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Post by DragonAirazel on Feb 23, 2015 14:50:29 GMT -5
I didn't know where exactly to put this topic, so I put it in here. If it doesn't belong, could an admin move it to a more accurate folder? Thanks!
I am a roleplayer, and I have at least 48 characters made. There have been times when I would consider composing some themes for said characters, but I don't really know what to do for that. Basically, I'm having trouble figuring out how to begin composing music based on a particular personality. Who in here has experience making a composition to match a given personality? What kind of personality were you composing for, and what did you do to portray that personality?
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Deemo R.
PokéMusic Grunt
Brrr...
Posts: 31 
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Post by Deemo R. on Feb 23, 2015 18:04:20 GMT -5
I don't have any extensive experience in making the kind of themes you're talking about (a few here and there), but like any kind of thematic music, be sure to consider all of your tools as a composer. The tempo, instrumentation, tonality, and overall structure of a piece can all completely change how it is interpreted by the audience. Some people like to associate certain characters with certain instruments and build a piece around that instrument. There could be influence from the musical styles (modern or traditional) from where their character's design derives from. For big orchestral pieces, textures can say or emphasize a lot about a character. Bouncy pizzicato in the high strings along with an oboe melody, for example, could potentially give a playful or silly image to a character. Slow, heavy low-end strings and brass, on the other hand, could portray a large character with great strength (and potentially dull wit). You can be much more subtle than those examples, of course, but they are possibilities. If you have a theme, try messing around with all kinds of musical elements and see what else you can create from it. Start by writing out the character's personality. The more you can break them down, the easier it will be to start conceptualizing a musical theme that fits their character. EDIT: Almost forgot, it's never a problem to have a muse! Many times when I cannot really think of a fitting theme for a character, I try to find music that I believe has fitting elements for the character in question. Try to look for characters with similar traits to yours and see how they are portrayed musically. An old example of mine that demonstrates this:
This was done for someone who asked me to create a theme for their character somewhat like Perfect Cell's Theme from DBZ. I didn't want to get too close to the territory, so I rediscovered the Katz Theme from Courage the Cowardly Dog and took some inspiration from that as well. There's also pieces of Buu's Theme in the latter portion.
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Coaster
Pokémusic Trainer
I'm a drummer, I can use Counter all day long if I want!
Posts: 62 
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Post by Coaster on Feb 23, 2015 18:39:26 GMT -5
Well, as far as general theme-music making tips, I imagine the biggest part is to have a memorable and distinctive melody, but that's pretty much a given. After that, I guess the point is that you could describe the character using the connotations you get from the way the theme sounds. I'm not going to use my own examples because I need to re-compose them because I lost them a while back. ;A; Generally the more "mechanics" aspects of the music (tempo, scale, etc.) are the easier ones to finagle with, but it can go pretty deep. So I'll start by just looking at some existing themes and trying to pick parts out of them that kind of match the character. A couple completely non-Pokémon examples by awesomeness of John Williams: The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme) is kind of mid-tempo, but definitely militaristic, lots of tensions, quite minor (almost every chord in the progression, in fact; harmonic minor and the little-used and particularly dark locrean), and pretty harsh-sounding, etc. etc. you can definitely tell this is a bad guy theme. Compare that with the Indiana Jones Theme, which is pretty much the same tempo and also a march with some of the same typical march instrumentation (percussion and strings, but melody mostly carried by the horns), but there are a lot more major chords in a more typical progression (major and mixolydian both being fairly "happy" with the latter sounding a bit more adventurous), and on top of that, parts of it are syncopated (the fourth note in the melody for example), which makes it feel a bit less heavy; while both tracks convey a sense of power, Indie's theme is a lot brighter and more adventurous, while Darth Vader's has the sense of heaviness and harshness to it. Compare the Imperial March again with Luke Skywalker's theme, which is also in a minor key (same root note, in fact) but far softer, with the C Major chord (Dorian-ish) being particularly important to establish a sense of hope, much like Luke's character does. The rest of the chord progression sounds a bit sad (natural minor) but fairly straightforward, which of course suggests his character to be the same way. Imagine, if you will, how Darth Vader's theme would be different if the first chord was major, and the song used a progression kinda like the whole tone scale. It'd suggest something more like eccentricity or mystery rather than evil and despair. And now for something completely different! I'ma try reading into some of the Pokémon character themes and see what parts match the characters they represent. D/P/Pt Rival's Theme is noticeably bouncy and energetic (like the character) in a two-beat sort of time. Meanwhile, Cyrus' theme is in triplet time has a bit of a polyrhythm going on (swung quarters in percussion versus straight sixths elsewhere), which gives "organized chaos" in a sense. (And the start of the melody evokes some memories of another very space-associated song.) Ghetsis' theme is noticeably lacking in melody (maybe suggesting unfeelingness) but uses a lot of diminished intervals otherwise (very much suggesting evil) and a lot of big percussion (suggesting anger, maybe) and of course the part where the ominous choir is outright singing his name (another obviously evil trope). And N's theme conveys both danger (maybe with the strong bass-line?) and mystery or deviation (the arpeggios near the beginning add a lot of chord extensions which makes the chord it's "supposed" to be sound completely different, and some of the orchestra hits near the middle have quartal harmony which also has a "mysterious" sound, and the bass line itself only synchronizes with the measure downbeat every few bars), but the track itself is too bouncy to suggest full-blown destroyer-of-worlds-ness. But, of course, as battle themes, they all need to convey some form of excitement, as well as different character facets than, say, a regular encounter theme for a cutscene where everyone's just talking to each other. And I'm probably reading totally wrong things out of them, but you get the picture. Do you have a pensive character? Then their theme should probably be fairly slow (or "ponderous" as it were). Is said character a bit of a hermit and detached from society? Perhaps the slowness could be interrupted by some short, quick, where-the-hell-did-that-thought-come-from staccato "quips" in a whole tone scale, or chord progressions that tend to add more sharps as accidentals. Or are they more of a wizened sage, ready to return to the dust that has gathered on their books in recent years? Sustained notes would be the way to go instead, maybe with some flat notes if they're running particularly low on energy. If you want to suggest a hidden evil streak, some tensions (minor third in a major chord, diminished fifth, etc.) might be good to mix into the progression. If you want to suggest memories of glory days or lingering strength, perfect fifths and scales like mixolydian (or mixo with flat 6) might be the way to go... and the list goes on and on. Pretty much everything you can do to write music has some sort of connotation to it, usually based on how it's been used in the past. Strong character themes tend to select ones that emphasize a particular character's traits without sending mixed signals. (Even strongly opposite signals can be useful if you want the mood whiplash for comedy--for example, Darth Vader to Yakety Sax or a cute kitten to "O Fortuna"--but that requires pieces with strong character to begin with) Probably the best thing I can think of to start with is to listen to a lot of film scores and consider what setting, events, or characters each track plays to, and make a list of associations. Could you maybe describe one character in particular that maybe you want to get a start on a theme for first, and maybe it'd be easier to come up with specific suggestions? |
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Post by DragonAirazel on Feb 24, 2015 12:06:19 GMT -5
Deemo: Hm, alright. I've already had a suspicion that would heavily play into it, so thanks for confirming that. I know instrumentation could have an effect on a composition's mood, but I don't know which instruments portray which moods. I do listen to a lot of music, and I do actively listen to them. But I'm a bit hung up on more specifics. I already write out my characters' personalities. In fact, I've been making character profiles for them. Finally, I have no problem with having a muse. Heck, I've done that a few times already. Also, that is a pretty cool composition. Coaster: Okay. You've given so much that I don't really know where to start. So I'm going to say thanks instead. Those examples are pretty interesting. Though the Indiana Jones theme is actually noticeably faster than the Imperial March theme, I understand what you mean by that. Could you maybe describe one character in particular that maybe you want to get a start on a theme for first, and maybe it'd be easier to come up with specific suggestions? Yeah, I can. Do you mind PMs? |
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Coaster
Pokémusic Trainer
I'm a drummer, I can use Counter all day long if I want!
Posts: 62
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Post by Coaster on Feb 24, 2015 14:28:59 GMT -5
Could you maybe describe one character in particular that maybe you want to get a start on a theme for first, and maybe it'd be easier to come up with specific suggestions? Yeah, I can. Do you mind PMs? Yep, PMs should be fine. |
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