Jake Weiss

So I'm not really sure what form of composition you are planning for the trailer since I'm not in your class and wasn't able to listen to your plans, but I'm going to just offer up my opinions on the type of emotions I get from watching this trailer with the audio muted and maybe that can help you out.

One thing i noticed is a shift in the tone of the visuals of the trailer around 48 seconds i think? It seemed as if it was heading into the climax, most of the scenes had much more action in them, were more fast-paced and looked really intense so maybe that shift could show up in your song. Also, towards the end, it almost seems to slow down since the camera fades out between text and images of the house and other slow images. However, the visuals might be less action based but they still give off a feeling of importance to the show. Images from pre-48 seconds seemed more like a bunch of random images, leading up to the climax, almost like a journey of sorts for the characters. The last thing is that the final image with the girl opening the door right before going to the coming soon text seems a little abrupt, maybe you can incorporate that into your song.. or not.

Jake, there is not much to give feedback on, as there are no objectives stated for your project. Thank you for posting the video, but please give a little insight on where you are going with it by tomorrow.

I agree with Almeda, you are losing the best opportunity to have feedback to do a great job.

Sorry about that, I posted some ideas! I've also been talking to a lot of friends to get feedback.

The trailer looks really awesome, and I think it will be very interesting to come up with music for it. I think it is interesting you chose piano as your main melody, as watching the trailer I felt that it was very gritty and dirty, and perhaps the piano (which I think of as a very clean sound) will highlight that darkness. In terms of synthesizers, how are you planning on using that to create a connection with the movie and the audience? You project sounds really neat though!

There are some good ideas here, I would just make sure that if you do anything for the names as they pop up that they don't get too crazy and in your face because I think they're more of an effect than the rest of the trailer where we actually see clips from the movie.

Something that stood out to me visually about the trailer was that a lot of it was very stark and monochromatic. I feel similarly to Laura that the sound of a piano doesn't match what I feel from the trailer (although its color scheme would). I wouldn't say "gritty," but it's certainly intense and sudden, whereas even quick strikes of piano keys create a somewhat lingering note. Something electronic does seem like it would match up better, though, so maybe transforming the sound with a synthesizer will give you the right effect. Definitely try to bring that "switching" effect through; each phrase of music should be relatively simple rather than layered, since each scene is only flashed briefly so we don't get a deep understanding of it, and the emphasis should be on the jarring change from one to the next.

I did think that the original sound in this trailer was a little strange for the intrigue of the film. Your ideas fit very well with the overall feeling of the film and the perhaps something special for the title could be a pause just before, and then a slowed down, more mysterious version of the music used earlier. This trailer was a very good choice, and I think that there is a lot of good stuff to build on.

All right that was really cool. Its so different from the original and yet seems to work pretty well. I like that you've gone for a much simpler sound than Nine Inch Nail's cover of Immigrant Song, and thats a smart move! Honestly, I might even say that your music suits the mood of the movie more than the original.

I liked how your work seems to blend an earthy, classical sound with an electronic sound. You seem to be able to make it work. I was also very impressed by what you did when text came up on the screen towards the end - that was very cool.

A couple of suggestions: Right now, your piece tends to sag around the middle. Due to being as long as it is, you might want to consider adding some more variety more regularly. Maybe try halving the BPM at some opportune moment? Also, while the way you handle text on the screen is impressive, it does seem kind of jarring since the music till that point was rather melodic. If you're going for that kind of surprise, its perfect. If not, consider maybe building up by making your general sound more and more jarring as time progresses?

I'm glad you went with a combination of a few fairly simple, yet quite varied elements. What stands out most about the trailer is that it's a collection of striking visual elements but with nothing particularly deep about the way they're arranged (at least, not that we'd have time to appreciate), so that suits it well.

The thrumming sound at the start is uneasy, like someone nervously awaiting an event, and the rising tones just after reinforce that sense by giving the sense of a revelation. The constant, steady beat clearly matches the blinking images, so that we're anticipating each one as we nod along to the rhythm. The only part I might change is the sound effect with the words at the end--it's jarring, which is appropriate, but I think it could sound "heavier" to go with the bold capitals of the text.

Overall it's a really effective piece, nice job!