(no subject)
I just put in an offer on the house. It was rather frightening.
In other news, I have twice watched the first Pirates of the Caribbean and have listened to the soundtrack a great many times. I am in the process of decontsructing the score, and have decided that as much as I like the sound of Hans Zimmer's work, it keeps leaving me wanting. Klaus Badelt, however, the hands-on composer for the first film, I find very satisfying. The combination of the two (Zimmer overproduced the score, which I need to get a better definition of but I believe indicated his hand in thematic development and the overall "feel" for the film) is what makes that first soundtrack really something to chew on.
My biggest exposure to Zimmer's work is through the flim Gladiator, which I studied as part of the ill-fated film scoring class taught by Paul Zubrod at OSU. I have both parts of that score ("Music From" and "More Music From"), and have as my single but not small complaint the issue of "thematic starvation." He generates a few great themes through the film, but their presence is so sparse that you feel like you got cheated. There's a lot of great instrumentation and ethnomusical elements, and the man is a master of building up to something great, but at times the score sounds like all build and no destination. It's a little disapointing.
The score for the first Pirates movie has great themes as well (actually very similar to those from Gladiator) - but Badelt uses them and uses them liberally! His thematic frequency is reminiscent of the original Star Wars, but Williams very clearly laid out one theme per character (Luke Skywalker) or element (the Force) and stood with it. Pirates has about three or four "heroic" themes that aren't tied into any one character and are used sequentially or interchangeably. Now, it does have a separate theme set for Jack Sparrow and another for Barbossa and the Pearl's crew, but it strikes me as strange to have multiple recurring themes that are not linked into something specific.
One last note - the directors and Badelt worked together to do a fabulous job of tying the score in with the humor of the film. Take the first appearance of Jack Sparrow, standing in the crow's nest of a ship, wind in his hair, the unending seas in the background. We get the impression that he's on a ship - a big one - from the score, which doesn't change at all when the camera reveals that it's a tiny, leaking, one-sail boat. It fits right in with the continuing similar humor of the film, and I think the film would be less with a score either more serious or more comical.
In other news, I have twice watched the first Pirates of the Caribbean and have listened to the soundtrack a great many times. I am in the process of decontsructing the score, and have decided that as much as I like the sound of Hans Zimmer's work, it keeps leaving me wanting. Klaus Badelt, however, the hands-on composer for the first film, I find very satisfying. The combination of the two (Zimmer overproduced the score, which I need to get a better definition of but I believe indicated his hand in thematic development and the overall "feel" for the film) is what makes that first soundtrack really something to chew on.
My biggest exposure to Zimmer's work is through the flim Gladiator, which I studied as part of the ill-fated film scoring class taught by Paul Zubrod at OSU. I have both parts of that score ("Music From" and "More Music From"), and have as my single but not small complaint the issue of "thematic starvation." He generates a few great themes through the film, but their presence is so sparse that you feel like you got cheated. There's a lot of great instrumentation and ethnomusical elements, and the man is a master of building up to something great, but at times the score sounds like all build and no destination. It's a little disapointing.
The score for the first Pirates movie has great themes as well (actually very similar to those from Gladiator) - but Badelt uses them and uses them liberally! His thematic frequency is reminiscent of the original Star Wars, but Williams very clearly laid out one theme per character (Luke Skywalker) or element (the Force) and stood with it. Pirates has about three or four "heroic" themes that aren't tied into any one character and are used sequentially or interchangeably. Now, it does have a separate theme set for Jack Sparrow and another for Barbossa and the Pearl's crew, but it strikes me as strange to have multiple recurring themes that are not linked into something specific.
One last note - the directors and Badelt worked together to do a fabulous job of tying the score in with the humor of the film. Take the first appearance of Jack Sparrow, standing in the crow's nest of a ship, wind in his hair, the unending seas in the background. We get the impression that he's on a ship - a big one - from the score, which doesn't change at all when the camera reveals that it's a tiny, leaking, one-sail boat. It fits right in with the continuing similar humor of the film, and I think the film would be less with a score either more serious or more comical.