Not a film composer myself, but I can see this project as being a challenge... Allot of long drawn out scenes, which is very common among independent films.
Still, the music not only fit well with the imagery, it actually kept it moving and gave it interest.
sec. The intro is too spooky for the sceen.. up to where the guy gets home, I'd go with something more casual instead... It will be more dramatic that way when you get to the spooky part IMO,.. less is more...
Also, it's like you want to cary the whole movie with the music... Let it breath a little... let the actors do their part.. It's not your fault if there's no story...
About MIDI: I would try to fadeout those strings to have a more human feel..
An try to add some script legato to those strings so that it is
more musical, less samples like... I also heard some machine gun
effect..
I hope you're not too dissapointed... I salut your effort. Must be really really hard to write music for film...
PS: I though the Mathew McHonnaey actor wannabe was gonna get his shirt off at some point ...(spellcheck McHonnaey for me please ). Just kidding, the actors were fine, but the guy's voice/accent sounded just like him.
I think the mood of the film was captured well with the "sound" you gave it. A very minimalist approach like you took is suited to it, and your instrumentation and melodies were very good and fitting.
The biggest problem - as what the last poster said - the movie had too much music.. it had music all the way through, and even 50% of the film being scored would have been more than enough.. less can be more. Take Patton, for example, by Goldsmith - a three hour movie and it only had 30 minutes of music!
Also, when the character hits the doorknob with the hammer, you have these string hits that time up exactly with the hammer hits. This "mickey-mousing" makes it take on a humorous effect.
I think I know where you were going with this - something like the shower scene in Psycho. However, the shower scene music did not match up with the stabbing action exactly. If you can imagine the musical "stabs" for the shower scene all timed to match up exactly with the stabs, the effect becomes humorous.
I also would suggest experimenting with monophony - monophonic sections can often be very effective at conveying a sense of danger, and present a welcome break from multi-voice textures.
I don't disagree with what anyone said, per ce, but bear in mind - I wrote this for a film - not for myself, and actually had someone saying yes and no. The music is a bit loud in places; I did not mix the film.
Comments like "Let it breath a little" and "the movie had too much music" may not be off the mark, but these decisions were not mine. You should have heard the temp score. Wall-to-wall music. I asked the director if this is what she wanted, and she said yes.
Really, an anti-smoking movie - how original indeed.
The problem is that Riff did not have a lot to work with here. Lack of dialog, lack of continuity, no point, no impetus for wanting to continue watching etc.
"Oh, a mysterious red pack of cigarettes that I don't recall purchasing. Oh well, I guess I'll try one anyway." WTF?
"Oh my God, the cigarette will not go out!" I know this is my worst nightmare. So what does the shlub do? He pours a quality import on it. Then of course the beer that he poured into the ash tray disappears magically in the next shot.
Now for the non-sequitur - some strange lady cleaning up from a party. WTF? And she too wants a cigarette from the mysterious red package.
Sorry about the rant. As for actual useful comments: the piano became a bit grading after awhile and I would limit the use of the brass swells.
...(spellcheck McHonnaey for me please
). Just kidding, the actors were fine, but the guy's voice/accent sounded just like him.
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