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Hans Zimmer's DUNE

It's not an attack either, whether you're able to do it or not, you either found a cool new way of combining music to image, or you learned something about just how specific music has to be to 'fit'. You win either way.
 
ogrim1 said:
Was the score written to fit finished and edited 'video' or it was just added after as outside of sound design which is fantastic, composition and arrangement is quite generic and it would fit anything "BIG"?
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No idea, but I'm willing to bet everything I own it wasn't the latter.
 
Spoilers:
After some more watching, I've come to feel a little differently about why so many point out the bagpipes as a negative to the score.
A key moment where bagpipes come in is the Harkonen attack at the halfway mark. Looking purely at what's on screen and the narrative behind it, we're seeing a check-mate move against our protagonists, and at first the omminous atmosphere supports it. But then as the infantry lands, that's when the bagpipes come in, and they do so triumphantly. But that does not mesh at all with what's narratively happening. It's still a strategic tragedy unfolding. They are decidedly NOT winning the day here. So it's perhaps less the sound of the bagpipes that is jarring, but more the triumphant way they've been made to sound.
 
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Tice said:
Spoilers:
After some more watching, I've come to feel a little differently about why so many point out the bagpipes as a negative to the score.
A key moment where bagpipes come in is the Harkonen attack at the halfway mark. Looking purely at what's on screen and the narrative behind it, we're seeing a check-mate move against our protagonists, and at first the omminous atmosphere supports it. But then as the infantry lands, that's when the bagpipes come in, and they do so triumphantly. But that does not mesh at all with what's narratively happening. It's still a strategic tragedy unfolding. They are decidedly NOT winning the day here. So it's perhaps less the sound of the bagpipes that is jarring is, but more the triumphant way they've been made to sound.
Click to expand...

No, bagpipes just sound obnoxious and annoying, I’ve never heard bagpipes in any context where I liked them lol
 
KEM said:
No, bagpipes just sound obnoxious and annoying, I’ve never heard bagpipes in any context where I liked them lol
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I do a fair amount of medieval festivals (as a percussionist), so I get to hear a lot of bagpipe in that context. It can get very diverse. There's probably more you can do with a bagpipe than you might think.
 
There are spoiler tags, @Tice
like this

We can even do inline spoilers :)

...but perhaps more pertinently, bagpipes were classified as a weapon of war until 1996, regardless of victory or not.
 
Tice said:
Spoilers:
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Not really. The music is pretty dark until we see Gurney Halleck leading the charge to fight back. As he leads the charge we get a short heroic and patriotic part with the bagpipes. That counterattack is a small victory, but it quickly changes key and mood entirely back as you realise it was futile. The music is just adapting to the nuances of the scene. Do you think warriors go into battle with the mindset they are going to lose before they start?
 
Let's see if I can get the hang of that spoiler tag...
Ah, I'll do it this way next time! But anyway, as pointed out, it IS traditional to use bagpipes during a battle, but while previously in the movie, the bagpipes were present during the scene (so they used them diegetically), this time it wasn't diegetic. That makes a difference. I also agree that they can indeed be used to show the heroicness of the counter-charge. However, I also feel that since the prior audio-visual representation was very strongly in contrast to it, and the viewer probably understands the hopelessness and tragedy of the situation, even if the soldiers themselves don't, the shift in vibe feels too strong to me. I imagine that to my subjective experience, a slightly more dissonant orchestration at that moment might have been more in line with what I felt was emotionally happening to the Atreides in that scene.
 
Come to think of it, just as a spur of the moment idea...
If you use the bagpipes in a sampled and electronically modified way anyway, you could have them shift chord (which they can't do irl), and make a version of the 'Herald of the Change' chord pattern here, as indeed it is a moment of pivotal change, just not a happy one...
 
Tice said:
I do a fair amount of medieval festivals (as a percussionist), so I get to hear a lot of bagpipe in that context. It can get very diverse. There's probably more you can do with a bagpipe than you might think.
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I’m interested to hear them!! I’m sure you could do some very cool stuff with them in a sound design context
 
KEM said:
I’m interested to hear them!! I’m sure you could do some very cool stuff with them in a sound design context
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Yeah, if sound design is an option, you could really do anything you can think of. But once festivals start happening again, I should really do some sampling.
 
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Tice said:
Let's see if I can get the hang of that spoiler tag...
Ah, I'll do it this way next time! But anyway, as pointed out, it IS traditional to use bagpipes during a battle, but while previously in the movie, the bagpipes were present during the scene (so they used them diegetically), this time it wasn't diegetic. That makes a difference. I also agree that they can indeed be used to show the heroicness of the counter-charge. However, I also feel that since the prior audio-visual representation was very strongly in contrast to it, and the viewer probably understands the hopelessness and tragedy of the situation, even if the soldiers themselves don't, the shift in vibe feels too strong to me. I imagine that to my subjective experience, a slightly more dissonant orchestration at that moment might have been more in line with what I felt was emotionally happening to the Atreides in that scene.
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Well, when used diegetically it was a solo bagpipe, and in armada its a whole ensemble + probably synths. In the scene you're talking about they also change from diegetic use to non-diegetic by switching to an ensemble as well.

The bagpipes were a standout to me and I loved them
 
Just finished the film and very impressed with this score. Less impressed with the actual film, but it's only part 1.
 
ryans said:
Just finished the film and very impressed with this score. Less impressed with the actual film, but it's only part 1.
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I heard Villeneuve say a few words about his interaction with Hans for certain scenes, unique sounds he and his team created, etc. Looks like it was very intense work. Looking forward to seeing it, what a gigantic project! And only Part 1... :)

I would love to see Villeneuve - or anyone of his caliber - work on Ursula Le Guin's "A Wizard of Earthsea." The whole trilogy (originally) is a massive archetypal work that could really make for amazing cinema. And music. :) There have been attempts, but more direct to DVD, or TV kind of results.
 
creativeforge said:
I would love to see Villeneuve - or anyone of his caliber - work on Ursula Le Guin's "A Wizard of Earthsea." The whole trilogy (originally) is a massive archetypal work that could really make for amazing cinema. And music. :) There have been attempts, but more direct to DVD, or TV kind of results.
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Yes please!
 
Tice said:
Spoilers:
After some more watching, I've come to feel a little differently about why so many point out the bagpipes as a negative to the score.
A key moment where bagpipes come in is the Harkonen attack at the halfway mark. Looking purely at what's on screen and the narrative behind it, we're seeing a check-mate move against our protagonists, and at first the omminous atmosphere supports it. But then as the infantry lands, that's when the bagpipes come in, and they do so triumphantly. But that does not mesh at all with what's narratively happening. It's still a strategic tragedy unfolding. They are decidedly NOT winning the day here. So it's perhaps less the sound of the bagpipes that is jarring, but more the triumphant way they've been made to sound.
Click to expand...
I just think that bagpipes are really hard to recontextualize. Whenever I hear it I imagine a guy in a kilt from the Scottish Highlands. I mean this image is so burned into my brain, that I actually thought the guy playing the bagpipe in the damn movie was wearing a kilt! The funny part is that my mate, with whom I watched the movie, actually thought the same fucking thing... . I admire the decision which I think is bold af. I just don't think it doesn't really work (at least for me). I mean, can you rexontextualize yodeling for example? It's hard to imagine and I think a battle scene with yodeling in the music would always come off as ridiculous. Even if the battle scene was in a movie about a swiss elite combat squad or something (but then it wouldn't necessarily be a recontextualization in the first place). But I agree that the triumphant tune definitely added to it. In general the music actually fused together with the picture the whole movie, but this was one of the cases where it appeared to be slapped on top of it. But as faulty as I think this decisions is, I really love the rest of the score and the movie. I'm very happy there will be a part 2! Finally some good fucking cinema!

Edit: I just got schooled
 
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