Composing : Berlin International Film Scoring Competition - halfway point by Cyril Pineau

Congratulations on scoring your first project and reaching the halfway point, Cyril Pineau! It's incredible! It sounds like I'm in a forest, and I really like how the score changes from calm, to intense, etc.!

Thank you Maurice Vaughan ;)

This is beautiful. Did you do the sound design too or just the music score?

You're welcome, Cyril Pineau. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of your score!

Emmanuel Obiejemba I just did the music score. For this competition, three sound designs are offered, and the musician can choose the one that suits them best. Thank you so much for your feedback :) - I'm really worried that the articulations might be a bit limited with the orchestral library I'm using.

Cyril Pineau Nevertheless, this sounds good enough.

Fun project! What sort of tools do you use?

Ville Hilden For the DAW: LMMS (I know it sounds noobish, but I love this tool...). I developed a simple little VST plugin to add a video track within the tool. For libraries, mainly "Berlin Free Orchestra" from Orchestral Tools (via VeSTige) + a few good SF2 instruments.

Amazing work!!!

Like the light sounds at the beginning.

At 2:02 - until the end I think it needs more intensity. Probably more instruments and minor chords - not so much major chords.

c minor, C Eb G or A min - A C E are examples for minor chords -

What software are you using - DAW and the free sounds ? Did you make any hit points. ?

Hit points are interesting places to have new music or in your case .. those two silent places near the beginning are great !!

Keep this creative energy flowing for sure !

This one guy I’m learning from said to make

Emotional hit points as well- not only logical or where scenes change.

Keep up the good … long work ! Yes - I know it takes a while. My first competition piece was 12 mins long and working, etc … it took me a month - even with Sibelius 7.5.

I use Dorico Pro 5.1 now - or sometimes for these short examples we’re making - we make music right in the DAW. It’s harder to remember keys and the chords - though it’s possible !

I found a way to print a track’s notes from

Logic Pro.

I did Gravity without much looking at tracks -

It’s on my website as well as YouTube.

Seems you have a good knack at moving things / melody along with the characters on screen!

K. Kennard

Thanks a lot Kerry Kennard for taking the time to write such detailed feedback, really appreciate it!

Yes, I totally agree about the section around 2:02. I also felt it needed a darker harmonic direction, and your suggestion about reinforcing it with more minor chords makes perfect sense. I’ll rework that part and try to build more tension there.

As for the tools: I’m currently working in LMMS, mostly with free Orchestral Tools libraries. I even developed a small VST plugin to synchronize the video inside LMMS. It’s definitely not the easiest setup for writing to picture, but I’m slowly shaping my workflow. I did highlight a few hit points, especially those two silent moments (glad you noticed!), and I tried to underline them with more intense percussion, although I know that approach isn’t the most subtle.

I also really like your idea about emotional hit points, not just structural ones. That’s something I really want to explore, especially since there’s a significant shift later in the short film in the cat’s attitude toward its attackers. I’ll have to make good use of that.

Thanks again for the encouragement. It really helps keep motivation up! I’ll check out your Gravity piece as well.

I loved this Cyril Pineau I think you used alot of ingenuity with your instrument library and there is no way I'd guess this was free libraries