Soundtrack advice

[Kamil Beer]

Hi,

 

I am composing a soundtrack to a movie. It is a sports drama with a bit of a 80's overtone, with essential music tracks such as Training montage or Tournament montage.

 

Currently, I'm deciding what type of music to use. The movie is filmed mainly in Czech Republic and viewers from that country would recognize it well. On the other hand, it's meant to be released worldwide. It's a nonprofit movie, so copyright infringement is virtually non-existent.

 

I'm deciding between a 1) purely instrumental soundtrack. That could work well for any audience, but it might distract from the dramatic aspects of a well-written song, which people would memorize and connect with the film.

 

Another opinion is 2) Czech songs + instrumental parts, such as "themes". That way it would be more attractive to national viewers and could be taken as a good local movie. But songs in our language might not sound well for international audiences.

 

3) English songs + instrumental parts. This way, the movie could be "understandable" for any audience, but it could distance itself from the local audience and appear as too big or too international.

 

Which option would you choose and why?

 

Thanks,

-K

[Stuart Brereton]

It's a nonprofit movie, so copyright infringement is virtually non-existent.

 

I am not an expert, but I don't think that the non-profit status of the film will make any difference if you are infringing other people's copyright. The issue is not just whether you have profited, but that you have reproduced without permission.

[Hal Smith]

I am not an expert, but I don't think that the non-profit status of the film will make any difference if you are infringing other people's copyright. The issue is not just whether you have profited, but that you have reproduced without permission.

 

EXACTLY!

 

But since I'm such a nice guy, here's a link for Kamil that might help:

 

Royalty Free Music Performances

 

There are other sources of royalty free music performances on the web that some patient Googling will find.

 

The Silvis Woodshed has a large collection of choral midi files that you can use with a good Midi editor.

 

I personally use an ancient Midi editor written in the Windows 95 era that still runs nicely on XP. Back in the day software writers knew how to write efficient code that obeyed all the rules of compatibility therefore had long service lives.

[Kamil Beer]

Thanks guys - that's good to know. I thought that nonprofit usage of a material wouldn't be a issue for copyright problems.

 

Also, thanks Hal for the link. I'll definitely check it out.

[Simon Wyss]

Kamil, you have to be national to become international. Everything else is rubbish. Jiří Trnka, Zoltán Fábri, Mario Monicelli, Ula Stöckl, everyone is understood in their home culture. Only American movies, for the majority, start from international abstracts and very basic instincts. How did Mozart say in Amadeus: German, let it be German. The emperor: Plain German for plain people.