One thing I find myself doing often is searching for pieces of scores from movies. I love soundtrack music, even the music used in movie trailers (I'll get to that at the end of this post). I write to it, I listen to it for fun, I immerse myself in it to arouse a certain mood before I write, and sometimes I just soak it in and enjoy the perfection.
So I want to share some of my favorites with you today. Bits and pieces of movie scores that have moved me over the years. Maybe they'll help you write, or maybe you can just enjoy them for what they are.
1) I've loved this movie since childhood, and rediscovering the score recently made it all the better.
"The Burned Out Village"
2) THIS movie in and of itself is one of my all-time favorites, and the soundtrack is so hauntingly beautiful that sometimes I almost can't take it. (For any violinists out there, the solo violinist you'll hear is the ever-superb Hilary Hahn).
"I'm Back, Lucius"
"What Are You Asking Me"
3) I haven't actually watched The Last Samurai, but I stumbled upon this recently and kinda fell in love with it.
4) Needing inspiration for a creepy steampunk novel? Here you go. (Also, another one of my favorite movies.)
"Tick Tock"
That ending though.
5) I have yet to see The New World all the way through, but I love this piece from it. Absolutely, heartrendingly beautiful.
"All is Lost"
6) This isn't really a soundtrack, although it was created by a group that wrote cinematic-style music (and I think this piece was used for something TV-related that I haven't seen). I heard it a long time ago and recently unearthed it while I was making some plans for a fantasy novel.
"Nara"
And now...back to that thing about movie trailer music.
I love movie trailers, so much that I'll probably devote a post to the subject at some point. But for now, I just want to show you the music from three movie trailers that top my list of favorites (as far as the music goes). You'll probably get an idea for what a dramatic imagination I have, but, meh. Us writers are a dramatic lot to begin with.
1. The music from the Catching Fire trailer:
2. From In the Heart of the Sea:
3. And lastly, Everest:
Out of all of these, when I listen to the In The Heart of the Sea trailer music, it gets to me, and I have this gut feeling that I must write the story project that I associate with it. So I guess that's the bottom line of all of this is - if you supplement your writing with music like me, pick music that tells you that you have to write your story.
/ / /
Do you have a favorite type of music to set the mood for writing? If not, is there something else that feeds your writing?
Cheers,
Alicyn
I love music and writing! I used to listen to a lot of soundtrack scores on Pandora. There are so many epic songs, and I love attaching them to different stories. In fact, I have a soundtrack for each of my stories. It really helps with inspiration sometimes. Although, other times, my brain is so noisy that I really can't have music on(a lot of mine is music with lyrics)...But maybe I should try again. It might help me not drag my feet so much on this current project...
ReplyDeleteI like that first song from The Village. I have a couple on my Ipod but not that one. These three songs are amazingly beautiful to me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWurKB-dQc8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB6S3c7f8XA
Or fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd2gX8RLhkM
Thanks for sharing the songs! I'm working through listen to them slowly but surely :)
Afterthought: Do you find yourself liking an instrumental more because of the title?
Awesome! I've got playlists/soundtracks for my stories - it really helps you figure out the tone. I have both instrumentals and songs with lyrics on my playlists, but I can only write along to the instrumentals...the ones with lyrics won't let me focus.
DeleteOooh, thanks for sharing those! Fun facts: I was scrambling for my earbuds the moment I saw 'Lord of the Rings' in the description of the first one (I'm come from a crowd die-hard LOTR fans); I've been playing that song from Last of the Mohicans for a long time on my fiddle!; and I KNEW the Hans Zimmer track sounded super familiar, and it was, because I watched Madagascar all the time as a kid.
Hmm...sometimes, it depends. Titles catch my attention, and some live up to the expectations I form based on the title, and some don't. I guess it's similar to judging books by their covers ;). How about you?
That's really awesome that you can play the song from the Last of the Mohicans. I'd imagine it would be one of those soul-satisfying songs to play. Also cool that you play the fiddle. There's something about string instruments that can make songs so much more emotional than other instruments. I've been working a bit on learning the cello, but since I haven't taken lessons...I mostly suck. I was told by a friend that I 'sounded much better from a distance'.
ReplyDeleteThe titles of instrumental songs influence me a lot. I guess if it's a phrase that is kinda vague, then my imagination starts off. Like there is one instrumental from some random movie, and it's called, "I Was Not Brave", or even a title, "Her Joy Was Complete". It helps when I haven't seen the movies...I guess I just read into the titles sometimes, and subsequently I like the songs more. It's a little weird.
Since you already heard those three songs, here are two others, if you have time ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVkUEjlxq_0 (Absolutely love the build-up at the end)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmFB7nZdqqE (He's just brilliant)
I can relate to the cello thing! I'd love to play cello, but it's quite a stretch for my violin-conditioned fingers. I agree though, you can create a kind of passion out of string instruments that other instruments sometimes fall short in making.
DeleteI get it, though! When you're unfamiliar with the movie, you're free to create whatever kind of story the title behind the song eludes to.
Oooh, thanks again for sharing! (Sleeping At Last...*clutches heart, sighs dramatically*)