"Medal of Merit" A Ramsaur Film

bhase724 said:
Can you please clarify what you meant by this statement. I can't tell if you just complimented or criticized my work. I was told by Matt to score basically through the whole video. This was actually my first short film score and I really need to know what I did wrong.

Thanks,
Ben
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The music was consistent all of the way through. It never dipped or slowed to match what was happening on screen even to add an undertone of dread. There was just no tonal change and felt like the music had been looped. Stuck on instead of scored for the film. When the first kid fell, that was a huge cue for the music to change, to go darker or even just to stop completely. The music continued at the same adventurous pace and that lessened the impact of the scene.

Check out the work of Justin Durban, Herman Witkam, Damian Sanchez, Francesco de Leonardis and Sid Barnhoorn. They've all worked on films for Questfest and while they have different styles, they produce music fitted for the film.

What you may have done here is take the director too literally. A lot of us directors have no clue about the music until we hear it and we can tell you what works for us. So you have to trust your instincts first and then take notes and feedback, but dont do so blindly.

If any of the composers want to chime in, now would a GREAT time.

Good luck to you.
 
Very nice. Good locations! The night scenes were very cool. Seemed like it might be a bit tricky to pull off in the middle of the woods! This reminded me of my nephews. That is what good filmaking can do. When we can pull something out that we can relate to, I think you have done your job.
 
Good solid, easy to follow story. There were some sound issues during the pow wow at the beginning, and I didn't really get the point of the first scene, but all in all I was able to follow this fairly easy. Good job on the compound fracture, that thing looked real! However, being around football players in high school who actually had one of those made me feel that kid was a bit too calm. I mean to see your bone sticking out, not an easy thing for a kid to handle at all. The acting was also lacking in the film and I felt like I needed more urgency/desperation/concern from both Brig and Mr. Ceryl especially. The score was good, but seemed a bit over done, especially in the end where it made me feel like I was about to watch the ending of a Jerry Bruckheimer action movie. Just didn't seem to fit, in my opinion. I did like a number of your shots and felt like the edit came together nicely. I hope to see more of your films in the future!

Thanks for sharing!
 
Its a shame you couldn't use the Rebel the whole time. It was a little jaring going back and forth between it and the HV20. One thing that could help with that is match the color/saturation between both in Post.

I agree that the score could use a little help, as well as some of the acting. But it certainly wasn't a bad film in any respect.
 
Good Job on this film. I don't want to repeat the same comments over & over again, could it use some work? ...sure, but by no means was this a poor film. You are showing improvement with each of your productions. Keep up the good work. The only advice I would give is cut back on the number of films you enter and work on (I swear I saw you name on just about every film in this fest!) and give one your complete attention.

Congrats to cast & crew!
 
Hi Ramsaur,

Nice concept. Good ending. Acting was fine.

I agree with other comments that the opening scene was a bit redundant. We were just thrown in and pulled out before knowing what was going on.
You could do with establishing shots to set the scene. Also, a wider veriety of shots, a bit more than the shakey cam shots.
The music, as stated before, never changed to match the scenes.
It went from light to dark in seconds as he fires the flare... The falre sound FX needs to be better.

Not a bad try, you will learn a lot from this Fest. Well done.
 
I liked the topic you chose. The story was good, but the acting was a bit stiff and that held the piece back somewhat. I would have liked you to have shot all the night work at dusk and corrected; it got too dark for me.

Thanks for sharing!
 
Hey man.... Good effort ... had great colours in the shots ... the story is a bit empty in the first half ... but compensates in the second ... Good Job ...
 
Hey puck,

Thanks for the tip on sticking with my instincts. Initially I had the music stop after the fall and also there was a break when the scouts were walking through the woods. I just assumed the director knew what would fit the best so I stuck with his suggestions.

On the other hand you need to know what tonality is before you accuse someone of not changing it. The chord progression that I used in the beginning was based on chromatic mediants (movement by thirds - A tequnique that developed in the progression out of tonal music) I used a pedal point to hold the progression together. I also used similar rhythms to tie differing sections to one another. When the boys split up I completely changed the "tonality" by switching to a minor progression with a major V. I continued in the minor mode after the fall but changed the rhythmic element of the music using thirds instead of a pedal point. The progression I used during the night scenes was major and had nothing to do rhythmically or harmonically with anything prior. In the final scene I used a track that I had previously used that was in an entirely diffent key. As I said don't try to talk music unless you know what you are talking about. The music I composed was diverse harmonically shown by the examples above but I used tequniques to blend each section into the next. -Unless that is undesireable

I understand what you are saying about the ups and downs. On my next project I will spend more time on the mix. I do however feel that I captured the emotion and feel of each scene. I encourage you to view the film again and listen for the changes that I mentioned. Perhaps my "blending aproach" was to musical and didn't offer the abrupt changes that may have been necesarry in this film.
 
Hey Ben, also what puck said in his 2nd paragraph about us directors having no clue about the music until we hear it and us telling you what works for us, is what I did. This is my 4th project working with a composer and I'm not that skilled yet but I had no clue this was also your first project for film. I give lots of credit to you for your first. Cause that was pretty good IMO. But I know myself I need to use my direction more. So if we do another one together let's put both brains in and jump back and forth and we'll both learn more and have a nice/better score running through :)

But this is good for a start for you and for me. Had fun working with you on both projects, hopefully we can work on the next ones.
 
bhase724 said:
... The chord progression that I used in the beginning was based on chromatic mediants (movement by thirds - A tequnique that developed in the progression out of tonal music) I used a pedal point to hold the progression together. I also used similar rhythms to tie differing sections to one another. When the boys split up I completely changed the "tonality" by switching to a minor progression with a major V. I continued in the minor mode after the fall but changed the rhythmic element of the music using thirds instead of a pedal point. The progression I used during the night scenes was major and had nothing to do rhythmically or harmonically with anything prior. In the final scene I used a track that I had previously used that was in an entirely diffent key. As I said don't try to talk music unless you know what you are talking about. The music I composed was diverse harmonically shown by the examples above but I used tequniques to blend each section into the next. .....
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Was this in English?

Seriously good job. Every attempt is a learning opportunity. Take advantage of it and apply what you learned to the next project.
 
That is written in musician... :) Mood and Tonality are completely different. I guess for the mood of the score it was all happy. I tried to add some tension by switching to minor and using some tight string harmonies after the fall but I should have incorporated more elements to achieve the proper feel. I will definitely play around with tempo a lot more on my next project, didn't really think about it to much on this one.
 
Hey Ramsaur. Pretty good film. It took a little while to engage me but I feel that your second half definately was stronger. The acting was ok but I did feel like it could have been ramped up a bit during the injury sequence. Awesome injury FX. One other thing to be careful about is letting the musical overpower the dialogue with volume. Thanks for sharing!
 
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