 |
        |
 Back To The Final Jerkoff Index PAGE 2 Palette The music of Viral Video was decidedly written within a spectrum of "Art Film Music" to "Late 90s Videogame Music", and roughly followed a linear progression from the former to the latter throughout the movie. So, I decided not to have a set spectrum this time around, nor a larger narrative for the soundtrack itself, but rather a relatively large palette that I could arrange how I saw fit for each cue. The idea was just, "whatever would make this scene the most awesome, do." The key instrument in Viral Video was the piano, so I decided to make piano off limits for the entire score, except when in a flashback to the making of Viral Video. The orchestra library I had while making Viral Video played well into the aesthetic of the late 90s videogame music, but wasn't cutting it for actual traditional scoring, so I spent a considerable amount of money and bought some new sample libraries (along with a small wireless midi keyboard and a new audio interface.) In addition to the symphony and choir, I made a few conscious instrumentation choices for the palette. I imagined the Stalker Boy character as a combination of two elements: A devoted Shenmue fan, and a terrorist. These would be represented by a handful of east asian instruments, and middle eastern instruments, respectively. The most prominent Middle Eastern instrument featured is the Santur (a member of the hammered box zither family, in company with the Cimbalom and Hammered Dulcimer.) It is originally of Persian origin and seemed fitting as the main terrorist-inspired instrument. (It also didn't hurt that the real Ghawam Sadri, of Stalker Boy fame, is Iranian also.) The instrument is featured playing the counterpoint to the melodies in nearly every Stalker Boy scene, and is the first instrument (after the bass drum), playing the "Gang Motif". Another of the terrorist instruments heard is the Turkish Yayli Tambur being plucked instead of bowed, heard prominently during the scenes where they return to Stalker Boy and in the editing room scene. The most prominent Eastern instrument is the Shamisen, a three stringed Japanese guitar, arranged in a harmonically unconventional and impractical way, which mostly plays the standard melodies in the Stalker Boy scenes, depending on Stalker Boy's mood. Even softer is the Koto, a Japanese zither, which shows up in the most Eastern moments. Throughout the score, a Gamelan is used as well, which are a collection of hammered bells played by an ensemble of people. In addition to the Stalker Boy scenes, I wanted to use Highland Pipes to represent "the old, good times" of the Gang, and Irish Whistle in the emotionally nostalgic and soft times. The rest was really just up in the air and would be decided while scoring the actual scenes themselves. |