"Sonata" Animated Short

Sonata is an animated short film about a brief and fleeting moment in a man's life. He must face his fears and doubts and decide whether or not to take a chance...

Hello YC, I found this lovely little animation on Youtube and decided to set my own music to it, just for practice. This video is made by Vancouver Film School graduate Ryan Mcdougal, and animated by him as well.

To composed something that matches the mood of the video, I used piano and strings, a really well-known instrument combination for melancholic music. Other than those, I threw in an english horn and harp into the mix as well.

Here's the Youtube (Published with permission from the author):

Sonata

AUDIO

Comments are very much appreciated as usual ;)

Nice work Nigel!

You got his one very well. I like atmosphere and theme is very nice and goes with "sonata" title of the movie.

Only thing I could point on is that strings holding E on the beginning are to flat. Adding the some dynamics parallel with piano dynamics would make them sound more natural. This is more obvious when they simply vanish without decrescendo.

Overall I like this very much. Nice job. Keep it going!

Nicely done. Very appropriate for the video. I particularly like the solo violin (or is it clarinet? my ears are shoddy). And also the parts where the piano gets more complicated (ie - 1:00 -> 1:20 and at 1:58).

Nicely done Nigel! Fits nicely, sets the mood and good choice of instrumentation.

My one point would be that it could use a bit more variation between the different moods as the man tries to decide what to do. He seems to sway back and forth and to a certain extent so does the music but I'm not sure it does it to enough of a degree. I certainly like it when the woodwind comes back in around a minute in where he picks up the rose again, theres almost an air of assosciation from that instrument to the rose, and its timing is perfect coming after the brief break.

Really good piece though, good job.

I agree with everyone that the music does really fit the mood really well.. Really good job.. The only thing I would have done different is when he opens the door I would create maybe more of a climax. Maybe change the music drammitcally so as to make that moment stand out. But eiether than that A+ job.

Nicely done Nigel! Fits nicely, sets the mood and good choice of instrumentation.

My one point would be that it could use a bit more variation between the different moods as the man tries to decide what to do. He seems to sway back and forth and to a certain extent so does the music but I'm not sure it does it to enough of a degree. I certainly like it when the woodwind comes back in around a minute in where he picks up the rose again, theres almost an air of assosciation from that instrument to the rose, and its timing is perfect coming after the brief break.

Really good piece though, good job.

I agree with everyone that the music does really fit the mood really well.. Really good job.. The only thing I would have done different is when he opens the door I would create maybe more of a climax. Maybe change the music drammitcally so as to make that moment stand out. But eiether than that A+ job.

Well, I did thought of that before, but the film's to short for me to make any dramatic changes, so that's the most I can do.

Awesome job Nigel. the music accompanied the video wonderfully. Some Yann Tiersen influence I noticed. Keep it up, you've improved a lot since you've joined the site. Keep posting!

Yann Tiersen is one of my favourite composers, and the original music for this clip is a piece by him. That's why I decided to take on something similar to his style. I also had a little Michael Nyman in mind, the complex piano part is inspired by his piece "The Piano".

Thank you all for the great comments!

Very beautiful music. I thought the music fitted very well with the scene you scored. The kind of odd-ball animation style fits strangely well with your music. I haven't seen the scene this is from nor have I heard the original music but I really think you have the atmosphere nailed here. I wasn't so fond of the cello section for some reason, it was still nice just...I liked the piano section better. Overall, lovely piece. You really could do this for a living. My suggestion: Make about 5-10 of these clips and start sending them to companies.

Wow, great work! As everybody else said, the music fit very well.

I'm by no means an expert, but some things that I thought could have been different/improved:

1) The score on the whole was a bit loud, especially the piano part. Not volume wise, but velocity wise. It seemed like it could have been lighter (it is animation after all).

2) There is a crescendo at the end when the man turns to walk away. It might have been more fitting to crescendo when he actually turns to go into the store, deciding not to walk away after all.

Again, really cool piece; especially for just being a practice. You've obviously drawn the right emotions from the film and brought them out in this.

Just out of curiosity, did the original film have a score? It would be interesting to compare this and the original.

Wow, great work! As everybody else said, the music fit very well.

I'm by no means an expert, but some things that I thought could have been different/improved:

1) The score on the whole was a bit loud, especially the piano part. Not volume wise, but velocity wise. It seemed like it could have been lighter (it is animation after all).

2) There is a crescendo at the end when the man turns to walk away. It might have been more fitting to crescendo when he actually turns to go into the store, deciding not to walk away after all.

Again, really cool piece; especially for just being a practice. You've obviously drawn the right emotions from the film and brought them out in this.

Just out of curiosity, did the original film have a score? It would be interesting to compare this and the original.

I will take note of the velocity issue next time. I admit at some places it sounds a weeee bit too "hitty".

Next, about cueing the scenes with music, I've actually intended to do that but at some places it's just too akward to just suddenly crescendo when the main motion of the piece is moving upwards, and vice versa. I guess I'll have to develop my film scoring skills more.

Yes, the original film does have a score. Try searching for it on Youtube. It uses a piece from Tiersen called "Comptine d'un autre

Very pretty Nigel. Nice use of the instrumentation, and the piano. Really quite beautiful.

Good Work.

Scott.