May 2013

Summer 2013 Film: Pre-Production Part 1/?

May 24, 2013 20:30

Today, I'm going to talk about the pre-production process that's been going on for our summer film! I gathered a group of friends who could possibly help film, act, and direct during a couple days over the summer. Pre-production has been a lot of fun, and I've actually started some music, although there isn't a whole lot I can do with it... yet.

The first step was coming up with the story for the film, which was partly my friend's idea. I wrote a script, coming up with a list of characters, a time frame, plot, etc. I had some feedback on it, so I've been working on shaping it and editing it so it's near-perfect by the first day we film, so we don't have to worry about it.

After the script was basically done, I started drafting ideas and instrumentations for various pieces. I've come up with five different pieces that will be heard throughout the movie, three character themes, two plot development themes, and a sixth piece that will basically be a medley of all of this stuff that could be played for Pops. Or something... I might have to add a sixth piece, depending on what I feel like doing later. Anyways, I also came up with instrumentation for each piece. Some pieces are lightly scored, but most of them aren't. (I'm trying not to give away anything here!) I've also noted in the film script when I want each theme to start playing, so I can work with that while writing. Obviously, since it's based on the screen, I can't actually write out a whole piece and expect it to be perfect, so what I did was I wrote various motifs (ideas for various characters or themes, for example the chase theme) and then put them into Finale. I left blanks so I can work around the theme. When we finish filming a scene late-June or early-July or whenever, I can check it out with the music after the editing is done and fit it in exactly perfectly with any additions.

So it's been a fun process, pre-production. I think I'll have to act in this film, so hopefully I'll do alright. I hope to put it on YouTube when it's done at the end of the summer (hopefully!). All I can do right now is wait. Ha, that's one of the lines in the film. I'll try to keep you updated on production throughout the summer (as well as any other cool violin/music things I do!) and hopefully you'll be able to see the finished product in all its glory come August.

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Argh... Projects

May 17, 2013 04:20

Tomorrow is Fine Arts, where we'll be playing a couple strings-only pieces from Pops with Symphonic Orchestra. We'll also be playing a few pieces with 7th graders. Sunday is the Orchestra Awards Banquet, Monday is Pops Dress Rehearsal from 2:30pm-5pm, and Tuesday is the Pops Concert! I probably mentioned a schedule like this last year. Well, it's the exact same thing. So those are my two concerts! Maybe I'll see if I have time to do a reflection Tuesday night...

For the past week, I haven't really been able to practice much because I've been trying to finish my Music Theory Vivaldi project. (I hope to practice Pops stuff for at least an hour tonight or this afternoon.) And it's finished! I'm not really sure I can upload the video to YouTube, because I think it's too long or something... We will be presenting those today, Monday, and Tuesday before the seniors leave. :( I'm so glad to be finished with that, although it's been a lot of fun to research Vivaldi and analyze his piece, "Winter".

Finally, I've also been working (on the side) on a screenplay for the summer movie. More of my friends want to help out, so it's going to be pretty interesting come mid-June/July when we get it filmed. That may go on YouTube, but I'll figure that out and discuss it when it gets closer to the film being done. I've actually, with just the script, been able to begin some scores for the film (although I'm going to finish the script first and have my friends 'heavily' edit it); I have begun to create character themes, which I plan to somehow merge various ones when they are needed in the film. I'll have to wait and see how the film plays out, because there isn't a lot you can do pre-production with music. I can at least get ideas out, and when it comes time to insert the music into the movie, I can clip stuff and mess around with it.

So yeah! That's why I haven't been able to really post much in the last few days - busy with all this work. After Pops, it's just finals, then summer! I'm busy over the summer, but hopefully it won't be too bad, I can relax with friends with a summer film, I can practice composing (and my instruments!), and I can get everything I need to done. Thanks for reading!

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AP Test: Music Theory

May 13, 2013 10:40

I had an AP Test today for Music Theory! This is the one and only test I have to take this year. Or, that I took. If you don't know, the AP test is broken into four parts: Section I, Part A, for the aural stuff (listening to music and then answering questions based on what you hear), Section I, Part B, for the written stuff (looking at scores and then answering questions based on what you see), Section II, Part A, compositional techniques (part-writing, melodic/harmonic dictation, and bass-line composition), and finally, Section II, Part B, sight-singing. I thought the test overall was a moderate difficulty. There were some simple questions, some easy, some moderate, and a few difficult ones that threw me off, but overall, it wasn't so bad. There was one question where the passage was played by a violin, which was cool. :) I'll get the results in July online, so maybe I'll post another entry then.

Now I have that out of the way! Now to finish my Vivaldi project...

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Symphony in C# Minor - Finale (With Score)

May 12, 2013 09:20

Here is my symphony! It's complete, and the condensed score took a while and gave me a headache to complete, but it's finally done! Enjoy!

Click here!

And Happy Mother's Day!

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Completed Finale!/Looking ahead to summer

May 9, 2013 03:27

I've calculated I've been writing the finale for my symphony in C# Minor for about ten hours since April 24, so it was really a short amount of time I wrote 7 minutes of music. I am going to put it on YouTube and will post a link here; however, I'm writing a condensed score that you can follow on-screen to go with first. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. I use interesting chord progressions in a couple spots, and I use my knowledge of Music Theoy to help me figure out where to go and how to get back to where I was. (When you see the score at those spots, maybe it'll make sense.)

Which reminds me... I have my AP Music Theory test on Monday! I think I'll prep for it a lot this weekend - as I've been doing in class - and hopefully finish my research paper on Vivaldi for that project.

This summer, as well, I may still be able to do a movie, only it'd be really short and not take a lot of effort to put together (the music is another story). I have five hours of U.S. History, plus volunteering, practicing my instruments, composing, hanging with friends, and doing summer reading for English. It will be a busy summer, and fall will come around before we know it!

So one more time - I will post my symphony with a score you can follow sometime within two weeks. So you can have that to look forward to! :)

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List of May Music

May 6, 2013 16:22

I was just going to practice violin and realized I hadn't posted anything this month thus far! So this entry will be about all the music I've gotten that I will be working on and playing in two concerts at the end of the month.

First is Fine Arts Festival, where we're playing with 7th graders (and I'm playing with one of my friends' sisters!), so the music is incredibly easy. We're playing Wood Splitter Fanfare, a piece inspired by someone's viola breaking at a rehearsal :(. The next piece, A Westward Journey and Jubnee, has a solo harmonica/violin duet thing at the beginning that sounds sort of Irish, and some cool fiddle techniques in there. Finally (we just got this today), we have Two Welsh Airs. That's all about that.

Our Pops concert is generally more exciting, and I remember talking a lot about it last year since that was my first one and was very excited to practice. In the order we got them, here are the pieces (and I'll throw in composers/arrangers this time just for fun):

-Selections from Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride (Danny Elfman, arr. Douglas E. Wagner)
-*Theme from "THE LOST WORLD" (John Williams, arr. John Wasson)
-Sightings (Jeremy Woolstenhulme)
-Erebus (Jeffery S. Bishop)
-*Theme from E.T. (John Williams, arr. James D. Ployhar)
-*Bounty Hunter Theme (Tommy Tallarico and Michael Richard Plowman, arr. Victor Lopez)
-*King Kong Soundtrack Highlights (James Newton Howard, arr. Ted Ricketts)

*Full orchestra
(I'm not sure about some of them, but I can just update this entry if need be.
The last one (King Kong) is only for my group and Chamber Strings, the top group. (Nobody else is playing).

So anyway, it'll be a fun and exciting night! Just YouTube some of these if you'd like to hear how they sound, and have a nice (morning/day/evening/night and go to bed if you're up at 2am reading this)!

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More entries: April 2013