John UM
Animation and music are inseparable. Animation works can gain worldwide support and cannot be separated from the power of music. Today, Japanese animated songs are as widely known as J-POP, and the quality of the soundtrack is not inferior to that of real people. How is the current animation music born?
“Keyboard Magazine” published the “Relationship between Animation and Music” in the fall of 2019. Please go to a number of animated music and animated songs, listen to the testimony of the parties, trace the footprints of the masters, analyze the scores of famous songs, and answer the animation. The process and technique of forming this relationship with music
Composer Kawai Kenji has created a large amount of music in animation, TV series, movies, games and many other fields. It is a major town in the Japanese soundtrack, and he is often able to hear his music in Chinese movies. Kawai is good at perceptual creation, imagining sound from the picture, and then using sound to express the inner aspect of the story. Especially in the original soundtrack of the animation works, his rich sensibility and music have convinced many fans
In his personal profile, Kazui’s composition is a real-life movie “Red Glasses” directed by Oshii Shoji of the Japanese animation industry in 1987. But in fact, before that, he has participated in several animation works, such as OVA “Cosmos Pink Shock” released in 1986
The road that Chuanjing entered the soundtrack was more tortuous. He originally started his musical career as an accompaniment guitarist, and he formed a band to accompany his singers, including the creative singer Nakano Yoshino. Because Nagano provided a piece of music for Seonyu Sanya Yuji, Kawai also met Sanya and became his accompaniment guitarist
Next, Sanya started a musical and found Kawai to make music. A music supervisor saw the musical and found Kawai, and introduced him to meet with his own president, Spoel. Sibo was working as a sound supervisor for Aoi’s “Red Glasses”. When he saw Kawai, he invited him to serve as a soundtrack. The reason is very simple – because Kawai has a complete set of recording equipment in his home, he can complete the recording at home, and the production cost is relatively low
The generation of Kawai is grown up with TV, and of course watching animation. But although he is no stranger to animation, he has no special preferences. So when composing for “Cosmos Pink Shock,” he couldn’t tell the difference between the left and the right. He completely crossed the river by feeling the stones. At the record company’s suggestion, he finally completed the task
Because of the fate of “Red Glasses,” he established a relationship with Spoel’s company, and successively served as “A moment of gathering” (1986), “Mobile Police PATLABOR” (1988), “Ranma 1/2” The second stage (1989) and other classic masterpieces of music, unwittingly entered the animation music industry. However, he is treating the work with the attitude of “the person who refuses to come”. He does not care whether the work he is taking is an animation or a real person. He believes that all works are for one session
When creating music for an animation, the sound supervisor will send a request to the composer to indicate what kind of scene the music is to be used in. The animation hardly completes the screen in advance like a live TV drama, so Kawai does not know which scene to use for his music, and how to use it. The only ones that can be used as materials are demand orders, split mirrors, and people. He will make music that meets the needs based on these materials
Therefore, animated composers must have understanding and imagination. Different audio supervisors have different ways of writing demand orders. Some people will give meticulous descriptions, and others will write very abstract. Therefore, the composer needs to imagine: “Although the demand list is written like this, if I use this sound, I can definitely use other scenes.”
Two-quarter animation requires 50~60 songs. Different supervisors use different music, some people use music in the whole film, and some people prefer to take pictures, so they can’t be generalized. If it is a long series, the same song will be used repeatedly. Therefore, it is very important to write a music that is highly versatile and easy to edit
The music will be used repeatedly, and it will be the same in the long series of live-action works. However, the reality film is basically to complete the creation of the music before the music is created. When composing, you can clearly know that you want to write “such music used in this scene.” Moreover, the supervisor himself often gives specific instructions, so there is no need to think too much about generality. The animation is different. Although sometimes you can see the camera in advance, Kawai tells the truth, he can’t understand much. Therefore, it can be said that the original soundtrack of a live-action movie is better written than an animation
But the music of Oshii’s works is different. Aizu attaches great importance to music. He once said: “Half of the film is about sound.” In Kawai’s opinion, although Emei is very concerned about the details, at the same time, the range that can be tolerated is very liberal. When Kawai felt that “it wouldn’t be cool to do so”, when he handed in the music, even if the music and the well were imagined 180° in the opposite direction, the embarrassment would give an “ah, good” evaluation
Of course, this 180° opposite situation has basically not happened, but occasionally because of poor communication, it will lead to the difference between the finished music and the well. But in this case, they can also actively discuss and correct the track. Therefore, Kawai believes that although the two people are completely different in character, they are very similar to the sound
The popular animated film “Ghost in the Shell / Ghost in the Shell” released in 1995 was produced in close communication with Oshii. From receiving the demand to actually starting the recording, the interval was more than a month, giving Chuan Jingxian enough time to think
Azu was raised at the beginning and wanted to use “Taiwan with ethnic customs.” Kawai got the Indian drum for this. However, relying on the drums is not enough to support a movie. Kawai thinks about the elements that can be combined with the drums. I thought of the Bulgarian folk chorus that was just popular in Japan at that time. So he contacted Bulgaria directly to ask if he could sing for this movie. But the Bulgarian singer said that they sang folk songs and would not sing something that was written as a staff
Just when Iwai didn’t know how to be good, the original soundtrack of another animation he was responsible for was recorded by the Scorpion Orchestra. Chuanjing heard their screams very handsome, trying to ask these people to sing their own songs and record them. When Isai was very satisfied, he decided to adopt it
However, at the time, the folk songs were not written as a precedent for harmony singing, and there was absolutely no object to be referenced. This is no more, Oshi also said that “the lyrics are best in Japanese, but also in the language. Kawai, you come to write a word.” Chuanjing knows nothing about this. In the library, he turned over the “Ancient Events” and “Wan Ye Ji”, and wrote the lyrics in a thin ice
This music can be established without any exact guarantee. Although they were very satisfied with the work, they did not know what the people around they thought, and they were completely upset
As of today, the theme music “謡” of “Ghost in the Shell” has become an important pillar of this work. However, in 1995, no one gave a response, no one said good, no one said bad. Until Kawai was once invited to France, the locals said: “The music of the Ghost in the Shell is awesome.” Kawai was the first to let go
Chuanjing will of course care about the surrounding evaluation, but what he cares about is not so much the evaluation of music, but more of the evaluation of video works. He believes that music is secondary, and the most important thing is whether music is suitable for the picture. He is a self-contained musician, and unlike artists, he is not interested in music himself. He does not express himself by music, but wants to be a craftsman who can strictly produce music according to customer needs
It is not easy to make music that matches the customer’s intentions. What is needed, not so much technology, is more information. Kawai claims that he can’t be born out of nothing, so the more information he can get when composing, the more happy he is
In TV animation, he values the intent of the show. Many times, from the demand list and the split mirror, I don’t see how the supervisor wants to play the scene. If you don’t understand the intent of the show, you can’t write it. He will try to get as much information as possible with the sound supervision and supervision
Kawai said that he wrote the music for the performance scene, and how to perform depends on supervision. For example, there will be times when the screen is fighting, but I hope that the music will not fight, but the feeling of being a jazz. Therefore, Kawai wants to know what supervision is all about, and must communicate with the sound supervisor who is proficient in music
In the many works of the Kawai soundtrack, there was a scene in which a father and son used each other to use golf clubs. At that time, very popular music was used. However, there was a lens that took a long shot and started the whole house. At that moment, the volume of the music became smaller, giving the impression that music is played in the house. This method of using music is that Kawai did not expect it at all, and he felt that he was “set aside” and was very surprised