What a difference background music makes

[Recoil]

Most of B5 had Chris Franke as the composer for the background music. As many of you know, Crusade had Evan Chan. I just watched A Call to Arms last night, and noticed that Evan was doing the music for that one as well.

The point I am trying to make is it is amazing how background music can set the mood for a scene. Evan's music was just so weird and off to me that it didn't do much for me in the movie. Scenes that should have been very moving...didnt seem as moving as they should have been. The compairson that comes to mind is Sheridan ordering Ramming speed in Endgame, and Capt Anderson ordering Ramming speed in ACtA. Two VERY similar scenes. Both in the way they were filmed, and in overall emotional impact. But the ACtA scene just didnt have the effect that the Endgame one did, and to me, maybe it was the background music. Anyone agree that something so suttle can change a whole mood?

I would like to say, this shouldnt get into a Chris vs Evan debate. I watched Crusade and I DO think Evan had some potential, he just hadn't 'found' the right mix for a B5 show yet. Lest I remind all of you how Chris Franke was in Season 1. Other than his 'And the sky full of stars' piece, most of his Season 1 stuff was weird too. He didnt hit his groove until Season 3 IMO. So I am sure Evan would have been similar, catching on as the series evolved.

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'I don't believe in the no-win scenario' - JTK

 

[Arrghman]

personally i think chen's biggest ...failing i guess is the word i'm looking for? was in the battle sequences... i just didnt get a sense of danger or excitment from them like i did with franke's music

i liked the rest of it though... it really has started to grow on me with the latest rerun of crusade...

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[bakana]

Evan Chen's music has a LOT of Asian influences.
They are unfamiliar to many people who hae heard only European/African influenced music before.
It's the unfamiliarity that causes many people to have problems with it.
It ain't what they Expect.

As far as the "Ramming Speed" comment above, I didn't think it was the Music that was the problem.
It was the way the director had the actor deliver the line. Given the setup that preceded it (I promised my daughter I'd protect her from the monsters...), we should have been moved to tears, Father dying to protect his little girl and all that, but the delivery and pacing just didn't quite work.

Not the music. The director had the actor deliver it wrong.
Or cut it wrong in editing.
It was the timing and mood of the lines that felt just a tiny bit OFF to me, Not the music.



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Do not ascribe your own motivations to others:
At best, it will break your heart.
At worst, it will get you dead."

 

[Kribu]

After re-watching some of Crusade, I'd almost say I like Chen's music better than Franke's.

Sacrilege, I know.

But it worked for me. I found myself listening to the music in Crusade and enjoying it, more often than when watching B5.

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"Isn't the universe an amazing place? I wouldn't live anywhere else." - G'Kar, B5: Rangers
Kribu's Lounge | kribu@ranger.b5lr.com

 

[AntonyF]

I love Chen's music... but in Crusade. In Crusade if fit wonderfull. In "A Call to Arms", it really put me off as to me that's a B5 movie more than it is a Crusade on. Plus I hated when you had music and no effect/speech.

So Chen's music=great. Ita usage=not right at first, IMHO.


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language, sexuality/nudity and drug content.

 

[BlackStar]

...Without getting into the great Crusade VS B5 music brawl, I just want to say I loved the mood set by Chen's music.

It wasn't anywhere near B5, but I think it provided a unique atmosphere, and I enjoyed it for the most part.

I agree, though, that Franke did an excellent job in the latter seasons (e.g. Endgame).

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"Get out of my way, or by God I'll shove you out the airlock!"

 

[Kribu]

Actually, I think it was better in Crusade. I didn't like it all that much in ACtA, too many loud "bangs", I guess.

But in Crusade, it was great.

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"Isn't the universe an amazing place? I wouldn't live anywhere else." - G'Kar, B5: Rangers
Kribu's Lounge | kribu@ranger.b5lr.com

 

[Londos6]

I prefer Chris Franke's music any day, but that's just my opinion. I always thought the music in Crusade was weird and did not enhance the show at all.

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"We Centauri live our lives for appearances. Position, status, title; these are the things by which we define ourselves. But when I look beneath the mask I am forced to wear, I see only emptiness. And then I think of you. And I say to hell with appearances." - Ambassador Londo Mollari, Born to the Purple

 

[Quagmire]

I will say that I prefer early Chen to early Franke. I was distracted by Franke banging on the synthesizer/keyboard/whatever more often in the early B5 eps than by Chen in the early Crusade.

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[GaribaldisHair]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>I will say that I prefer early Chen to early Franke. I was distracted by Franke banging on the synthesizer/keyboard/whatever more often in the early B5 eps than by Chen in the early Crusade.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Definitely. It took some time for CF to hit his stride, but when he did it was stunning. I'm sure that EC would have been the same.

As mentioned in an earlier post, one issue here is that Chen was not just a new and different composer to CF, he also brought with him a completely different style of music that is not simple to grasp for many of us simple Westerners. Personally, I love them both - for different reasons.

JMS is to be roundly applauded for giving Chen a chance where most TV producers would have dismissed the notion out of hand.

And if you are interested in weird, check out some of CF's work with Tangerine Dream.

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DaveC
"Want to talk socks?"

 

[RW7427]

Yeah, I also like how Franke's music could set the mood for a scene. I believe it was well done and went along just great with what was going on on the screen for the most part.

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David Martel: Yeah, well, it made me feel better.

 

[Ivanova]

Honestly, I never noticed that Franke had not done ACtA. I think I probably should have, but...*L* I even think I have an ear for music. Just sort of a funky thing that happened.

I like both Franke's and Chan's music, but I prefer Franke's considerably over Chan's. Franke's has more of a seamless quality, haunting quality in some cases, while Chan's is kind of clanging. I like his too, but it seems a bit coarser.

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[TheInfection]

And Chris Franke liked Chen's music too, after all Sonic Images released the Crusade
-soundtrack.

Sometimes Chen's music worked, sometimes it didn't. In my personal opinion, the music works better in cd.

And you would be amazed how similar Chen's ambience style is with some earlier Tangerine Dream's work (where Franke was for 18 years).

Regards,
TheInfection

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Things change... long time gone by.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

considering rangers, there was one piece of music i liked a much. it was played during the grey council meeting and had a special dark feeling in it.

another one was played during a battlescene later in the movie. it didn´t reminded me of franke. it was IMHO more like hans zimmer. does anybody else noticed that too?

i´ve had to get used to the music of evan chen for ACTA. but i didn´t heard any asian influence in it. it was dominated by jazz-elements all over the score. there were only several scenes on the babylon station where he used some "ping ping ping" (i didn´t study music. so please forgive me that paraphrase

) sound that i didn´t liked. however, during the series he did some cues i liked a lot. he changed his style enough to accompany the scenes properly.

cu
Jesse Custer

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earth´s nature won´t die at our hands. it will just change. so we have to live or die with the consequences.

 

[KoshN]

While I liked Franke's music, I didn't hate Chen's.

e.g. (just from memory, what I can "hear" right now)

Franke, Interludes and Examinations, The forboding music starting when Ivanova's narrarating, and Morden is giving the first guy the diamonds.

Chen, A Call to Arms, The music when the Victory goes to ram the Shadow Deathcloud Control Nexus.


Chen, The Needs of Earth, The music at the end as Gideon is walking down the hall.

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KoshN
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Vorlon Empire
http://www.scifi.com/b5rangers/

[This message has been edited by KoshN (edited January 30, 2002).]