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  • Non-Epic film score

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    Here are some excerpts - a suite - from a score I did -

    Althyria

    If anyone is interested, it uses only Dimension Strings and Solo strings, solo flute, harp, celeste, glasses, and a few other VI percussion and uses MIR Pernegg Monastery. I have been hearing the great music Guy Bacos, Jos, Dave Acclarion, Paul McGraw, Philippe Baylac, many other talented composers and performers here and thought I should put on something other than just talk. So here is what I've been working on - it is a low budget, small film, but actually got a distributor. Though I have to confess - I made it also. It is the only way I can get a job scoring a movie...


  • Hi William,

    While I'm doing the very tedious and boring job preparing my orchestral scores for live performance, it was a welcome and pleasant surprise to hear your film score.
    Really nice orchestral music in a brilliant orchestration. I especially like the way(s) in which you treat the main theme. The version around min. 5 to 6 is absolutely wonderful and so delicate. 
    I can imagine that it was hard work. Not only the music is outstanding, but the rendition and the mix (typical for film scoring) are of a very high standard too.

    As I said, it was a real pleasure to hear these 18 minutes of quality film music by a well inspired and real craftsman.

    Congratulations!

    Jos


  • Congratulations on this fine suite, William!  It's haunting, hypnotizing, ethereal; a transformative listening experience.  The whole score is delicate, with a shimmery sound, no doubt contributed by the placement in Pernegg (I need to get that reverb pack).  

    The fact that you also have created the film (looks like it's receiving a premiere in November?) is an even more impressive accomplishment.  It must be a wonderful feeling to have control over the entire creative process and see your own vision through to fruition without having to bend and mould to the whims of others.  You might not get rich from the whole thing, but you've taken initiative to control your own legacy...to be active and productive in spite of the lack of opportunities.  

    Cheers!

    Dave


  • Thanks Jos and Dave!

    I should have added that the idea of the orchestration was to do a small scale ensemble like what a small scale film might have obtained in the past, rather than a huge Epic string ensemble for a tiny movie that could never have afforded such an ensemble.  The Dimension strings combined with solo allow that kind of ensemble.  

    Also though I am a fan of Bernard Herrmann, I took the opposite approach on this score and used the "leitmoif" style of scoring, with separate motifs/themes for characters, then tried to develop them throughout.  So the score ended up being a total of 40 minutes of music which I made this smaller selection from.


  • Very beautiful and evocative, and beautifully orchestrated. I wish your music and the movie the success they deserve!

    Paolo


  • Thanks Paolo!

    One thing I should also have mentioned is this score uses in large sections the 8-tone scale that was being discussed somewhere earlier on this Forum.  It then changes to chromatic/diatonic in a few places almost like throwing in accidentals.

    I was inspired to use a tiny orchestra by the Roy Webb - Val Lewton (I Walked with a Zombie etc.) scores of the 40s, also the Twilight Zone which both had very restricted numbers due to budgeting. But that resulted in more imaginative use  - in those classic scores - of what was available.  I like that idea of restricting one's resources, and then figuring out what can be done, rather than having absolutely everything under the sun and then sitting there totally confused...  


  • Hi Bill,

    I should check this forum more often. I really wanted to listen, but the link does not work. 


  • PaulP Paul moved this topic from Orchestration & Composition on