Ganadores de los Satellite Awards 2007

Hace un tiempecito publicamos aquí la lista de nominados de los Satellite Awards... pues ya iba siendo hora de saber los ganadores, más que nada porque la ceremonia de entrega de premios fue el 17 de este mismo mes.

Aquí os quedan los ganadores en la sección de Banda sonora y mejor canción original:

--Mejora Banda Sonora: Alberto Iglesias, "The Kite Runner" (Paramount Vantage)

--Canción Original: "Grace Is Gone" Clint Eastwood & Carole Bayer Sager, "Grace Is Gone" (The Weinstein Company)

Raro sin programa ¿verdad?

Pues ya se hace algo rarito esto de llevar un tiempo sin pasarse por la radio...

Es media horita pero como nos lo pasamos. Pero vamos, que estamos de vacaciones y también vuestros oídos...

Estos días el blog ha estado un poco parado, pero esperamos recuperar la actividad normal desde ya.

Un saludo a tod@s y aquí seguiremos para no aburriros

Continuación de la entrevista con Danny Elfman

Y sigue Danny Elfman contándonos sus impresiones...

Q: What’s the non-musical film, Danny?

Elfman: Over the last twelve years I’ve written four scripts: Two musicals, and two non-musicals. Three of them have been in turnaround at various studios. The fourth one I’ve just finished and I haven’t settled it anywhere. It’s a story, oddly, that could have been called Corpse Bride. It’s very weird. I’ve been working on it as long I have Corpse Bride. It’s about a gentleman who lived with a corpse for seven years in Key West, Florida. But it’s a true story. He was named Dr. Von Cosel. It was a huge deal in the 1930s. I acquired the rights to two books almost a decade ago and started writing it about four years ago. When Tim told me about this, I said, ‘Isn’t that funny? I just started working on a thing that also has… a… corpse… bride…’ [laughter] But Dr. Von Cosel’s looked nothing like the Corpse Bride. It was mummified, it was like a paper mache kind of figurine.

Q: (question unintelligible)

Johnson: Well, um, I’ve always worked in stop-motion. That’s the only form of animation I’ve ever had experience in so… One of the interesting things to learn was that Tim’s approach to the final film was much more of a live-action approach. Ultimately, that helped it great deal. He was just, ‘We need to cut this scene here.’ Whereas with me coming from a stop-motion animation background, every frame was hours of sweat and I was just so scared to cut anything. That’s sort of where a live-action/stop-motion contrast helped this film.

Elfman: The band thing actually worked against me when I became a film composer. When I got a first film, I had to, like, unlearn everything I had learned being in a band. I had to go back… for seven years, I did musical theater before I had a band. So when I started Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, I really had to go back in time and try to remember what it was like before I was in a rock band. Writing for a movie is almost the antithesis in a weird sort of way. You have to think 180 degrees in another direction, and so for ten years I was doing both and it was really unsettling. It’s almost like a total brain-reversal every time. In one you’re thinking rhythm and eight bars and four bars and eight bars, and when you’re writing for orchestra you want to un-think that. There’s no verses, no choruses, anything can go anywhere in time and it’s just freedom to move in three dimensions, constantly. I would constantly try to reverse myself from thinking in a band-like way. When I’d hear what I thought were pop-sounding scores, which I really wasn’t fond of when I first started composing, I wanted to compose in the classic style of the masters that I grew up on. Not that I’m as good as them, but that was my inspiration.

Q: With Wallace and Grommet, also a stop-motion animation coming out, what do you think of the possible resurgence of the art form?

Johnson: I think it’s just sort of a lucky convergence of events. It’s really bizarre, actually, that there’d be two stop-motion features coming out within a month of each other. It’s been five years since Chicken Run and ten years since Nightmare. It’s more of a coincidence than anything else, but it’s a really a great thing for stop-motion in general that there is an interest in these projects and hopefully it will spark a greater interest and a resurgence in the technique.

Q: What’s it like working with actors who are not necessarily trained singers?

Elfman: It was very intimidating at first, because I hadn’t ever really done that. In Nightmare, you know, it was — other than Catherine O’Hara and Paul Rubens… we did a trio together, and she had the one song — I did all the other vocals. I didn’t have to really work with anybody else. And now Albert Finney, Joanna Lumley, Paul Whitehouse, Jane Horrocks, and Helena… it’s like, it was very intimidating. I didn’t really know how to approach it. Other than Tracey [Ullman]… she’s just a slam dunk because Tracey’s a song and dance person anyhow and she just walked in and knew exactly what to do in ten minutes. But everybody else, I had to sort of figure out how to talk them through it and how to help them, because they weren’t singers, you know. Finally I think I got the hang of it. I was definitely very cautious. I tried to make them feel comfortable in what they were doing. I experimented in having them sing with the music, and then just the melody — turning off the music, and having them sing. I think, with most actors, they’re used to the rhythm of things in a different way and when the music wasn’t running, when the beat wasn’t there, they tended to get much freer. When the beat was there, they tended to get very metric with how they were approaching it. And I was trying to gear them away from that. I finally figured out that by combining the two ways — having them sign along with the track, then stop the track and have them sing again — then finally they became freed up. It worked well. I was able to take some of the track and non-track versions and put it together and make it work. In the end, I was really happy with all of them. Helena was a doll. Albert and Joanna were the ones who were busting my chops [laughs]. They insisted on coming down together, and they’re big personalities, and so when either one of them was in there singing the other one was, like, haranguing from the other side. I was trying to focus, but like, especially Albert, he was joking and Joanna was like, ‘Hello, hello?’ I’m going, ‘Oh my god. Somebody help me.’

Q: How did you make the puppets’ movements so smooth?

Johnson: Well, it really comes down to the skill of the individual animators. We scoured the globe to get the best stop-motion animators that we could. To their credit, it looks…

Q: Is there some kind of calculation you use?

Johnson: No, it’s just giving them the time and the resources to work at that level. It just comes down to their experience and their talent.

Q: Given that Victor is the protagonist of the film and he does play piano, did he ever have a vocal song as well?

Elfman: He had a song, but it didn’t make the final cut. Things got a little long, and his song got cut.


Q: Did Johnny do the vocals?


Elfman: No, we were just… it was getting to that point when the song was cut. Just before he had to go into the studio — probably much to his relief!

¿Qué dice Danny Elfman de la banda sonora de Pesadilla antes de Navidad?

Aquí os queda una entrevisa que le hicieron a Danny Elfman en 2005 sobre su participación en Pesadilla antes de Navidad, ¿qué dice de su música y su película?

Dividida en dos partes, aquí os queda la primera parte

Enlace al traductor de Google: http://www.google.es/language_tools?hl=es

Q: The Nightmare Before Christmas has such a cult following. Any pressure in making The Corpse Bride?

Elfman: No. I was really glad. I worked really hard on Nightmare. You know, two and a half years. I wore so many hats on that thing. For it to have found an audience at all was really, really rewarding. Because you’ve got to remember, when it was coming out it considered dead in the water. I mean, the merchandising stopped cold in its tracks after the first preview, and they just had the feeling like, ‘We just want to cut our losses.’ You’re not really happy when at the premiere of a movie everyone’s just trying to cut their losses and run. So kind of getting through that, and over the next decade have it grow into something that… I mean, I was approached at airports and stuff by people. Really weird. I’ve done big movies and stuff — Batman, big movies… Spider-Man — but it was Nightmare stuff that people have [for me] to sign. The following is really hardcore. I just got back from Japan, and there’s Nightmare stuff all over the place. It’s really gratifying.

But no, I didn’t feel any pressure [with Corpse Bride]. I was just glad to have a shot at doing anything in this genre again, because I was afraid that after Nightmare that would be it. There’s not a lot of stop-motion stuff anymore, and I love stop-motion. So anything that can perpetuate stop-motion as an art form and keep it going, I just want to be a part of it. I have a fear of that nail in the coffin, that no one’s going to do this again.

Q: Mike, can you talk about how the work is divided up between you and Tim?

Johnson: It’s very much a collaboration. We never really decided who was going to do what, and where to draw the line, so it was sort of like we’re making the play and passing the ball back and forth. I was there on the set daily working with the crew and the animators, and Tim sort of had an overall guiding influence over that.

Q: Danny, can you talk about the difference between working on stop-motion animation, and a live-action film?

Elfman: With animated film the music is, by nature, going to take a more important role. It’s a musical, so it becomes a little more important. But other than the fact that the songs have to be written a year before, that makes it a little different, but when I’m scoring it I’m not approaching it any differently than if it were a live-action film. In my head, I’m pretending that they are real characters and I’m scoring it like that. So the story is the story: It has a very fairy-tale like quality, and had they been live-action instead of puppets I think I would have approached it exactly the same.

Q: How do you feel about songs that you’ve written being in theme-park rides? How about Corpse Bride?

Elfman: A Corpse Bride theme park ride. Hmmmm…

Johnson: Ride the bride! [laughter]

Elfman: I don’t know. You know, to me, going to theme parks when I was kid, I would love anything that had to do with skeletons. A skeleton ride would be my #1 ride. Now [families?] don’t think that way, but if that would have been me growing up, anyplace that had a skeleton ride with singing skeletons, dancing skeletons, anything with skeletons… that’s where I would have spent my time. So if anything ever does happen, it would be for a generation of kids that grew up like, probably Tim too, ‘it’s all about skeletons’.

[Question about collaboration.]

Elfman: Well, I’ve collaborated with Tim for 20 years now. We have more or less a method [in] doing it. It’s pretty simple: He talks about an idea, and I go and I create a song or a piece of music and he doesn’t respond until he really has something to listen to. I’ll wager it’s the same with him visually. On a conceptual level it’s kind of hard to talk to Tim. He needs to see, feel, touch, listen to, and respond. So when we’re spotting a movie, it’s the quickest spotting session ever. Literally, I’ve worked with directors who take a day and a half to spot. With Tim, if it’s a 71-minute movie, it takes him 85 minutes to spot that movie. He does not want to talk about it. It’s like, ‘music here, music here, and music here.’ He’ll just come up with stuff as we play it.

Johnson: Tim, as far as the vibration (?) between the music and the visual, it’s very much sort of a back-and-forth thing. Once Danny gives us the song it really helps us to see the picture that we need to make.

Elfman: I should add that there’s kind of two levels of collaboration. The first is writing a song with him, but then there is the collaboration of production. He’ll actually come back to me and say, ‘Hey, can we like shorten 8 beats out of it, can we add two beats here’, and so there’s a lot of that. The song isn’t really finished until production has finished their notes. They take a lot of notes in editing. So that’s the second level of collaboration after the song is written.

Johnson: Mine is a similar process. Tim has a very clear idea in his mind about where he wants this to go, but it can’t aways be verbalized very clearly. So we work on storyboarding and getting something together that he can respond to from a visual sense and an emotion sense.

Q: Were there any digital effects in the movie?

Johnson: Yeah, we sprinkled a few digital effects in there for things that just couldn’t be accomplished with stop-motion or would have been too time-consuming to do. You know — fog… fire… butterflies… once in while, the veil. But really we tried to stay as true to the stop-motion tradition as we could. Everything you see on these characters, all the facial expressions, that’s all pure stop-motion.

Q: Danny, what is your favorite song in the movie?

Elfman: That’s easy. I mean, Remains The Day. You know, the Bonejangles piece. But not for the reason you’re thinking, not because I’m singing it. [laughter] It’s because of the instrumental break, that it was always going to be my favorite track. Because they essentially told me: ‘Write a big, extended thing, and skeletons will dance, they’ll play’ and it brought me back to my love of Max Fleisher cartoons. And I thought, ‘I’m never going to get a chance to have a xylophone solo played from one skeleton to playing on the ribs of another, you know, going from guitar to trombone. Mike had said we could do this thing where they transform into different instruments and just kind of go crazy. So I knew ever before I started that that was going to be my favorite. And it was. I didn’t write it for my voice, and I didn’t intend to sing it. It was my favorite track even before it became my song to sing.

Q: Do you have a full-blown live action musical in your head?

Elfman: I wrote two of them, and sold them, years ago. One sits at Fox and one sits at Disney, so who knows? Maybe they’ll get revived one day.

Q: Does that stop you from writing another one?

Elfman: No. Well, it’s hard to say. I think about it. Perhaps. I wrote a non-musical, the last thing I did, which I’m working on right now. I may switch to yet another musical again, so we’ll see.

Q: What is it about stop-motion that makes it so special?

Johnson: I don’t think there is any technology today that produces a similar effect. I think on a subconscious, emotional level people respond to it differently. It’s just the texture of it, and the tone. There’s something about seeing these real objects moving through space that’s almost like telekinesis or something. It’s very magical and computer animation hasn’t copied that yet.

Sonidos de Película no cierra el blog por Navidad

Hola a tod@s y perdón por este par de días de abandono, pero los dos dementes que llevan el programa se van de viaje a sus respectivas casas. El primero, Manu, salió hacia Valencia este jueves, y el segundo, Fer, coge un bus en pocas horas con destino a Ferrol.

Seguiremos cuidando este espacio y colgando entrevistas y demás noticias, siempre relacionado con las bandas sonoras... o casi siempre.

¡Un saludo a tod@s y hasta pronto!

Nightmare before Christmas

The Nightmare Before Christmas, conocida como Pesadilla antes de Navidad en España y El extraño mundo de Jack en Hispanoamérica es una película de 1993.

Fue dirigida por el animador de stop-motion Henry Selick. La película esta basada en los dibujos y un poema de Tim Burton, quien fungió como co-productor. El no la dirigió como muchas veces se ha creído, pero estuvo muy involucrado en ella. Fue realizada con la técnica stop-motion , catalogada como película animada y/o película animada musical.

The Nightmare Before Christmas fue estrenada en Estados Unidos el 29 de octubre de 1993. La filmación fue bastante lenta y tediosa; tardaron cerca de 3 años para terminarla. El film fue distribuido por Touchstone Pictures, estudio que pertenece a Walt Disney Company, después de haber cortado parte del contenido más oscuro.

La versión remasterizada en 3-D de la película, fue relanzada por Walt Disney Pictures el 20 de octubre de 2006 (en EE.UU.).

Trata acerca de cómo los habitantes de Halloween Town toman la Navidad, para festejarla bajo su muy particular enfoque.

La idea original para la película vino de Tim Burton, mientras trabajaba como animador para Disney. La idea comenzo a tomar forma en su cabeza cuando en una tienda vio como quitaban la mercancía de Halloween para ser cambiada por la de Navidad. Así el gusto de Tim por las películas navideñas como How The Grinch Stole Christmas(De como el Grinch robó la navidad, de Dr. Seuss) y Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer(Rodolfo el reno de la nariz roja).

En una entrevista Burton también describe The Nightmare Before Christmas como una historia opuesta a la del Grinch, mientras la segunda intenta destruir la Navidad, Jack verdaderamente quiere celebrarla pero accidentalmente termina casi destruyéndola.
Originalmente, Tim Burton ofreció esta idea a Disney, pero fue rechazada. Disney le dijo que era para jóvenes de más edad.

Para la producción de esta película, Tim Burton reunió a un grupo de animadores, artistas y elenco y fundo una compañía de producción llamada Skellington Studios, para la realización del guión y crear nuevos personajes (como el artista que es Burton fue bastante especifico en el ambiente y apariencia de la película; incluso limito a anaranjado, negro y blanco como los colores elementales de Halloween Town).

Burton animó a los artistas para no utilizar su mano dominante para la realización de los dibujos y así lograr un estilo único. Una vez que los bocetos fueron aprobados, se comenzaron a hacer a media escala las maquetas de cartón, que fueron utilizadas de guía para la construcción de los escenarios finales.

A menudo, el equipo tuvo que improvisar soluciones a los problemas que iban saliendo durante la producción. Uno de estos fue el dar a los personajes las distintas expresiones que se les ven en la película: hacerlos hablar (y cantar). Jack, tenían cientos de cabezas reemplazables con expresiones diferentes, con lo que lograron un amplio rango de expresión. La marioneta de Sally tuvo máscaras intercambiables.

Curiosidades

* Dentro de la película hay varios Mickey Mouse escondidos, así como un Pato Donald.

• Cuando Jack entrega juguetes, como Santa Claus, en el mundo de los humanos, 2 juguetes hacen referencia a la película que Tim Burton tenía dirigir en 1992 Batman Returns. Uno es un pato malvado con ruedas, que es el vehículo que el pingüino conduce y el otro juguete es una muñeca malvada que tiene la misma cabeza que el símbolo de la corporación de Shrek.

• El personaje de Jack aparece en una película de Disney llamada (Return to Oz) de 1985 que es la segunda parte del clásico (El mago de Oz) de 1939.

Esto es Hallowen... Esto es Hallowen...

Divertido programa el de hoy, por variar...

Acompañados de dos Amigüitas, hoy retomamos aquella Navidad de 1993, en la que Jack, el Rey de Hallowen, casi se carga la Navidad, aunque regalando muñecos de Batman, ¿la engrandecería?

Esperemos que os haya gustado este programa, y tristemente deciros que hasta la vuelta de vacaciones, ya el 9 de enero, no volveremos a emitir... una pena... pero hasta los superhérores se toman vacaciones... Eso sí, el blog seguirá en funcionamiento.

Y los que hayais escuchado el programa de hoy, o lo tengais pensado oir en el reproductor de este blog, ya sabeis ¿Qué serie conocidísima de televisión lleva música de Danny Elfman?

Dejad en comentarios la que creais que sea, y nosotros lo diremos en el próximo programa

¡Saludos y Felices Fiestas!

Nominaciones a los Globos de Oro 2007

Parece que es tiempo de galardones, a ver si las navidades son tan fructiferas para todos.

Aquí os dejamos la lista de los nominados a los Globos de Oro en las secciones de Mejor Banda Sonora Original y Mejor Canción Original.

¿Cúál es vuestro favorito?

Mejor Banda Sonora Original:

MICHAEL BROOK, KAKI KING, EDDIE VEDDER – INTO THE WILD

CLINT EASTWOOD – GRACE IS GONE

ALBERTO IGLESIAS – THE KITE RUNNER

DARIO MARIANELLI – ATONEMENT

HOWARD SHORE – EASTERN PROMISES

Mejor Canción Original:

"DESPEDIDA" – LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA, Musica de Shakira y Antonio Pinto, letra de Shakira

"GRACE IS GONE" – GRACE IS GONE, Musica de Clint Eastwood, Letras de Carole Bayer Sager

"GUARANTEED" – INTO THE WILD, Musica y letra de Eddie Vedder

"THAT’S HOW YOU KNOW" – ENCHANTED, Musica y letra de Alan Menken

"WALK HARD" – WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY, Musica y letra de Marshall Crenshaw, John C. Reilly, Judd Apatow y Kasdan

Este es en enlace para ver el resto de los nominados:

http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/

Entrevista con Hans Zimmer 2ª Parte

Aquí os queda la segunda parte de la entrevista con Hans Zimmer:



B: Has Lion King--and your Academy Award for it--made a difference in your career? Because there were always movie music buffs who knew the name Hans Zimmer. But Lion King put you before the general public.

Z: First, I realized that I should not write things in three and a half weeks. Lion King could have been better if I had spent twice the time. Second, it's dangerous to work with black and white preproduction drawings and not have color because I think I got the orchestration wrong in a few places. Third, Lion King also made me reassess my situation in this town. You can go two ways. I admit that standing on the stage getting an Oscar is the most seductive moment one can have in one's life. It is truly overwhelming. And then you go, wow, if I just carry on writing nice music like this, I can have this moment again. It's a very Faustian sort of thing. That's why I did the exact opposite, scoring for truly offensive projects like The Fan. Just to shake myself out of the desire for that Oscar experience. Otherwise I would just stagnate. Nothing new would happen. For me, it's still about trying to write decent music. Ironically, despite all the scores I've written, there are very few I'm proud of.

B: Those are?

Z: A World Apart, Driving Miss Daisy, and a couple of cues in Crimson Tide. Black Rain had somehow set up a new way action movies should be scored. Soon everybody was doing the Black Rain thing. In Crimson Tide, I managed to break out of that trend, push it a bit further. So it was an evolutionary step.

B: The descendent of the Crimson Tide style would be Peacemaker?

Z: Yes. In Peacemaker, I managed to finish off all the ideas that I didn't quite get right in Crimson Tide. How many sunflowers scenes did Van Gogh paint before he was happy? You know what I mean? Sometimes it's nice to go over old ground just because you learn something. In film scoring, there's revolution and there's evolution.

B: Crimson Tide and Peacemaker aside, how do you feel about what I think is your best work?

Z: Drop Zone?

B: Correct.

Z: Drop Zone was written just for fun. I was being reckless--nothing to prove, nothing to lose. The director was just happy I was working with him. Remember, I come from rock n roll. At the same time, I grew up with classical music. So I'm always torn between the two. In Drop Zone, I could do both. And it never hurt! You know, with some scores, you come away with a lot of scars. In Drop Zone there weren't any. It was just a blast.

B: Scars?

Z: You just wear out your system. The late nights, the arguments. Crimson Tide was so hilarious because director Tony Scott, the producer Jerry Bruckheimer and I all argued for a whole week about one cue-- with me doing no writing. We just sat there, we'd come in every day and we'd go at each other.

B: So on the short list of best works, we can add Drop Zone?

Z: We can add Drop Zone, absolutely.

B: What else can we add?

Z: We can also add a little film I did for the BBC which I adore, which nobody has ever seen, called Two Deaths. I think it's some of the best stuff I ever composed.

B: I have some others that few know about-- Millennium and Fools of Fortune.

Z: Fools of Fortune was the first time anyone let me loose with an orchestra. I wrote it in two weeks. It's one of the few early scores I still really like. Maybe because I got all the romanticism out of my system.

B: So why hasn't the good music from Days of Thunder even been released?

Z: Because there wasn't any good music in it. Thelma and Louise, everybody keeps asking me why don't I release more of that?

B: I used to ask that same question. But I recently re-watched the film just to spot additional worthy cues? Yet I couldn't hear any music except for the Thunderbird theme at the end.

Z: There really isn't. People are under the impression there is. But I go around that one Thunderbird theme a couple of times, plus some little rock n rollish type things. I hate overstaying my welcome on these CDs--so there's just not enough. In fact, Crimson Tide is far too long a CD. If I allowed a score-only Thelma and Louise CD, it probably would have been only 10 minutes long.

B: Nor did Bird on a Wire ever release.

Z: It was too expensive to release.

B: Because of the orchestra union's reuse fees?

Z: Yes, I recorded Bird on a Wire in the U.S. If it's a 103-piece orchestra, you're talking serious dollars. Unless it was recorded overseas, say Hungary or London. On the other hand, when it is just me playing on the synthesizer, as in Green Card or Regarding Henry, we don't have all those expensive reuse fees. So those get released. Drop Zone, with that big orchestral sound was actually just me on synthesizer and Pete Haycock on guitar.

B: So why is one US-recorded score too expensive to release, and the next one not?

Z: Because someone says: "This could be it. This can sell some copies."

B: What if your name is Jerry Goldsmith and you don't want to compose on the synthesizer. Why are most of his orchestral scores released?

Z: Because he's Jerry Goldsmith. And he keeps going to Scotland to record with the Royal Scottish Philharmonic.

B: Yet his scores keep coming out. The Edge was one of his best in recent times.

Z: I also thought it was a great score, even better than LA Confidential.

B: Yes, LA Confidential was actually the third grandnephew of...

Z: ...Chinatown.

B: So fans will simply never hear Days of Thunder or Bird on a Wire?

Z: I don't think so. But then again, I've done some truly bad scores and Days of Thunder is one of them.

B: So you wouldn't like it to be re-released years from now as many old film scores are?

Z: No. Very often I'm the one saying, "No I don't think so, guys. Let's not do this one." There's just a big difference between how music works in the movie and releasing that score on a CD.

B: When you're composing, are you thinking about the CD or the movie, or both?

Z: I'm thinking about the movie--all the time. Today I'm sitting here mixing Prince of Egypt and everybody else is telling me it sounds great. But I just have doubts about it. Constantly. But that's the way I'm built. At the same time, the studio is asking me, what tracks are going on the CD, and I'm saying, "I don't know. Maybe two minutes's worth."

B: How long did you work on Prince of Egypt?

Z: I started on the songs three and half years ago, long before any drawings were made. Animators must coordinate to lip movements, so they really needed the songs first. For years, I worked on the project just one or two days per month--and even became involved in story shaping. During this same time, I completed a number of other scores including Peacemaker and As Good as it Gets.

B: How involved were you in the visual product?

Z: Animation is a very collaborative process. Everybody just puts their two cents in. Then you look at a storyboard and see someone heard your idea. But Prince of Egypt was especially daunting--a Bible story. I was constantly worried about offending people. So last January I just allowed myself the shortest possible timeframe to compose the score portion. I just went with my instincts. By February. I was mixing.

B: What was the big difference between Prince of Egypt and Lion King?

Z: Unlike Lion King, for Prince of Egypt I had plenty of color drawings. Everything but the burning bush. In Lion King, I wasn't that involved with animation and didn't really understand the process. For Prince of Egypt, I saw the color charts. In fact, in the Burning Bush sequence I wrote the score first and then they colored it.

B: What type of scars did Prince of Egypt leave?

Z: While recording in London, I was the most miserable I have ever been. I was so grumpy because I thought I ruined the whole movie. I dropped into a complete insecurity. I was convinced none of the music would fit the action. Then, I became more and more panicked and didn't tell anybody. But everyone around me noticed. I was impossible to be with. Finally, one of my staffers kicked me out of the studio for a week and half to organize everything. There were 88 tracks of music. Imagine you are an air traffic controller. There are 88 airplanes circling over LAX, all running out of fuel, and you must decide which one lands first. That's what it was like. Now they are saying its a great score. So it's easy for me to answer, "no problem."

B: How was Israeli singer Ofra Haza selected for the lead songs?

Z: I have always loved Ofra and asked for her. If I ask hard enough, I get it. and she was the first person we cast. She is tremendous and recorded 13 of the foreign translations as well.

B: So is Prince of Egypt going to rate on your short list of favorite soundtracks?

Z: Yes. Just because the burning bush was so impossible to score, but I think I pulled it off.

B: Do you score on notation paper, or on computer?

Z: Computer.

B: And do you score out the complete orchestration yourself?

Z: Yes, absolutely. Nobody comes in. But I do send the finished work to an orchestrator, my friend Bruce Fowler, who goes through the score to make sure it is actually playable by human beings.

B: Earlier, we were talking about innovation and inspiration. Just where is it? Consider: Magnificent Seven, Psycho, Midnight Cowboy, the James Bond series, Omen--these are lasting themes that we all know. Is soundtrack music more prolific, but less inspired? Among all the thousands of scores being released--how much of it has become memorable?

Z: You want a name? John Williams' Shindler's List.

B: Which thrives on one genre theme.

Z: But you know I think it's as good as John has ever written. I looked at that score very closely when I was starting to do Prince of Egypt, because the one thing I didn't want to do is go anywhere near that music, for obvious reasons. So first, I just listened to it for the fun of it. Second, I just got drawn in, not only into the craftsmanship, but just the genius of it.

B: So you can name one or two great scores. Yet among the thousands in recent years, you don't see 10, 20 or 30 great scores?

Z: You might not have them because the movies might not have happened. Why is the score from Titanic so incredibly successful?

B: Yeah, why?

Z: Because it works with the movie. I think it works on the lowest common denominator. No more, no less. But it works.

B: Yet the score to Titanic has done a great deal for the world of soundtracks.

Z: I know. But now we're going to hear these generic Titanic songs. Like Feelings has become a very annoying song. We have to differentiate between popularity and quality. The Los Angeles Times ran a great headline a few years ago after a Michael Bolton concert here saying, "Five Million People Can Be Wrong."

B: What about the proliferation of pop songs within the soundtracks. I'm writing a story for the Chicago Tribune called Scores vs. Songs. And my first sentence is going to be, "Why does Godzilla need a song?"

Z: Yeah, why does it? I have no idea.

B: Well, maybe the producers are now looking at the billion bucks associated with Titanic.

Z: Marketability.

B: Producers say "I need a hit record."

Z: There are two things going on. On the one hand, you have the action, or light, fun kind of movies which always need songs flying around, for their genre of picture. On the other hand, there are movies like The English Patient, which I believe didn't have a song.

B: So do you see soundtrack music becoming more creative, more inspired, or is it all going to homogenize into sound effects--what I call museffex?

Z: Here's my own personal theory. Warner Bros. has had a very bad year. And they've always specialized in the big effects movie. The Postman didn't do well for them at all. Batman and Robin didn't--I thought it was an atrocious film. I think the big effects thing is becoming passe. We're bored with it. Jim Brooks and I went low-tech with As Good As It Gets. Our biggest special effect is somebody driving a car.Nobody's shooting at anybody.

B: Are you saying we're going to cycle back to the inspired music?

Z: But you see inspired music arises from an inspired movie which arises from an inspired script.
B: Thank you, Mr. Zimmer.

Entrevista con Hans Zimmer

Aquí os queda una entrevista con Hans Zimmer, toda uná máquina en este mundo de las bandas sonoras.

Para quienes no lo sepais, es el autor de bandas sonoras tan reconocidas como Gladiator, Lágrimas del Sol, Pearl Harbour, El rey león... y muchas otras.

Esta es una entrevista de hace un tiempecillo, que os dejamos aquí en inglés.

Si hay problemilla con el idioma, teneis el propio traductor de Google: http://www.google.es/language_tools?hl=es

Hemos partido la entrevista en dos, para no crear la Megaultrainfinita entrada, así que aquí os queda la primera parte:

Edwin Black: More soundtrack music is available today than ever before. In the '60s, when I first became fascinated with soundtrack music, you could purchase a dozen or so records per year. Now some 500 are released annually, more than one per day between new and re-released material. So there much more quantity coming out. But what about the quality?

Hans Zimmer: Within any year I see 90--no, maybe 98--percent horrible stuff and two percent quality.

B: Last year, what scores were that two percent quality?

Z: I'm not sure. But one I did actually like was The English Patient.

B: What about Starship Troopers?

Z: One great cue in there, I thought, was a slow string piece. It wasn't a big theme. I thought, wow, this is really great writing. I was much more impressed by that than all the bombastic stuff. As for me, I certainly didn't write anything great last year. B: If you didn't do anything great, what was the best you did do?

Z: Peacemaker. I liked one theme in it.

B: The "Sarajevo" theme?

Z: Yes, all that stuff around that thematic neighborhood. Because it was inspired. We all have craft, we all have technique. But the moments of inspiration, that's where it really happens for composers.

B: Are you saying the current filmmaking environment makes inspiration and innovation less possible?

Z: Right. For one, there's just too much music being used.

B: Remember the chase scene in Bullitt had no music.

Z: The fight in Rocky had no music either. I know that for a fact because a producer once said to me that he wanted the scene to sound like the Rocky fight and that my music was all wrong. I went out and got the video of Rocky and discovered the scene had no music.

B: John Barry recently scored Mercury Rising. He employed his traditional introspective commentary music for the action scenes. It wasn't all boom boom and blast.

Z: Right. And how many movies did John try that where they fired him because they didn't think it would work?

B: Two or three.

Z: At least. You hire John for exactly that thing which he does...and sometimes you must have a lot of courage.

B: If you hire John Barry for that thing that John Barry does, why do you hire Hans Zimmer?

Z: I have no idea. I'm this loose cannon--all over the place. I can do action movies and romantic comedies. And I'm a good collaborator--which means I'm cantankerous and opinionated. I compose from a point of view. Point of view is the most important thing to have, and it doesn't necessarily have to be the director's point of view. In fact, great directors welcome disagreement and bringing something new to the party. The bottom line is I'm trying to serve the film just like the director is trying to serve the film. A film takes on a life of its own, and you just hang on for dear life. Eventually, it starts talking back to you. It's an odd process.

B: So why so many action movie assignments?

Z: You know why I did all those action movies? Because when I was a kid in Europe, all I got to score was art movies. In those days, all I wanted to do was go to Hollywood, compose for action movies and sound like John Williams. But in truth I didn't know how. So Black Rain, my first action movie, was original but only by virtue of my own stupidity. My lack of knowledge made it original.

B: I've listened to the Black Rain CD 300 or 400 times. But I rented the video to check the music in some of my favorite scenes. You composed long cues, but they are used in the movie only for an instant.

Z: Would you like to know what happened? Our producer, Stanley Jaffe, at the time, hated everything I was doing. And hated it so much that I actually got shouted at after a screening at Paramount, and I fainted. So by the time we got to the dub stage, I was just living in fear. We were battling the system. And it's very odd because Monday night after the Oscars, I went to a little private party. Michael Douglas was there, and he said, "You really saved my ass in Black Rain." And I thought, "Wow, great. Thank you, Michael, you realized what I did."

B: But why isn't the Black Rain Suite in the final cut? You only hear a few seconds of a twenty-minute piece.

Z: Because it's always a war. Well, not always, but most of the time it's a war. You're in a battle and you lose faith and you lose heart--especially when your producer tells you that is the worst piece of music he's every heard.

B: And whose decision is it to pick up the editing knife?

Z: The director. In Black Rain, that was Ridley Scott. But Ridley was getting beat up as well.

B: So he's listening to the producer, Stanley Jaffe?

Z: We weren't listening to anybody anymore. We just couldn't catch our breath. In Thelma and Louise, Ridley used everything I wrote. In fact, he liked the theme that became "Thunderbird" so much that he tagged an opening with credits onto the film. Originally, credits were at the end. But he just wanted to hear that piece of music again. So, it's the same director working under completely different circumstances. In Thelma and Louise, it was just the two of us having the freedom to make our own decisions without getting crap kicked out of us.

B: Let's talk about the temp track, that is, the temporary score used during pre-screenings. Temp tracks have become controversial because so often they intrude into the final commissioned score.

Z: Yes, take As Good As It Gets--you can't temp it. They tried something, but it just didn't work. So I just started writing a score. Then we actually previewed my score in front of an audience to find out if it worked. We wouldn't say: "Pay attention to the score." We would just see how the movie progressed. Would it answer emotional questions for the audience, or would there be criticism of certain scenes.

B: When does the preconceived notion of the director intrude into your creativity?

Z: This is a very real problem. In As Good as It Gets, for example, I ultimately managed to dissuade the director Jim Brooks from every expectation. He said write a big romantic Americana score, and I wrote a small European score. You know, it depends on who you work with. If you do a big action movie, I suppose you're stuck. It's very hard to reinvent that form.

B: K2 was your only rejected film score?

Z: K2 was an odd thing. Someone else scored the movie, then my good friend, Franc Roddam asked me to rescore it. They ended up making lots of picture changes, so my score only made it to the European territories, and different versions went to the Japan and American territories.

B: When the score is not accepted, is the composer paid and free to take it elsewhere?

Z: The rule is you must be fired. You can't quit. If you quit, you don't get to pass GO. If you're fired you get paid.

B: Then you walk with the score?

Z: No, you don't walk with the recording because they paid for that.

B: I'm reminded of the original music to Prince of Tides by John Barry which was rejected and eventually became the beautiful score to Across the Sea of Time.

Z: I'm reminded of Randy Newman's (rejected) score for Air Force One. I heard it and said, "I have never written an action cue as good as this. And I'm supposed to be good at action stuff." Jerry Goldsmith did the replacement score. But When I saw the movie, I kept howling with laughter throughout the film. It was so patriotic. I don't know, it wasn't my cup of tea.

B: A bit too violent.

Z: No, it wasn't even the violence. It was all that overdone patriotism. I just thought it was hilarious. And I know that as a cynic, Randy's patriotic themes reflected a twinkle in the corner his eye. But I think they caught him at it. And the one thing you can't do when you're being cynical or satirical, is get caught at it. I should know. I got caught atit big-time in Broken Arrow. But I wanted to be caught. I didn't think we could sell an audience this bill of goods as a serious movie.

B: I seemed to be hearing some Ennio Morricone in there.

Z: Absolutely. But that's because I thought we were doing a Western! (laughs)

B: And Morricone's style goes back to Dimitri Tiomkin--High Noon. Morricone was just selling the American cowboy film back to us in the form of the spaghetti western.

Z: Yes. In Broken Arrow, we used that style because it was "big man" music. The guitar sound as well. I always thought Ennio wanted to work with Duane Eddy. So I just got the real Duane Eddy. In the score, you'll hear him plucking away. And it was great fun. And I know people got very worried about the music during the previews. I remember at one showing, in the third act when Travolta comes back--he should have been dead by the second act--and the little guitar tune comes in. The audience actually laughed--in a good way. They knew I wasn't being patronizing, thinking the audience was an idiot. My intent was just make the film fun, when there's no real story to tell. Well, I guess there was a story about betrayal between two men who've been friends forever. But that's not really what the movie was about. It was about blowing up a lot of things.

B: Your shop of multiple composers, known as Media Ventures, is something new in the field. Major composers always had their own team. Media Ventures, however, is larger, more diverse, employing composers in their own right, such as Harry Gregson-Williams and Mark Mancina, composers who receive their own screen credits. Yet your musical signature is undeniably there heard in most of the work. When directors offer projects to Media Ventures, who in truth is being retained, Hans Zimmer or the other composers?

Z: It depends. Media Ventures is larger, but only for one really stupid reason. It started this way: when you are European wanting to break into the Hollywood film business you don't stand a chance. But Barry Levinson gave me a shot in Rain Man, and that was very gracious and courageous. Then I knew all these other composer friends who never got a shot at anything. Just because I'd done a few successful films, director and producers felt safe, like I could pull rabbits out of hats. So I just dragged some of my friends in and tried to get their careers off the ground as well. And why? Out of the most stupid reason: I really like hearing their music--people like John Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams, Mark Mancina. But it's true, we always have to watch out, that everything doesn't sound like me.

B: I just heard Replacement Killers, which Gregson-Williams scored. I'm hearing good original music. But I am also hearing sections that are kissing cousins to Peacemaker, which you wrote.

Z: Yes, the problem is that the whole sound starts to get identifiable.

B: Inevitably, the questions is, is it a collaboration or is one guy going into a cave to score?

Z: He's scoring in a cave. For Replacement Killers, I didn't even hear what he was doing. I mean, we all talk a lot together about our projects. For instance, John is working on Endurance, a film Terry Malick is producing. At the same time, I'm working on Thin Red Line, a film Terry Malick is directing. Endurance is nothing I could possible write. It's as far from my style as you can possibly get.

B: So how much of you is in The Rock which has a mishmash of music credits?

Z: The main theme is mine, as are a few other bits. It's really hard to tell. I do have a huge influence in there. But I never really wanted to write any of it. It was always supposed to be Nick Glennie-Smith's score.

B: I heard this was a rescue job on a score started by another composer. How much time were you allotted for the rescue?

Z: None, it seems. I think I must have worked four weeks around the clock.

B: Was this the shortest time you ever had to work on a piece?

Z: No. It was the rescore for White Fang. I don't think I even have a credit on it, but I probably wrote 80 minutes of music in 16 days. It was sort of a dare that producer Jeffrey Katzenberg threw at me. And I was foolish enough to say yes. I delivered, and never told Jeffrey I was sick as a dog for two weeks afterwards. But when you're a kid you take on any old dare. You know, Lion King was short, it took about three and a half weeks.

FIN DE LA PRIMERA PARTE

La paliza que nos daría Rocky...

Vaya programa que hemos "creado" hoy... el desparrame y el ausentismo del guión han sido los puntos clave del día.

Lo sentimos si os ha parecido que nos fuimos por las ramas (expresión que se queda corta), pero hoy estabamos un poco alteradillos.

Eso si, nos hemos pegado un rato genial en los estudios de la radio, muy divertido.
Espero que nos dejeis vuestras opiniones aquí en el blog sobre el programa que ya está listo en el reproductor y en la lista de descarga directa aquí en el blog.

¡Un saldudo a nuestros oyentes terrícolas y también a los que no lo son!

Rocky - Parte de Fer

Esta Banda Sonora, aparate de darte ganas de cerrar los puños y ponerte a subir escaleras como una… bueno… escaleras sin más, decir que está bastante chula, y que su autor, Bill Conti creó una música que fue muchísimo más allá de este film y de sus secuelas…

Cuando vemos películas que se componen de varios films, es decir, estamos delante de sagas al estilo Star Wars, Matrix, o Indiana Jones, tenemos una música que se va repitiendo a lo largo de la saga, vamos, quien no recuerda la Marcha Imperial que siempre acompaña a Darth Vader en sus apariciones o la música de aventura de las películas de Indiana Jones… esa si que es para convertirse en un pequeño Hooligan subido al sofá del salón de tu casa cuando no te ven tus padres…
Pues eso mismo, aquí en Rocky ese tema tan conocido, el Gonna Fly Now, que tanto hemos escuchado en otros films, es el que se repite en las seis películas y nos hace recordar una y otra vez que estamos delante de uno de los tipos duros de Hollywood, gran máquina de subir escaleras, jeje, al igual que ese tipo que tú recomiendas a los Erasmus…

Decir que esta canción, Gonna Fly Now, que es la que hemos escuchado al comienzo del programa de hoy, fue número 1 de la Billboard Magazines Hot 100, durante una semana y se colocó en numerosos índices de popularidad musical, además de en nuestras cabezas que suena cada vez que nos machacamos subiendo más de 7 escaleras seguidas…

Esta canción tan conocida, tiene una versión que fue más conocida , además de más vendida que la de la película, y fue la de Maynard Ferguson, que fue incluida en su disco número 38… casi nada… Aquel disco que se podrá encontrar en lo más profundo de las tiendas de discos, se llamaba Conquistador.

PERO, debemos decir una cosa, y muy importante a favor de esta gran banda sonora, y es que la fama y el éxito de la obra, no se limita al famoso Gonna Fly Now, sin ir más lejos tenemos otra gran referencia de la película, ese Eye of the Tiger, que hemos escuchado hace un momento.

Este tema que lleva implícita la fuerza del boxeo ya por los años venideros, fue interpretado para la tercera película de la saga por el grupo estadounidense Survivor, que además colaboraría también para otras canciones de la saga, como ese Burning Heart, que además de pasar a formar parte de la banda sonora de la cuarta película de la saga, pasó a ser uno de ese temas por los que la gente reconocía la música este grupo, Survivor, que sinceramente creo que más de uno no los conocería si no fuera por su participación en esta banda sonora. Bueno a lo mejor esta afirmación es muy exagerada, para quien le guste la buena música, AUNQUE, y volviendo sobre sus participaciones en las Bandas Sonoras de Rocky, es que en la página web del grupo, lo que nos encontramos es un ojo de tigre en llamas… algo tendrá que ver con la importancia de Eye of the Tiger…
Decir, así estilo agenda cultural a largo plazo, que el grupo Survivor, vuelve a los escenarios en 2008, a principios de año, en Marzo, y el lugar del concierto será en Elmwood, vamos, que aquí al ladito… no sorteamos entradas porque no se nos ocurrió antes…

Hablar de los temas de esta saga es hablar de temas diferentes, y de temas similares, a los que se les añadió algún instrumento, o ritmo, pero como en muchos otros casos, se nos haría demasiado largo.

Sobre la filmografía de Bill Conti… pues lo primero decir que este compositor estadounidense, ha plasmado su nombre en más de 100 obras relacionadas con el cine y la televisión ya que su obra no se reduce solamente al cine, casi nada eh…

Una de sus participaciones en series de televisión más famosas, es la de Falcon Crest, de la que personalmente decir, que no veía casi nunca…

Conti sigue en activo, así que no debemos extrañarnos si vemos su nombre en algún film que veamos en el futuro, quien sabe si en busca de otro Oscar, después del conseguido por Elegidos para la gloria, aquella película en la que unos astronautas iban a ser enviados al espacio al igual que se hizo con los monos en su día, es decir, sin control sobre la nave… vamos que iban a ser unos conejillos de indias allá en el espacio. En aquella película aparecían en la pantalla Ed Harris, y otro gran actor, además de guionista, Sam Shepard, este es otro de los nombres de Hollywood que nos encontramos en multitud de obras.

Bueno damas y caballeros, un miércoles más en el que tenemos que despedirnos muy a nuestro pesar y al de muchos oyentes… las altas esferas dedicidirán…

Para despedir esta vez hemos elegido una versión del tema icono de esta banda sonora, es decir, Gonna Fly Now, la verdad es que tenemos que pagar por cada vez que se nombra este tema, y nos despluman… eso indica la importancia del mismo…

Rocky - Parte de Manu

Rocky es una película estadounidense de 1976 escrita y protagonizada por Sylvester Stallone y dirigida por John G. Avildsen. La idea original de Sylvester Stallone para Rocky le fue inspirada tras ver un combate entre Muhammad Ali y Chuck Wepner. El concepto de un pobre boxeador que era capaz de llegar hasta lo más alto, luchando contra todos y contra sí mismo, entusiasmó a Stallone
El reparto de la película se completa con Talia Shire (Hermana de Francis Ford Coppola) como Adrian Panina
Rocky fue nominada a 10 Premios Oscar, de los cuales ganó 3. Película, director y montaje. Stallone fue nominado a dos que no se llevo como mejor actor y mejor guionista
Rocky también ha aparecido en algunas de las listas 100 years del American Film Institute (listas que elaboran las 100 mejores películas de la historia, por categorías, actores, escenas, géneros, etc)
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Películas, posición número 78
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Emotivas, posición número 4
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Frases históricas, posición número 80: ¡Yo, Adrian!.
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Héroes y Villanos, Héroe: posición número 7: Rocky Balboa.

Personajes:
RockyStallone
AdrianNovia. Simbologia ella le da la estabilidad y el valor.
Apollo Creed Calr Wealthers
Micky Goodmill entrenador Brugues Mererith
La historia nos narra la búsqueda del sueño americano por parte de un italo-americano, Rocky Balboa, un matón por necesidad no demasiado listo, que recauda deudas para un prestamista de Filadelfia. Rocky tiene talento para el boxeo y tendrá la oportunidad única de combatir por el título de los pesos pesados. Se hicieron cinco secuelas: Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V y Rocky Balboa, transcurriendo 30 años desde la primera a la última.
La película, rodada en 28 días y con un presupuesto bastante modesto, 1,1 millón de dólares, fue rápidamente un éxito; recaudando más de 115 millones de dólares solo en Estados Unidos, ganando tres Premios Oscar y consiguiendo unas críticas que ayudaron a Stallone a lanzar su carrera.
.
El sistema de filmación Garrett Brown's Steadycam, una cámara sujeta a un sistema de poleas para evitar que se moviera cuando el cámara lo hacía, fue utilizado por primera vez en esta película en la escena en la que Rocky se entrena subiendo las escaleras del Museo de Arte de Filadelfia.
La escena del combate final fue rodada en orden inverso, iniciándose con los actores cubiertos de maquillaje para simular la sangre y las heridas, y retirándolo poco a poco hasta llegar al principio del combate.
Ya que el personaje de Apollo Creed estaba claramente influenciado por la verdadera vida de Muhammad Ali, resultó particularmente singular el cameo en la película de Joe Frazier, gran rival del segundo y con el que combatió hasta tres veces. En la ceremonia de entrega de los Premios Oscar Stallone y Alí tuvieron un pequeño enfrentamiento cómico que acabó amigablemente donde se demostró que Alí no se había sentido ofendido por la película.
Dado el poco presupuesto de la película, algunos miembros de la familia Stallone trabajaron como actores secundarios. El padre de Stallone es quien toca la campana al inicio y final de cada asalto, su hermano interpreta a un cantante callejero, y su primera mujer, Sasha, hace de fotógrafa.
La famosa escena de los Rocky Steps (los Escalones de Rocky, nombre popular de la escalera del Museo de Arte de Filadelfia que Stallone inmortalizó en la película) se ha converido en un icono cultural.
Para aprovechar el éxito de la película Rocky, la película pornográfica Party at Kitty and Stud's (1970) fue reestrenada como The Italian Stallion, en referencia al apodo de Rocky. La película estaba protagonizada por un joven Sylvester Stallone (Stud) en la que fue su primera incursión en el cine a los 24 años, y por Henrietta Holm (Kitty).

Como os podríamos dar las gracias. 500 visitas

Se que hace un tiempo ya escribí un post parecido dándoos las gracias porque habíamos conseguido llegar a las 200 visitas.

Pero hoy esas gracias se han quedado pequeñas, que digo pequeñas, enanas, ya que hemos alcanzado otra cifra histórica para este humilde blog que acaba de empezar.

Ya sois 500 visitas que hacen que la palabra trabajo no signifique nada para nosotros, solo por el hecho de regalarnos una ilusión inmensa de seguir haciendo que paséis un buen rato con nosotros.


MUCHAS GRACIAS, Y NO OS OLVIDÉIS DE ESCUCHAR EL PROGRAMA

Música Tylor Bates

No tiene que ver con la película de esta semana, pero es que desde que hicimos el programa de 300, con música de Tylor Bates, de vez en cuando me he puesto Believer de Roseland, el grupo que tiene Tylor Bates con Azam Ali, la que le puso las voces corales a 300.

La teneis en la página del propio Bates: http://www.tylerbates.com/

Según entrais se carga un reproductor con varias canciones del autor y la primera de ellas es de Roseland. Según le parezca a la página os carga uno u otra canción de primera en la lista, así que si quereis escuchar este tema de Bates y Ali, actualizar varias veces la página hasta que aparezca Believer en primer lugar.

Un salugo y esperamos que os guste

Entrevista con Bill Conti

La película de esta semana es de este galardonado autor. Hay varias películas conocidas en las que escuchamos sus obras, pero hasta el miércoles nada amiguetes.

La entrevista es de hace un tiempo y quizás no se relacione mucho con nuestro film, además la dejamos en inglés.

Si os veis con problemas a la hora de entender lo que dice, tenéis un traductor en la propia página de www.google.es , algo básico, pero suficiente. Además existen multitud de traductores online, solo es cuestión de buscarlos.

Esperamos que sea interesante, por cierto quien hace la entrevista es Daniel Schweiger, ¿os suena de algo?

DS: Did you actively pursue The Thomas Crown Affair?

BC: I know it's a stock-in-trade to do that, but I don't pursue films at this point in my life. But it's mildly interesting how I got the job. Pierce Brosnan made a film with John McTiernan called Nomads, for which I did the score. It was John's first picture. He remembered me, and called me to do The Thomas Crown Affair. I had seen the original picture and adored it.. So why do they do remakes like this? I have no idea. I did the original Gloria, which wasn't even a hit. But since Pierce was a producer on Thomas Crown, I'd say that he had something to do with remaking it.

DS: How do you get Michel Legrand's score out of your head?

BC: If John McTiernan made a Thomas Crown Affair that was a homage to the original, then I'd have to be conscious of the original score. Michel's score for the original defined an era. But is this a "90's" score? I wouldn't be able to give you an answer. This is a different film. It just has the same name. In my opinion, it could be called many other different things than The Thomas Crown Affair. It's not the same caper, but some story points are similar. If I want to say dark and light, I'd say this one is lighter in its tonal quality.

DS: Tell me about your score.

BC: I scored the film with two thoughts. One came from the opening titles. As a wink to the original, Faye Dunaway plays Pierce's psychiatrist. These lyrical title cards are going on during their conversation. There was a flow, and lyricism to them that I heard. That's my job. It's not a miracle or a mystery. I do that, because I know the language of music. Those things affect me musically, and I told John 'Wow, I really like this. As a matter of fact, I heard the whole thing. I'll let you hear it tomorrow morning.' And that's what I did. I went home, and started messing around with pianos, and ended up with five of them. I brought the music to John, and he liked it. I also have a string orchestra and a percussion section to reflect the slick nature of Thomas Crown. He's like a tap dancer, so you hear tap dancers on the percussion tracks. Those two ideas brought me the entire score.

DS: How did you come up with the tap dancing analogy?

BC: The guy's doing a caper. He's slick. But that tap dancing is subtle, as is the whole movie. The director and actors are winking at us. They don't want us to take the film too seriously. They want us to have fun. There are no gun or car chases, but you sit there and enjoy the movie.

DS: Are there any jazz touches to the score?

BC: There are jazz touches to the score, but I wouldn't call them "real" jazz. Real jazz is improvised. Michel's score was also written, but there are moments of improvisation in his score and mine. I think my score has a unique sound because of the five pianos. But to everyone else, it will sound like a really large piano, even though a pianist couldn't play all of those notes. The score is subtle, and interesting.

DS: Did John have anything he wanted your score to do?

BC: He knew what his movie was, and wanted the audience to be prepared for. So it would've been wrong if I scored The Thomas Crown Affair like an action picture. While there are moments of tension, you aren't going to think that an explosion's going to happen. There's a subtlety of entertainment, fun, intelligence and sophistication. It's not a movie for people who are expecting vulgarity. The score can't do the vulgarity of "He's a bad guy, he's a good guy, here's the chase and this is the sex." In the Greek chorus style, the score is supposed to be as sophisticated as the movie is. Hopefully, I've done that.

DS: What do you think equals musical sophistication?

BC: You'd have to begin by talking about what unrefined music is. It's anything that has rock and roll, rap and repetitive rhythm and harmony. The guy who drinks ripple instead of wine would not expect a sophisticated composer like Mozart. And the guy who's drinking ripple doesn't even know that he's vulgar. They don't get it. You need to acquire sophistication. It's an aesthetic that transcends words and takes your breath away. You have to be educated to know a real kind of sophistication, because the ordinary person just wouldn't get it. You can get a high with a bottle of Ripple, but the explosion of your taste buds with fine wine is like a bigger orgasm.

DS: How many themes are in your score?

BC: There's a dark and a light theme. One that tells you something's happening, and one that tells you people are having fun. Those two themes are all about Mr. Crown. Catherine has a theme which is more emotional. Her character is more complex than Crown's. There are other thematic things in the score, but they're so inside that they don't come across as being thematic.

DS: Are there any other instrumental motifs in the score?

BC: Beyond the pianos and the tap dancing, there's a Nina Simone recording which is used during a very critical part of the movie. It's very effective, and came from a great idea that John had. There's also a cameo appearance of the song "The Windmills of Your Mind," which shows up with Faye Dunaway. I didn't have a problem with that. After all, wouldn't you want to hear that with her character?

DS: What was your collaborative process like with John?

BC: Music is anti-intellectual. It's non-literal, and you have to find out what makes the director happy. You want to let someone hear what you're thinking about. Because if you get to the stage, and the director says "I wasn't thinking like that," then your score won't be in the movie. But we didn't have that kind of collaboration, because it just didn't work out that way. John was very busy, and lived in Wyoming. He never came to my house. He only listened to the main title, then he heard the rest of the music on the scoring stage. When John had a problem, I re-manipulated my material.

DS: How did you get into film scoring?

BC: I always wanted to write dramatic music. Maybe that's because I came from a house where Italian opera was always being played. It made me want to be a Baroque composer, and I wanted to get paid to write that kind of music. In the back of your mind, when you say you want to write music for the movies, you're saying that you want a big house, a big car and a boat. If you just wanted to write music, you could live in Kansas and do it. So how can you be a professional composer? You can teach school and write. But that's not being a professional composer, is it? You can only live on Guggenheim grants and Fullbright scholarships for a while. But how do you become a "real" composer? You have to go into the commercial world, which isn't unlike what the Baroque composers did. Cobblers made shoes. Mozart's job classification was to write music, which he did for ballets and operas. He got paid to do that, and taught on the side. He wasn't a waiter. He didn't sell mutual funds. Those are all noble professions, but if you want to be a professional composer, then you're writing dramatic music for film and television. And it's a wonderful thing to do that every day, rather than writing music for a one-time performance. Benjamin Britten disagreed with Penderecki, who was a contemporary of his. Penderecki wrote for 2,000 informed people in the world. People who knew the difference between champagne and ripple. Britten said "I'm a member of the social community. I write for people. And if they're rejecting my music, then I'm writing the wrong kind of music." So if you're a member of the community, then one of the legitimate professions is being a film composer. And I always wanted to do that. I wanted to write thematic music, and get paid for it. And if you're in LA, you get the Hollywood bug. You want the same things that everyone else has- a lawyer, a business manager, an agent, a publicist, and big, big bucks. It's sick, but that's the ideal. So you pursue that. And if you're lucky, you catch the gold ring.

DS: How do you keep yourself in the Hollywood game?

BC: Who wants to be in the game? How much money do you want? I did a couple of things. I've got an Academy Award, an Emmy and some hit songs. On the academic side, I've got two Bachelors, a Masters and a Doctorate. Do you care? And you shouldn't care. What's it all in the pursuit of? I'm fine.

DS: Do you think there's a rediscovery going on now of older composers like yourself?

BC: I think the history of film music writing begins with the Viennese composers. Schoenberg wasn't a film composer, and he wrote great music. So who wrote film music? Guys who were pretty good, but guys who had no illusions of being "A" composers. My music goes towards an end, which is a movie. From the early days of film scoring, there were guys who were educated in music. There were okay writers, and there were guys who didn't have a clue. They were the brothers of, the cousins of the guy who had the real job, and he used other people to write his music, then put his name on it. That's back in the beginning of the "good old, Golden Age" days. So what's different about it from the 30's to the 90's? Nothing. You could say "style," but men still wear long pants. The personality types of the composers are the same. There are guys who know how to write pretty good, but they're not Stravinsky. Aaron Copland did a movie or two, but we don't know him as a film composer. There are guys who know how to be effective. But what does "effective" mean? The Creature From the Black Lagoon jumps up, and the music scares me. But is that "music?" Who cares? It scared me. So the guy who's equally uninformed, whether he's the producer or the director, wants the composer who's effective, because he doesn't have to be musically literate. That's not his job. He just has to be musically effective for the director. There are guys who walk away with Academy Awards who don't know how to write a note of music. You would think that would be a prerequisite in the biz, but it's not. And I'm not saying that in a bad way. I think it's great. There are no illusions about being more than who you are as a composer. If you can effectively put something musical in the right place, then you've got the job and the big bucks. So it's not about being young and in fashion. I see Jerry Goldsmith doing another score, and he's not getting any younger, or doing any less work. So "youth" hasn't impinged on his desire. Does he need the money? I hope not. Does he need fame? I'm sure he does.. Seneca said "What's the sense of saving journey money when the journey's getting shorter? How much journey money do you really need?" And I was a workhorse. I loved to write music, and I wrote it for fifteen years in a row for everything, anything, anywhere. And then I said "I'm tired of that. I just don't want to do that anymore." It left me.

DS: Well, I think it's great that you're doing a big studio film. It's the first one you've done in a while. You should be doing more of them.

BC: Making a living is not a career. It might be for an accountant, but it's not for someone who says "I want one thing." The guy who feels that his career hasn't happened yet. The guy who has that kind of hunger, who wants money and fame. If your career's going to reach a plateau, than you're going to cop to any of these things. I think John Williams and John Barry have five Academy Awards. Do they want number six? I don't know. But do I want number two? Sort of. It would be a lie to say that I didn't.

DS: It would be nice to be conducting your own music at the Academy Awards if you won another one.

BC: I've conducted twice when I've lost. I was up for Rocky and For Your Eyes Only when I had to play someone else's music. And the only time I sat in the audience during fourteen years of going, I won for The Right Stuff. It's a rush to do the show. It's all about being able to do live music well, and I love it. But I was as bored and anxiety-ridden as everyone else when I was sitting in the audience, the one year when I wasn't conducting. And I won! That was kind of neat.

DS: With so many scores behind you, don't you think you should be better-represented on CD?

BC: I get lots of requests for The Big Blue, Gloria and The Karate Kid. And I think, "what a bore." The only time I've put out CDs were for these three IMAX pictures, The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Niagara Falls. They sell at the parks, and I retained the rights for the music. So that means I went into the CD business. Somebody prints them up, stamps them, and mails them out. I hate every inch of the thought of doing that, because I don't want to be a businessman. So why did I do that? I did it as an experiment. Forget money. If 10, or 100 thousand people want The Big Blue, it don't mean a thing. It needs to be a hit. Maybe your little composer ego goes "Wow!" But I can't tell you how many Yellowstone CDs have even been sold. It's just irrelevant. So when people ask for a tape of Gloria, I tell them that I'm sorry, but I'm not in the business of making tapes. They should just consider the music as not being released. I only wish there was a hit. I don't want to know Gloria. Who cares?

DS: A lot of your fans do. Shouldn't it feel good that people want your music?

BC: You're right. It should feel good, but it's always been cumbersome to put out CDs of my scores. I don't even have any tapes of mine. I don't have a clue of where they are, or records of where they went to. But knowing that there are people out there who do care, the thought has crossed my mind to hire someone to start a label. But then there are those sleazy boutique labels that put out bootlegs. I don't want to be a shopkeeper. Even if I hired someone, wouldn't I still be the shopkeeper?

DS: What do you think of your CD for Blood In Blood Out (retitled Bound by Honor ) going for hundreds of dollars on the collector market?

BC: I don't even have a copy. The soundtrack didn't come out when the film wasn't a hit, and I felt really bad about it. When the film dies, the record dies. Unless the score is going to fly with a hit song, it's not going to reach the people who care about it. It's not a big ticket item. The same thing happened with The Right Stuff. I had a record deal with the Ladd Company, and I'd even mixed the album. The film didn't do business, and they didn't put out the album. So I put out $20,000 when I was recording another movie in London, and I re-recorded North and South with The Right Stuff. Then the record company reimbursed me.

DS: Do you think there's a common bond that runs through your scores?

BC: Me analyzing me is not the same as someone else listening to me. But I think there's always a melodic content in my music. I love melody. There's some sort of Italian-ate lyricism to what I do because of my operatic background. And I don't want my music to be part of the woodwork. Some people say "A good score is if you don't hear it." Then why don't you just say "Let's have the actors mumble." Why does a door slam have to sound like World War III? Why does a gunshot have to be bigger than any gunshot I've ever heard in my life? I want my music to be heard, and if you don't hear my scores, then I've failed. But I also don't want my music to be thrown out if the director feels that I'm taking attention away from the movie. The director is the captain of the ship. He can tell a writer to punch up the dialogue. He can make the lighting brighter. But when it gets to the music, the director is left saying something like "I want it to feel blue." What does that mean? Music isn't literal, it's dangerous. It can sneak up on you and do things. So you're fighting this psychological drama to get into the head of the captain of your ship, because he just can't do it. A director can control everything- except music. He understands it on the only level he should, an emotional one. And if the music doesn't work for him, it ain't working. There was a cue I did for The Thomas Crown Affair that had the room jumping up and down. But I said to John, "Look, if it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work. Let me do it differently." And I reached, and found what was missing for John so he could jump on the bandwagon. It's tough. The music is best if it's held down. It's more dangerous if it's loud.

DS: Your theme for Rocky is your most popular piece of music. What's it like to achieve that level of public consciousness?

BC: That kind of phenomenon happens when there's the coordination of people liking the movie and your music, and it being a hit. I've been fortunate to be on that ride. It didn't have to happen. But It did, and I'm thankful.

DS: You've scored films with a wide variety of styles, from jazz to Americana. Is there any style of music that you'd still like to explore?

BC: I just want to write pretty, melodic music. I haven't done something pretty and quiet in so long. But I've cut back anyway. I'm not doing as much. Most recently I did a picture called Winchell for Paul Mazursky and Inferno for Jean-Claude Van Damme. But I've felt a lack of scores like Slow Dancing In the Big City. The aggressive, macho, punch-in-the-face had its timespan in the 70's. And it's difficult to look away from a gift horse. But at least that punch-in-the-mouth stuff happened! And I can do the Rocky and Right Stuff styles when people want me to. But pretty, slow, sad music is what I want to do.

DS: Where do you want your music to stand in the grand scheme of film scores?

BC: It has to stand only as film music for sure. Remember, my opinion of it is not that high. It began with three Viennese composers, and Korngold is not Richard Strauss. He's not as good as him. Strauss' Salome is wonderful. Korngold, in his operas and his film scores are not to be said in the same breath as Richard Strauss. However, Korngold is probably one of the best film composers who ever lived! Franz Waxman, Max Steiner, they're great film composers. And if I could be part of a good group of film composers, then that would be nice. But there's a higher place that I have no illusions about reaching. There's a sophistication and aesthetic about composers who only write only for the music's sake. I don't follow the muse. I follow the film. I watch the opening of The Thomas Crown Affair, and the music feels a particular way, because that's the way I heard it. Is that a muse moment? Who knows, because it was inspired by the film, and that's what I do. I don't want it to sound like I'm putting film scoring down. I'm just being objective about the level that I'm at. Those pure composers are higher, better than me. I'm ripple, and they're big-time wine. But we still do the same things.

Vamos a dar mas pistas

La película de esta semana ya esta decidida, como siempre de borrachera, por ello voy a kcontinuar con la tradición y os voy a dar alguna pista a ver si la acertais:

Hay muchas escaleras. Me lo he currao eh!

El día de la Bestia - Parte de Fer

Vaya pedazo de temazos que tiene esta banda sonora. Es de esas que te meten las ganas de fiesta…

Si es que ponernos a hablar de la música de esta película, es hablar de varios grupos de metal y rock del panorama español, e incluso también del escenario internacional, como Ministry o Sugar Ray.

Sugar Ray, por ejemplo no es nueva en esto de las bandas sonoras para películas, ya que si nos paramos y echamos un ojo a su discografía aparecen una cuentas colaboraciones en bandas sonoras, que si comparamos con esta… vosotros diréis… American Pie, Scooby Doo, Los Vengadores… pero vamos, que no se reducen a eso… que tienen más participaciones en bandas sonoras, no tan lejanas del Día de la Bestia, como el Escape de Los Ángeles, no se si la recordais, una peli de John Carpenter, en la que Los Ángeles se había separado del continente americano por un terremoto, y fue convertida en una ciudad cárcel, vamos, una cosa como Alcatraz, pero a lo bestia...

Ministry, por ejemplo también tiene una colaboración conocida, que es en la banda sonora de Matrix, en la primera entrega de la saga. Decir que en la banda sonora de Matrix, nos encontramos una cosa similar, y es que está compuesta por 13 temas del estilo de esta película, así cañeros, eso sí salvando las diferencias, en Matrix, nos encontramos con temas de Marilyn Manson o Rage Against the Machina, esa la tocaremos algún día porque se supo mezclar a la perfección, la música instrumental creada para la película por Don Davis, y esos trece temazos que como ya decimos, algún día tocaremos.

Otro de los grupos que participaron en la música de esta película fue el quinteto barcelonés Ktulu, con el tema que acabamos de escuchar hace un momento.
Aquel 1995, fue para este grupo, su año de de consagración y de salto a la palestra musical española. El tema Apocalipsis 25D, fue incluido en su segundo álbum de estudio, Orden Genético.

Mira, dicho así a modo de comparación, este grupo, Ktulu, sería en la Banda Sonora, lo que fue en la película Santiago Segura, ya que como ya hemos dicho, fue para ellos su salto a la palestra, y vaya de que manera… ¡¡¡¡UOOOOOO EL DÍA DE LA BESTIA!!!!

Y mira que habíamos pensado en hacer todo el programa con esta voz…

Además de canciones del momento en el panorama musical, al seleccionar las canciones para la banda sonora, también se recurrió a canciones con años de existencia, como Mucha policía, poca diversión, de los roqueros bilbaínos Eskorbuto. Esta canción era del año 1984, de la primera maqueta del grupo, y luego mirar si tuvo tirón que apareció en otra maqueta y en varios discos de estudio. Esta canción, al igual que otras de esta banda sonora, no es difícil escucharla en algún bar, sobre todo de esta ciudad…
Y sobre la canción que abre la banda sonora… ese temazo de Def con Dos… que lleva el nombre de la película. Esta sí que la pone mucho en los bares, y es de las que cumplen el cometido de hacernos recordad la película a través de su música.
Este grupo medio madrileño, medio gallego, ya había colaborado antes de esta película con Alex de la Iglesia, en la película Acción mutante. La canción llevaba el mismo nombre de la película, como en esta ocasión, con El día de la Bestia.
Además también tuvieron otra colaboración en cine, en la película Tuno Negro, de la que podríamos hablar mucho, sobre todo en esta ciudad...
En aquella película se incluyó su canción Tuno bueno, tuno muerto… que diría la Tuna… vaya posición más privilegiada en la que quedaron los tunos en aquella ocasión…

Si luego son majos...

Pues ya rozamos la hora de ir acabando…

Nominaciones a los Golden Satellite Awards

Aquí teneis el listado de nominaciones de los Golden Satellite Awards en el apartado de Banda Sonora y Mejor Canción.

Se trata de la duodécima edición de este prestigioso galardón.

Apartado de Mejor Banda Sonora:

Dario Marianelli por Atonement
James Newton Howard por The Lookout
Michael Giacchino por Ratatouille
Alberto Iglesias por The Kite Runner
Howard Shore por Eastern Promises
Nick Cave por The Assassination of Jesse James

Apartado de Mejor Canción:

"Do You Feel Me"/Diane Warren, "American Gangster"
"If You Want Me"/Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, "Once"
"Come So Far"/Marc Shaiman, "Hairspray"
"Rise"/Eddie Vedder, "Into The Wild"
"Grace Is Gone"/Clint Eastwood & Carole Bayer Sager, "Grace Is Gone"
"Lyra"/Kate Bush, "The Golden Compass"

Para más información sobre otras categorías:

http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Satellite_Awards/2007

Reformas en el blog

Como podeis ver, el aspecto del blog ha cambiado un poquillo.
Realmente los servicios del blog siguen siendo los mismos, solamente ha cambiado la apariencia del mismo, y algún que otro detalle como la música de bienvendida... por cierto, ¿sabeis a que película pertenece? Seguro que much@s lo sabreis.

Ahora mismo contamos con unos enlaces de descarga directa en formato Mp3 de antiguos programas, enlaces a páginas de interés y blogs recomendados, además del reproductor que cada semana tendrá por defecto el último programa emitido.

Esperamos que os guste el nuevo diseño y que nos dejeis vuestras sugerencias y opiniones sobre todo lo que aquí aparece.

Saludos a tod@s
Sonidos de Película

El día de la Bestia ¡¡UOOOOOOOOOOO!!

¡Ya se hizo el quinto programa de Sonidos de Película!

Como siempre nos lo pasamos pita en la radio, esta vez llamando a las puertas de la Real Academia Española...

¿?¿?¿?¿CONGRASACIÓN?¿?¿?¿?¿ ¡¡Si!! ¡Una piscina llena de grasa!

Esperemos que os haya gustado, PERO, lo más importante es que nos dejeis aquí vuestras impresiones y críticas que esta aventurilla consiste en mejorar día a día.

¡¡Un saludo a tod@s!!

La sesación previa a un programa de radio

Quiero que escribir estas palabras porque me gustaría describir, si puedo, lo que se siente antes de ponerte delante del micrófono y empezar el programa de radio.

El previo de un programa de radio es como una calma tensa, sabes lo que tienes que decir, cuando lo tienes que decir pero no sabes como lo vas a decir. Intentas estar quieto y tranquilo pero es imposible.

En los cinco minutos previos esta sensación aumenta por mil, ya estas en el estudio sentado con todo preparado y viendo como pasan los últimos minutos en el reloj antes de empezar, en ese momento solo puedes pensar en una cosa: “Por favor que salga bien el programa”.

Pero cuando empieza a sonar la sintonía y Fernando da la bienvenida, todo empieza a ir solbre ruedas y esa sensación de angustia desaparece para dar paso a una compenetracion casi total y la magia de las ondas hace el resto.

200 VISITAS!!!!!!!!!!!!

La verdad es que cuando el Cocodrilo Galáctico y yo iniciamos este sueño no creíamos que iba a ir tan bien. Cuando todo esto empezó jamas pensamos que íbamos a llegar a las 200 visitas y mas tan rápido. Lo que empezó siendo un espacio para colgar nuestros guiones, se ha convertido en una forma de poder interactuar con todos nuestros oyentes, ya sean los de la radio, los de internet o los del podcast.

Desde aquí daros las gracias a todos los que habéis hecho que este momento de felicidad sea posible y deciros que nos habéis dado fuerzas para currarnoslo si cabe un poquito mas.


MIL Y UNA VECES GRACIAS

Nueva pista

La pélicula de esta semana fue la que dio a conocer al compañero de Ana Belén en la serie "Petra Delicado", en el mundo del cine.

Variaciones en el Podcast

¡Hola internautas perdidos!

Hemos hecho unas pequeñas variaciones en el blog, y es que desde hoy mismo disponemos del enlace a la suscripción del programa de radio.

Además desde el mismo enlace también podreis descargar los programas emitidos y no solo escucharlos como hasta ahora.

Esperemos que os guste y que nos dejeis vuestras opiniones de los programas anteriores.

Por cierto de la película de esta semana, además de que es española, decir que tiene una pedazo de banda sonora convertirá el estudio en una pequeña discoteca.

¡Saludos a tod@s!

La decisión ya esta tomada

Camaradas ya hemos tomado la decisión de la película que vamos a desmenuzar esta semana. Después de mucho pensarlo y dos noches de borrachera hemos decidido que la película va a ser...

Bueno va, una pista que de este modo es mas divertido: Es un película española...


POS: muchisisisisimas gracias por vuestros comentarios y prometemos que esas películas tendrán su momento en nuestro programa.