Dragonlance books (both Chronicles and Legends) are my most enjoyed book series ever! Not high level literature, for sure, but great fun and great characters. So I have decided to create a musical homage for them.
Here I present to you the very beginning of this project:
1.The first one is called “Plains of Solamnia” and depicts a quiet scene where Solamnia knights awaits the Dragon troops at the High Clerist's Tower. 2.The second one recreates the charge of the Dragon army over them some time later.
This my first animation work. I have enjoyed a lot although it was work for my current company. Drawings were created by Diego García. Music here (unfortunately not mine due to lack of time) includes:
- An orchestral arrangement of Silent night from Home Alone 2 by John Williams - Excerpts from "Christmas Eve montage" from Nightmare before Christmas by Danny Elfman. - We wish you a merry Christmas from Home Alone arranged by John Williams
After seven years, the mighty short film SONIA hits the Net!
Awarded with one price and several nominations, SONIA was my first “official” short film.
Based on the urban legend of the ghost girl at the road bend, it was born while listening the impressive soundtrack from “The Abyss” by Alan Silvestry. I had in my mind this image of a man, lost in a lonely road at night. After that it evolved to a paranormal story. Then I saw the glorious Sixth Sense and I knew that the finale had to be a hit for the audience so…
Well, I won’t say a word more… Now it is your turn to sit down comfortably, turn off the lights and enjoy this short film… Don’t be too scared…
Here is a quick exercise of improvisation. I have created this piece after toying very briefly with the main theme. Some interesting ideas have born from it so I guess I will be back to them in order to write them properly...
A violin solo plays a short intro that introduces the main them. Tremolo cellos and contrabasses plays a unique persistent note to create an uncomfortable mood.
Violin has been modified with an unnatural delay to obtain a subtle but disturbing effect.
To celebrate the rebirth of this blog, I am embedding a very disturbing video I co-wrote, co-direct and co-edited along with my dear friend Ignatius Simpson. The talent voice of our beloved Raúl Pérez provides an eerie atmosphere... (He must be credited as co-writer too, by the way).
I composed the music as well. Here you can find both the main titles theme and the end credits... Some inspiration taken from James Newton Howard's The sixth sense...
Pure fun to create this score... Please enjoy the ride and send me some comments... And don't forget to enjoy the Harry Potter articles down below!
Following the creation of a new score for the scene of the kiss for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I have created a romantic rendition of the love theme which is a variation on Hedwig’s Theme composed by John Williams.
You will notice that the first 40 seconds are quite similar to those that depict the kiss between Harry and Cho. After this, brand new material creates a unified whole with a moving full string treatment of the melody played by the violin solo.
After the release of the fifth instalment of Harry Potter film series, The Order of the Phoenix, many soundtrack fans were disappointed with the score written by Nicholas Hooper. Despite the score works well in the film, the possibilities of the history (both the visual and the plot aspects) demands a more exciting and thematically rich score, following the great works of master John Williams (author of the tree first scores) and even Doyle´s Goblet of fire. After listening Hooper´s score very carefully, both on the CD and on film, I have to admit that my very first impression (what a boring and forgettable score!) has been radically changed. If you give it a second (or even third) chance, you will find that there is a lot of potential in this composer. Good orchestration (following Williams´s path) and great intuition on the depiction of the scenes. And more remembrances of Williams material than is (unfortunately) included on the CD. But, after all, the real fact is that you will probably say 'Ok, great, but where are the new themes that I can whistle for a week?" And this is the weakness of the score. There is not any compelling melody that could captivate our attention. And the pity is that the score is really full of new material… (Umbridge´s theme –one of the highlights-, the room of requirements, The Sirius Deception –one of my favourites-). But some really important moments are treated with such a subtle approach that they do not seem to be Harry Potter scenes. That is the point, some parts like the kiss scene or the final sequence of Sirius have a lack of the traditional Williamnesque grandeur. It seems that Hooper walks too carefully through them, as if he were overwhelmed. And It is a pity, because I like very much his musical ideas (in fact I really love the kiss music) but not for this movie series. As he will return with “The half blood prince”, I hope he will decide unleash his talent in the big scenes and sequences. Regarding my own version of “The Kiss” I have to highlight that it includes two major themes from Williams two firsts scores: Hedwig’s Theme and Voldemort’s Theme (which has never been developed for concert performance). You can download the mp3 HERE. You can also watch the video montage with the new score at the end of this article. Here comes a brief description about the different parts: The music starts which some soft string chords as Harry starts a chat with Cho. Strings become evocative while dark as both the death of Cedric and his relation with Cho creates mixed feelings in Harry. Soon their conversation leads to Voldemort where three notes of his theme arise played on bassoon. Here we find a little climax as the conversation turns from Cedric to Harry’s great task teaching his friends. The music underlines the heroic within this work and the flowing of Cho´s feelings to Harry. The conversation becomes more emotionally intense so the music until Cho notices that mistletoe is growing above they. A celesta underlines the magic of this with an arpeggio. There string chords prepares the final climax where they kiss. A romantic variation of Hedwig’s theme (actually Harry’s) explodes with a leading violin which is the oldest topic of the romantic music. I hope you enjoy this music. Please send me your commentaries!
