8mm Forum: To add music or not to add music???

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Topic: To add music or not to add music???

Paul Bruty
Film Handler

Posts: 42
From: Ballarat Victoria Australia
Registered: Apr 2011

posted May 29, 2011 04:48 AM

Hi all, asking around re what sort of sound track to add to silent 8mm film when transferring them to DVD. Most people seem to enjoy the nostalgia of the projector sound rather than a music audio track.

What are the thoughts from forum members.

Regards, Paul [Smile]

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Antonis Galanakis
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 191
From: Europe Greece Athens
Registered: Jan 2009

posted May 29, 2011 05:24 AM

When it comes to family short films, I thing the best is a projector sound. At a photo store I know, that makes telecine, a lot of customers ask for projector sound at family films. It is a warm and sweet sound to our ears.
For silent shorts like Charlie Chaplin etc I prefer the typical piano music (chaleston, jazz).

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Claus Harding
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1149
From: Washington DC
Registered: Oct 2006

posted May 29, 2011 01:21 PM

If it is a silent short or feature, then the score is possibly available from the DVD release of it, so one can play that along with it. It may not be "in sync" but at least it is the score intended.

For my home movies, the 24fps ones have live location sound on them, so that takes care of itself.
The 18 fps silent ones I have been running silent, but one could make a CD with a score for them.....

Claus.

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"Why are there shots of deserts in a scene that's supposed to take place in Belgium during the winter?" (Review of 'Battle of the Bulge'.)

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Paul Bruty
Film Handler

Posts: 42
From: Ballarat Victoria Australia
Registered: Apr 2011

posted May 30, 2011 01:39 AM

Thanks, I probably was not very clear. I meant home family 8mm silent films.

Regards, Paul [Smile]

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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005

posted May 30, 2011 09:27 AM

Sheesh, this is so up to the individual ...

For instance, on some of my features (STAR WARS, for instance) when I have a two stripe capable of stereo, but it's in mono, I'll add a commentary track from the DVD, as that gives it a special quality and if I don't want to listen to the commentary, I just switch to main stripe.

If a silent movie, I agree, there are many restored versions on DVD of silent classics that you can add to a silent film. What would be even cooler, (if possible) would be to find an excellent pianist, an actual original silent era music sheet or two, and do a live recording on piano or organ, recorded directly to film ... awesome!

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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Joerg Polzfusz
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 815
From: Berlin, Germany, Europe, Earth, Solar System
Registered: Apr 2006

posted May 30, 2011 12:01 PM

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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005

posted May 30, 2011 02:59 PM

Joerg ...

That was a very good point to make. In a matter of speaking, in the silent era, a cinema experience was more of a "community gathering" ...

later on, with the advent of sound pictures, you spoke up and you'd get a myriad of "shaddups!" and "shh's".

There goes the community.

It is strange to think of today, but there was an incredible backlash at first, when sound was even introduced. It was treated as "intrusive."

Like color, it was used for novelty shorts, (such as Max Fleischer's "Song Cartunes" of the 1924 ... yeah, a good 4 years before Disney and Mickey!), and only later on adopted as a financially smart reality after "The Jazz Singer" ...

Was it all "downhill" from there, even to today? Interesting thought, to be sure.

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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Michael O'Regan
Film God

Posts: 3085
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Oct 2007

posted May 30, 2011 04:56 PM

quote:
In a matter of speaking, in the silent era, a cinema experience was more of a "community gathering" ...

Well, to be correct, there never really was such a thing as actual "silent" cinema. When the films were exhibited it was with accompanying music either from an individual vamping it on a piano or, in the big cities, full orchestral accompaniment in some instances.

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Douglas Meltzer
Moderator

Posts: 4554
From: New York, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted May 30, 2011 05:15 PM

Actually I just reading up on the subject of "silent" films recently. According to Rick Altman's "Silent Film Sound", many early films (before 1910) were actually projected in silence. There was music provided for the audience during reel changes and also for the vaudeville type shows presented between screenings, but many exhibitors did not provide musical accompaniment for the film. It was around 1909-1910 that this started to change.

Sorry for going off topic.....I agree with Antonis and Joerg. I like the idea of projector sound for home movies.

Doug

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I think there's room for just one more film.....

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Paul Bruty
Film Handler

Posts: 42
From: Ballarat Victoria Australia
Registered: Apr 2011

posted May 31, 2011 03:28 AM

Hi, the "fun" of watching silent home movies in a group is that every spectator is talking: "Hey, look at aunt Betty's fancy dress.", "Was this shot before Henry was born?", ... . As soon as you add music, most spectators will not dare to give such comments while the film is running.
However as you are speaking about a DVD, you can have both with the projector-noise as default and the music as alternative sound-track.

Jörg

Thanks everyone, I think that the "community" involvement with the projector sound is probably the way to go. I just wish I was a good enough musician to provide the old fashioned piano backing. [Smile]

Regards, Paul. [Smile]

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Joerg Polzfusz
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 815
From: Berlin, Germany, Europe, Earth, Solar System
Registered: Apr 2006

posted May 31, 2011 06:10 AM

quote:
I just wish I was a good enough musician to provide the old fashioned piano backing.

E.g. Magix Video comes with some "silent era"-loops. And you can get additional music on catooh (that will work with all other software that accepts WAV and/or ogg), e.g. http://www.catooh.com/de/sys/id/Katalog/area/mediaDetails/item_id/209187/
Or you can try music that's free for private use, e.g. http://www.jamendo.com/de/album/68160# or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Hall_of_the_Mountain_King

;-)

Jörg

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Michael O'Regan
Film God

Posts: 3085
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Oct 2007

posted May 31, 2011 09:30 AM

Well I live and learn.
[Big Grin]

Ya see, Osi appeared to be speaking of "the silent era" in general like.
[Wink]

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Douglas Meltzer
Moderator

Posts: 4554
From: New York, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted May 31, 2011 10:20 AM

Michael,

I only discovered that bit of information 2 weeks ago, so it's one of the fresher bits of useless knowledge I possess. I doubt though that people were encouraged to talk during the presentation.

Doug

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I think there's room for just one more film.....

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