Majora's Mask Live Action: The Skull Kid

I contributed some music as part of a fan film based on the Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask video game.  Directed by Jared Potter, who I had previously worked with on scoring his "Voyager" Short film, Skull Kid: A Zelda Legend went live on the Machinema YouTube channel on December 23rd, 2013 and within 48 had hit over a quarter of million views.  Many Zelda fans from around the world have raved about the fan film…including the scene at the end where the character Link is introduced…where I orchestrated Link's theme from the game for large orchestra and choir to cinematically introduce the lead character of the Zelda universe.  Check out what everyone in the Zelda universe is talking about right now.  

THE SKULL KID, a harmless but troublesome imp, has been cast out of the city of Clocktown. Deep within the lost woods he must face the harsh realities of his banishment. There, amongst the trees, an ancient evil has also begun to stir, seeking out a creature suitable to become its puppet.

Private Dancer Soundtrack CD available now!

   The Soundtrack for the play Private Dancer is available for purchase as of today from Perseverance Records. It will also be sold at the theatre venue in NY. While much of the score is from the film shown within the play…there is some music that we did separately for the live stage play and it is very different in style. 

   Rita Hayworth was of Spanish decent. Before her stardom as the actress we all know…she tried to make it as a Spanish Dancer, but failed. It was her tumultuous relationships with her husband Edward Judson and subsequent support from Columbia Pitures president Harry Cohen who white washed the Spanish heritage from her to make her the American actress "girl-next-door" we all know. Such were the politics of the industry in the 1950s. 

   To infuse her Spanish heritage into the live acted portion of the show…we did all flamenco inspired music. This music is also portrayed on the sdtk album as well. This cue below is from a scene in the play where Rita is shown rehearsing for her famous Dance Of The Seven Veils scene from the film Solomé. The music is original…not from the film. But we took the opportunity to do some flamenco inspired tracks. Music is performed and arranged by the incredible Chris Burton Jacomé who I had previously worked with on the 9/Tenths score. Enjoy!

From the soundtrack to the cinema inspired stage play Private Dancer. Music composed and conducted by Brian Ralston. Performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony. Flamenco Guitar Arrangements and performance by Chris Burton Jacomé.

Behind The Scenes of Private Dancer Soundtrack

Thursday night, December 5th, 2013 is opening night for Private Dancer in NY…a unique cinema inspired performance work as told through the life of Rita Hayworth. Here is a behind the scenes of the creation of some of the music for this production. 

This video shows the Hollywood Studio Symphony recording one of the cues for the film within the play "Negotiating Identities". The cue is also titled Negotiating Identities. (Select or verify HD stream is on for better quality audio). Enjoy!

A behind the scenes look at recording one of the cues for the NY play Private Dancer. A unique cinematic inspired work told through the life of Rita Hayworth. Music composed and conducted by Brian Ralston. Performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra. Recorded at The Bridge Recording Studio, Glendale, CA.

Private Dancer play has a film within the play called Negotiating Identities

Within the Play Private Dancer…there is a film shown to the audience. There is a scene in the play where Rita passes out and we see her nightmare (and some of the internal struggles she is dealing with) in the form of this film. The film is shot in a Hitchcock-like style as Rita wanders around an empty mansion, going from room to room to see moments in her history play out. I scored the film in a style reflective of those films…with a strong nod to Bernard Herrmann's style. Here is the main title sequence for the film. The Hollywood Studio Symphony performed beautifully. 

The cover art is different from the last because the soundtrack release has two sections of music contained in it, grouped separately. The "play" music and the "film" music. The film is called "Negotiating Identities." 

From the Original Soundtrack of the 2013 Cinematic Stage Play Private Dancer (and the film within the play Negotiating Identities). Lion Theatre at Theatre Row. New York, NY. December 2013. Music composed by Brian Ralston. Performed by The Hollywood Studio Symphony.

Private Dancer to open in NY, December 5, 2013

In celebration and in anticipation of the NY premiere of Private Dancer…the cinema inspired stage play about Rita Hayworth for which I composed the music…for a limited time, I will be sharing with everyone some of the cues from the production over the next couple weeks. 

This cue is from the Overture to the production.  All of the "Golden Era" films of Hollywood have the credit sequences at the front of the film with music score overtures composed to play with them. For this production…a filmed overture with credits was created to reflect that style and era of Hollywood. And thus…this cue was born. The music was composed in a style reflective of the time and performed by the wonderful Hollywood Studio Symphony. (A group chosen not only for their performance expertise, but symbolically because they would have also been the group performing on all of Rita Hayworth's films from the era). 

A soundtrack release is off at the pressing plant and until then, the tracks will remain up. Once released in December, the tracks will come down for a while. Please feel free to listen and enjoy! I am very proud of these cues and am excited to share them with the world.

From the Original Soundtrack of the 2013 Cinematic Stage Play Private Dancer (and the film within the play Negotiating Identities). Lion Theatre at Theatre Row. New York, NY. December 2013. Music composed by Brian Ralston. Performed by The Hollywood Studio Symphony. Flamenco Arrangements and performance by Chris Burton Jacomé.

Another great review from the NY Film Music Examiner

Reviewer Danny Gonzalez of the New York Film Music Examiner just posted another great review of the Crooked Arrows soundtrack CD.  He compared Brian's score to Trevor Rabin's "Remember The Titans" and said, "This is definitely an inspiration of a score like "Remember The Titans", but it is completely original and Ralston's work is just as good as Trevor Rabin on that level."

"The album is one of the more engaging and surprisingly solid ones of 2013. I can easily see way people were raving about Brian Ralston's score and they were right on the money on this one. "Crooked Arrows" a solid stand out this year. Thumbs up!"

Here is the link to the entire review:

http://www.examiner.com/review/crooked-arrows-soundtrack-review-music-by-brian-ralston 

 

Crooked Arrows Soundtrack gets glowing review...

The Crooked Arrows soundtrack release received a glowing review from Film Music Magazine and was also listed as one of their top picks for the month of August.  Of Brian's score, reviewer Daniel Schweiger said,

"Ralston’s richly thematic score is full of the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, music that keeps excellent track of the emotional plays at hand, all with electronic writing for suspense and meditation that’s equally as effective.  But it’s the percussive, and wind-borne tradition of American Indian music that really sends “Crooked Arrows” soaring, with drums and winds evoking the game as far more of a contest of honor than scoring points, dutifully avoiding “Indian” music clichés all the while."

... 

"But just when you might think Ralston’s approach is going to be all noble native, he throws in honkytonk and a heavy metal rock guitar to give the score the thoroughly modern, and rebellious attitude of its young team members who go from zeroes to heroes. It’s this kind of constantly surprising depth and sense of sports adventure that will hopefully let “Crooked Arrows” fly Ralston straight, and deservedly into the big leagues with his terrific score that’s seemingly shot out of from nowhere."

The full review can be found at the Film Music Magazine's website here.  (http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=11684)  It is the third CD soundtrack reviewed down the page.

Crooked Arrows CD Signing at Dark Delicacies

This past week, Brian participated in a CD signing of his new Crooked Arrows soundtrack release with Perseverance Records at Dark Delicacies in Burbank, CA.  Brian was honored to be sitting next to so many other composers from the label whose work he deeply respects.  Other composers at the signing event included Craig Safan (The Last Starfighter), Peter Bernstein (The Puppetmaster), Richard Sherman (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Mary Poppins), David Williams, Edwin Wendler (The Escape), Mader (The Wedding Banquet), Paul Hertzog (Bloodsport), David Williams (The Prophecy I & II) and many more.  Limited autographed copies of the score are available if purchased from the Perseverance Records online store.

Behind The Score of Crooked Arrows

Here is a "Behind The Score" segment on Brian's Crooked Arrows score.  Brian discusses his process in scoring the film along with footage from the recording sessions with the acclaimed Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra. Brian also gives some advice for aspiring young film composers.  Have a look. 

A "behind the scenes" look into scoring the film Crooked Arrows. Composer Brian Ralston discusses film scoring in general, his process and even gives some advice for aspiring young composers.

Official Crooked Arrows Soundtrack announced

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An official CD soundtrack for Brian's score to Crooked Arrows has been announced by the specialty soundtrack label Perseverance Records.  Brian has spent the last couple months working on the definitive release of his score with all new stereo mixed and mastered tracks.  There are 33 tracks total on the album totally approximately 45 minutes of music from the score.  Crooked Arrows was performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra and recorded in Los Angeles in march of 2012.  The soundtrack can be ordered from the labels website at perseverancerecords.com or at a variety of the online soundtrack specialty stores such as screenarchives.com and intrada.com.  The first 50 copies sold from Perseverance Records will be autographed by Brian.

A Promotional "trailer" for the soundtrack was released by Perseverance Records and can be seen below.

Brian's music featured at ATA Taekwondo World Expo 2013

Brian composed original music for the ATA Taekwondo World Expo 2013 taking place this week in Little Rock, Arkansas at the Verizon Arena.  Most of what Brian contributed can be seen towards the end of the week long Expo and competition at the ATA World Ceremony on Saturday, July 13, 2013, 7pm.  Music was composed for a film shot for the conference attendees, other competition videos and the new World Expo parade.  Tickets to the event can be purchased through ticketmaster.  The 2013 World Ceremony will not be broadcast live, however a replay will be available steaming for free shortly after the ceremony through the ataonline.com website. 

Brian featured on MOTU's website from NAMM 2013.

Brian had the opportunity to speak with the guys at MOTU at the 2013 NAMM trade show in Anaheim, CA.  Brian uses MOTU's Digital Performer software to compose his film scoring work along with various audio hardware devices from MOTU in his Los Angeles studio.  The floor interview with MOTU's Matt LaPoint (seen below) was also featured on MOTU's company website report from the show...along with interviews from other key MOTU users like Marc Mann (Danny Elfman collaborator), composer David Schwartz (Arrested Development), Prince Keyboardist Morris Hayes, and bassist/producer Warren McRae. 

Crooked Arrows DVD/Blu-Ray on October 23rd from Fox

The Crooked Arrows DVD/Blu-Ray disc will be released by 20th Century Fox in North America on October 23rd, 2012.  Pre-orders are available from most all major retailers and Amazon.com.

The Crooked Arrows movie website is offering a special deal of 25% off any additional LAX S.W.A.G. if you pre-order the film through their website and enter the code "25offlaxswag".  They will also deliver the disc to you a few days before the October 23rd release date.

Sony/Columbia Pictures picked up the film for all international territories and the international release dates (Theatrical and home video) have yet to be announced but are in the works. 

Photos from Crooked Arrows orchestra session.

Brian has completed his work on scoring the film Crooked Arrows.  The film will have a limited theatrical release on May 18th in some specific lacrosse focused markets and then on June 1st...the film will be released in hundreds of theaters nationwide. Brian conducted his score, performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony orchestra and it was recored at The Bridge Recording in Glendale, CA.  Photos from the orchestra session are below.

If you would like to read more, the official film website is at: www.crookedarrows.com and if you would like to help spread the word to your facebook friends, the film's facebook page is at: www.facebook.com/crookedarrows