry Potter, oh yeah. I love sitting in a theatre for those, as not only do you get Williams exquisite tailoring, but it is a rare day that you get to hear such a good orchestra of that size, so well orchestrated and recorded so well, AT SUCH A VOLUME!!! Yummm (expensive music productions so the producer says to the mixer, “You won’t believe what I paid for that music, so let me hear it”, thank you JW).

It is not that I won’t listen to film music on its own, it is that as soon as you seperate music and image it becomes music, not film music. It can be experienced, perceived and judged and discussed as music, but to be film music it has to be experienced in situ. Our brains do something funny to music when it is combined with image, so that almost any music with any image will have a chemical like interaction, affecting each element.

When you post those YouTubes of wonderful 60s hits, it feels so strange, having lived with the songs/recordings almost all my life and never having “watched” them before. I am still enthralled with the Janis Ian.

]]> By: citrus http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2007/08/21/insisting-on-seeing-music/#comment-43778 citrus Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:03:23 +0000 http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2007/08/21/insisting-on-seeing-music/#comment-43778 I agree with Peter and Daniel. The purpose of film music is to enhance, support - yes, even lose itself in the film. We watched a film recently, "Mr. Hule's Vacation" (or something like that) in which really horrible early film type rinky-dink music was intermingled with loud rock music and brilliantly accentuated the contrast between the highly institutionalized life of vacationing "society" with the two characters who were apart, different and real enough to be outsiders in the best sense of the word. One a bemused observer. The other a weird, but amazingly transcendent participant. Only after viewing the film did we realize the tremendous effect of the music on the theme of reality versus total phoniness in a vacation resort setting. But the music never called attention to itself. It supported, underlined, and disappeared. To paraphrase one of my heroes, the music exists for the film, not the film for the music. Sermon for today... I agree with Peter and Daniel. The purpose of film music is to enhance, support - yes, even lose itself in the film.

We watched a film recently, “Mr. Hule’s Vacation” (or something like that) in which really horrible early film type rinky-dink music was intermingled with loud rock music and brilliantly accentuated the contrast between the highly institutionalized life of vacationing “society” with the two characters who were apart, different and real enough to be outsiders in the best sense of the word. One a bemused observer. The other a weird, but amazingly transcendent participant. Only after viewing the film did we realize the tremendous effect of the music on the theme of reality versus total phoniness in a vacation resort setting.

But the music never called attention to itself. It supported, underlined, and disappeared.

To paraphrase one of my heroes, the music exists for the film, not the film for the music.

Sermon for today…

]]>