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The return of retro video game music

I’m sorry, I’m extremely late to publish this week. Like everyone else I have been very busy. I’m a bit disappointed since I’ll have no replies to my post because of my lateness but anyway. 

This week I wanted to talk about the return of the “retro” style video game music, which is linked to the return of the retro game genre. Long story reaaaally short for those who might not know about it: old “pixelated” games with outdated 8 bit music had been ubiquitous in the 80s and even 90s, the graphism and the music were kind of “softened” because of the limited capacity of consoles and cartridges. Music was composed and recorded in a way they wouldn’t take much memory: in 8 bit. It did not sound cheap or low quality, the sound range was just... limited to a very specific style.

Here’s a reproduction of a typical 8 bit retro game music as an example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chiptune2.ogg

Retro gaming made a comeback in the 2010s, people started to play old games again and re-discovered old classics. There was then a demand for new retro style games. Again, long story short: small teams of developers were, until then, unable to compete with big teams from big corporations because typical best selling games like GTA required very large teams/amounts of money to make. 

Independents developers were at a huge disadvantage for a long time because the only way to distribute games was through CDs or cartridges which needed funds to be produced and was risky if no games were sold.

With the rise of the internet and its dematerialized products, independents (”indie”) developers were finally able to distribute easily their games on online platforms like Steam, but there was still a problem: as I said before, games like GTA were extremely difficult and costly to make, so they needed to make cheaper games that were as interesting as big AAA games. Retro pixelated graphism allowed that. 

This is Shovel Knight, a game from 2014, funded on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. 

As you can see, the visuals are pixelated, but it’s still very pleasant to play with. 

Easier visuals and a easier time to distribute games allowed indie developers to show new gameplay ideas, original scenarios, interesting characters. Everything that big corporations were afraid to try because they couldn’t afford to lose money.

Some indie games were so original, like Undertale, a game developed by a single person, that they beat most games in terms of sales.

Undertale, 2015.

Of course, not all indie teams did retro pixelated style graphism, but some did, and totally assumed their choice, and that is were we come back to popular music.

Music can be produced by a single composer. In indie teams, music was never a problem, same for scenario, character design, etc.  Programming the game system (which include visuals, as it is determined by the game engine) was the most difficult.

Of course, I’m not saying that producing music is easy, but that programming a visually complex game needed multiple people when music could afford to be produced by a single person or two.

Those games, Shovel Knight and Undertale, were marketed as indie retro style games. They were kind of “retro” in gameplay mechanics and graphism, but they were not REALLY retro, as such visual in Shovel Knight were impossible on old consoles. Its pixel art is complex, different from old pixelated games :

Super Mario World, 1990

Undertale might look less complex, but shows some nice effects at times, and I’m pretty sure such nice effects couldn’t be handled on old consoles. 

To summarize, they used pixelated style because it was easier to produce, and branded themselves as retro to find a public. But their games were not really retro, they are “retro style” but with a lot of improvements.

But now, what about the soundtrack?

As I said, even if the music can be easily produced in a modern style, for some reason the Shovel Knight team decided to keep a 8 bit ambiance throughout their game: 

Composers: Jake Kaufman and Manami Matsumae

The 8 bit limitation is in my opinion a limitation in creativity, but the composers still chose to limit themselves to it. Probably because they really wanted us to feel Shovel Knight like a retro game, but isn’t that a bit weird when you use improved graphics that could never had worked on a retro console ?

In Undertale for example, marketed as retro style RPG with new gameplay mechanics, the game has some music in 8 bit: 

Main title theme. Composer: Toby Fox

But Toby Fox didn’t hesitate to abandon 8 bit when he felt what he wanted to depict couldn’t be shown with 8 bit: 

Waterfall. Composer: Toby Fox

Despite having the same retro style, Katana Zero decided to not even include 8 bit music: 

Composer : Bill Kiley and LudoWic

But they still used a certain music style that I feel like it could come right from the 80s. (You can even hear the click from his walkman at the start.)

So what’s the best choice between the 3 of them ? I can’t answer that, but I feel like the visual pixelated style is an artstyle, while 8 bit music is just a limitation to creativity and shouldn’t be always used in a modern game.

Good luck for your exams you all !

No doubt we’ll make it ! 

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The Rocky Horror (Picture) Show

Why is it so iconic ?

Time Warp, Composers:  Richard O'Brien,  Richard Hartley. 

From: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

This semester, I knew I had to talk about this at some point, I mean, it’s a monument of musical theatre/film, and I chose to focus only on soundtracks. I couldn’t miss it.

I know there is some very hardcore fans of RHPS out there, my question will be simple: Why so hardcore ? What makes the Rocky Horror Show (Or Picture Show, which is the film version) so iconic ? Let’s take a look at it first.

The Rocky Horror Show is a musical play that was first produced on stage in 1973, it gathers genres such as horror and science fiction at the same time which is very unusual, and it covers subjects like sexuality or transidentity which, again, is very surprising for the time it was produced. 

It came out in theaters in 1975 as The Rocky Horror Picture Show which is the version post people have seen. The film version was, and is still a huge success, as it is still being shown in some theaters 45 years later. 

It’s not that it’s still watched by a lot of new people, no. Most people watching it in theaters are actually re-watching it again. You may ask “Why don’t they buy the DVD ? They would spare a loooot of money” That it is a good question. Actually it has a simple answer: They are a community. They come to watch it as a community, they want to support the theater showing it. They come dressed in fancy costumes inspired from the film, and dance/sing along with the music. and that is awesome. This is just partying with extra steps, but what a way to party!

Now that everyone understood the context, we can answer my first question, what makes the RHPS so iconic ? I have some insights.

When I talk about the RHPS, I obviously talk about the music and what supports it. The plot in RHPS is not important (In my opinion) and it’s all about the social values shared by the film, and therefore its highlights: the songs. 

The film shares values such as the acceptance of others and tolerance but also about different sexualities and transsexuality. This was so rare at the time it might have been the first time such subjects were ever approached in cinema. 

Combined with a whole new style of partying and unique choreographies, those values would soon spread among newly formed communities of fans. And some of those communities still exists to this day.

This film, which came out in 1975, might sound recent but it’s not at all in LGBT rights, in 1975 the United States had just started to legalize same-sex relationships but it was only legal in a few states. Those values were really taboo to discuss.

There’s obviously more reasons to why it has become iconic, but that’s one of my guesses. If you have any more ideas, I’ll be happy to read you !

See you next week ! 

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Is it possible that we could like any genre of popular music if played as a soundtrack of something we like ?

Hello everyone, big title for a short “billet” this week, there wont be any examples and my point will be quick.

Yesterday I was playing some video games instead of studying (oops). I played DOOM Eternal  which is a game about killing demons (not very relevant but it’s for context). This game has several metal soundtracks while I don’t really like metal. But in game, it’s enjoyable, and now, even while not playing it can pop up in my playlist while not bothering me at all.

Now I realized that, while usually listening pop music, many songs that I enjoy that aren’t from the pop genre actually come from movies and games. I believe that, if the song and the medium attached to it are both good, many people will like the song despite not being their favorite musical genre.

I tried listening to some metal from different groups and I didn’t got hooked at all, I guess the quality of the song doesn’t really matter, it’s just not my type. But supported by a nice movie or game, I’m starting to think I could have liked it.

It’s just a few leads, I don’t have anything very solid, I had another topic to write about this week but I would rather talk about that first, as it might help me for my project. 

So if you have any experiences to share, or personal opinions, i’m all ears ! 

And as always, see you next week.

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Why are Disney’s classics so memorable ?

From Disney’s Aladdin

You all remember your childhood Disney movies, right ? I feel like almost everyone watched Disney movies as a child. but if it’s not the case for you, you might be remembering about other movies of the same type, that’s fine too. What I am going to write about isn’t only concerning Disney movies, I’m thinking of the Disney-like “cartoons”. I mean the kind of movies designed (primarily) for children with important parts of the movie dedicated to songs.

Of course we talk about popular music so my focus is on the songs, and I’ve been thinking, why do we remember those songs so well ? At first I came up with a simple answer:

“Hm, nostalgia. Of course.”

But actually I think I’m wrong and it could be much more complicated.

Firstly, our ability to remember them is obviously linked to nostalgia, I believe many people would like to go back to the stress-less childhood life watching disney’s all day. Therefore, the songs have a very positive effect on us.

Then, the song are designed and written for children, that makes us more likely to remember it since we mostly listened to it as a child, it was literally made for us to remember.

Also, the songs often included the main character of the film, with whom many people identified just like any other movie, book or video game main character, it adds much more importance to the song as it is part of the adventure.

Finally, the songs are most of the time very positive songs, that unveil the moral of the story, and even if the song is very negative (Because, yes, there are negative songs in Disney’s, I have an example coming right after) they are memorable because they sometimes teach you a life lesson that is more likely to be remembered because it was taught in a interesting way.

From Disney’s Pocahontas. The song starts at 0:38

Even if the song is very negative and seem to teach wrong values, if it is sung by a negative character, there will be a counter-effect teaching the opposite values to the kid. And then it can still be easier to remember.

So those are the reasons why I believe Disney’s songs are so memorable, what do you think ? Of course songs in this billet are sung in English so if you watched the movies in another language as a child they won’t sound right at all for you, but try listening them in your childhood language then! 

See you next week ! 

And by the way, my project will be on : The production of popular music for films, their audiences and goals.

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Pretty woman

My first tumblr billet this semester was about the wagnerian leitmotiv from Star Wars, i.e. how the Imperial March influenced our perception of Dark Vador.

Today i’ll write about the total opposite: How a film can influence our perception of a song, and in this case, i’m going to write about the film Pretty Woman and its iconic song used in its soundtrack: Oh, Pretty Woman

Oh, Pretty Woman. Composers : Roy Orbison and Bill Dees

Just to be clear, Oh, Pretty Woman wasn’t composed for the movie, it came out as a single in 1964 while the movie was released in 1990.

The movie gave a new life to the song, I believe our generation wouldn’t have known the song without the movie featuring it. But it also gave it a new identity.

The original song is basically some kind of a superficial love song, it’s talking about looks and love at first sight, hence “Pretty woman”. It’s not very complicated, and has an addictive rhythm. Nothing special to be honest but it’s fine.

The movie talks about a love story between a rich businessman and a prostitute who fall in love together after a week, which is very superficial again.

I didn’t like the film at all, not that I don’t like the genre, I like every film genre except maybe the superhero genre or/and when there’s too much action. I just think Pretty Woman was not a good film. The film claims it has a love story between 2 people from very different social classes, and that their relation is essentially founded on love. It is so surrealistic that I just couldn’t like it, of course the actors are really good but the scenario is just terrible in my opinion, and that ruined the song for me, because I now just associated the film and the song.

I heard the song before, probably in some sort of ad, and I wanted to understand where it came from so I just went watching the film. Even though it’s not really the origin of the song, it still have its name based on it.

My point is, the song as a single isn’t terrible at all, its addictive, and nice to listen to, but the film and the ads have ruined the “reputation” of the song as I associate now the song to things that are not so great in my mind, isn’t that some kind of reverse leitmotiv ? I don’t have the answer. I just thought that was interesting to talk about. Maybe some of you have the same feeling about others songs?

See you next week! 

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Selling film Soundtracks ?

“My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic (1997). 

Composer : James Horner. Singer: Celine Dion

You might think that music composed for a film is primarily intended to accompany the film, and you may be right. But often, popular film music is also composed to be sold alongside the film. In 1997, Titanic and it’s soundtrack album came out together the same year, and the song was also released later as a single for Celine’s album “Let's Talk About Love”. It was an absolute success.

Making an album soundtrack alongside a film is nothing new, and the first soundtrack album ever released may have been one from Disney, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, from 1938 (film released in 37) but I couldn’t find any reliable source to confirm it. Nevertheless, it is indeed, nothing new.

Composers: Various Artists

Disney, of course, is more likely to sell soundtrack albums since their films are sometimes so close to the musical comedy genre, nothing surprising from them being first at releasing the first soundtrack album, ever.

In the 2010s started film streaming and of course music streaming with Spotify, Deezer, YouTube etc. films soundtracks are also high in the streaming charts when great blockbusters come out, “See You Again” from Furious 7 or “Let It Go” from Frozen are rumored to be the most streamed film soundtracks, and the title from Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth might even be the best selling single of the 21st century, showing that releasing a song side by side with a film is now one of the best way to promote it.

In the age of the all-connected to the internet, all the time, everywhere, it never have been so easy to find a song that you like in a film, and that might have contributed to the now all-might of blockbusters songs.

Thank you for reading !

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No Time To Die

The ultimate symbiosis of film and music culture ?

“—There's just no time to die.” Composer/singer: Billie Eilish

What’s the common point between Nancy Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Madonna and Adele ? Well, you’ve probably understood by now: they all sang a James Bond theme.

The Covid-19 ruined the effect of Billie’s No Time To Die, as a James Bond main theme is supposed to pretty much come out at the same time of the film. 

That’s sad, because it’s not bad at all, but without the film accompanying the song, Billie’s not likely to reach as much popularity as her predecessors.

Adele’s legendary single, “Skyfall” Composers: Adele and Paul Epworth

Just like Billie, Adele released Skyfall at the peak of her career. It also was the case with many other singers since the sixties.

I believe singing a James Bond main theme became some kind of consecration for singers, it makes them important stars worldwide since Ian Fleming books’ cinematic adaptation are always worldwide blockbusters. 

What’s interesting about those themes is that they may reach people not even interested by nowadays music industry, and since James Bond films are very casual, (they are basically action/thriller films which is a basic combination of genres liked by a lot of people), it can reach everybody. 

So the singers that are already known in the music industry become timeless stars for everyone, even people not really interested in cinema or music. That is the strength of James Bond’s main themes, or at least it’s what I think. If you think I’m wrong or if you have something to add, please do comment ! 

See you next week !

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Building Tension with music

Or how does composers create stressful soundtracks ?

Of course in movies, the main thing that build tension is the way the characters are shown and in what situation they are displayed, but don’t forget the soundtrack. Nowadays, you cannot show a film without an appropriate ambiance for it, it’s expected by the spectators: it is a part of the experience. A bad soundtrack can ruin the film itself even if everything else is fine. (Unless it is deliberately a silent film, of course !).

In horror movies however, I believe the soundtrack has an increased role: the camera shots may show something not worrying at all, but it’s actually the soundtrack that will make us worry:

(Scene with the famous “Jaws” Theme starts at 1:32)

Composer : John Williams

Soundtrack only : Here

So, I believe the soundtrack alone can be scary, and those scary themes might have a very particular rhythm in common...

Alien - Original Soundtrack Score. Composer: Jerry Goldsmith

I think some similarities can be identified: Firstly, some kind of crescendo in both tracks, the BPM has to be high at the end as our bodies are affected by it. Secondly, more and more instruments adding up and thirdly, some irregularities or weird sounds to make it not too predictable. Of course, those tracks cannot have any lyrics or singer, as the theme has to remain weird and dark, and a voice isn’t weird. But I might be wrong.

Halloween main theme song. Composer : John Carpenter

Again, the same song pattern I described before can be heard, but that doesn’t really mean I’m right, other stressful patterns may exist, but I couldn’t think of one, If you have any idea feel free to comment!

See ya next week ! 

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The bad guy March

1980: Second appearance of Darth Vader at the cinema, in what is probably the best Star Wars movie of all nine films all the franchise: The Empire Strikes Back.

(The Imperial March scene starts at 1:25, I can’t timecode the video for some reason)

So, the thing is I actually don’t really like Star Wars, it was cool in the 80s, yeah, maybe. But the prequel and sequel trilogies, huh, besides for the memes, were not really good. And now, the first trilogy may have been nice but... it did not really age well. I’m sorry to all the Star Wars fans out there!

But we both know I shouldn’t be talking about films. What’s really interesting to me is the soundtrack actually. And, wow! It actually did age well thanks to the very good and iconic work of John Williams.

So why did I pick a franchise I don’t like you may ask? Well, can I really talk about film soundtracks without talking about the most known “villain” theme of all time ? I think not.

(Yes, it looks like opera, but it’s popular music ! I swear !)

The Imperial March is known worldwide and attributed by most people to Darth Vader (and more largely, to the Empire) which are the bad guys (which I should call antagonists, but I wont because... reasons) The tunes already makes it an aggressive/oppressive song, but also attributing this theme to them makes it a negative sound, a song about everything the empire is about : Order, oppression, erosion of individuality (Every Stormtrooper look the same) which are not really cool topics, at least for normal people just like us. (might sound different for people in 20th century Russia)

This is one of the first uses of the Wagnerian leitmotif in cinema, (=Using music to influence our image of an idea or a character) and this leitmotif will be used again and again later in cinema.

The Imperial March, when you look at the context in which the Star Wars films were released, is an implicit criticism of the communist bloc, and this is not official, of course, but giving the context of the cold war, I do think it’s a safe bet to think so.

So, in this first billet, I will only take a look at a few examples (because there’s... a lot.) of the influence that had this March, on general popular culture, and other songs, soundtracks etc. Lets get going !

So to begin with, on popular culture the main effect it had was on politics. of course many people (just like me) attributed the March to some extent to the USSR, I believe this had a enormous soft power effect on the image people have had of the Union, I think I can definitely say the Imperial March was an (indirect?) weapon part of the cold war.

Because of course, some have found the Star Wars series and its Imperial March absolutely ridiculous, (And I understand them, a bit) they decided to parody Star Wars itself: (And its cold tunes included)

Spaceballs (1987) What I believe being some kind of an Imperial March starts at 0:20. Composer : John Morris

John William’s Imperial March is so iconic for the United States population that some marketers from Volkswagen decided to create their 2020 Super Bowl ad almost only based on the March:

I know... not really relevant but it proves my point on it’s iconic popularity. I guess. Composer : dogs unknown

I talked before about the Wagnerian leitmotif, of course some producers used themes that sounds a tiny bit like the imperial march to easily influence our perception of a certain character or idea:

(From 0:21 to 0:50, probably not the best example as it doesn’t really sound like the Imperial March, but I believe it does the job) Composer: Tyler Bates

And last but not least, why not an example in video games soundtracks ? It’s not like films have to be superior or something, as long as it is popular music, right ?

Here’s, again, an example of the leitmotif usage but in a video game: Command & Conquer: Red Alert (1996)

(I can’t add more videos to the billet, but at least this one is time coded!)

https://youtu.be/CIGqANjhUEM?t=1152

Hell March (1996) Composer: Frank Klepacki

(Soundtrack only : here)

Context : This is a cold war wargame between the Allies and the Soviet Union, and this song only play when you actually play the Soviet Union. (And he plays them in the video, even though his color is yellow for some reason)

This music is called Hell March and might be related to the Imperial March to some extent. You never really know, but its sound like to me. a lot. And the name might be a direct reference. Of course, playing this March while playing as the soviets doesn’t give a very good image of the USSR, indeed, they doesn't sound very nice to me.

And that’s it for my first billet ! It may have been a bit too long but the Imperial March is a big piece of work ! Thank you for reading and if you have any more examples of a movie leitmotif soundtrack that sound (a bit) like the Imperial March, feel free to comment ! 

See you next week y’all !