Hey, this movie’s soundtrack sounds like…

Please join on this entry and add your own discoveries. I intend to add to it as I think of new examples – and perhaps gussy up the writing a bit too.

This is music geek stuff so it will either generate nothing, dead silence… or it may end up being something that search engines send a lot of music geeks to.

It is not uncommon to hear classical music in a movie. However, beyond identifying Beethoven or, more frequently – a Russian, like Stravinsky in a soundtrack, it is more fun to recognize a sound cue that is reminiscent of something else.

It's no accident when it happens and might be for any number of reasons.

1. The guys writing this stuff, the Williams, Korngolds, Hermanns, Newmans – they all know, (or knew) music as well as anyone and so are having musical fun with the job.
   
2. When a movie is edited, temporary music is used to demonstrate the mood and final effect desired. Frequently, to the chagrin of many composers, the director falls in love with the temp score and thus asks for, "Something that sounds just like this, but different…"
   
3. Face it, there are only so many different ways to score an ominous, or exciting, or (fill in the blank) scene – given a certain type of music. Eventually, something is going to sound like something else.
   

For people that aren't familiar with "classical music", but who did like a soundtrack score, this is a great way to get turned on to new (old) music.

I'm going to start a list with some easy ones. Please add in the comments and I'll add to the list.

Click on the links in the first example to actually hear the sections. I'll start with three easy ones.

Frequently, Gustav Holst's The Planets is used in a movie. Even though it wasn't that originally, it does make for great movie music. The following however is just a bit of a sound alike. Both scores are "original":

THE PLANETS (Mars, Bringer of War) - Gustav Holst


STAR WARS (Death Star explodes) - John Williams

1. Basket Chase from Raiders of the Lost Ark and Ballet of the Chicks from Pictures at an exhibition. I'm not picking on John Williams. He just writes so many scores in the classic style that it's inevitable his name will come up frequently. Mussorgsky is also frequently mimicked in film scores.

2. Erich Korngold "hinting at" Puccini's Tosca. I have always thought that Tosca (and most of Puccini's other operas) are the ultimate Cinematic experience. Even though they aren't cinema, the tenets of cinema are purely there. I just learned that Korngold said the same thing, which makes me happy. If one is to have a thought that is not original, it is at least nice to have it validated positively. Korngold was a serious classical composer so -- he sometimes mimicked himself! I hear hints of Puccini in a lot of what Korngold does. A specific is the Adventures of Robin Hood's "Procession sequence" and the morning mass in the first act of Tosca.
   

About Korngold, I should note - he was very (practically) a contemporary of Puccini and was called by some, "the Puccini of Austria" - so I hesitate to use the word 'mimic' with him.

I know there are some music fans/movie fans that read this so ... get to work. I want Mahler references, I want obscure stuff!

And finally - I'll end with this clip... what is this music from?
Can you picture it? Is it a Hitchcock film? or maybe a Scorsese movie?

Looping Dialogue – when it doesn’t work

With the L.A. Film Festival in full swing now and with a special connection to free passes, (thanks, B) it makes for a great escape from the HOT – HOT - HOT place that is my house. Yes, we're in a heat wave and it's brutal. There comes a point when the fact that it's a "dry heat" doesn't really matter. 105, 107… those temps are hot no matter what. Even when a person can survive, electronic equipment creaks away dangerously. The keyboard of my notebook computer is hot to the touch. The Ipod shouldn't be used in temps like this. Heck, it's even starting to approach the max storage temp of 113 for a lot of electronic equipment. What does one do in Palm Springs where it did exceed that temp if one isn't home?

I finally saw the new Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull movie last night. I'm sure enough people have seen it that I don't need to review it. It was – okay, it sufficed. I was bothered by a few things: story wise, magnetism was treated in the most ridiculous manner ever – even if you believed it within the context they set it. Surviving waterfalls effortlessly (waterfalls that make Niagara look small) was too much – even if using the Temple of Doom measuring stick. However, something more bothered me that really pulled me from the movie in the beginning, and it's something that probably hasn't been mentioned in any reviews. It's entirely a tech-geek thing, but on a subconscious level, it does affect everyone watching a movie.

Here goes.

It appeared to me that Harrison Ford's dialogue was entirely looped for the first fifteen or so minutes of the movie. Other sections were looped also, but my attention wasn't as obviously drawn to them. Here it was. It wasn't as obvious as the looping in the first Mad Max movie, but to me, still obvious.

To give a quick background for those who might not instantly know what I'm talking about, "looping", or ADR, as it is popularly called now, is when the original dialogue (that was recorded during production) is replaced. This happens for a bunch of reasons – poorly recorded, too much extraneous noise, etc. Sometimes it's done to actually change a line reading. In a controlled environment, the actors (or a voice "double") record new dialogue, matching to the lips on the screen. To do it well, not only do the lips have to match and sync up perfectly, the inflection has to match also. Additionally, we, as an audience, have come to expect a certain 'proximity' to the voice in relation to the distance the actor is from us on the screen. In other words, if the actor is way off in the distance, it would feel unnatural if it sounded like the microphone was three inches from the actor's mouth. This means that doing ADR right is as dependent upon the audio engineers as the actors.

When it's done properly, you can't tell. Most movies – especially larger movies, have looped at least 10% of the dialogue. Sometimes, especially in action movies or movies with a lot of exterior locations 90% or more of the movie has been looped.

Done right, you don't notice it. But somehow, for some reason, it wasn't done right, I noticed it, and it bothered me – pulling me out of the movie before it even got off the ground. I'm not sure I ever got back into it – and I was very aware of the fact that I was watching a movie. In other words, I never quite suspended my belief. Too bad.

And now that I've drawn your attention to it, perhaps when you see the movie, it will bother you too. Sorry.

Other quick note.

Yes, George Carlin died. That's big news and an enormous loss for the world of comedy. Don't need to comment on that much more because it's such big news and others have much better things to say and write.

Did you know that Stan Winston died? That's a major loss for the Special Effects world. Some of the larger movie moments we have collectively said WOW to were created by him and his company – the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, the morphing dude in Terminator, the list is long. It's a big loss.

For me, as I have been in a bit of a news blackout in the last week, the person I'm bummed about most is Cyd Charisse, who died last week. Rather than comment on her passing, I will break copyright law and include a youtube video. Intead of the most obvious clip, her incredible number in Singin' in the Rain - here's something different, though still similar in style: a dance number from a movie called, Party Girl.

The Art of Movie Trailers

My brother asked me some advice regarding movie trailers. He has something in mind for a project and wants to mimic a trailer. It got me to thinking that it might make for a fun blog entry.

For the slim possibility that there is actually a person that doesn't know what a trailer is… it's the "coming attraction" previews of a movie. I have a friend that complains about them—saying that they give away everything in a movie. He refuses to watch them. I, on the other hand, love to watch movie trailers. They make me giggle with excitement, make me feel like a little kid, or groan with despair, frequently saving me the thirteen bucks or whatever it costs to go see a movie nowadays. That's because, my friend is right; most trailers do give away pretty much everything in the movie. They can save me a lot of agony.

And, as everyone knows, most are actually better than the movie.

The movie trailer has come a long way, and has really ramped up as an art form in the last fifteen to twenty years. Once upon a time, they were a hodge podge of the best moments of a film. Many were cut from an actual print, so the sound would cut miserably and jarringly. There was little attempt to put something together that was smooth, that flowed – or even captured the spirit of the movie.

It's amazing to watch old trailers and see how bad they actually were. I won't even bother going any further back in time than the early 80's to illustrate the point.

With a new Indiana Jones movie about to be let loose, the Indiana Jones website is an excellent trip down memory lane as well as a fascinating study in the evolution of trailers. What's really amazing is to see how bad the first Raiders of the Lost Ark trailer is. I remember it too—seeing it on television. The theatrical trailer for Raiders is a bit better. A bit. What is interesting about it, is that it still has a 1970's sensibility; it leads you to believe that Raiders might be a serious, dark movie—perhaps a thriller. There is actually very little hinting at how much fun it will be. The trailer for the theatrical re-release a couple years later specifically reminds the audience "THIS IS A FUN MOVIE!!!"

However, these trailers are all very primitive by modern standards. Oddly, the new Indiana Jones trailer is NOT to be viewed as an example of a good trailer. It's quite poor. I don't know why but I'm hoping it's because Steve and George aren't too concerned. They know the movie will be a monster hit even if they just showed a still of the title for two minutes and thirty seconds.

So, for filmmakers, this might be of use and for the general public, it might be of interest. Here is what the modern movie trailer has evolved to: Generally they are about two and a half minutes long and consist of five acts. They may or may not have voice over, and they may or may not have flashy title cards helping to move the plot along.

The best trailers don't need a voiceover or title cards. These are crutches, but are such standard practice, that no one really criticizes them much.

Watch almost any trailer these days and you'll see how the five act breakdown works. This is not to be confused with the five act structure commonly used by Shakespeare. It is a structure unto itself; basically a classic three act structure with a tease-in and a tease-out.

1. A teaser lead in.
   
   1. Very brief, sometimes over the production/distribution company logo, sometimes audio only. Sometimes just a few seconds long. It could be from any point in the movie.
      
2. 1^st act of the story. This is where, if there's a voice (usually Don LaFontaine) it will say, "In a world" or… "When John Doe thought he knew…"
   
   1. The movie is set up.
      
3. 2^nd act of the story. In a trailer, this is where the problem that will be the premise of the movie is detailed. Not dissimilar from the typical three act structure.
   
4. 3^rd act of the story. This is where, if Don has been saying things he now says, "Now, he has to…" The solution being something like save the world, get the girl, or something. (it might actually incorporate a lot of the actual 2^nd act of the movie)
   
5. A brief lead out.
   
   1. Sometimes this is after the title card. It could be very quick – just a couple frames, or it could be a few seconds long. If it's a horror movie, something horrible happens. If it's a comedy, a punchline that was set up a little earlier will be delivered. It could be from any point in the movie.
      

Boom. Done. Now go see the movie.

When I started cutting trailers for my own movies, I studied countless trailers. While cutting the Ghosts of Edendale trailer I was most impressed by the trailer for The Others. I think it's a masterpiece as trailers go. Damn fine movie too. Watch both and you'll see they're five acts.

For trailers of this coming summer, here are a comedy, Tropic Thunder, and an action movie, Dark Knight. Both perfectly made, both two and a half minutes, both five acts.

So, there you have it. Check it out. See if you can spot the five acts in a movie trailer.

Enjoy.