Composers Ticker Tape Parade!

[Brandon Rice]

Oh, one more thing, I wanted to recognize the band that so graciously allowed us to use one of their songs for the beginning. Tear the Sails.
www.myspace.com/tearthesails

These guys rock!

[Owen]

my gear was an acoustic guitar, an accordian, an egg shaker, a yahama S80 keyboard , and i actually went out and bought a triangle specifically for this music. it was vital. everything was recorded using the microphone that came built into my DVX except the S80 which i used to play the piano, upright bass, and congas direct. everything was mixed in Vegas.

WOW. I thought for sure this entry included stock / pre-recorded music. EXCELLENT WORK!

[RMI Studios]

I totally hear what you're saying.

But as viewers, unless it's OBVIOUS that it was source music, or soundtrack-type stuff (as per your above definition), there's no way to know. Not all movies had end credits. Not all music would be recognizable as original vs. loops vs. stock... And considering a lot of people here are multi-talented (or have multi-talented teams/friends/family etc.), how COULD you judge?

For example... JTyners first love is music... and we have a recording studio in our home. If we were to put rock music into a film, at least at this low-budget level, it would probably be something he wrote, or something he had a friend come in and write/record with him. It would be original, and while it might go more to the soundtrack, it wouldn't be "source music" or "stock music".

So as the judges of these films, how would it be possible to KNOW that oh, these guys did everything in the music vs. oh, they used some stock/source music written by someone else?

On this same conversation, how do you feel about a film that used downloadable 3d models vs. models generated uniquely for the film? This occurred in the fest as well, and the same type of conversation could apply.

I see what you're saying, there's no way to know without end credits. But AFTER the fact, we can know. A #1 score should go to a film with a Score! Best Score implies Best Original Music, since score means original music. Best FX doesn't imply best original fx, best camera work doesn't mean you're reinventing the wheel each time you press record, etc...

I feel CPU deserves the #1 SCORE slot since it actually has a score. There, I said it! Somebody Shoot Me! lol


C.R.

[RMI Studios]

If DVXTrek won BEST ACTING, I would say the same thing:

There was no acting!



C.R.

[EditPhish]

I agree and I don't... see, best special FX to me would go to the guy who had great FX but also created all his/her stuff from scratch. Using pre-made models would be the same as using Apple Loops for your score.

If best "whatever" is decided upon based on points, and we're the ones voting, there's just no way we're going to know when we view the movie unless something is THAT recognizable.

[hemophilia]

MacB....I'm impressed. Great work. I definitely thought twice about that one when I heard it, wondering "is this an original score? nah it's probably some stock crap." Because it's so unique compared to most what people come up with as "movie music". And I mean that in a good way. I'm tired of "movie music".

RMI-Studios.... I'm with ya. The point should be original score, period. People should simply have to disclose if they did an original score vs. stock/loops. These contests are just mainly for this little community to gain experience and some recognition. It makes zero sense to have original composers competing against ... whoever it is that made the latest Royalty-Free-Collection-De-Jour. So it should just be a category that all the films don't necessarily have (like effects). And people should just make it clearly known when they submit. No sense in competing against someone that just paid for the use of someone else's music.

But it does get further complicated in situations like briceman's. Original music that the filmmaker aquires (often through great lengths and difficulty and searching far and wide for something that's just right). It sure seems like they deserve props in some way (as do the bands that provide the music for folks like us). But then making another category would be a bit batty. So I don't know that there's an easy solution.

[TheMacB]

WOW. I thought for sure this entry included stock / pre-recorded music. EXCELLENT WORK!

MacB....I'm impressed. Great work. I definitely thought twice about that one when I heard it, wondering "is this an original score? nah it's probably some stock crap."

thanks guys. yeah, it is real music. no stock samples or loops here.

(read this sentence with an irish brogue) i've been doing the music thing a lot longer than i've been doing the film thing but i've never done the music for a film.

here's another song recorded entirely with the DVX and mixed in Vegas. i performed it and wrote the music. and the lyrics were written by my little brother, evan (abraham), the director of A Brief Case.

www.elmatadorfilms.com/AllTheTimeYouKnow.wma

i also have a band called Stairs To The Roof. me on guitar and a bass player and a drummer. we have some rough recordings on our website: www.stairstotheroof.com. and we're about half-way done with our first real record which should be completed by the end of march.

i used to play keyboards in a band called Arcoda. check out www.arcoda.com. A couple of years ago we released a record with Levon Helm of The Band playing drums and mandolin on three tunes, Nate Alpert of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones on a couple of tunes, and a bunch of great Boston players on the rest. The record was called At First Sight. There should be some samples on the site from a more recent EP and At First Sight. and you can pick up a copy if you like it. and i'll keep ya posted on the stairs to the roof record.

i'm glad people dug the music for the film as it was my first attempt at scoring. and very frustrating being by yourself scoring a film for a director who is hundreds of miles away, eh? you guys were in the same situation, right? isn't that really difficult?

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

EDIT -- so there are two posts deleted 1) a long angry rant by me, objecting to part of Chris R.'s logic, but mostly being ticked about not being inlcuded in the discussion and 2) Chris H. telling me not to be such an ass hat, after it seemed (and understandibly so) that I was dissing him in the melee of asshatness that I was flinging at Chirs R. ... oh and we self moderated and delete our own posts BTW -- END EDIT

dude (Chris H.) -- I didn't mean to diss you at all -- not at all!
just riffing on the notion that this award was some big deal as it seems like some important crusade
I'm only pissed about being talked about instead of to, that's it.

Sorry if it seemed like any of that was directed towards you.

And you know what -- Chris R. is right, you and MacB desreve it. I'm just pissed about being ignored by Chris R. in the other thread and talked about. I'm also very tired and stressed from moving, so I'm going to delete my tome, and give over the best score award to the teams that deserve it, you guys and a brief case.

[ChrisHurn]

I really don't feel the need to worry. This competition is great, and I would rather not have the award changed. We didn't clarify any terms, so as far as I'm concerned, everything should stay where it is. I get my fun out of working with the great filmmakers here, not talking about awards. That's nice, but I'd rather spend my energy on what actually matters - the music itself.

Great work on the competition jdanstan, and I hope to see your film in Hero Fest.



-Chris

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

thanks for understanding but,

I would rather have it changed - because
A) its tainted for me
B) while I was initially, using a very narrow definition of score that would exclude both ODD Squad and CPU, there's really no valid reason in the world to use that definition.
C) you and MacB wrote original music, I didn't. I curated and mixed. So lets make it an "original score" award this time around and we'll get it sorted for next contest as to how to handle this category.
D) it may not matter to you and the music may be more important but I feel it does matter to the community here, as folks like to feel that "things went down right" and that the awards are fair, and Chris R. is certainly voicing a reasonable opinion, so let's give the award for score to the top ranked guys that actually wrote original music!

And if none of that sways you, you can look at it as doing a favor for me if you like, you'd getting this albatross of speculation off my back, and I would be very appreciative. I don't like having something people seem to think I don't deserve.