So You Wanna Score Nightmare on Elm Street? 2/13-2/27 - WINNER

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Thu 14/02/2008 06:22:11

I thought I'd try something a bit different for this music competition, and it may (or may not) get the interest of you people who like doing different things and having fun.

ALTERNATE REALITY 1984

Wes Craven has just wrapped up filming on Nightmare on Elm Street, but the composer Charles Bernstein has fallen ill and can no longer fulfill his obligation to write the score.

This is where you come in.

Desperate for a horror soundtrack that will make 80's filmgoers shriek in terror, Wes Craven has made an important scene from the movie available to a select group of composers with Charles Bernstein's only contribution intact.

If you want to score the whole movie, this is what Wes wants:

1. Re-score the scene below with your vision for Nightmare on Elm Street.

2. Bring something new (yet familiar) that will scare the pants off of the audience.

Interested composers can find the scene here, complete with the only music Bernstein was able to provide:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4JwoAg0jnA

THE SCENE: Nancy has recently learned that Freddy Krueger attacks people through their dreams and has asked her beau Glenn (played by Johnny Depp) not to fall asleep. He has not listened to her pleas, however, and bad things are going to happen.

How I will judge this: I will mute the audio and play your track and the scene together. It's not important that you try to keep the dialog in since that is a separate audio track, just score what you see. I'll choose the one that impresses me the most at the end of two weeks, which hopefully will be enough time.

There is plenty of fun to be had with this scene so I am hoping it will excite you to produce some interesting music. Good luck!

thomasregin · Fri 15/02/2008 16:04:21

ProgZmax,

I would have loved to participate in this one, but I have no idea how to write synchronized music against a movie clip on YouTube - I gotta have it in my sequencer!

/Tom

Galen · Fri 15/02/2008 19:36:56

It shows your time in the clip so you should be able to sync it with that.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Fri 15/02/2008 20:17:18

Yeah, you can compose vs the time displayed on the video, can't you? I didn't really consider how difficult it might be for some people to play 'while' they watch (though that isn't required). If this is too difficult I can come up with something easier.

DrewCCU · Fri 15/02/2008 21:45:42

I'm def going to enter this one! The next competition i won i wanted to make a contest like this one where you have to score against a video clip - this will be super fun! this is what i was born to do! i hope its okay but i plan on saving the vid clip and writing my score and then posting a new video for you to watch with my score - i will also post just a plain mp3 ... i can't wait to get started!

Cino · Sat 16/02/2008 08:19:09

Also, there are several ways to download the video from youtube.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Sat 16/02/2008 10:18:44

That's great, Drew. Wes looks forward to your vision!

EldKatt · Sat 16/02/2008 16:09:28

This is a great concept. There should be an independent regular contest with just this! I'll try to participate if I have time, but I look forward more than ever to hearing the entries.

By the way, people, this doesn't really require any specialist tools, does it? Just write down some key times. On paper, with a pen, if you have that. Come on.

DrewCCU · Sat 16/02/2008 20:55:33

Quote from: EldKatt on Sat 16/02/2008 16:09:28
This is a great concept. There should be an independent regular contest with just this! I'll try to participate if I have time, but I look forward more than ever to hearing the entries.

By the way, people, this doesn't really require any specialist tools, does it? Just write down some key times. On paper, with a pen, if you have that. Come on.

Yeah - this doesn't really have to be 100% in sync. Key times are the biggest thing.

But if you want to do something like i said earlier about making a whole new video and replacing its audio with your own then here is how to do it:

If you are using firefox there is a plugin called UnPlug (link here: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Browser-Tweak/UnPlug.shtml) it let's you download embedded flash video from sites such as YouTube. (there are other plugins for firefox and even explorer - but this is the one i use). The only problem with these is they download the file as a .FLV. I use Windows Movie Maker to make the new movie - you just import the video clip, mute it's audio and the import your mp3 and boom! save as a new video! But you can't import .FLV's so you're going to have to convert it from a .FLV. I use Batch FLV Converter (link here: http://www.ripzor.com/flvconverter.html). It's not a big file at all (only 1.58 MB) but it does the job really well. It gives you 3 different conversion options: AVI, MPEG 1, and MPEG 2. I find that MPEG 1 works the best.

This may seem like a lot of work but remember it isn't required. I'm just going to do it because I'm crazy and love doing shit like this. Plus i want to actually see my music up against the video clip as smoothly as possible. Anyway, got to get back to writing my score! Have fun everyone this is an excellent concept and I wish you all luck!

I think we should do more concepts like these.

DrewCCU · Sun 17/02/2008 00:10:12

Ok - so here is my entry. I uploaded the video with my score to You Tube. You can check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3dS1hqPKkk

Also, here is just the plain audio file:

http://www.mediafire.com/?9dmnzkjsy5j

I thought the most important piece of audio in the original video was when the phone rang ... so i decided to add my only phone ringing in my composition. Hope you enjoy this entry. i had lots of fun writing it!

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Sun 17/02/2008 03:18:28

Very nice. Wes commands you to give Drew some competition!

twin-moon · Mon 18/02/2008 21:08:24

Useful information, DrewCCU.
I never looked into ripping videos from youtube, maybe I'll have a stab at this contest too (pun intended). There's nothing holding me back now.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Thu 28/02/2008 00:18:46

A clear winner has emerged, and it is DrewCCU!

Wes wants you to report to the studio immediately to begin scoring Nightmare on Elm Street, so get going!

DrewCCU · Thu 28/02/2008 16:34:15

Ah, thank you. I wish that I had a little competition though. Oh well ... I'll try to think of something for another contest that might spark imaginations and allow lots of people to participate. I'll try to start the next contest within the next day or so.