All tagged film sound

Visiting Sony Pictures

Visiting Sony Pictures

Michael W. Bell
Talking Film, Talking Music, Music Production, Talking Technology

I recently took a trip to Los Angeles and had the opportunity to visit the Sony Pictures lot with my buddy in Culver City and wanted to share some of pictures I managed to take (we were prohibited from taking too many) and highlights from my time there.

I had initially gotten a little frustrated with myself as I was a little unprepared and after knocking on many of the studio doors (including Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions) and being told I needed an appointment, I came to realise I really should have reached out to these guys before I left for L.A. - I guess the excitement of finally visiting the United States and particularly California was a little overwhelming for me which lead me to be slightly unorganised about the whole thing; you can imagine my excitement when I was told yes I could visit Sony, and yes, I could take a look at the scoring stage as it was not being used that morning...

Francis: A Look Back In Time At My Very First Film Score

Francis: A Look Back In Time At My Very First Film Score

Michael W. Bell
Music Production, Video Blogs, , Talking Technology

How much should you give away? How much do you expose yourself? Should you open yourself up for criticism? Should you hide your art away?

Music, and any art come to think of it, is an incredibly personal thing. There is a reason people won’t show you that paining they have been working on for the past two months, why that poem just never seems finished, and why film composers can be late on their deadlines ;).

It’s all about exposure! It’s fairly human to talk your way around things, get yourself out of sticky situations, and let’s be fair, talk utter bullshit at times; but when you play a piece of music to someone, or unveil you latest painting, suddenly you are naked, open to criticism and in many cases, at your most vulnerable as both an artist and as a person.

I’ve listened to loads of music from various fellow composers  and what I find interesting (although never comment), is just how much that specific piece, written at that specific time is actually saying about the person, it’s very personal…

Hans Zimmer Revealed

Hans Zimmer Revealed

Michael W. Bell
Music Performance, Talking Music, Gigs/Concerts

I had heard Zimmer comment in an interview around the time of Chris Nolan’s Inception in 2010 that he had been contemplating taking some time off from movie scoring to take his music around the world with a bunch of his friends and an orchestra.

I had been intrigued by this but after another seeing one move after another being added to his IMDb page, including another Pirates of the Caribbean, Sherlock 2, The Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel, 12 Years A Slave and Rush to name a few, it seemed this was going to be unlikely.

This is not to say that I wanted to stop hearing Zimmer’s scores in new movies, far from it, I just wanted to see some of his scores performed live and knew I would be interested to study the stage placement and arrangement of the band, not to mention it would simply be an amazing event should it ever actually take place. 

Then I noticed that with the exception of Interstellar (Nolan’s upcoming 2014 feature, and one I’m really looking forward to), his schedule looked fairly light in comparison to the previous years. This was followed by one boring weekday afternoon sitting at my day job bored out of my mind and daydreaming about film as usual, I received an email from one of the many live event websites of which I am partied and they happened to be advertising an event called Hans Zimmer Revealed. I instantly looked into it and excitedly bought the best and most expensive seats I could afford at the time, the gig was finally actually going to happen…

The Gravity Effect

The Gravity Effect

Michael W. Bell
Talking Music, Talking Film

So I went down to the IMAX last week to check out Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity. Like most films, before even getting into the movie theatre I suspected that I may spoilt the film for myself! I always spend far too much time reading about the post-production process and the production of the soundtrack that I usually know far too much about the film. I sometimes feel I should ban myself from the internet for a few weeks before a movie release but I digress.

“The 90-minute picture — unusually short in today’s world — is cited as having just 156 shots in total, with several that are six, eight and ten minutes long”
- Arri Media

What can I say? I thought Gravity was nothing short of awesome! Emmanuel Lubezki’s shots and his editorial team have in my opinion utilised every possible frame of the 70mm IMAX film stock to deliver some truly mesmerising visuals. From the very beginning we have an opening continual 17-minute shot where the camera maneuvers around the characters in space and none of the videos and interviews I had seen with Gravity’s re-recording mixer Skip Lievsay or composer Steven price could prepare me for what the film had in store sonically…

The Sound & Music of The Dark Knight Rises

The Sound & Music of The Dark Knight Rises

Michael W. Bell
Talking Film

Legendary sound designer Richard King and the prolific Hans Zimmer feature once again on The Soundworks Collection, this time discussing the sonic experience of The Dark Knight Rises. I have heard mixed reviews about the film with people saying they preferred the second, personally I loved it and I can still remember the sonic combination is King and Zimmer thundering through the cinema. Watching this has just made me want to see the film again. For those of you who struggled with hearing Tom Hardy's Bane performance, I would recommend visiting an IMAX cinema as I think you will be surprised at the difference in clarity with regards to the dialogue in this film.