After much thought, I decided to score two scenes from the live-action version of Aladdin. The reason behind this is that I found some scenes quite easily in a relatively good quality. I’m also a huge Disney fan and a huge Alan Menken fan so I felt it was the right choice. I also felt that some of the action movies I was considering (like John Wick), were too violent and didn’t seem fitting for a university project, but maybe that’s just me.
The idea of the project is to score both of these scenes twice: once with a fitting soundtrack and another time with a more “funky” one to show the impact music has in a particular scene.
As for the theme of the music, I’m thinking about adopting a different style while still maintaining an “Arabic” feel to it (especially for the chase scene). The other scene is a more romantic one but I still have no idea how to approach it. I also have to think about the foley and the restrictions regarding how many software instruments I can use because now that lectures have been moved online, the studios have been shut down. I was planning to record many sounds with studio microphones as well as asking my classmates and teacher to bring their instruments so I could have more “real” elements but I don’t really know how it’s going to work now.
These are the two scenes I’ve chosen to score.
I’m trying to look at this in a positive light because it has fueled my creativity and made me look for different ways to create sound patterns with everyday objects; for the percussion, I experimented with a pepper shaker and then I hit a metal water bottle for some more variety, I also used my violin and scratched the strings lightly to produce (or attempt to produce) an effect called “chopping”, which is a type of percussive (and quite uncommon) technique. I learned this through a book I’m currently reading called “Arranging for Strings”. (I believe I’ve discussed this book before on my blog). I’m glad to have found some interesting tips and techniques for this project. These tips will hopefully be useful over the course of my degree.
The other aspect I’m bothered about is that I didn’t get the chance to record rapping with Ed on the studio (for my last project) so I’m gonna have to leave my final piece as it is. I’m still quite happy with it, though.
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