You have no idea how hard I've thought about starting something like this. Thank you Megagill!

I totally agree with Dyland that the entries should be judged like the Animation Challenge. Winner sets the theme, then picks the next winner, etc...
I also agree that tracks should be limited in their time. Any realistic film scoring event will only have around 11 minutes (At most). But for our purposes about 5 minutes should be the norm.

I wonder if we might get Animators to donate short scenes for us to score? This is, perhaps, a bad idea, but I'm throwing it out there.

I am definitely interested in something like this, but we would need at least four people... hopefully more.

I agree with all of the above, but what I suggest we do is compose to the well known blockbuster's. That way we can show that we can compose for difderent genres of film and bring out more emotion that you can't really do with lego figures.

Another option to begin with would be to compose for a style of film without the picture. This would help us improve our music and creation of atmosphere, without the stress of spotting or hit points.

Another good option is to compose to cartoons, animations or pixar films as the transitions between emotions is so quick that you'd have to be very skilled to capture all of the moods. This would be a get starting and learning point.

Regarding the judging, I suggest we vote on who's music would fit the film the best based on some set criteria.

Any thoughts?

The problem with judging a film score is that music is, at it's core, a subjective/emotional experience.

While this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va8NR3JkV3M
and this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NMKOa4KY9I

...both capture the emotions of their (very similar) scenes incredibly well, which one you might pick as a favorite, is completely based on your personal preference. That said, as long as everyone knows that this contest is really just about having fun and not about winning, the "host picks topic... host picks winner" option should be fine.

As to Dyland's dislike of Marvel... I think we could still make blockbuster scenes work. As composers, we have to write to scenes that we've never seen before, based solely on implied/directed emotion. As long as a YouTube link to the specific film clip is provided, I think this is still a viable option. As are the Pixar scenes, or cartoons.

Our biggest challenge remains finding enough consistent entrants. I know that a full time University schedule will probably prevent me from participating on occasion.

I am excited too participate, this will be a great challenge for me because I definitely need to get better at making movie scores!

Perfect! I assume you'll start as the first host, megagill74, since you were kind enough to start this challenge in the first place.

Two contests at the same time? I'd prefer just a weekly one, but, sure, for the first "round," a weekly and monthly contest can do. I'd love to see how this works out.

Just to clarify: These mean that the winner (and, thus, next host) chooses the next topic scene/clip, and not the previous host, right? Some clarification would be nice there.

Overall, I'm excited! Can't wait to see what the next theme will be. (I suggest you start a new topic for that, megagill, just so this "discussion page" doesn't sit at the top for newcomers of the contest to see)

Last edited by Dyland (September 27, 2015 (02:05pm))