When creativity was (and still is) a winner

 

good old John Carpenter, I just read a recent interview and he basically said he just wants to make soundtracks now lol.

the really weird soundtrack is the first Terminator theme, here is a vid where a guy tries to break down the timing signature.

 

This music does NOT sound good.
It sounds disturbing. It makes the heart race.
It contains elements that make the skin crawl, triggering piloerection causing hair to stand on end.
It triggers the disgust system, making one's nose wrinkle and throat tighten.
These soundtracks contain just the right musicality to grab you ....
And then, once they have a hold on you, they abuse your physical systems with discordant elements and timing variations .
Of course music triggers emotional responses more universally than any other art, but the types and degree of tricks in soundtracks become so obvious listening without video, as nothing else is present to activate those systems.

 

hahaha you described perfectly why I think it's awesome

 

So, where's the fine line between soundtrack composition and sound effect design?

 

I think in the case of a soundtrack, where the point is to enhance the visuals with audio there ISN'T really a fine line there- I think audio doing it's job serving that purpose has succeeded.

something like Peter and the Wolf (lol first example that popped into my head) is obviously a masterpiece of musical narration, but I think you can look at that as a more traditional song style just because it isn't tied together with the visuals like with a film.

The Dunkirk soundtrack is super intense, at some points it's just a clock ticking. on its own, I mean sure there is Steven Reich style stuff but I think movie/tv stuff should be judged on the merit of not how musical it may or may not be but how well it works at adding to the emotion/idea. more traditional music, like you might have at a play is certainly capable of that, but so is like the blade runner 2049 score. and when I watched war horse, John Williams who obviously normally is pretty awesome i thought made the movie worse with his super sappy melodramatic stuff. I'm not saying BWARSSSS from blade runner 2049 would have worked in War Horse, but IMO that was a score by a master and it sucked, something like... Children of Man where half of the soundtrack is just his ears ringing still stands out to me.

like if you go to an underground punk show whether the band is musically proficient or not is secondary. same with soundtracks imo. I think going to a symphony is about the music, an art gallery is about the paintings, but a movie is about the visuals, the sound, the acting, the story- it really is like sensory overload of all these different elements and so while you CAN separate out soundtracks from their visuals and they totally are awesome and work fine- I don't think it says anything against the soundtrack if it doesn't work on its own but does within context of the movie.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 4, 2022