That loud BUUUUUNNGHHGH noise in movies

[Objectable]

The Inception foghorn is not a foghorn. Its a song.
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Its that song slowed down to an extreme length.

 

[Voulan]

The truth is that there is actually no BUUUUUNNGGHHGGHH Sound in those movies. You are just going mental.

Yeah, it's Inception, and the purpose of it was that it was a note taken from a piece of classical music that was slowed way down, because that's what they thought it would sound like if you were hearing background music while asleep (especially with the whole time moving slower plotpoint)

Being successfully implemented, it has now been stolen and repeated in new situations which lack the original thought or intention, meaning it's pretty pointless and completely misses why the thing was interesting in the first place.

I didn't actually know that, it's nice to see that its original intention was actually well thought out and thematic.

The only really annoying sound in films that gets to me is the constant use of the Wilhelm Scream. It's on bloody everything, and it's always glaringly obvious. I don't care if it's supposed to be a gimmick or a joke, it completely ruins the moment for me.

 

[Moloch Sacrifice]

I think we're all barking up the wrong tree here. Clearly, they hired a Reaper to do a voiceover for the trailer.

 

[Seracen]

Supes and Bats making fun of the "Inception Foghorn."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeWpCJruFlw

Specifically around 1:02

BWAHAHAHAHA!!! Priceless.

One of my friends and I were trolling around, and replaced that "BWAAAAH!!" with Reaper groans, haha.

 

[kyuzo3567]

I think we're all barking up the wrong tree here. Clearly, they hired a Reaper to do a voiceover for the trailer.

Thats all I can think of when I hear it is that there is a Reaper somewhere offscreen.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I hardly notice it, but then I tend to wait until movies are released on 'flix or cheap on DVD before watching. There are a rare few I shell out cash for theater viewing, and only because I'm fairly sure they're worth the overpriced tickets and popcorn.
One thing that I do notice though, and it makes me wonder about movie producers, when they release trailers for less-than-great movies they tend to put all the best jokes or scene clips in the trailer... And the sad part is the general movie-watching public still praises those movies. Some people are herd animals and go with the flow and folks who actually have their own tastes not dictated by the standard media are few and far between.
So in answer to the OP, that Inception noise is to let the sheeple know that this is a movie they must see. The rest of us catch it for what it is and wait to see it when it is cheap or "free". Its a Pavlovian (or maybe we should call it Nolanian?) response.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

He doesn't even write his own music! He hums it and has someone else write it down for him, because he doesn't know how! He might be good if he weren't too lazy to learn how to do his own job!

I'm not a particular fan of Zimmer, but I don't know why 'no formal training' and 'can't write his own music' should in any way hamper the music he or his studio creates. It's not likely his music would get any better if he did it the 'proper way'.

And do we require even musicians to have university degree today?

Anyway, IMHO Zimmer can do great stuff if he's not supposed to come up with a whole damn soundtrack. His Crimson Tide score was quite amazing. When watching that movie, I had to stop and look up who made the music. The Crysis 2 title is also pretty much the only memorable thing about that game. It's when it comes to full-blown soundtracks like The Dark Knight and Inception it becomes an annoying meh.

We're talking about writing music for a symphony orchestra here, that requires a /massive/ amount of knowledge, it's not comparable at all to a rock or pop band, where you can kind of get away without knowing your theory.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

There's "having a talent for tunes" and "writing your own songs," then there's writing for an orchestra. We're talking about 50 some odd instruments (unique that is, there's quite a few more musicians involved), every one of which you need to know the range and appropriate techniques for, plus how to communicate what you want done to the musicians. This is not writing a song for your garage band.

 

[FalloutJack]

I've no idea what anyone's talking about, unless it's the sound Deadite spirits make, thusly...

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

We're talking about writing music for a symphony orchestra here, that requires a /massive/ amount of knowledge, it's not comparable at all to a rock or pop band, where you can kind of get away without knowing your theory.

Why not? Obviously you can. If Zimmer has a talent for 'tunes' (which he clearly has, whether we like his style or not), why should he waste time writing it down when he can get someone who has a talent for writing music down on a sheet of paper? Composers have been doing that since forever by the way so it's nothing new.

BTW I personally know a few people who write their own songs and don't know the first thing about notes.

It's like with storytelling. If someone can think of great story but is simply too clumsy or has no patience to write them down, does it mean the story aren't worth it? Why not just record those stories on a tape and have someone else type them?

I'd prefer artist to think about their art and not drown in paperwork.

Must have hit the reply button instead of quote by mistake. See above. The argument you're giving has some merit when you're talking about a garage band. It's totally spurious on the scale that Zimmer works on.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I've no idea what anyone's talking about, unless it's the sound Deadite spirits make, thusly...

Nice choice. I am quite literally watching Army of Darkness as I write this.

 

[lacktheknack]

We're talking about writing music for a symphony orchestra here, that requires a /massive/ amount of knowledge, it's not comparable at all to a rock or pop band, where you can kind of get away without knowing your theory.

Why not? Obviously you can. If Zimmer has a talent for 'tunes' (which he clearly has, whether we like his style or not), why should he waste time writing it down when he can get someone who has a talent for writing music down on a sheet of paper? Composers have been doing that since forever by the way so it's nothing new.

BTW I personally know a few people who write their own songs and don't know the first thing about notes.

It's like with storytelling. If someone can think of great story but is simply too clumsy or has no patience to write them down, does it mean the story aren't worth it? Why not just record those stories on a tape and have someone else type them?

I'd prefer artist to think about their art and not drown in paperwork.

Then he shouldn't write for an orchestra, because it's nothing but logistics and paperwork.

It has literally nothing to do with "talent for tunes" and "writing music without note knowledge", and everything to do with "Oh dear God, you brown-noted the flutes and oboes, the clarinetists passed out and the trombones are sticking voodoo dolls now".

Writing for an orchestra without understanding how the sounds interact is immensely frustrating, and it's not something you "just know". I spent two years preparing for ONE theory test, and I'm still not that great at getting instruments playing nice without getting some really odd sounds. So yeah, sure he can pass his basic musical idea to someone else for them to arrange for an orchestra, but I hardly respect him as a "songwriter" for that.

Deny if all you want, but seeing how I'm the one with some music education background and dabbling in composition, you're not going to somehow "make me see the light".

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

We're talking about writing music for a symphony orchestra here, that requires a /massive/ amount of knowledge, it's not comparable at all to a rock or pop band, where you can kind of get away without knowing your theory.

Why not? Obviously you can. If Zimmer has a talent for 'tunes' (which he clearly has, whether we like his style or not), why should he waste time writing it down when he can get someone who has a talent for writing music down on a sheet of paper? Composers have been doing that since forever by the way so it's nothing new.

BTW I personally know a few people who write their own songs and don't know the first thing about notes.

It's like with storytelling. If someone can think of great story but is simply too clumsy or has no patience to write them down, does it mean the story aren't worth it? Why not just record those stories on a tape and have someone else type them?

I'd prefer artist to think about their art and not drown in paperwork.

Then he shouldn't write for an orchestra, because it's nothing but logistics and paperwork.

It has literally nothing to do with "talent for tunes" and "writing music without note knowledge", and everything to do with "Oh dear God, you brown-noted the flutes and oboes, the clarinetists passed out and the trombones are sticking voodoo dolls now".

Writing for an orchestra without understanding how the sounds interact is immensely frustrating, and it's not something you "just know". I spent two years preparing for ONE theory test, and I'm still not that great at getting instruments playing nice without getting some really odd sounds. So yeah, sure he can pass his basic musical idea to someone else for them to arrange for an orchestra, but I hardly respect him as a "songwriter" for that.

Deny if all you want, but seeing how I'm the one with some music education background and dabbling in composition, you're not going to somehow "make me see the light".

Thanks for this. I majored in music in college for a year myself, primary instrument classical guitar. I've been on both sides of the fence as far as intuiting/having a solid basis in theory, and I know from experience talent can only take you so far without the theory. Like I said above, you can intuit a garage band. Not so much an orchestra.

Edit: Also I have nowhere near enough theory under my belt to even attempt an orchestral arrangement. I'd be out of my element with a string quartet, for that matter. Vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and synth? Sure, I can do that. I can even transcribe the parts for you, I know enough theory for that. But not an orchestra. Also even with that rock band setup, I'd be better off giving the drummer a framework and letting him fill in the details, because I'm not well grounded in percussion.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Must have hit the reply button instead of quote by mistake. See above. The argument you're giving has some merit when you're talking about a garage band. It's totally spurious on the scale that Zimmer works on.

It really has to suck for all those composers which are trumped by self-taught hacks like Zimmer or Kyd.

Deny if all you want, but seeing how I'm the one with some music education background and dabbling in composition, you're not going to somehow "make me see the light".

True, sound and acoustics has been my hobby only for 15 years, but I have no formal education in the area, so okay.

Anyway not to put a too fine point on it, but let me know when you create some work at least on par with Zimmer's, will you?

Seriously? I and pretty much any other musician on the planet could fart out a Dark Knight level score in my sleep, especially with the kind of support from real composers Zimmer has. It was insanely derivative, and his other scores in the last five or ten years have all pretty much been the same one slightly switched around. He's really nothing special when it comes to theatrical scores, not in his modern style, anyway.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Seriously? I and pretty much any other musician on the planet could fart out a Dark Knight level score in my sleep, especially with the kind of support from real composers Zimmer has. It was insanely derivative, and his other scores in the last five or ten years have all pretty much been the same one slightly switched around. He's really nothing special when it comes to theatrical scores, not in his modern style, anyway.

Please do, and I'm serious. If you can really fart out something better in your sleep, then hack something up because I'm really running out of good music to listen to. Or if you have any samples, let me know too.

As for Dark Knight score, I'm not particularly impressed with it (actually it's terrible when listening stand-alone), however I do believe it works very well with the movie, which is its purpose. For some extra challenge, try topping Crimson Tide score (again not great stand-alone but excellent within the movie) or at least the Crysis 2 title track. Shouldn't be that hard, right?

Rising chord progressions when hope is needed, minor key when all seems lost, driving bass and drum beats throughout. If you know what that means, you too can make your own Hans Zimmer (TM) score in a day or less!