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Films with live music

Started by Icehaven, September 09, 2020, 11:30:51 PM

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Icehaven

Few years ago (probably about 10) I went to see a few Charlie Chaplin films with a live orchestra doing the music at Brum Symphony Hall. It was great, very atmospheric, worked particularly well because it was silent films so the music was crucial. I think the tickets were about £25.

Next year at the same venue they're showing Joker with a live orchestra but the tickets start at £55 and go up to £82. For a two year old film where the music isn't even that integral (apart from one scene)? I know it's the orchestra you're paying for but that's a massive increase, just feels like an opportunistic cash in on the popularity of the film. Of course venues and the arts in general have had it incredibly rough this year but hugely overcharging for a film showing isn't going to help entice audiences back. Unless everyone goes for it and it does of course.

My personal gripe is my Mum would absolutely love it but I can't afford £100 - £150, particularly to watch a film she's already seen 10 times. Am I underestimating how much something like this should cost or is it really massively over priced? They did Jaws a couple of years ago which would have been absolutely amazing, but still not sure if it'd have been worth £82.

chveik

maybe you should look for film festivals, they often do this kind of stuff and it's not that pricey

Shit Good Nose

A mate went to a Jaws one a few years ago.  He said it was expensive but I don't know how much.  Anyway, he said that after he got over the novelty of what was going on, the orchestra soon started to get in the way of the film and actually spoiled it a bit for him.  So I think with these things - at least with post-silent films (I can see with silent films, like your Chaplin example, it would be pretty cool and a little step closer to how things used to be done) - you perhaps should go for the score rather than the film. 

Having said that, I'm not really a soundtrack/score person anyway so even the best example of it wouldn't really be my thing.   Better to see something focused more on the music like when John Carpenter went on tour a couple of years ago I think.

peanutbutter

Saw King Vidor's the Crowd at the Castro theatre scored by the in-house organist. Was pretty neat.

Saw Haxan soundtracked by Wrekmeister Harmonies, not sure how the score was but I thought the film was a big pile of shite.

Jonathan Demme films often featured live performances by acts he likes going on in the background of some scenes, didn't they?

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: peanutbutter on September 09, 2020, 11:54:23 PM
Saw Haxan soundtracked by Wrekmeister Harmonies, not sure how the score was but I thought the film was a big pile of shite.

Aww.  I think it's a masterpiece.  Anyway, Haxan has had a LOT of scores applied to it over the years - death metal, ambient noise, old school organist, even Black Sabbath.  It lends itself very well to different scoring ideas.


QuoteJonathan Demme films often featured live performances by acts he likes going on in the background of some scenes, didn't they?

On a similar note you've got all those Dogma films where any music in the film had to be live in the scene, as per one of the rules.  But the quality of those films vary, and in my opinion the shit ones massively outnumber the decent ones.  A lot of them also have aged very very badly in a relatively short space of time (Von Trier's The Idiots for example).

chveik

The Idiots hasn't aged one bit you fool.

Icehaven

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on September 09, 2020, 11:41:19 PM
A mate went to a Jaws one a few years ago.  He said it was expensive but I don't know how much.  Anyway, he said that after he got over the novelty of what was going on, the orchestra soon started to get in the way of the film and actually spoiled it a bit for him.

As brilliant as it'd theoretically be, I can't help but imagine "derrrr ner, derrrr ner, der ner der ner der ner der ner" being accompanied by a load of applause and whooping completely ruining it.

touchingcloth

Quote from: icehaven on September 09, 2020, 11:30:51 PM
Few years ago (probably about 10) I went to see a few Charlie Chaplin films with a live orchestra doing the music at Brum Symphony Hall. It was great, very atmospheric, worked particularly well because it was silent films so the music was crucial. I think the tickets were about £25.

Next year at the same venue they're showing Joker with a live orchestra but the tickets start at £55 and go up to £82. For a two year old film where the music isn't even that integral (apart from one scene)? I know it's the orchestra you're paying for but that's a massive increase, just feels like an opportunistic cash in on the popularity of the film. Of course venues and the arts in general have had it incredibly rough this year but hugely overcharging for a film showing isn't going to help entice audiences back. Unless everyone goes for it and it does of course.

My personal gripe is my Mum would absolutely love it but I can't afford £100 - £150, particularly to watch a film she's already seen 10 times. Am I underestimating how much something like this should cost or is it really massively over priced? They did Jaws a couple of years ago which would have been absolutely amazing, but still not sure if it'd have been worth £82.

Are tickets available already? And if so can you see the total capacity or the seating plan? I work with venues a lot and social distancing rules means a lot of them are halving their capacities at the absolute best, so for something like this with a high fixed cost in the form of the orchestra I can see what that might stop the event being viable without a high ticket price.

zomgmouse

Once got to see the original Suspiria with Goblin live in concert. Amazing experience.

Overall I enjoy the idea of the original performers performing the score live or someone adding scores to silent films, but when someone tries to put in a new score to a film that already has a score that seems unnecessary to me. Orchestras just playing the score seems a bit "dunno about that" as well but I'm on the fence about that.

Noodle Lizard

Quote from: zomgmouse on September 10, 2020, 01:47:00 AM
Once got to see the original Suspiria with Goblin live in concert. Amazing experience.

I came in to mention the same thing. That's a wonderful thing to see, and they seem to tour it pretty regularly (pre-COVID anyway).

The Mollusk

Yeah, I'm holding on to hope that I'll get to see Goblin do that some day. I've passed up on the chance before due to being skint and was quite gutted.

Birmingham Symphony Hall seems to do this stuff a lot. I went years back to see Philip Glass and the Kronos Quartet soundtracking the 1931 Dracula with Bela Lugosi. It was fucking GREAT.

zomgmouse

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on September 10, 2020, 01:52:52 AM
I came in to mention the same thing. That's a wonderful thing to see, and they seem to tour it pretty regularly (pre-COVID anyway).

Quote from: The Mollusk on September 10, 2020, 08:48:42 AM
Yeah, I'm holding on to hope that I'll get to see Goblin do that some day. I've passed up on the chance before due to being skint and was quite gutted.

Was extremely lucky to win a ticket from the venue screening it! Otherwise may not have gone...

Glebe

A mate saw Goblin live, Deep Red I think it was. I've seen LOTR: The Two Towers and Star Wars with a live orchestra. Sadly, they didn't do the cantina music, as I recall.

Icehaven

Quote from: touchingcloth on September 10, 2020, 12:17:48 AM
Are tickets available already? And if so can you see the total capacity or the seating plan? I work with venues a lot and social distancing rules means a lot of them are halving their capacities at the absolute best, so for something like this with a high fixed cost in the form of the orchestra I can see what that might stop the event being viable without a high ticket price.

Tickets are on sale now yep, it's in March next year but with Christmas being cancelled maybe this is the issue. I'll have a look at the seating plan in a bit. Tbh if it is and we'd be guaranteed not to have to sit near anyone else I might have to find the money. I've even nearly - but not quite - been tempted to go to the cinema recently for the first time in years for the same reason.

The Mollusk

Quote from: Glebe on September 10, 2020, 10:49:36 AM
A mate saw Goblin live, Deep Red I think it was.

Phwoar yes, only saw that for the first time recently. Incredible film, your mate's lucky.

QuoteSadly, they didn't do the cantina music, as I recall.

In the bin. Bin 'em.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: chveik on September 10, 2020, 12:03:41 AM
The Idiots hasn't aged one bit you fool.

Dunno - it all seemed a bit dodgy to me when I saw it at the cinema, and when I saw it again about seven or eight years ago I thought it was ripe for immediate cancellation. 

But then - caveat - I'm not a fan of Von Trier at all and have a particular dislike for The Idiots, so I am looking at it subjectively.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I saw Empire Strikes Back at the Albert Hall last year. My only gripe (other than the cost and having to cart my arse all the way to London) was that the orchestra were, if anything, too good. They played so perfectly that I felt like I could have been watching the film as normal.

No mosh pit, either.
Quote from: Shit Good Nose on September 10, 2020, 02:30:53 PM
I have a particular dislike for The Idiots

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on September 10, 2020, 05:06:02 PM
I saw Empire Strikes Back at the Albert Hall last year. My only gripe (other than the cost and having to cart my arse all the way to London) was that the orchestra were, if anything, too good. They played so perfectly that I felt like I could have been watching the film as normal.

No mosh pit, either.

Just like when I saw Pink Floyd in Modena on the Division Bell tour - so workmanlike I may as well have stayed at home listening to the albums.  Along with Roxy Music in 2001 (and for similar reasons), one of the most disappointing gigs I've ever been to.

And there was a mosh pit.  Ever seen Italians moshing to Pink Floyd?

bgmnts

I would like to see a John Carpenter music set to the live synth soundtrack, performed by Carpenter himself.

Glebe

Quote from: bgmnts on September 10, 2020, 05:11:04 PM
I would like to see a John Carpenter music set to the live synth soundtrack, performed by Carpenter himself.

Me mates seen him and all. And Ennio Morricone, the Jammy get!

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: bgmnts on September 10, 2020, 05:11:04 PM
I would like to see a John Carpenter music set to the live synth soundtrack, performed by Carpenter himself.

There are a few vids on YouTube - a couple of them pro-shot - from his tour last year/2018.

NoSleep

I saw Hugh Metcalfe & Bob Cobbing performing live to Hugh's homemade films at the Klinker.

The Mollusk


bgmnts


Famous Mortimer

I saw Faust do a soundtrack to "Nosferatu" at the Royal Festival Hall about 20 years ago, that was great. Someone famous was sat in the row in front of me, but alas I have no memory of who it was (other than remembering it was a famous person). I don't think they were paying a lot of attention to the movie, and they didn't finish playing til like five minutes after the film had stopped, but it was great.

I also saw an orchestra do "Aliens" at the Albert Hall, in 2016. They did two performances of it that day, and at the one me and my mate weren't at, Sigourney Weaver and James Cameron popped on stage to say hello. Apparently.


DJ Bob Hoskins

A couple of years ago I saw Koyaanisqatsi with the Philip Glass Ensemble performing the score. I'd been hoping for a chance to see a performance of it for years and it was everything I'd hoped it would be, but what with the content of the film itself I spent the rest of the evening feeling deeply depressed about the human race. So, yeah, maybe Star Wars would have been more fun.