Music in Movies

"Music and movies have lasted longer than any marriage in Hollywood."
-Charlize Theron, Movies Rock


A 2-hour special on CBS last Dec. 7th, Movies Rock celebrated the most memorable songs from films over the years. Performers included John Legend and Mary J. Blige singing "As Time Goes by" from Casablanca, Usher performing "Singin' in the Rain" from the movie of the same title - to name a few. Near the end of the show, there was a video of Martin Scorsese talking about the importance of the movie's score in filmmaking. And Harrison Ford introduced film composer and 45-time Oscar nominee John Williams as his former co-star that never appeared in the movie. Which makes sense, music is actually another character in a film. It's this thing that you don't see but affects your mood while watching the movie. I admit to not noticing the score in the movie most of the time, yet it still enhances my viewing experience.

I recently made a video with characters having actual dialogue for the first time, and let me tell you, that was one of the most difficult editing experiences of my life. Shooting indoors is fine as long as you have the acoustics worked out. But outdoors, in the middle of DC with vehicles zooming past, on a windy day, is another story. While editing the video, I knew I had to rely heavily on background music. Mainly because I wanted to cover up some of the noise because Final Cut is not really famous for editing audio. It's brilliant for video... but that's about it. So I took a lot of sound effects and scores from iMovie and a few from the Heroes DVD (since the video was like a spoof on that show).

What a difference the music made. No, I still didn't get to clean the noise out. I just took audio out from any non-speaking shots and put in background music. But that actually set the mood for some of the scenes. Like in one of the earlier scenes, so as not to distract the viewers from the noisy trucks passing by and the wind gusting through our ghetto boom mic (pictured), I took the audio out and replaced it with a suspenseful background music from iMovie. It helped because in that scene the character was walking down the street (in "Hong Kong"), yet kept stopping because he felt that somebody was following him.

The video's far from perfect as everything was done in a short of amount of time. But even though it was not one of my best, I still find the project important because it was a learning experience for me. Mental note: next time rent a real boom mic and get something to block the wind. Also, get glasses (which I did recently after this experience) to notice the smudges on the lens filter during the shoot and not during editing when you don't have time for a re-shoot anymore. But most of all, I learned the importance of music in movies. It's not just to cover something up but to set the mood and enhance the viewing experience.

Watching Movies Rock made me think of a few of my favorite scores and songs in films:

• The score from Jaws - whenever I hear the "dum dum dum dum..." I feel like I have to look around. That was such a classic moment in the film that up to now it's still part of pop culture.
  
• Tara's Theme from Gone With the Wind - one perfect example of how you don't have to have dialogue or lyrics to tell the story. The marriage of music (especially the strings) and Vivien Leigh's facial expressions were all that took to let the viewer feel that through the challenges and sufferings of war, you will still find hope.
• Singin' in the Rain - iconic. For me the best and most creative choreography in a movie. And that was just done by one man. Even Usher - one the best entertainers in the world right now - admitted that he had a difficult time trying to re-create it. Watching it makes me want to take tap dancing classes. And anything that gets me to consider learning how to dance, is something magical.
  
• And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going from Dreamgirls - this was a good combination of music, acting and simple yet powerful cinematography. But the acting of Jennifer Hudson was the one that affected me the most as a viewer. Sure it may have been more difficult for Ms. Jennifer Holliday doing it live on Broadway almost every night. But I didn't see it.
  
• The score from Schindler's List - "The very famous and very sad violin solo stands out as a single voice of plead that represents millions of ordinary Jewish people who lost their lives in the holocaust." Couldn't have said it better myself.
• The score from Ringu - the original Japanese version of The Ring was so creepier than the Hollywood version mainly because of the score. It's like this scratching/screeching thing that I couldn't figure out and sounds so low tech but it scared me out of my seat. Seriously. I almost choked on a nacho and I have 2 of my friends that can attest to that.
• The Sound of Music (pictured) - come on, how can I not place this? Oscar winner everybody. I love the first part of the movie where it shows beautiful shots of Salzburg (been there woohoo! Thanks CFC!), and then the music builds up and suddenly you're on top of a mountain and Julie Andrews is twirling around. Amazing cinematography, amazing first scene. It hooks the audience at the start of the movie. And sometimes, that's all you need.
• The score from the Indiana Jones movies - every time I hear that I feel like I wanna chase a train or jump on rocks or something.
  

I know there are a lot more great songs (Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany's, the theme from Shaft, Disney songs, As Time Goes By from Casablanca) and scores (Psycho, Gladiator, LOTR, Star Wars, Back to the Future). But this entry is running long as it is.

Oh there's no place like home for the holidays

My level of homesickness goes up every December due to the bajillion Christmas celebrations happening in the Philippines this time of the year. As they say, the pre-dominantly Catholic country celebrates the longest Christmas season.

So to deal with this, I will list out the things I miss the most from back home during the holidays:

• Parols - those colorful stars, lit up by the bulbs inside them. I hardly see those here because they're expensive.
• Puto bumbong - buying a couple of warm puto bumbongs after a Simbang Gabi mass, with coconut on top and that brown powdery sugar... ooh and butter melting on top of it too... mmm...
• Simbang gabi - waking up at the crack of dawn, wearing a jacket, feeling the cool breeze as we walk to church, fighting off my heavy eyelids later that day.
• Choirs singing Christmas songs - we all know there are hundreds of versions of Christmas songs. But for me, nothing beats the version of a simple church choir's. I heard a rock version of O Come All Ye Faithful on 91.9 and my mind went "NOOOO..." I thank God and Toyota for the option of changing to another radio station. I know there are church choirs here, but I heard them more frequently back home. Probably because back then we would attend special masses in school and so of course the choir would sing Christmas songs, while the rest of the students are forced to sing along. If you don't comply, you will get a stern look from your teacher.
  
• ABS-CBN's Christmas special - what can I say, I am a sucker for Christmas songs. Even if most of them lip sync it. I make an exception during the holidays because they wear nicer clothes.
• Christmas shopping at ATC - the thing I love about this mall (aside from it being 15 minutes from our house) is that it's not one big building. It's open, outdoorsy... I don't feel claustrophobic even with the holiday crowd. Since it's not cold in the Philippines, I love walking around this mall and taking in the ambience, oftentimes seeing a familiar face - may it be a relative or an old high school classmate.
• Driving around Alabang to see the Christmas lights - they have more money over there so they have the better decorations.
  
• The weather - it's ridiculously hot in the Philippines, but come December that's when the cold air comes in. And when I say cold, I mean 70's.
• Christmas party at school - being forced to bring a food for potluck and a gift for Kris Kringle, then just sitting on an armchair while eating cold spaghetti and puto because what else is there to do in a small classroom. On the upside, we don't get to wear uniforms that day, wheee!
• Sound of Music marathon on RPN 9 - I still don't get the connection between the movie and Christmas (family?), but I got so used to watching it in December that I think I want to pop it in the DVD player tonight and watch, with a cup o' hot chocolate.
• Watching Christmas specials w/ the family at the living room - nobody wants to watch anything with me anymore. Geez. Maybe it has something to do with the shape of the living room here, and with the TV only fitting in one corner, it's got a weird angle pointing to the couches. Plus the TV's size is small if you look at its distance from the couches. Sometimes you can't hear much either because of the bad acoustics in the living room. Also, I analyze too much.
• Metro Manila Film Festival - okay, so, before I used to laugh at the movies being shown on that filmfest. It was like this festival where production companies can boast which of them got the bigger stars (though not exactly the best movie you can take seriously - I cannot count how many song & dance numbers these movies have shown at the end). But then when they started making quality films, starting with Jose Rizal, I took notice. Since then the MMFF became one of the things I looked forward to during the holidays, to see Philippine cinema's best movies of the year.
• "Helping" my mom bake goodies to give as gifts to family friends - and when I say "help," I mean taste the batter while watching the MMFF Parade of the Stars.
• Delivering gifts around the village - I didn't like it back then because I was scared of dogs chasing me, but I miss it now. Bring on the german shepherds!
  
• Anticipated mass at Christmas Eve - with the choir at their best and the church is at its crowdest, this is my favorite mass of the year. After that the kids get to run to the baby Jesus and kiss his feet, and the rest of us greet the other churchgoers, who we've grown up with, a merry Christmas.
• Christmas morning at home - being the first one to wake up and impatiently wait for everyone else; eating cheese (if we're lucky, Amsterdam cheese!), ham, crepes and ensaymada for breakfast; delivering gifts to our next door neighbors/relatives; waiting for them to wake up as well; and choosing the best thing to wear for Christmas lunch with my relatives.
• Trip to Baguio - I think this is where my love for road trips started. 7 hours in a van with my family and/or cousins. Going up to the house in the cold mountains of Baguio. Playing cards inside the house while exchanging ghost stories. Waking up to the smell of Baguio longganisa, fried eggs and garlic rice. Bowling with my cousins. Making cardboard sleds and riding on them. Buying peanut brittle and ube jam from Good Shepherd. Buying sweaters from tiangges. Getting some ice cream from Camp John Hay even though it's already cold over there. Horse back riding that just goes around in circles. Biking... that just goes around in circles.
  
• New Year's Eve - going to mass then getting home to smell the scent of garlic bread and baked macaroni wafting through the air, some of the food we would eat for the New Year's Eve celebration we always had at home with the relatives that live next door; hiding in my room because the fireworks scare me (they are really loud over there) until my cousins would drag me out so everybody could start eating; going to the other 2 houses next door with Tito Gene throwing coins in his house and Tito Noel in his house (I would later on use the coins I collected at a nearby sari-sari store); drinking Asti Martini at Tito Gene's when I got older.