Am I the only one who loves film music but really doesn’t like these experiences? I want to go to a concert and hear the music, not a highly produced click-track-balanced-fed-Through-speakers production.
Beggars can’t be choosers and I realize that these concerts help orchestras (not that they are grateful), but I fear it doesn’t do much for elevating the profile of film music and composers.
Never really had any desire to go to one. So, no, you're not the only one.
Do these concerts include those with music only and subtitles on.the screen AND The complete score plus the origiba9 dialog and sfx?
The audio that is output through the speakers at the concert hall is just the dialogue and sound effects.
There are subtitles displayed on the bottom of the screen, because the hall may have echoes that make the spoken lines hard to hear or when the orchestra plays the music that's so loud that the sound of the instrumentals drowns-out the audio dialogue.
In the USA, the audio-dialogue is English. Most of the countries that put-on these concerts will have the English film-audio, but the subtitles will be in the language that is predominantly spoken in each country.
However there are exceptions. One person wrote a review of a Star Wars Live-to-Picture concert where it had the German audio with German subtitles.
Do they use prerecorded tape for the synth stuff? Or is it rearranged for orchestral instrumentation?
When I went to see the live-to-film concert of CASINO ROYALE (2006) last year in Virginia (which is the only place that has played in the USA so far), the audio of the synth-percussion played during the airport sequence was stored on a digital keyboard and the musician on stage just had to activate that audio at the right time.
So, if there’s going to be any synth parts in SKYFALL (the world premiere will be in England’s Royal Albert Hall this October), that’s how it’s going to be done.
However, for the start of CASINO ROYALE’s foot-chase sequence in Madagascar, the ethic-heavy percussion from the film-sound mix was gone and it was replaced by a tambourine as the rhythm section.
I've been to a few, 'Planet Of the Apes', Casino Royale and Howard Shore's Naked Lunch. Am going to Skyfall in October. I'm not too keen to be honest. Dialogue is low in the mix, I prefer a proper film music concert.
I tend to agree with those who feel that the Live-to-Film experience is less than optimal for both an appreciation of the music as well as for the film itself. It's like both are compromised in the process. I've been to several of these and I do enjoy them from the standpoint of feeling like I'm at a scoring session. But I doubt the general audience is getting that same effect.
Do they use prerecorded tape for the synth stuff? Or is it rearranged for orchestral instrumentation?
As I mentioned earlier, sometimes the synth parts are kept on a digital keyboard and the musician activites it on stage…
…and sometimes the synth parts are eliminated entirely, like on the live-to-film concert for GLADIATOR (2000)…
….the one scored by Hans Zimmer.
Here is an excerpt of that concert. Notice that this music is performed by acoustical instruments
where as in the film’s sound mix the music was electronic. At the 2:30 mark on this video, the acoustic orchestra switches to electronic.
In the concert part, there's more power and boldness by the live orchestra playing the Holst-inspired music cue. I would pay to see that live on stage, and I'm more of a Williams-Goldsmith-Horner fan.
Have you ever imagined what would it be like to listen to your favorite music cue of a score live on stage?
That’s why I go to these concerts.
On a scoring session recording, you hear certain instruments predominately in areas of the score because the composer wants that to happened, thanks to the engineers.
On a concert stage, it doesn’t go that way. One instrument’s sound pressure may be louder than the others when playing together and that louder instrument will get to be heard predominately. So, that instrument you like that was playing that melody in your favorite cue may get lost by the other instruments. However, there might be this layer of an instrument in that cue that was obscured in the recording and you wanted to know what that melody is and you’re not schooled in music reading to find that out so you go to the concert for that. It would be fun to go to these concerts of your favorite scores and listen to a layer in the orchestrations that you may not be aware of.
When I go to catch SUPERMAN at the concert hall, there’s a portion in the cue, The Flying Sequence, (2:47 through 3:07 in this video)…
…that has this string passage behind the cello playing the love theme melody, winds, chimes, and horns. I know that the string orchestra is playing a rhythm melody but wanted to know what those notes are but with all those other instruments, it wasn’t possible. Since the string players are in the front of the orchestra on stage, maybe I’ll know.
Sadly, the film itself broke down at one point and one had to feel for the conductor as he stood there, not knowing what was going on or how long it would be before the fault could be rectified and the picture could be restored. After several minutes he was supplied with a microphone to address the audience, but still without any concrete info as to if and when he could resume. At this point things were almost reduced to farce, with audience members whistling The Great Escape theme, shouting out that a rendition of the Main Title would be appropriate and even one suggesting that the orchestra should play "God Save the Queen"!
My dream of a technical-malfunction in these Live-to-Film concerts is when the mixing board can’t send the audio of the film’s dialogue and sound effects to the speakers, but the projection works. So, in the ‘show-must-go-on’ sprit, the concert resumes with the film playing with English subtitles and no sound except for the orchestra playing the film’s score. This way, the audience gets a chance to let the music tell the film’s story like they have never experienced before.
I’ve been to many of film-with-live-orchestra concerts and I haven’t experience any technical glitches…darn-it.
In each of these videos, notice that there's no screen above the stage but the film was being played on a small monitor positioned just above the conductor's music stand and that version of the film has the graphic sync patterns over it--the streamer and punch--that helps the conductor have the orchestra's playing match the footage in the film.
I've contacted each of the orchestra's operation staff members and they have confirmed that there was no film sound--the dialogue and sound effects--coming out each of the auditorium's speakers.
Now, some orchestras offer open rehearsals--events where the public can come into the hall and watch the orchestra rehearse pieces of music for a concert. I wonder if these open rehearsals includes the Live-to-Film concerts. Hearing the entire score of Star Wars: A New Hope, live on stage without the film and its sound would be awesome. even if each cue is interrupted by the conductor to give special instructions to the musicians on how to handle a music cue.
This rehearsal, the dress rehearsal, does have the film projected, you'll notice that there's no film sound. A die-hard Star Wars fan will also notice that the orchestra's performance of the music is not well-sync'd to the film.
I've seen two over the years in Sydney with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra: 1. Gladiator (with Lisa Gerard on vocals and hammered dulcimer) at the Sydney Opera house 2. Star Wars - A New Hope at the ICC, a venue that seats up to 8000.
Gladiator was awesome because although it was miked up, you were still experiencing the acoustic sound to a degree. The last 10 minutes were to die for (groan... pun intended lol). Star Wars was a lot of fun, but I did not enjoy it as much because of the size of the venue - you were not really hearing anything acoustically (i.e. not through the speaker system in a venue so large).
In the late 80s i saw Philip Glass's ensemble, conducted by Michael Riesman, performing Koyaanisqatsi at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in St. Louis. First time I saw Glass live and first time seeing the film. Amazing experience. At one point during the show the film stopped--when the problem was fixed and the film re-started, Riesman somehow managed to pick up where they left off.
Filmusicisnow, said The San Francisco Symphony did a live to film concert of "On The Waterfront" to Leonard Bernstein's score two years ago.
The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra has done more ‘Live-to-Film’ concerts than any orchestra in the USA. They have done 6 out of the 7 John Williams ‘Live-to-Film’ concerts from the roster of the production company, FILM CONCERTS LIVE, plus 3 out of the 5 Star Wars Film-Concert Series. They have even done some John Williams music-only concerts—one in 2013 with the composer conducting and Steven Spielberg as the MC, and another in 2017.
Meanwhile, between the months of November 2018 and December 2019, FILM CONCERTS LIVE has added these last 4 film-concerts to their roster:
This past month, The San Francisco Symphony has announced their schedule for the 20/21 season. In their 'film with live orchestra' series (https://www.sfsymphony.org/Discover-the-Music/festival-pages/Films) they have selected 3 out of those last 4 film-concerts from FILM CONCERTS LIVE’s roster. You would not believe which one of the 4 didn't make the orchestra's cut.
