Highway Chile has managed to bag us a real world challenge I'm going to make the Deadline 23:59:59 Sun 30th October 2011 - so get cracking y'all.
Listing 4039
The film director for a major motion picture called The Violent Seed, now in post production is doing things a little differently. He, with the approval of the project's regular composer, has come up with the idea to have a competition open only to the general public, to try and find a song suitable for a single scene in the film. The winner get's to have his or her composition used in the film and be paid for it. Quality is not that important. Composition quality is critical. If your song is accepted and the quality is not up to standard, it will be re-recorded at the studio the composer is using. If your playing ability is up to standard, you may perform the parts and be paid Union scale. Otherwise studio players may be used. Decent home recordings are fine as demo's. In other words, do your best, but you will be judged entirely on the composition being the best one for the scene, not studio prowess or recording quality.
Here are the scene notes.
The Violent Seed: Scene 13: Take 2. Scene was shot MOS, voice over added . There is no foley.
Scene opens in a nondescript deserted and dimly lit alleyway. It is raining softly and what light there is is reflected on the cobblestones. The time is somewhere around 3am. The neon sign at a long closed bar flickers, adding pulsating color to the greenish-yellow hue of the single sodium vapor in the alley. Our hero, Private Investigator Mike Ruger is crouching next to the body of a young girl, his eyes hidden in the shadow cast off the brim of his Borsalino fedora hat. His square jaw clenched tight, he is motionless, silent and taught.....poised like a stalking cat, as he takes in all that is in front of him.
Cue the voiceover, Mike's voice, deep, soto voce............
Cue start 01:09:01:28
She had been so beautiful......innocent, only about 19, now with no chance at a future, her delicate body, broken and mutilated, half hidden under a pile of cardboard boxes and other trash. Discarded like a piece of worthless garbage. In all my years as a gumshoe, there have been some doozies...... but this...... the unchecked brutality......insane in it's viciousness. And for what? Some sicko's fleeting moment of selfish pleasure? A drug fueled rape gone bad? A robbery that escalated. No.......this was done methodically by an out of control ego with no respect for the living, a soul lost to the most evil of intentions. I knew it had to be the work of Jimmy the Dirk's evil offspring, his worthless loose cannon of a son Draven, and his murderous crew of skinhead devil worshippers. There was only one place for me to start. I had to stakeout the gang's hideout, down in the seedy and dilapidated East End of the waterfront. A very dangerous place. But for this.....many were about to die! Thinking about my own daughter had now made this almost personal. I was going to send them all straight back to hell!
Ending fades at 01:09:37:27
Submission rules and guidelines.
1.Instrumental tracks only.
2. Original compositions only....all the way. No use of any portion of anyone else's material at all.
3. Instruments are limited to guitars and basses only. *See notes (a).
4. Duration must be less than 2:00 no exceptions. This includes any fades, intro's and/or outro's. *See notes (b).
5. Unlimited overdubbing/track count is allowed. See notes (c)
6. The film's director wants a very organic sound using only guitars. However, the allowed instruments may be used in any manner you see fit. See notes (d)
7. We understand some would like to add a bass guitar and may not have one nor have access to to one or a bass player. For the purposes of this competition, we will allow the triggering of bass guitar samples as long as the instrument triggering is a guitar. No keyboards. For example a MIDI guitar is acceptable triggering a bass guitar type sample. However, since this will be replaced by a real instrument for the actual scoring session.....it MUST be something that can be easily performed by any session player. There can also be NO other pads or layers on the sample that are not specific to that instrument. ie It must be playable. Octave pedals are also allowed to allow a regular guitar to achieve the lower octaves.
8. Lastly, since all compositions will be judged on the feeling they impart to the described scene and instrumental or recording prowess is not a huge concern, all entrants are on level ground. No consideration will be given to skill level.
*SESSION NOTES* and guidelines:
a)You may use any guitar based instrument....acoustic and electric guitars, acoustic and electric bass, lap steel, dobro, any slide guitar, Gypsy Jazz guitar, jazz archtop, Spanish nylon etc. It may be fretted or un-fretted, have 4-12 strings, use any microphone or pickup, pass through any effect device or amplifier combination and the use of capo's or objects attached or not attached to the guitar body or strings to cause the guitar body or strings to behave in a certain manner....is fully permissible. (such as an E Bow, tremelo arm, drill machine etc.) Do not be restricted in your use, of your guitar.
b)While the actual cue duration is only :36s, we will allow a maximum of 2mins duration of submitted music- to accommodate intro's and outro's, time to develop a mood and mainly for the film editor to have enough material from which to choose the best segment of your composition to use in the film.
c) You may use unlimited tracks. This is a film scoring session and not the typical live band recording, so use as many tracks as you need to create the mood or get the effect you want..... and to have the level of control you want, for the final mix.
d) You may use these instruments to provide percussive sounds and sound effects, to create rhythmic patterns and/or effects to create tension etc. You could make plectrum sounds on strings or tap on the top of an acoustic guitar to make a drum like sound....you may tweak that mercilessly, run that through a flanger or a reverb soaked delay....in other words........ using only the source instruments allowed, you are free to use your creativity in an otherwise unlimited fashion, within the guidelines.
e) While the film period and "look" has not been described, nor will it, feel free to compose with anything in mind as.....not only have we have not decided on what kind of music we will have, this movie is a mix of styles and periods Almost sci-fi comic book, fantasy but with a cohesive nod to a previous time. So think modern and heavy with a metal sound, or think film noir....dark, jazzy, possibly even light rock or even just moody ethereal pad type stuff with clean guitars and no set time signature or even key signature. Do not let the rules and restrictions of music theory or typical composition get in your way and throw out preconceived ideas. Open your mind......this is what the director is looking for. The only thing to consider is that, internally....this place Mike Ruger is at is reflective, solemn and sad, pissed off, his next move frought with danger yet maybe not because all he is doing is placing them under surveillance, he is filled with vengeance but realizes he cannot just let loose, he is usually a law abiding investigator...but he has now been pushed so close to the edge, that he does not even know if he has crossed over. Think of the scene as being wide open to interpretation.
f) What is not allowed is: any drum kits or individual drums at all, no dedicated percussion instruments at all, no orchestral samples(woodwinds, brass, strings etc), no non-guitar or bass instruments or samples, no solo vocal or choir samples, no foley effects like slamming car doors, sirens, horns beeping, foghorns, footsteps etc etc and so on and so forth.
g) Lastly, using your guitars, think sound design as being an important part of your composition. Enjoy!
Listing 4039
The film director for a major motion picture called The Violent Seed, now in post production is doing things a little differently. He, with the approval of the project's regular composer, has come up with the idea to have a competition open only to the general public, to try and find a song suitable for a single scene in the film. The winner get's to have his or her composition used in the film and be paid for it. Quality is not that important. Composition quality is critical. If your song is accepted and the quality is not up to standard, it will be re-recorded at the studio the composer is using. If your playing ability is up to standard, you may perform the parts and be paid Union scale. Otherwise studio players may be used. Decent home recordings are fine as demo's. In other words, do your best, but you will be judged entirely on the composition being the best one for the scene, not studio prowess or recording quality.
Here are the scene notes.
The Violent Seed: Scene 13: Take 2. Scene was shot MOS, voice over added . There is no foley.
Scene opens in a nondescript deserted and dimly lit alleyway. It is raining softly and what light there is is reflected on the cobblestones. The time is somewhere around 3am. The neon sign at a long closed bar flickers, adding pulsating color to the greenish-yellow hue of the single sodium vapor in the alley. Our hero, Private Investigator Mike Ruger is crouching next to the body of a young girl, his eyes hidden in the shadow cast off the brim of his Borsalino fedora hat. His square jaw clenched tight, he is motionless, silent and taught.....poised like a stalking cat, as he takes in all that is in front of him.
Cue the voiceover, Mike's voice, deep, soto voce............
Cue start 01:09:01:28
She had been so beautiful......innocent, only about 19, now with no chance at a future, her delicate body, broken and mutilated, half hidden under a pile of cardboard boxes and other trash. Discarded like a piece of worthless garbage. In all my years as a gumshoe, there have been some doozies...... but this...... the unchecked brutality......insane in it's viciousness. And for what? Some sicko's fleeting moment of selfish pleasure? A drug fueled rape gone bad? A robbery that escalated. No.......this was done methodically by an out of control ego with no respect for the living, a soul lost to the most evil of intentions. I knew it had to be the work of Jimmy the Dirk's evil offspring, his worthless loose cannon of a son Draven, and his murderous crew of skinhead devil worshippers. There was only one place for me to start. I had to stakeout the gang's hideout, down in the seedy and dilapidated East End of the waterfront. A very dangerous place. But for this.....many were about to die! Thinking about my own daughter had now made this almost personal. I was going to send them all straight back to hell!
Ending fades at 01:09:37:27
Submission rules and guidelines.
1.Instrumental tracks only.
2. Original compositions only....all the way. No use of any portion of anyone else's material at all.
3. Instruments are limited to guitars and basses only. *See notes (a).
4. Duration must be less than 2:00 no exceptions. This includes any fades, intro's and/or outro's. *See notes (b).
5. Unlimited overdubbing/track count is allowed. See notes (c)
6. The film's director wants a very organic sound using only guitars. However, the allowed instruments may be used in any manner you see fit. See notes (d)
7. We understand some would like to add a bass guitar and may not have one nor have access to to one or a bass player. For the purposes of this competition, we will allow the triggering of bass guitar samples as long as the instrument triggering is a guitar. No keyboards. For example a MIDI guitar is acceptable triggering a bass guitar type sample. However, since this will be replaced by a real instrument for the actual scoring session.....it MUST be something that can be easily performed by any session player. There can also be NO other pads or layers on the sample that are not specific to that instrument. ie It must be playable. Octave pedals are also allowed to allow a regular guitar to achieve the lower octaves.
8. Lastly, since all compositions will be judged on the feeling they impart to the described scene and instrumental or recording prowess is not a huge concern, all entrants are on level ground. No consideration will be given to skill level.
*SESSION NOTES* and guidelines:
a)You may use any guitar based instrument....acoustic and electric guitars, acoustic and electric bass, lap steel, dobro, any slide guitar, Gypsy Jazz guitar, jazz archtop, Spanish nylon etc. It may be fretted or un-fretted, have 4-12 strings, use any microphone or pickup, pass through any effect device or amplifier combination and the use of capo's or objects attached or not attached to the guitar body or strings to cause the guitar body or strings to behave in a certain manner....is fully permissible. (such as an E Bow, tremelo arm, drill machine etc.) Do not be restricted in your use, of your guitar.
b)While the actual cue duration is only :36s, we will allow a maximum of 2mins duration of submitted music- to accommodate intro's and outro's, time to develop a mood and mainly for the film editor to have enough material from which to choose the best segment of your composition to use in the film.
c) You may use unlimited tracks. This is a film scoring session and not the typical live band recording, so use as many tracks as you need to create the mood or get the effect you want..... and to have the level of control you want, for the final mix.
d) You may use these instruments to provide percussive sounds and sound effects, to create rhythmic patterns and/or effects to create tension etc. You could make plectrum sounds on strings or tap on the top of an acoustic guitar to make a drum like sound....you may tweak that mercilessly, run that through a flanger or a reverb soaked delay....in other words........ using only the source instruments allowed, you are free to use your creativity in an otherwise unlimited fashion, within the guidelines.
e) While the film period and "look" has not been described, nor will it, feel free to compose with anything in mind as.....not only have we have not decided on what kind of music we will have, this movie is a mix of styles and periods Almost sci-fi comic book, fantasy but with a cohesive nod to a previous time. So think modern and heavy with a metal sound, or think film noir....dark, jazzy, possibly even light rock or even just moody ethereal pad type stuff with clean guitars and no set time signature or even key signature. Do not let the rules and restrictions of music theory or typical composition get in your way and throw out preconceived ideas. Open your mind......this is what the director is looking for. The only thing to consider is that, internally....this place Mike Ruger is at is reflective, solemn and sad, pissed off, his next move frought with danger yet maybe not because all he is doing is placing them under surveillance, he is filled with vengeance but realizes he cannot just let loose, he is usually a law abiding investigator...but he has now been pushed so close to the edge, that he does not even know if he has crossed over. Think of the scene as being wide open to interpretation.
f) What is not allowed is: any drum kits or individual drums at all, no dedicated percussion instruments at all, no orchestral samples(woodwinds, brass, strings etc), no non-guitar or bass instruments or samples, no solo vocal or choir samples, no foley effects like slamming car doors, sirens, horns beeping, foghorns, footsteps etc etc and so on and so forth.
g) Lastly, using your guitars, think sound design as being an important part of your composition. Enjoy!
