In order to set the Guinness World Record for a crowd created video game performance, and to let more musicians participate in our mad adventure, we've extended the submission deadline for our crowd created HALO THEME until March 29th, 2016.
Of course, if you can get your video in by the original deadline of March 15th, that would be great too!
As of now we have received videos from Garland Utah, Barcelona, Malaysia, Mexico, Kuala Lumpur, Sardinia, Canada, and more - with pledges from just about every cornier of the globe. This is truly an exciting time to be a musician - collaborating with such a far reaching orchestra.
Just for fun, two of our "Works in Progress"
First, iDIG repeat offenders Mark Scholl (Drums) and Joe Pignato (Guitar)
And our friend Andrew Overfield from the UK sent us this video. I'll be posting others as we get closer. Check it out!
For any of you coming late to the party, here is the instruction blog on how to participate.
Finally, if you will be in Dublin during our Dublin International Game Music Festival (April 29 - May 1st, 2016) get tickets (and more information) here:
Video Games Live Returns to Headline, The 2nd Annual Dublin International Game Music Festival April 29 - May1, 2016 get tickets for 2016
The Plan for 2016:
Days 1 and 2: Seminars and Smaller Concerts at the RDS
On April 29th and 30th, attendees will gather at the RDS Convention Center for two days of concerts and presentations relating to video game music, video games, and their creation.
Live Music: Performances on the RDS auditorium stage will feature talents such as "The Triforce Quartet," "The Spooney Bards," and "The Dublin Chamber Ensemble," among others.
The impetus to create "The Celtic Link" was born at the 2015 festival, when the audience themselves, so moved by the DIT Ensemble's performance of the great game music themes, insisted the DIT ensemble needed to be recorded and a CD released. A successful Kickstarter campaign followed.
Seminars: The musical performances will be interspersed with numerous seminars designed for aspiring game music creators, performers and fans. Included will be:
A presentation on new game music technology by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Composer Neal Acree will show and discuss his work from many of the stunning Blizzard trailers and cinematics.
A preview of "Conductrix, A View from the Podium," Eimear Noone's upcoming 3D and VR conducting tutorials.
A handful of select Irish game developers will show off their latest projects.
One of the highlights from the seminars of 2015 was the composer "Demo Derby." For the derby, 15 composers had their music played for the audience and our panel of visiting composers. Our composers then gave advice and critiqued the composer's work.
In 2015 only an hour was scheduled for this event, but due to the number of composers that wanted to participate but couldn't, this year the Demo Derby will be extended to at least 2 hours.
Scheduled for the evening of April 30th, we will bring back our "Cosball" (cosplay ball) to a local Dublin nightclub where we will give away prizes for the best costumes and play dance remixes of our favorite game music.
Once again, on May 1st, 8:00 PM, at the Convention Center Dublin, Video Games Live will take the auditorium stage for a very special presentation.
Half orchestral concert, half rock and roll blow out, Video Games Live will perform the great game themes such as Skyrim, Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft Montage, Kingdom Hearts, and more, accompanied by synchronized gameplay images and lights.
For this performance, all of our visiting composers will conduct their own works - a rare treat to experience for the game music fan.
World Premier Performances
In year one of the iDIG festival, during the Video Games Live show, there were a number of World Premier performances. One of these was the first of its kind, "Crowd Created" version of a game music theme.
Featuring legendary game music performer, "Malukah" (over 60 Million YouTube views), a world wide crowd created orchestra joined forces with Eimear Noone and 134 musicians and singers on stage to perform Eimear Noone's "Malach" from "World of Warcraft, Warlords of Draenor." The resulting video has since had 76K+ views on YouTube and over 1.5 million views around the world.
For 2016, the iDIG Music Festival has an even greater video challenge planned for their Video Games Live show. The team is currently attempting to set a Guinness Book of World Record for the most number of individuals to ever contribute to a single music video.
With this goal in mind, for 2016 the festival has chosen to re-create the "Theme from HALO" as their star composition.
On February 3rd, 2016, the approvals came through and now the mad dash has begun to distribute parts and collect videos from musicians around the world. You can read more about this endeavor, or sign up to participate, at this link:
A festival ticket gains access to the two day festival on April 29th and 30th, and the Video Games Live show on May 1st. Festival tickets start at €85.
A limited number of Video Games Live Only tickets are also available. Video Games Live Tickets start at €40.
In April of 2015, the inaugural Dublin International Game Music Festival (iDIG Music Fest) brought some of the most well respected talent in the video game music industry to Dublin for a three day celebration of the art-form.
In attendance were Grammy winner Christopher Tin (Civilization), Russell Brower (Audio and Music Director for Blizzard Games; World of Warcraft, et all), Neal Acree (Blizzard Cinematic Composer), Eimear Noone (Blizzard Composer and Conductor) Craig Stuart Garfinkle (Blizzard and Baldur's Gate DA II composer) video game performers Jillian and Andrew Aversa, piano virtuoso J.J. McNamara and many more.
All of the 2015 attendees have pledged to attend in 2016 (subject to availability), along with some soon to be announced additional guests!
The majestic "Kilconnell Abbey" is perhaps the best preserved Franciscan Friary in the world, the oldest portions dating back to the 6th century. Located in Kilconnell, East Galway, Ireland, to this day it serves as a living monument to the community and is a direct link to its history.
For me, it was also the perfect backdrop of a bit of fun.
As previously mentioned in this blog, as part of my UCLA film composition classes, I always discussed "Point of View" (POV) as a major compositional choice when approaching an image. If you have not seen the previous post, you may want to read that before continuing here.
As an addition to that earlier post, and to illustrate another use of point of view, in this film, I took the same video and scored it two ways; both ways are comedic, but each is vastly different from the other.
In the first instance, I chose music that takes the POV of the "uninitiated observer." The audience hasn't a clue as to what is really happening in the video so they look to the music to tell themselves how to react to what they are seeing . In this case, the music is saying there is danger everywhere.
The sweetness of the toddler's face and the title ("Terrible Twos") lets us know there's no real danger in the Abbey to the child, and actually, to many this music might make us fear that the danger is reversed. The suspense in the music says, "What is the kid going to do to the Abbey!"
The humor is drawn from how over the top the music is and how uncomfortable it makes us feel.
In the second version, the music is much lighter and fun. The POV of this music is of the "omniscient observer;" it's a direct interpretation of what we are seeing with full knowledge of its context.
With this music, we all see the video for what it is: a cute kid riding his tricycle up to the Abbey to go exploring - perhaps with a bit of mischievousness in his heart but certainly no danger. The humor isn't "ha ha" funny, it's just a light-hearted chuckle.
Which musical interpretation is better? Which is more valid?
We as film composers constantly struggle with this concept. How much do we telegraph the film's context in the music? When is writing funny music against a funny image killing the funny? Where is the line between writing scary music that inspires fear versus scary music that inspires laughter? It's in answering these questions that the art and craft of film scoring separates itself from the art of simply writing great music.
Like this post? Check out my other music tech posts!
In addition to our concerts, the iDIG Music Festival offers opportunities to get "hands-on" experience with the tools of the video game composer.
We've already announced the technical demo by "World of Warcraft" composer, Craig Stuart Garfinkle, the conducting seminar from Eimear Noone, and the composer presentations from our visiting VIP's.
It is now our pleasure to now add "Push Playground" to our expo!
The Martin Clancy “Ableton Push Gaming Composition Workshop” is a drop-in music lab where you can try Push and Ableton Live for yourself and get expert advice and guidance from artists and trainers while composing your own unique gaming soundtrack.
Ableton Live is an innovative music software that focuses on improvisation and live performance alongside time honored recording techniques.
Ableton Practitioners include Deadmau5, Daft Punk, M83, Hot Chip, Nine Inch Nails.
No musical experience needed as Martin says ‘All you need is imagination.’
Martin and the trainers have some real treats in store for festival attendees. More exciting details to follow…..
Tickets for the Dublin International Game Music Festival: Http://www.idigmusicfest.com
It is such a pleasure to share the first of Eímear Noone's compositions to be released from "Warlords of Draenor." It's a piece from the zone of Gorgrond, entitled, "The Foundry."
For those of you who might be keeping track, for the past nine years Eimear has been my partner in everything, our finest collaboration being our son Eliam, born last September.
But both of us being a part of the composition team for "Warlords of Draenor"is also something to be celebrated. The Blizzard collaboration of writers, artists, directors, composers, sound designers… a bottomless list of exceptional talent; what a joy it has been to be able to work together at such a fantastic level of creativity.
This project also marks the first time Eimear has lent her own formidable composition talents into the "World of Warcraft" franchise. Again, for those in the know, Eimear has been a part of the team as a conductor and orchestrater since the first game - which makes this all the more special.
A big thanks to the entire Blizzard team for bringing us along for the ride, and a special thanks to our leader in all things, the exceptional Russell Brower for giving us this opportunity to shine.
Are you a Video Game Music fan? Join our mailing list us through the box at the very top right, and we will send you a free MP3. Just let us know if you'd like a track from "Baldur's Gate, The Dark Alliance II," or the bonus track from Eimear's "Hibernian" Mini EP. Just let us know which you would like.
