Charlie Chaplin Easy Street Film Score Practice

I want to share with you this short piece written as an exercise of film scoring. I picked some scenes from the marvelous silent short film Easy Street by Charlie Chaplin and wanted to handle it in a cartooning fashion in order to accentuate the humorous mood. In this work I used Polytonality , but in contrapuntal sense, more than in harmonic way. Since Mozart musical jokes, Polytonality has been used to express a variety of feelings and moods in ballet, opera, concert music and of course in films. Igor Stravinsky Petrushka is an important example, Giacomo Puccini uses it in Turandot and many others important composers too. In films this technique has been used to add a specific taste in a punctual situation rather than as a main method of composition for an entire score, there are exceptions to this rule of course.

I hope you like this short example and feel free to leave your comments.

 

Technology vs Artistic Composition in Film Score

MIDI, Mock-ups, Sequencing, Daw, VST Libraries and other terms are commons in today film compositional process, and it seems that the traditional method using paper and pencil playing an acoustic piano is something belonging to XVIII century when some composers used to "write" music mentally or at least they should have great levels of aural consciousness, notorious is the case of Mozart that apparently took the pen several times to copy the music he had composed mentally or  Beethoven that was able to write a master piece as his 9th symphony when he was already deaf. Today we have a guy in front of a midi controller or a keyboard sending midi notes and message through an audio interface (or USB wire) to a computer plenty of wonderful VST sounds that inspire all types of musical possibilities. But all these bring to our mind a question: is all these technology getting in the way of a true creative and artistic process? Is our creativity being truncated by the easiness that technology provides us? Could we go deeper if we allowed our minds and inner ear create without such aids?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think that it depends on our musical consciousness  and knowledge, formerly composers were forced to develop incredible skills because they had no other way  but learn the laws of music deeply, and as a result they reached levels that allowed them to create great masterpieces deepening in their art.

 

I do not think that technology represents a creative problem by itself; technology has always been present in all ages helping people improve, but it depends on each artist takes advantage without allowing these external things interfere in the creative process, but incorporating them as tools to work with. In my opinion, VST Instruments and Effects like Vienna Symphonic Library or East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra and Music Editor software like Sibelius or Finale represent and invaluable tools especially because they help us accelerate the workflow giving the composer an opportunity to effectively show their musical ideas to the director or producer of the film before the recording process, or even on low budget projects a good mock-up is usually used in the ultimate product.

 

Finally I would say that the important point here is that a real artist a true composer, has a genuine idea that comes from his artistic, musical and human sensitivity, which will be perfected in the process of composition using the knowledge, skills and all the tools that are available, whether they are a pen and paper or a computer with a midi controller .

In the audio below of these lines, you will hear a mock-up of a piece I wrote a year ago as an example of the use of VST technology along with the traditional techniques of composition and orchestration.

 

Erich Wolfgang Korngold-From Classical Music to Film Score

Erich Wolfgang Korngold was born on May 29th, 1897 in Brno and grew up in Vienna where his fame of child prodigy was approved by great masters as Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss and his compositions were interpreted for renown virtuous of the early twenty century. although Being so young Korngold's music was accepted for the public and critics and was compared with Mozart.

His composition of that time cover a wide spectrum of genre from camera music to opera, piano sonatas, symphonies and adaptations of already composed music demonstrated the flexibility and skills of the young composer to attempt almost any form and genre of artistic expression. The increase of political tension in Europe and the beginning of the persecution of Jewish accelerated his decision of move with his family to America where he helped to establish a language and method of composition to films.

His wisdom to maneuver dramatic elements, his knowledge and experience in opera and his extraordinary richness of orchestration makes his scores the landmark of the Golden Age of Hollywood alongside with Max Steiner and others European Composers.

 

Captain Blood (1935), Anthony Adverse (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), The Prince and the Pauper (1937), Juarez (1939), The Sea Hawk (1940), The Sea Wolf (1941), Kings Row (1941), and Deception (1946) scores are examples of the prolific genius of Korngold to write incidental music and in my opinion are truly masterpieces that should be included more often in the programming of symphonic orchestras around the world as other great pieces of film music.

 

A Classical Composer in Film Score-Sergei Prokofiev and Sergei Eisenstein

Ivan the Terrible

 Sergei Prokofiev is one of the greatest composers of all times, at least in my opinion, he was born in Sóntsovka Russia in 1891 and well-known are the seven Symphonies especially the first "Classical" and the fifth ("a work about the spirit of man" in his own words), his Ballet Romeo and Juliet, his five concertos for piano, two for violin his Opera "The Love for Three Oranges" and many others symphonic and chamber works. But Today we are to discuss his collaboration with another Russian genius, Sergei Eisenstein who was an important Film Director and Film Theorist that developed an innovative method to the film montage.

Sergei Eisenstein

Sergei Prokofiev

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Great Film were the fruit of this artistic association, the first is "Alexander Nevsky" It tells the Prince Alexander Story and his heroic defense of Russia (Novgorod) against the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century. Dramatic, Epic and genial is this score that was posterior adapted as a Cantata for Mezzo-Soprano Choir and Orchestra.

 

 The second is "Ivan the Terrible" about the Zar Ivan IV of Russia, where Prokofiev used a full instrumentation orchestra (five trumpets, four French  horns,etc.) and his particular and wonderful language, full of rich dissonances and smooth transitions and modulations in addition to a dramatic and epic tone proper to this Historic Film.

This Film won a Stalin Prize and the acceptance of the Russian Government, but the Sequel "The Boyar Conspiracy"  was banned and couldn't be released until 1958.

Alexander  Nevsky