Music to write to: Game Music

Randall_Oelerich

Randall_Oelerich

Veteran
I am listening to several hours worth of music from World of Warcraft right now as I work on a screenplay. I know music is a personal thing, but I am guessing at least some fellow writers have game CDs such as for games like World of Warcraft, Diablo, Guild Wars, etc. Often some pretty high quality music. Not sure if some of you know, but there are utility software programs for free on the net to easily extract the game music off your game CDs. I assume it is legal because if you own the game CDs you are just listening to files that are already on the CDs. Makes for some nice music while writing. I use an MPQ extractor-- it can let you view and extract just about any of the files on Blizzard games like WoW, Diablo, Starcraft, etc.
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=mpq+extractor&aq=1&oq=mpq
 
Until you print it out, read it in someplace else and find that it's no better then 12 year old creative writing.

That's what happened to me. I wonder then, does that mean I'm in an unacceptable location/atmosphere/mood/setting to read it and see it's value, or that it simply ain't up to standard.

RodThompson said:
I downloaded the entire WoW soundtrack while working on an epic fantasy script. It helped inspire beyond measure!
Click to expand...
 
I have never written a first draft that was camera-ready, but I don't think I've operated on the twelve-year old level since I was twelve.
 
A year or so ago I was about to sell some used games on eBay-- World of Warcraft, Burning Crusade, Diablo II, Baldur's Gate and several sequels to it; but now that I know I can extract the background game music I am keeping the game CDs! Worth their weight in gold (game gold that is, not real gold LOL) just for the music!

Rod, if you like that sort of music, check out this website-- 24/7 continuous fantasy music, streamed, free. Just click the link in the upper right for e.g. Winamp or Windows Media Player 128bit or their own Rivendell Player (to hear in browser), to hear it stream over the net to your computer. Lord of the Rings, Gladiator, RPG game music, etc.
http://radiorivendell.com
Streamtuner software also lets you listen to 1000s of internet radio stations, and that is where I first discovered radiorivendell, as it is listed as a station in streamtuner. Streamtuner is for Linux, but WinAmp does the same thing for Windows.

RodThompson said:
I downloaded the entire WoW soundtrack while working on an epic fantasy script. It helped inspire beyond measure!
Click to expand...
 
I use Imeem.com. I have yet to not find a song. :) It's also free streaming, but encompasses all genre's and sorts by related music. Oh, and by far, this is the most EPIC SCORE ever composed.
 
Yes, Clint Mansell is one of the best composers (Shell Shock from Smokin' Aces my personal fav.).

Rod, That score is actually a different version of 'Lux Aterna', originally composed for Requiem for A Dream. The song title is not the latter, fyi and for others too. Heavily used in a lot of trailers, with good reason.

Where LOTR OST is concerned, i prefer Gollum's Song.
 
The original of that song is much better. i don´t like this epic version, I prefer the more subtle approach from requiem
 
I am back home, going to check out imeem today. I was at Caribou Coffee this morning and their wifi would not allow imeem viewing, gestapo wifi tactics. But Caribou did allow radiorivendell. I used to use little ear buds, but with all the ambient noise at wifi cafes, now I have a nice pair of Sennheiser HD280 headphones ($115) that really block ambient cafe noise, really nice.

RodThompson said:
I use Imeem.com. I have yet to not find a song. :) It's also free streaming, but encompasses all genre's and sorts by related music. Oh, and by far, this is the most EPIC SCORE ever composed.
Click to expand...
 
raymondluo said:
Yes, Clint Mansell is one of the best composers (Shell Shock from Smokin' Aces my personal fav.).

Rod, That score is actually a different version of 'Lux Aterna', originally composed for Requiem for A Dream. The song title is not the latter, fyi and for others too. Heavily used in a lot of trailers, with good reason.

Where LOTR OST is concerned, i prefer Gollum's Song.
Click to expand...

I think the entire Requiem soundtrack is beautifully epic. This steroid version just gets me though. I, no poop, listen to it at least once a day in the car.
 
What the hell?

What the hell?

raymondluo said:
Until you print it out, read it in someplace else and find that it's no better then 12 year old creative writing.

That's what happened to me. I wonder then, does that mean I'm in an unacceptable location/atmosphere/mood/setting to read it and see it's value, or that it simply ain't up to standard.
Click to expand...


I'm confused by the quoted post and rod's following post.

What relevance does this have to "game music"?

And how does one even compare your own work to a 12 year olds writing? And why would you?

Ain't up to what standard?

And then rod says "I've never written a script that's camera ready". Raymond doesn't say anything about "camera ready", does he?


I'm just confused by this...
 
If music gathers inspiration for the writer, he gets into a "zone" where whatever he/she conjures out at that state of mind may first seem to be of utter brilliance. It's like

But take the music (and thus the mood) out of the context or even just a random re-read, said writer may find himself disappointed at his own creation. It's like if you have an idea that you think really works, but later on on close inspection you realize it's not as good as you first thought it would be.

12 year old was just a figure of speech to say how bad i thought my work was.

When i said it wasn't up to standard, i wasn't referring to rod's work. I was referencing my own experience when i was attempting to write something. Standard being how i perceived my script when i reviewed it again. I do think that there is no script standard to follow where content is concerned, but there are formats to adhere to.

rod mentioned camera ready, which is pretty much the last stage of a script. Then again, to write something camera ready on a first draft is pretty damn hard to do. What i think he means is that nothing turns out right the first time and that we need to working on it till we're satisfied.
 
Ah

Ah

"If music gathers inspiration for the writer, he gets into a "zone" where whatever he/she conjures out at that state of mind may first seem to be of utter brilliance. "

Heh, I understand completely what you mean.

Almost everything I wrote last year, a few shorts, nothing more, I never continued on with writing a second draft. Just because I didn't think they were any good, after having read the scripts.

The best way, perhaps, is to have someone else read the script. I find it hard judging my own stuff, since I am always concerned with the quality of my scripts and critical as I imagine many of us are.
 
Who cares how bad the first draft is? The only point of a first draft is to exist as fodder for future drafts. Show me someone who thinks their first drafts are "camera ready" and I'll show you someone who likes making bad movies. If music helps you get a first draft done that later turns out to be overwrought garbage, you're still way ahead of the pack.

Here's a few of my own suggestions, which are a bit different; I'm not big into fantasy.

- Last of the Mohicans
- The Thin Red Line
- Battlestar Galactica, Season Two
- Beyond Rangoon
- Crimson Tide
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
- Sigur Rós - () or Ágætis Byrjun
- The Quiet American
- Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite
- The Motorcycle Diaries
- random mix of Mogwai


edit: oh, right, GAME music. Well, in that case I'd say maybe Halo 3, some of the Metal Gears, Fallout 2, Max Payne 2...
 
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