All 14 minutes of the lush score, recorded by the mighty Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, are being released by Moviescore Media and will be available as a digital download either directly from them, or from Amazon US, Amazon UK, and many other outlets.
To quote from Moviescore Media's press release:
"MovieScore Media finds love (and great film scores) in the most unusual places - this time we release a digital EP by award-winning composer Stuart Hancock who once again proves that small films do not necessarily have small scores - in fact, a symphonic orchestral score can do wonders to fill the 2-D animated characters with life! Performed by the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, The Last Belle is a rich, colourful and versatile score which gives you an emotional rollercoaster in just 14 minutes. The music follows the two parallel storylines, alternating between a hopeless romantic ("I’ve Got Myself a Date!", "Giddy Rosie", "Finding Love in London") and a carnivalesque rush which sounds like the most insane moments of Danny Elfman’s career ("Going Down the Tubes", "Rushing to Ripov’s" ). The score recently won the Gold Medal at the prestigious Park City Film Music Festival, Utah."
If you'll pardon the mixed metaphors, it's the perfect Christmas stocking-filler for your ears..!
Very cool! Did you have the music done before the animation, or after?
ReplyDeleteAll the music was added after the film had been edited. While I was animating the film I knew I wanted certain sequences to have a strong musical element to them, but I had no idea of the exact style or rhythm of the music at that stage. It took me more than a year of looking before I finally found the composer Stuart Hancock, and after a quick chat he got exactly the feel I was after. For example, I had envisioned the final sequence of Wally bouncing back across the rooftops of London to his apartment as a 'violent' bit of slapstick, but I always wanted the music accompanying this to be balletic and elegant. Stuart immediately got what I was after and delivered the beautiful waltz-time music that now goes with that sequence. Collaborating with a composer in this way was incredibly fun and exciting - music has always been a massively important part of the film experience for me, and I really think it can make or break a film... I feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to collaborate with a composer of Stuart's calibre on this project.
DeleteThanks for writing Marc!
Pretty interesting. I've always loved animation set to music like in Fantasia, Melody Time, etc. but I'm not using any music at all in my student film. I'd have loved to use music but the animatic was funnier without it. Maybe next time!
DeleteI hope the feature you're developing is going well. I heard you're still working on it, which is a good sign, right?
Sure, sometimes things work better in complete silence... I don't think there are any rules - it just comes down to whatever works!
DeleteYes, the feature is still actively being developed. I can't say more about it now, but I can say it is the best script for an animated film I've ever read (by Frank Cottrell Boyce, based upon a book by Michael Morpurgo) and it's going to make an amazing, exciting and emotional film!