Films to watch out for 2021

Nicolas Cage in PIG

Nicolas Cage and a pig…what more do you want?
Nicolas Cage ‘losing it’ big time over his missing pig? Yep.
A whole load of ‘all that is good is ruined by greed and the masses’.Yep…and ‘pay back’ time. Yep Yep Yep.
I’ve always been a big fan of Nicolas Cage – especially when he gets into odd-ball territory where we can really see his acting chops (Leaving Las Vegas, Birdy, Wild at Heart). There is still no one like him.

Dune

Directors who can do no wrong and have the power to make magic – Denis Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan.
The first Denis Villeneuve film I watched was Incendies. Incredible. At one point in the film it throws you out of a 5th floor window followed by a a ton of bricks and leaves you with a panic attack. Then he made Prisoners, then Enemy, then Sicario, then Arrival, then Blade Runner – probably the best sequel ever? What more can I say. I’m not really interested in ‘Dune’ but I’ll see it because of him.

The Goat

Sometimes you come across a film where you just keep saying ‘WT-A-F’ while watching the trailer.
The Lamb is that film, from A24, filmed in Iceland.
I’m not sure if it’s a comedy or a horror. I know goats can be kind’a spooky but I never thought about a lamb in that way.
You’ve got to watch it.

The Green Knight

Another A24 film and directed by David Lowery.
As an intro go and watch A Ghost Story (2017) also directed by Lowery.
A Green Knight stars Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander and Sean Harris amongst others and is a ‘re-telling of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’.
Dev Patel should have had a few Oscars under his belt by now and just keeps getting better.
Put all these ingredients together and, just by the look of the trailer, you’re in for an amazing deep cinema experience.

Brahms and Monsieur Hire

If you’re into French cinema, especially the 80’s/90’s, then Monsieur Hire has got to be on your list of films to watch – with Three Colours, Betty Blue, Hairdresser’s Husband etc.
It shows how great cinema can be when focused on one simple idea, be it a character study, the outcast or obsession.

The haunting melody from a Brahms piano quartet perfectly reflects the film’s themes. I wonder how this short simple tune, buried in the middle of a quartet, like a flip from one radio station to another, ever came to be on the radar for a film soundtrack. I would love to know who’s idea it was. The script writer may have listened to it ‘on loop’? The director might have been a Brahms fan and was forever looking for a moment to shine the light on it?

Luckily this small nugget of Brahms magic translates to the piano perfectly. In the first version you can get a taste of the interweaving counter melodies that a quartet allows. With the simpler version the melody is more than enough to savour.

I hope it eventually haunts your dreams you as much as it should.

Sheet music can be found here

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Gabriel’s Oboe

If Ennio Morricone was born to produce a soundtrack, other than Cinema Paradiso (and a few more), it was ‘The Mission’ starring Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons and Liam Neeson.

Released in 1986 it tells the story of an 18th Century Jesuit Priest who travels into the depths of the Amazon rainforest to build a mission and convert the local inhabitants.

If one was going to go into the jungle and try and win over a lost tribe you couldn’t do better than start playing ‘Gabriel’s Oboe’. I often wonder how many people started playing the oboe after hearing is as well!

The film is definitely worth a revisit, especially with a new HD/Blu-Ray version available.

So here is a version for piano solo rated at around (UK) Grade 1 or 2 level with a single repeat.

Hope you enjoy!

A simplified version in MIDI file format for Synthesis or similar app will be put on my Patreon.

Stealing Home

If you’re into your 80’s teen classics ‘Stealing Home‘ is one for you to checkout or revisit. I’d give it a 7/10 on the ‘test of time’ scale.

It’s one big sentimental nostalgic pancake. Americana, baseball, golden summers at Jersey Shore. Jodie Foster is great in her usual awkward and tormented way, while Mark Harmon breezes his way through.

Like many 80’s (teen/mid life crisis) dramas you won’t be spending much time discussing the plot. But you’ll love the music. And you’ll have another reason to check out Bob’s diner on the outskirts of Philadelphia and other locations around Jersey Shore.

The ‘Stealing Home’ theme has been on my piano ‘list’ ever since I first saw it. Composed by David Foster, it’s a highlight of 80’s soundtracks…’that’ piano sound and an essential 80’s sax solo and hits the sentimental mark perfectly. Other soundtracks of his include St. Elmo’s Fire and The Secret of My Success.

The sheet music includes the original and easy key versions. The easy key version slightly simplifies the melody’s off-beat, syncopated rhythm and slows the left hand accompaniment. Play it at a really slow tempo, say 60 bpm then speed up if you feel like it. For those using Synthesia the midi file will be up on my Patreon page in the next week.

Hope you enjoy!

Your Kind Support

Here is hopefully the future working plan of this blog, YouTube channel and sheet music creations.

The goal is to be able to work on these projects full time within a year so every little bit of support helps so much!

I would be very grateful if you would consider supporting this by subscribing to the YouTube channel and, if you have and spare change, support via one of the two sites below.

Buy Me A Coffee
Patreon

In return I will be…
…continuing to help you expand your repertoire
…gradually be adding MIDI files of the music I have arranged, and adding it to the Patreon site.
…adding audio files of non-copyright music I have arranged or composed. This includes backing tracks and piano accompaniments.
…keeping on arranging music that time has forgot.

If you just feel like buying me a coffee to fuel further posts, coffee art and compositions please do – Buy Me A Coffee.

The YouTube channel is slowly growing but it is a little bit niche – often long forgotten film score tracks mixed with chart hits from yesterday.

My aim was to help bring a wide variety of music to your attention that you may never have thought about playing or getting hold of, and arranging these for various ability levels – tracks like Under Your Spell or Building the Barn.

Thanks again.

Roland D-05

A whole load of Christmas has come early this year. Not just new Panasonic and Sony cameras.

Probably the most exciting music tech news since the ’80s is the release of the Roland D-05 as part of Roland’s Boutique series.

The D-50 holds a more than a special place in my heart as the first synthesizer I owned. After years of obsessive scanning of Top of the Pops for glimpses of Yamaha DX7s and imagining ‘they really made all those sounds’, I walked into a now long-gone keyboard store in Brighton with the sole intention to pick one up, only to be ushered straight to the D-50 perched on the wall. The additions of a Roland D-110, Roland R-8m and an Atari ST running Steinberg Pro24 etc. etc. followed soon after.

The D-50 blew my mind. The sound was incredible. By all reports it complimented the Yamaha DX7 when mixed together. Despite the digital user interface I studied the manual, learnt Japanese and synthesis, and attempted to edit and program new sounds. Later on it was permanently plugged into the back of an Ensoniq ASR10 through its gorgeous effects stuck on a delay/chorus/reverb patch. I edited the preset 51 Glass Voices (already one of the best filmic pad sounds ever) –  I have not come across a better pad sound since. When I say ‘pad sound’ I guess I mean an epic expressive digital orchestral string vocal sound that you’d hold and drift off into space. Another melancholy pad sound I programmed was named after an old flame. Laugh if you want.

One of the biggest regrets I have is selling my D-50…to provide funds for a camera. Someone should have slapped me. It was the finest of instruments, one of the best keyboard actions I’ve played. It had happily molded the sounds of my imagination and become part of me.

Now and then I glance through eBay in the hope I might find it back up for sale in it’s silky lined transport case and…say a prayer…with all my original presets still on board.

One could go for Roland’s software D-50 audio unit only available on their Roland Cloud. A massive shame for those who are not up for paying another monthly sub for a load of things they don’t have time to fully appreciate beyond the presets. Logic X can cause pangs of synth AU neglect guilt.  How many times have you heard a music producer saying learn one instrument inside out and make it yours.

Here’s a great info & D-50/D-05 comparison video.

Bunny and Clive LA Shorts screening

Bunny and Clive will be screening as part of the LA shorts Festival on Wednesday, August 9th at 9.55pm. Amazing to see it on the big screen again.

 

Script writing wood

Remember the Amstrad PC types back in the 80’s? – black screen and green type marketed as a dedicated word processor. That’s all it seemed to do out the box. Then we all got laptops that could do a whole lot more than writing…

Writing is a funny business. A little like composing music one has to be a little bit bonkers and prone to day dreaming. It’s also great if you don’t have an occasional rambling, meandering imagination. So here are a few jumbled thoughts on scriptwriting apps…

Over the years I’ve used various script writing apps. Celtx was probably the first. It’s still free for their basic screenwriting app, which is amazing. It has a (side pane) scene navigator which allows you to drag scenes into different orders etc. and an index board option, reports, production schedule etc. etc. You can do the monthly sub and get a whole load of other (online) features.

At about the same time I was using an early version of Final Draft, but I preferred Celtx. I won’t say much about Final Draft as I haven’t owned it for years. It’s supposed to be the industry standard and, like Celtx, has online production collaboration, revision tracking etc. and costs $250 at present.

This might be a good time to say I’m not too bothered about the production side of things.

Then I got Scrivener. If the writing process is akin to a painter throwing paint at the canvas, adding layers, making order from chaos etc. then this is the nearest thing we have without living in a paper room. It’s a writer’s canvas and it’s about $45. I’d buy it again. There’s also an iOS version available.

Now I also use Slugline. It uses Fountain. This allows you to write in simple text using any text editor app on your laptop/ipad/email etc. then copy and paste it back in or just open the text file and the app will sort out the formatting. Slugline keeps things simple so you just sit down and write. Just write. No point meddling with the preferences. You can even get the desktop background used in the promotional pics. I’ve been using it a lot recently. Add Coffitivity, music and away you go.

Highland is another app that uses Fountain as well. Unfortunately there isn’t a demo to try. One difference with Slugline is that it has a dark mode which I love (Amstrad). Hopefully Slugline will have this option very soon.

I’ll always be trying other screenwriting apps out. Some suit different moods or frames of mind. Some are better for the research, the ideas, the mess or the spontaneous outpour of words and story. Each is a change of scenery. Now and then I’ll use a piece of paper. A few other ideas…Simplemind, Contour, 30/30.

2016 London Film Festival screening

Bunny and Clive was screened at the BFI SouthBank as part of the London Film Festival on 13th October 2016 and again on 14th October, at the Hackney PictureHouse. The LFF is an incredible festival with an awesome selection of films and events. Definitely worth a few or more days off to attend…Free Fire, Lion, Arrival, Manchester by the Sea, Nocturnal Animals…the first few pages of the 114-page festival guide.

It was great to see it play to a packed NFT1 – their biggest screen (with the volume turned right up) – in front of fellow film makers, members of our cast and crew, contributors to the KickStarter campaign and festival goers.

Just to say it again – the film looked amazing and the audience reaction was brilliant. It’s a great experience to watch the film with so many people.

Bunny and Clive teaser and behind the scenes

Bunny and Clive website can be found here