August Monthly Competition

Sorry this is a bit late, I've been entirely offline for the last week or so and am just getting back home. Anyway, I've been experimenting with film and game scoring lately, just trying out a new avenue in my composition major.... so without any further delay...

Edited August 28, 201114 yr by OMWBWAY

I would love to judge if at all possible.

Sure! PS-Hi Morv...been a LONG while.

Sure! PS-Hi Morv...been a LONG while.

YES! I have returned. :)

It sounds interesting! I'd be glad to do something for this.... I think judging tho as I don't know a lot about writing music for videos, but if we need competitors I'm sure I can conjure something up!

It seems as though we'll need competitors, but if you're the only one, it's just as useful as you being a 3rd judge to no scores.

Yup... seems as though nobody wants to do such a heavy handed orchestration. I know I wouldn't. At least not in ONE month. That's a ton of work.

Ooh, I know the perfect thing to score, too.

Sign me up.

YES! ONE COMPETITOR!

Yup... seems as though nobody wants to do such a heavy handed orchestration. I know I wouldn't. At least not in ONE month. That's a ton of work.

It doesn't have to be a full orchestral score? The minimum is 1 minute, that's not a lot of music to write in a month, even if you're writing for orchestra. It can be anything though. Solo piano, string ensemble, or a rock band. I don't think it's such a terrible undertaking.

Heckel said he would submit something if needed. Heckel..?

Yea, I can do this. I'm supposedly good orchestrating things, so I'll try to find something to put music to :)

I'm in too. gotta find a perfect scene.

ugh! I'm sorry, but I have had like no time to do this. I'm very sorry, but... I couldn't find a video for this piece... I can still give it to you, and explain what I'm thinking, if you like.

I'm having some major issues getting the clip uploaded to YouTube.

So, does anyone mind if I just attach it to this post?

Cry of the Hunters.wmv

Here it is on YouTube.:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqSCxY2M8Sw

Sorry, I've been a little out of touch, I have seen the videos. AWESOME SUBMISSIONS GUYS! I'm going to try to get in touch with Morv and see if he'll send me some results. Also, Hecekel said he'll judge(?). Give it a week or so, if I don't hear from Morv, I'll get someone else to play 3rd judge. Sorry this month's competition has been so slow, I thought there would be more interest for something different. Oh well....

WAIT!

I've got a video with better quality (same piece, though)...

and I've figured out how to get it on YouTube! :toothygrin:

Here's the link to it on YC, which in turn contains the YouTube video.

http://forum.youngcomposers.com/music/560/cry-of-the-hunters/

ok! I actually have some time off to look at this. :) I will have my reviews in before the night is out.

This is for the Lord of the Flies video:

Composition: 10/10

Very well composed! I loved your percussive touches during the suspenseful part. Now, I didn't really understand until after a few listens what was going on, but I did think your music conveyed what it needed to. If it was a real orchestra, then it would have been a different sound. Now, this video was not very high quality, and I was concerned until I realized it was part of a class project, I remembered my class projects, then I had a smile on my face the whole time. I thought your trills at the beginning were very nice. Your poking with the stick is funny. haha. You have interesting chase music… be careful, your structure was starting to wander toward the end. I would have taken major points off if you hadn't had similar ideas at the beginning of the video.

Sync: 13/15

Eh. There was one part in the middle that seemed a little sketchy on the sync. It was when the video changed over to the chase part of it. I wasn't a big fan of the abruptness of it. So, I have deducted a couple of points in this category for lack of general flow of the music and the video here.

Emotion/Mood/Originality: 15/20

Hey now! This video had suspense and chasing and there were two different things to contrast. This is what this competition was looking for. So, I have you 13.4 points for getting the Emotion and Mood right. Let me talk about it a bit. Your off kilter rhythms at the beginning very nice in the "waking process". The high strings with the solo woodwind building into the climax is well done. Your flow is off, but I took off earlier. The pulse of the running music is good! The flowing strings in the movement provides a certain fluidity that I admire. Good job there. I gave you 1.6 points for originality because of your smart orchestration. You did well with the way you treated the different "scenettes". Good job.

Cool Factor: 0/5

Again, as in the other video. There was nothing I hadn't heard before. No cat choirs. So, I didn't feel comfortable putting those points here. haha. But, you did a very good job in the big picture.

I am honored to award you a solid 38/50 points. A nice 76%. :)

Ok, this one is for the Saving Private Ryan score.

Composition: 7/10

This was very simply scored. And, after a few listens, I am still not sure how I feel about it in my opinion. I think I like the music. Obviously, it's VERY well composed. You have great motifs and develop them melodically. It's pretty stagnant rhythmically. I might have preferred a few more textures at times. It would not have held my interest away from the video, and even at some points became monotonous. Be very careful when scoring for video that you do not mistake simplicity for lack of content. There are some nice melodies though! You have an interesting, almost plaintiff military motif of a solo trumpet. I like that a lot. And, the ideology behind really carried your whole idea of the piece, I think. In that way, you were successful. So, because of it's sound structure and defined listener appeal, I will give it a 7. :) Next time, add more to your writing, even if some parts are simpler. Allow your fuller texture to include a stronger force. Maybe full brass with the strings! :D

Sync: 14.6/15

I thought your placement of the simple melody was PERFECT. The single melodic line under the water was just right for my taste. Very well done on this part. There isn't much to say since the action is pretty one dimensional. All you had to work with was a single line of action and a change in environment. Of course, this was your fault in choosing a scene where only one thing happened… And, for this competition, I would have rather seen a clip that had more REASON to use this category, ya know? Since this category was here, and the action is a streamline, you seem to have escaped without really doing anything. The music could be a second later than the video and not matter too much. So, I am deducting .4 points for lack of creativity in your selection.

Emotion/Mood/Originality: 13.4/20

This one is especially subjective. But, I think you captured the general emotion very well! This is good. This was the point of the competition. I heard the call from the orchestra of pain. I saw the looks on the people's faces. But, this was not something I hadn't seen before. I have heard the single line when the people die or the simple melody when everyone is getting shot. So, you captured two thirds of this category, but I didn't really see any originality. So, it's only fitting that you get two thirds of the points.

Cool Factor: 0/5

I didn't really hear anything that was like what was outlined in the guidelines, therefore I cannot give you those points.

You did well, though! This was a solid piece for someone who isn't ONLY a "film scorer" professionally in the real world. So, it is my honor to present you with 35/50 possible points. :)

60% percent is pretty good, dude. Keep up the good work.

Sorry I'm a day late guys. My original post said results should have been expected by yesterday. I started school last wednesday and I've been swamped. Anyway...

ChsBTone: Lord of the Flies

Composition:7/10-The stuff you have is really good. It's high energy, and I know if it were being played by a real orch. it would sound great. I liked the tom rolls in the beginning, it was different. Very sign of things to come i guess, lol. Be careful that you don't get too repetitive. I think there was a 30-40 second stretch of chase music that all sounded pretty much the same to me. No variance of musical idea, or clear development. It got stagnant to me, and since the boys are just running through the field, and there's no dialogue, I'd really want the score to lead the charge here. There's so many times where dialogue will have to push the scoring way down, so when you get the chance to just write music that goes uninterupted for a stretch, it's got to be captivating. One of the criteria for this particular grade was whether the music could standalone as a piece of music, stripped of the video, and presented in a concert form. That is solely what knocked your points down a few notches.

Sync:13/15-The little stick throw or rock throw at the beginning is perfectly in sync with your orch. hit. The sound of the Midi-Orchestra, plus the fact that they're kids, and it's a stick, makes me laugh!!! From that hit on, it's pretty much one level visually so I'm satisfied with what you have, and confident that if you had a different film with many accents, it would just be a more tedious process, but you could do it. My one issue is when he first wakes up. The orch fades out too slowly, and i miss the first word he's saying. Maybe that word isn't important, but if I don't hear it, I'll never know.....

Emotion/mood/originality: 17/20-I was pleased with the overall mood set by the orch. Again, the jarring start and slow fade away in the very beginning catches me off guard when it enters, and then distracts me as it slowly fades, covering dialogue. This is obviously a major problem for a film. There's nothing very original, which bumped you down a few points, but it's a solid piece of work. Good job.

Cool: 1/5- The stick throw made me laugh at the beginning. Maybe that was intentional, maybe not, but I laughed. I think of the scott pilgrim movie, which could easily switch from full rock band score to a pingy, orchestral hit dependent upon the character, and scene, and it could work perfectly, when intended.

Total: 38/50-a solid score. Thanks for the submission!

There will only be two judges, unfortunately. I will have the final results up later tonight. Partially for the sake of suspense.... and partially because I'M LATE FOR CLASS!!!!!

There will only be two judges, unfortunately. I will have the final results up later tonight. Partially for the sake of suspense.... and partially because I'M LATE FOR CLASS!!!!!

lulz. ahahah.

Score for "The Darkness"

Composition-4/10-Definitely not poorly written. But it's just so simple and sparse. That's not to say simple is bad, I just wish there was a bit more texture. I think the film would benefit more from a fuller composition that is backed off a ton, to allow the Sound Design to lead the scene, as opposed to a sparse composition. Think of the theme from schindler's list(or look it up on youtube). That piece is driven by a solo violin, supported by an extremely soft (but full) orchestral backing. Not to compare this to that, but that's just an example of an orchestration that is full while being very much so in the far background. I think my biggest qualm with your composition is that it never goes anywhere, it just sort of sits at one level, and remains very square. I'm all for repetition, and simplicity, but if I can guess the next chord, and the next one, and the next one, then there needs to be a change up somewhere. Different instrumentation, different key, melodic variation, etc. You did switch from trumpet to solo-ish string so I gave some points for that. Again, my big grading factor in this category is whether the piece could function as a standalone feature in a concert. I don't think compositionally that this would hold without the sound effects. If I buy the soundtrack of the film, I should be able to listen to the "beachfront battle" track and be just as moved.

Sync-8/15-The music entered at a cue in the video, and that is where your points came from. Otherwise, there's not much to sync in this video without getting tedious. I definitely didn't expect you to go as far as syncing all the gun shots to music, since A) this is not that kind of scene, and B) that is really overkill considering the content. I can guarantee you would have got a perfect score for that though, hahaha. I would have liked for the solo violin to start the moment the soldier dropped into the water, and in turn, the previous theme/orchestration to instantly disappear. I was unsettled by the late and sudden disappearance of the trumpet. Literally sounded like an automated "FADER DOWN!".

Emotion/Mood/Originality-13/20-You got the right emotion and the idea of the piece, so that's worth 10 points...other than that there wasn't much that was fresh. I did like that the solo instrument was a trumpet.....trumpet over strings is not something you see very often. And I'm a huge fan of solo brass (OTHER THAN HORN) so it was nice. That was worth 3 points.

Cool-1/5-Again, the trumpet + string combo is not common. It caught me off guard at first, but after a few listens, it really grew on me. That's brave, and brave is cool.

Final Score=26/50 For a bunch of little things that kept the work just shy of great.Thanks for the submission!

Edited September 14, 201114 yr by OMWBWAY

And with final scores of

76/100

and

61/100

Our winner is........ChsTBone!!!!!!!!! :thumbsup: with a score of 76%

(I'll look into what the site offers monthly competition winners and see if that'll get moving. I think it's some sort of feature mumbo jumbo. Maybe morv knows)

Special Thanks go to "The Darkness" for his submission. :nod:

Thanks for participating, and thanks to guest judge.....Morivou!

See y'all next time!