Chapter 87 "Adaptive" Musicians
The importance of film and television soundtracks to a work is unquestionable. Many famous scenes in film history are often remembered by the audience along with outstanding BGM.
Even some "bad movies" of low quality will not give up on the soundtrack, and then there is the classic law of "bad movies produce divine songs".
When Meng Bai filmed the first part of "Soul Ferry", due to tight funds and limited budget, the basic music library commonly used by many film and television producers was basically used in post-production. There was no problem in ensuring the atmosphere, but it could only be regarded as neither good nor bad, and there was nothing too outstanding.
But this time it was different. Because of the achievements of the first part, it became much easier to attract investment and even received advertisements from two small daily brands.
Although the advertising costs were not high, adding up to only 300,000, it meant that the commercial value of the "Pendulum" series was being recognized.
In this case, both Meng Bai and Leshi.com wanted the quality of the second part to continue to maintain the previous level. With the first part as a precedent, the second part had to be improved in terms of both lens quality and plot production.
Therefore, the budget of Soul Ferry 2 also rose. It crossed the threshold of 10 million and directly reached the volume of 15 million.
For producers, the budget is equivalent to firepower in war. As the saying goes, "If you are poor, you can use tactics, and if you are rich, you can bomb me." With sufficient funds in hand, Meng Bai waved his hand and upgraded everything from equipment to personnel to the size of the crew.
And this naturally includes the soundtrack of the film.
"Hello, Mr. A Kun, I am Meng Bai. We talked on the phone before."
In a studio with various musical instruments and recording equipment, Meng Bai introduced himself and shook hands with the man opposite.
The man's surname is Chen, but he is generally called "A Kun" in the industry. He is considered a very famous musician in the domestic film history industry and has made soundtracks for many movies, TV series, games and documentaries.
The most famous representative works are "Jiu Er", the ending song in the TV series "Red Sorghum" (Zhou Gongzi version), and the classic "BGM for eating" in the documentary "A Bite of China".
It can also be seen from here that his music style is quite varied, from passionate to folk songs to fireworks, he can give the right music according to the atmosphere of the plot.
Meng Bai doesn't know much about music, but he understands one thing-if you don't know how to choose manually, then it's better to choose "adaptive".
There is no doubt that A Kun, who has "diverse music styles", is a musician with abundant "adaptive" ability.
Sure enough, it was just as Meng Bai expected. After learning that the musical literacy of this "producer" was similar to that of ordinary people, A Kun did not ask professional questions such as style, type, melody, etc., but asked him for the script directly.
"Soul ferry?" A Kun asked in surprise after looking at the file in his hand.
"What?" Meng Bai was a little confused.
"Oh, nothing." A Kun shook his head and explained: "I've watched your first season."
Meng Bai understood, and asked curiously: "How do you feel?"
"The story is good, the filming is too rough, and the soundtrack is average."
As expected of a musician, he never leaves his profession.
Meng Bai didn't care about his evaluation, and said with a smile: "So after we have money for the second season, we want to work harder on the details. As for the soundtrack, I'll leave it to Mr. A Kun."
A Kun smiled politely and flipped through the script in his hand. At first, he just wanted to take a look, but he couldn't stop reading, and his expression was no longer as casual as before.
He read for ten minutes, until the last page was turned, and he slowly exhaled.
"Chi Ling..." A Kun slowly read the name of the story.
"This is the title of this unit. Because it is the opening story of the second season, we hope it can be a representative of the whole season. We also want to use this as material to make a promotional song." Meng Bai briefly introduced it, and then took out a piece of paper and handed it over: "We hope the name of the promotional song will be "Chi Ling". This is the first version of the lyrics I wrote."
A Kun took it and took a look at the words on it-
"When the play begins, the sleeves rise and fall
to sing about sorrow and joy, separation and reunion, which has nothing to do with me ... In troubled times, I have to watch the flames of war burning the mountains and rivers. I dare not forget my country, even if no one knows me
...
" " Did you write these lyrics?" A Kun asked. Meng Bai nodded, and seeing the slightly surprised expression on the other party's face, he explained: "Oh, I forgot to say that in addition to being a producer, I am also the screenwriter of this play." A Kun suddenly realized, no wonder. Although it is not the main job, screenwriter is also considered a semi-professional. But... "It's like this, Mr. Meng, maybe you don't know much about music creation." A Kun said: "Generally, our process is to make a demo based on inspiration and needs. Then on this basis, slowly adjust and perfect the song. Finally, write lyrics based on the song." "It's not impossible to arrange the music according to the lyrics, but it will be very difficult and complicated. Moreover, the lyrics may not match the rhythm of the song." "So it's written later." Meng Bai didn't think about this: "It's okay, you can use this version of the lyrics as a reference, and we can modify it according to the song later." "That's fine." A Kun was relieved when he heard this. He was most afraid of meeting clients who didn't know anything, but those who "know a little bit" and think they are "great in writing" and write a paragraph of lyrics and ask them to reverse arrange the music. "When is the delivery time we need?" A Kun asked. Meng Bai calculated in his mind that the filming would start in July. If everything went well, it would take more than a month to finish the filming. In addition to the post-production editing and production, the promotion period would have to be at least after October. "By the end of September." Meng Bai said, "I hope to get the final song before October. In addition, the overall soundtrack work of this drama is also handed over to you." As the saying goes, one thing does not take two masters at a time. A Kun has a special music studio that makes soundtracks for film and television dramas, so it's just right to package them together. "Okay. By the way, if there is a later singing, will it be a male or female voice?" "Female voice." Meng Bai pondered in his heart. Teacher Li is good at singing opera, but I wonder how he sings. That's right, the singer Meng Bai expected in his mind was Li Qin. Including the "professional teacher" he and Jin Chen said before that there would be on-site guidance, it was also Li Qin. She is a serious Kunqu opera boy. With a professional talent like Teacher Li, why bother looking for other people. I just don't know if Teacher Li will be happy or not when he hears this news? ——Although "Psychological Crime" has been completed, Meng Bai is not free. He needs to keep an eye on the later production, and he also needs to keep in touch with the production of "Red Ling". In addition, there was the previously scheduled "Forensic Qin Ming", the publication of the "Pendulum" series of novels and setting collections, the scripts for "The Disguiser", and some daily operations of Arclight Films... Meng Bai was so busy that he didn't even make it to the opening ceremony of "Pendulum 2". By the time he officially joined the crew, the filming had already started for two or three days. (End of this chapter)
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