Music for Digital Media Task 4 – Only Brass Score – North by Northwest (1959)
MDM Task 4 – Brass Score from Pablo187 on Vimeo.
Report:
When creating this task my objective was to score a clip from ‘North by Northwest’ movie only with a brass orchestration. First I highlighted a moment when Roger sees that the plane has evil intentions and that it’s better to run for it. When he is running to the crops I created a very dynamic orchestration to accompany this action. The plane flying over him is highlighted by kind of dramatic, heroic orchestration of something more mighty ruling above him. Gradually I create more tension and drama when the plane’s approaching to finally hit the climax when it flies over his head. When he’s trying to stop the truck, I highlighted the split danger source and approaching of it from ‘North and Northwest’. Also the fast approaching of the truck and the plane’s at that time invisible on the screen but oncoming danger, hitting the climax again when he is almost run over. To make my composition I was influenced by Hans Zimmer’s ‘The Battle’ piece from ‘The Gladiator’. I think even more by a piece from ‘Inception’ trailer titled ‘Mind Heist’ composed by Zack Hemsey. One audio-sequencer and music technique I used was switching between different settings for brass samples in groups in EXS24. This task is an example of practice as research as I did study Hans Zimmer’s score sheet for ‘The Gladiator’ and were analyzing it in practice by recreating it in Logic I would give myself a good mark for this task. The report will drag me down as usual but I am really happy about my brass score that could perhaps save me from going below 60%.
Word count: 271
Bibliography:
Filmography:
Gladiator. (2000) [DVD] dir. R. Scott. USA: Scott Free Productions
Inception. (2010) [DVD] dir. C. Nolan. USA: Legendary Pictures, Syncopy Films
Mo’ Better Blues. (1990) [DVD] dir. S. Lee. USA: 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks
North By Northwest. (1959) [Film] dir. A. Hitchcock. USA: MGM
Books:
Karlin, F. & R. Wright, eds. (2004) On The Track: A Guide To Contemporary Film Scoring, Great Britain: Routledge
Music:
Gounod, C. (1872) Funeral March of a Marionette, US: RCA Victor Red Seal, Vinyl.
Online Resources:
IMDb. (1990-2011). Biography for Hans Zimmer. Internet web page at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001877/bio. (Accessed 25.02.11)
