Full-length LotR Parody Movies

[Estelyn Telcontar]

One of the things we did at Finlandmoot was to watch a trilogy of parody LotR movies. These were done by a group of Russian fans who had no budget but lots of witty ideas. I don't know whether to mention a few or whether it's best to just let you watch and enjoy the fun. Perhaps one of the main elements may entice you: the Nazgûl (and all other riders) ride bicycles! And also: Glorfindel and Arwen fight over who gets to take Asfaloth and rescue Frodo...

There are several astonishingly good actors in the amateur cast - since the young ladies of the fan group outnumber the amount of female roles, the Hobbits and some other characters are female actors. My favourite is the one who plays Frodo - she does every bit as well as Elijah Wood! Some of the film sites are amazing, and the echoes of Peter Jackson's visuals are easy to spot.

For the majority of us who understand no Russian, there are subtitles in English (and also in German). Fortunately, you don't even have to buy the DVD set, but can watch them online. Here are the links:

LotR 1
LotR 2
LotR 3

[narfforc]

Esty....that has a remarkable amount of similarities to The Lord of the Grins....

[Galadriel55]

I'm halfway through FOTR, and it's hilarious! Esty, thank you very much for the links!

Edit: just finished it. My, I like it more than the actal film!!!

[Narnangol]

Oh, these are gold.
Thank you so much for sharing!

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Narnangol

Oh, these are gold.

Seconded! These are definitely worth their weight, erm, length, in gold!

ETA: the question of wings&Balrogs finally solved! - them no need wings. Them has elevator.

[Thinlómien]

Apart from Frodo, Legolas is also priceless.

Thanks for showing us these and now posting this, Esty!

[Bêthberry]

If I do go to see The Hobbit movies--which I probably will--I will be taking notes to consider how we can parody them here. Thank you, Estelyn, for the idea.

[Galadriel55]

Realization #2: I completely screwed up the melody in Beren's When---in----your---love----I----------rejoiced. I am missing two beats! I have no idea how that happened, I feel like I just forgot how the melody goes.


How do I fix it? "That night when in your love I rejoiced"?



There's a typo in "Taught pride to Elven hearts" (Finrod's Duel)

"Like the Darkness everlasting" (Captivity) appears with a delay.

Also in Captivity, I think it's the only time that Finrod deviates from his "My grief", and I'm thinking it might be better to just let him be consistent. What do you think?



So now my head is filled with a cacophony of Runglish lyrics.

[Galadriel55]

Insomnia + Google Translate = I translated the Rebel Crossover into a bad semblance of French.


FEANOR:

Le temps est arrivé, vous devez décider:
Rester en esclavage dans cette cage, ou peut-être oser
Partir avec le roi au voyage sur la Mer,
Pour combattre à mort, retrouver les trois belles pierres?

Mes couleurs et mon foi
Sont à vous – suivez-moi!

The time has come for you to decide
To stay in bondage in this cage, or maybe to dare
To leave with the king on a journey on the Sea
To fight until death, retrieve the three beautiful stones?

My colours and my faith
Are yours – follow me!

Rouge!
Le sang déjà versé!
Noir!
Un cœur détruit par haine!
Rouge!
La puissance rassemblée!
Noir!
C’est l’ombre de destin!

Red! The blood already spilled!
Black! A heart destroyed by hate!
Red! The mustered power!
Black! It’s the shadow of fate!

FINARFIN:

Valar nous aideront si nous resterons ici;
Ils vont dissiper la nuit et vont rétablir la Lumière.
Morgoth gagnera si nous suivrons l’Ennemi
Il apporterait fatalité à cette terre.

C’est notre domicile,
Nous devons retourner!

Valar will help us if we stay here;
They will dispel the night and will restore the Light.
Morgoth will win if we follow the Enemy
He would bring fatality to this land.

This is our home,
We must turn back!

Rouge!
Le peuple est en colère!
Noir!
La chaîne sur nos ailes!
Rouge!
L’ère de sang et malheur!
Noir!
La nuit éternelle!

Red! The people is angry!
Noir! The chain over our wings!
Red! The age of blood and misfortune!
Black! The eternal night!

FINGOLFIN:

Finarfin, tu n’es plus un enfant,
Tu es trop vieux pour si rêver,
La destinée doit arriver.
Je l’ai juré, et maintenant
Je marche avec mon frère brûlant –
Marchons, Eldar, vers Porte de Fer!

Finarfin, you’re no longer a child,
You are too old to dream so,
The fate must come.
I swore this, and now
I march with my fiery brother –
Let Eldar march to Gate of Iron!

Rouge!
Le sang déjà versé!
Noir!
Un cœur détruit par haine!
Rouge!
La puissance rassemblée!
Noir!
C’est l’ombre de destin!

Red! The blood already spilled!
Black! A heart destroyed by hate!
Red! The mustered power!
Black! It’s the shadow of fate!

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

If you think we should include the rest of the Lay, then I can easily make it a long one. But equally, if you don't particularly want to do it, I can make it brief. I'm happy to follow whatever picture plan you will pick for when we get there. In fact, I will try to actively NOT plan that part until we get there, so that I would still go down any path with equal ease.

'Actively not planning' might be the best option; ideally we'd want to see how the rest of the musical flows as a single video to figure out how the last song should be paced.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I know! I was hoping to finish it before WW starts, under the premise of one guilty pleasure at a time. I made a desperate bid for it today during lunch break, and timing-wise I have all of it until the end, but both the music and the singing will need to be redone. Didn't have time to do Thingol's part, sorry, but hopefully it makes sense; next time I go to record I'll make sure to add his part to see how it sounds when they duet.

I've just listened to this and it's such fun. I can't tell whether you're planning an outro, but the slam-cut on the last line is just fantastic as-is (and would be a perfect straight-to-black). I'll try and record Thingol to go with it and get at least a first-pass of the animation done, but not sure when.
[/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Insomnia + Google Translate = I translated the Rebel Crossover into a bad semblance of French.

So I can't comment on the French except to note that I can make sense of most of it, but I can say that it's very singable. There's a couple of lines that catch me - I think a lot of them want me to pronounce a final -e as a separate syllable - but by and large it flows beautifully. Fingolfin's verse in particular is just perfectly biting (and I always appreciate a good maintenant).

hS

[Huinesoron]

It occurs to me, now that Urwen is around again, that we've gone wrong by trying to tie Les Mis to the Fall of the Noldor when it's quite clearly the Fall of Gondolin.

And Valjean is Maeglin.

They caught me in the mines
They chained me to the wall.
I'm faceless in the dark
Another nameless thrall.

I should have been a prince
With Idril as my bride!
To take her as my own
What is not justified?

If I speak - I am condemned
If I stay silent - I am damned.

I am the master of thousands of miners
The House of the Mole.
Yet they abandon me here in the dark
A tormented soul

If I speak - they are condemned
If I stay silent - I am damned!

Who am I?
Am I content to live in slavery
To mortal Man who has the ears of kings?
The chains of pity he would wield
Are stronger than of iron or steel
Who am I?

Should I forsake myself for Idril's sake?
Protect the city as my own heart breaks?
And must my name as long before
Be Son of Darkness evermore
Here I lie...

Why not ally myself to greater power?
Why should I suffer here another hour?
To make the princess mine alone
My love will break unweathered stone

I pledge alliegance to the King!
I will yield all I know to Him!

Who am I?
I'm Maeglin
Of Gondolin!

And so, Morgoth, you see it's true
I am of priceless worth to you!
Gondolin -
I - will - let - you - in!

^_^

hS

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

I've just listened to this and it's such fun. I can't tell whether you're planning an outro, but the slam-cut on the last line is just fantastic as-is (and would be a perfect straight-to-black). I'll try and record Thingol to go with it and get at least a first-pass of the animation done, but not sure when.

*happy noises*
I haven't done any work on this since WW started. But eventually - I also did not imagine an outro there, it would cut at the moment it stops now. I was tinkering with the idea of using the echo function on Audacity to make "done!" echo a couple times, but just voice without the music. I haven't experimented with it yet. Maybe it's better to cut the voice there too. Dunno. But I am very excited about this when I get back to it!

Originally Posted by Hui

So I can't comment on the French except to note that I can make sense of most of it, but I can say that it's very singable. There's a couple of lines that catch me - I think a lot of them want me to pronounce a final -e as a separate syllable - but by and large it flows beautifully. Fingolfin's verse in particular is just perfectly biting (and I always appreciate a good maintenant).

Hmm. The only time I make use of the poetic French allowance for pronouncing silent end syllables is with "chaine". The rest I think is legit pronunciation. The stuff ending in -er has a pronounced final syllable. Except, because French pronunciation makes a lot of sense, the nouns ending on -er (eg fer) actually sound like -er, as opposed to the infinitive -er verbs (eg oser), which sound like -eh, making them only half-rhymes. Welcome to Whose French Is It Anyway, where the phonetics are made up and the spelling don't matter.

Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that "frere brulant" is more likely to mean "burning brother" than "flaming/fiery brother". Which is not untrue, just a bit early in the story. ^.^

Maybe I'll sing it, when I fix the mic! To test out the tech for Aria.

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

It occurs to me, now that Urwen is around again, that we've gone wrong by trying to tie Les Mis to the Fall of the Noldor when it's quite clearly the Fall of Gondolin.

Not to mention the Downfall of Numenor!

Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the song of angry Men?
It is the music of the mortals
Who will NOT face death again!

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I also did not imagine an outro there, it would cut at the moment it stops now. I was tinkering with the idea of using the echo function on Audacity to make "done!" echo a couple times, but just voice without the music. I haven't experimented with it yet. Maybe it's better to cut the voice there too. Dunno.

I actually get irrationally annoyed at songs that have a solid final line, and then insist on echoing, repeating, or fading it. So I am absolutely fine with a complete hard stop there.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Hmm. The only time I make use of the poetic French allowance for pronouncing silent end syllables is with "chaine". The rest I think is legit pronunciation. The stuff ending in -er has a pronounced final syllable. Except, because French pronunciation makes a lot of sense, the nouns ending on -er (eg fer) actually sound like -er, as opposed to the infinitive -er verbs (eg oser), which sound like -eh, making them only half-rhymes. Welcome to Whose French Is It Anyway, where the phonetics are made up and the spelling don't matter.

Eh, I'm British, we don't pronounce the letter R if we can possibly help it anyway. Also I suspect this stuff changes between the various French dialects; I know Germany doesn't even have a consistent pronunciation of the pronoun Ich ("I"), so I'd be amazed if there wasn't a French-speaking region which does it completely differently.

(My money's on Quebec or Romandy.)

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Not to mention the Downfall of Numenor!

Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the song of angry Men?
It is the music of the mortals
Who will NOT face death again!

hS

[Pervinca Took]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

It occurs to me, now that Urwen is around again, that we've gone wrong by trying to tie Les Mis to the Fall of the Noldor when it's quite clearly the Fall of Gondolin.

And Valjean is Maeglin.

They caught me in the mines
They chained me to the wall.
I'm faceless in the dark
Another nameless thrall.

I should have been a prince
With Idril as my bride!
To take her as my own
What is not justified?

If I speak - I am condemned
If I stay silent - I am damned.

I am the master of thousands of miners
The House of the Mole.
Yet they abandon me here in the dark
A tormented soul

If I speak - they are condemned
If I stay silent - I am damned!

Who am I?
Am I content to live in slavery
To mortal Man who has the ears of kings?
The chains of pity he would wield
Are stronger than of iron or steel
Who am I?

Should I forsake myself for Idril's sake?
Protect the city as my own heart breaks?
And must my name as long before
Be Son of Darkness evermore
Here I lie...

Why not ally myself to greater power?
Why should I suffer here another hour?
To make the princess mine alone
My love will break unweathered stone

I pledge alliegance to the King!
I will yield all I know to Him!

Who am I?
I'm Maeglin
Of Gondolin!

And so, Morgoth, you see it's true
I am of priceless worth to you!
Gondolin -
I - will - let - you - in!

^_^

hS

That's blimming good, Huey!

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

That's blimming good, Huey!

Thanks! Filking is great - you don't have to come up with an interesting tune yourself, it's right there for you.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

And here I was thinkjng that Galadriel hasn't seen her family for 3 Ages...

It certainly adds an extra layer to things if the call to return that she rejected was from her dad, in person.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

"You made solemn promise"?

Agreed.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Yes, I think "is merely" is what he really means, but when you sing it it comes out Is mereLY.

I mean... I'm not sure if it's the Russian getting to me, but I don't mind slightly weird syllable-emphasis in minor words. I guess we'll see how it sings.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Yeah, you've suggested that before. I didn't like it, because in the Sil Beren is talking to Thingol, with snark and sacrasm - and even in the sarcasm, he still means it, that Thingol would exchange Luthien for an object. Whereas here, he is opening his heart to Finrod with complete honesty, and is lamenting the difficulty of the task. However... it's still somewhat of a snide remark at Thingol, so maybe a dose of sarcasm is not too out of place...

What about "Such the price he set for his kingly honour"?

That's a good compromise.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

-- Yes.

[Throws up hands] Elves!

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I like that best of the three options, I think.

Done.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

"How might" and either of the two work. I think "this course" is more accurate of what he means, a course of action in the general sense, but "this road" sounds more dramatic. I am leaning "road", I think.

"Ought to" would do well, yeah... "I ought to have foreseen this"? But this is supposed to be a question recognizing that he really couldn't have foreseen it. Dunno.

I think might/road for now; the 'ought' version is just too big a stretch.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

...Stop dismantling my Yoda grammar!

Yeah, you're probably right.

I mean, we could go all-in on the Yoda...

Naught but madness I hear in what you said,
Poisoned is this cup, hmm, my doom it's brewing
Eldar crave not honour, but to serve instead;
Dangerous this passion - our lives you'll ruin!

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Ha! I knew it would be Carcharoth! I knew it! I win an imaginary trinket.

[Solemnly hands over a brooch]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

(Speaking of imaginary trinkets, it only came to me now how much our lives on the Downs resemble the lives in the Halls of Mandos, at least as told in the Script. Some people "formed" and active, others lurking to varying degrees, others still completely insubstantial. Time generally goes by slowly, it a thread was equated to a conversation - but sometimes it goes fast - Deadline Chicken anyone? - and has no correlation to RL time. The difference, of course, being that we want people to stay here. I guess an Undead theme is very appropriate for what we do.)

P@L was Very Online, so it's quite possible this is deliberate. But you're right, it is uniquely appropriate to the Downs as it currently stands.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I liked the Script, it was an excellent read! It's a shame it's unfinished. I know I've complained about some stuff not going the way I envisioned, but that's only because all the rest of it had nothing to complain of.

From my side, it's been a delight to get to talk about it; I've loved the Script for more than a decade, despite its flaws. (Incidentally, just yesterday someone mentioned that they heard from P@L earlier this year! She's still alive and well, and apparently does some non-fandom sort of writing. So it's just possible that someday she'll come back and finish it off...!

(That's what the Eldar call estel, I believe. ^_~)

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

In unrelated news, I finished the first chapter of Dawn. This one can be read by itself, since the deviation from the known and predictable storyline happens later on. And once that happens, I wonder if binge-reading is better than going one chapter every couple weeks. I fear that it rather lost in translation. :/ Also, fair warning - I have not read over it to make sure it flows smoothly, and I'm sure it's full of spontaneous mid-sentence tense changes, Yoda grammar, run-on sentences, and other ungainly weirdness. If something does stick its neck out to you, or a more colourful wording occurs to you, please comment on it and I'll fix it.

Having finished reading two other things, this is now top of my list. What that means in practical terms I'm not sure, but at least it's there. ^_^

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Right now I think this literary pastime is the more productive of the two. I do my thing in snatches these days, and I find it a lot easier to translate one sentence at a time than to compose one note at a time, it takes me a lot longer to "get in the mood" for music. I might just leave music till better days (read: 3-ish weeks from now), unless I unexpectedly get a solid few hours of time to work on it.

I get that; I've been bouncing between various bits of writing and drawing and other weirder pastimes, it really is a 'what am I currently best suited to?' thing. The Zong will wait.

hS

[Galadriel55]

A quick note on a different tangent - I have finally gotten around to reading the Script of Leithian you linked before - and then I realized that I've only read Act 1, there are 3 more to go. It has been very entertaining and a great read, the witticisms and the philosophical passages alternating. I have half a mind to start integrating some of those Elvish expressions into my vocabulary, except no one will appreciate the wit. But a question did come up. Is Edrahil ever stated to be a person of some rank or importance? Both here and in the Wilwarin fic he is described as a person of significant social standing and with a personal relationship with Finrod. That somehow ruins him for me. The Sil describes him as "chief" among the 10 loyal followers - which to me means he was first and foremost in standing with Finrod at that moment, not that he was "chief of Nargothrond" in any other way. I always interpreted it as an instance of abstract loyalty and duty winning over selfishness and doubt. Having Edrahil's motives compounded by personal friendship and lofty position takes away from the deed, I think. When I read The Sil, he's a nobody from the crowd, who barely knows Finrod, but would still stand by his king. Making him the king's chief advisor or best friend or somesuch makes his act less of a sacrifice for what is right - there is less of the abstract and more of the personal. But I am not familiar with the Lay or any other texts on the matter. Is he ever said to be somehow close to Finrod, either by rank/position or friendship? Or can I continue to ignore this as a product of fanfiction?

[Galadriel55]

Triple posting to present the start of Appeal. I wanted to do something magical-sounding for the intro, because wonderous Nargothrond and all. I thought maybe to do some more twinklebelling, but preferred to leave that to be unique to Melian. And then it came to me: Nargothrond is the city of harps! So the intro will have a harp. Also, in recent songs I discovered that beyond the basic set of instruments the program lets me choose from when I start a new piece, there is a whole array of hidden stuff in the settings, including some frankly bizarre stuff (did you know "helicopter" is an option for music scores?). Long story short, there is some synthetic sound which is aptly titled "atmosphere", and which blends nicely with the harp. Toyed the idea with a breathier flute, but wasn't convinced, and besides the intro needs some instrument that would connect to Finrod (which the flute has kinda become alongside the trumpet). What I am not sure about is whether to keep the harp for the body of the song or to revert to the typical piano. I think piano sounds better for the body - and also, whatever instruments I put, they have to not jar too much with Amarie Ballad, and I think that one sounds better with piano... Or maybe it could be both. But point is, if I start making everything Finrody have a harp backdrop replace the piano, I feel that it would make the remainder of his songs feel out of place, and it becomes a domino effect and I'm not willing to go there. Some Finrod things can have harp, but not most. Ahh, the dilemma.

The other questions are simpler. I tagged a sketch of Arrival and Appeal proper onto the intro for demo purposes. 1) Is this in good range for you? Does it need shifting up/down before I start working on the main thing? 2) Tempo... oh gosh. So I hear the intro and the Arrival (up to "I must see Felagund your king") as slow. The lyrics could tolerate being fast here, but the intro does not, and keeping it on the slow side helps with the magic feel, I think. But the body of Appeal does not tolerate this slowness, especially on Finrod's part; it needs something brisker - I have a moderately fast version as a sample. Could probably be a bit slower, and even a bit faster, but not too much because then Beren's lines start tonguetwisting.

Appeal Intro: slow
Appeal Intro: fast


(Ain't you proud of me? I kept the intro to under 30 seconds! )

(And, sorry if in the previous ramble it wasn't clear, but I am leaning towards doing a two-part piece again, like for Aria and Renunciation, for both tempo and instrument reasons. The question is what exactly to change, and where - the options are at the start of the speaking lines - "Is this not the wonderous Nargothrond", and at the start of the body - "I beseech you etc")



And, in entirely unrelated news, I did start translating the Wilwarin fanfic. That's what happens when I have several days off in a row and very few responsibilities. It will not last very long though, which means that I've basically committed myself to another year-long-or-more project on a weekend whim. When I get through the first chapter, I will post a link.

[Huinesoron]

I will answer the rest, but while I've got the Leithian Script up:

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Is Edrahil ever stated to be a person of some rank or importance?

A lovely thing about Philosopher@Large is that she made the effort to explain a lot of her decisions, at least down to somewhere in the ever-longer Act IV. This is the afternotes file, and it points to the Lay of Leithian, which gives this version of Edrahil's plea:

Originally Posted by Lay: Canto VII

One stooped and lifted up his crown,
and said: 'Oh king, to leave this town
is now our fate, but not to lose
thy rightful lordship. Thou shalt choose
one to be steward in thy stead.'
Then Felagund upon the head
of Orodreth set it: 'Brother mine,
'till I return this crown is thine.'

Her argument is that people tend to be concerned with the things familiar to them, and so if you see someone going "Hey, know we're going into exile and certain death and all, but have you considered appointing a steward?", it's probably someone associated with the government. Then there's the fact that Orodreth's government is unable to prevent the imprisonment of a visiting allied princess, which implies that there wasn't just a change in who wore the crown, but also a gutting of the apparatus of leadership. To quote P@L again:

[The Ten] would not have been nonentities, random losers whose absence would make no difference to the life of the City, to be able alone of all the realm to disregard the danger, the Oath, and the overwhelming popular opinion against them — though not all, necessarily, of high political rank or standing (no more than a certain gardener in another Age)...

I think this is a good argument, and I've always been swayed by it: the people with the strength to follow Finrod would be the people most loyal to him, personally, and therefore are people he would have trusted in the city or the army. Given that Edrahil is not only comfortable handling the crown and correcting his just-now-exiled king in public, but also immediately goes 'hey what about the government?', steward or other high-ranking official would be a good fit for him. Herald is another possibility, a la Elrond to Gil-Galad - and indeed, she gives him that role too. ^_^

But is it text? No. A reading where these are ten simple warriors, and Edrahil Enedrion their sergeant, is just as well-fitted to the text.

hS

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

I think this is a good argument, and I've always been swayed by it: the people with the strength to follow Finrod would be the people most loyal to him, personally, and therefore are people he would have trusted in the city or the army. Given that Edrahil is not only comfortable handling the crown and correcting his just-now-exiled king in public, but also immediately goes 'hey what about the government?', steward or other high-ranking official would be a good fit for him. Herald is another possibility, a la Elrond to Gil-Galad - and indeed, she gives him that role too. ^_^

That is actually a very good argument, and I might be convinced over. At least I don't mind it nearly as much anymore. Both the boldness in giving advise to the king and the power vacuum are good points. Thank you very much for that perspective.

So far, the line I am absolutely going to use is "I am not a child of 90". It's funny when Luthien says it, but it's even funnier when a mortal says it.




ETA: Just read up to this point, and thought this was a beautiful passage that could not but be quoted for posterity and future reference:

And we who are left muddle along half-blindly, trying to recover from the ruinous darkness we have brought upon ourselves, but unwilling to dare the necessary fire... ~Orodreth

[Galadriel55]

Ha! I knew it would be Carcharoth! I knew it! I win an imaginary trinket.

(Speaking of imaginary trinkets, it only came to me now how much our lives on the Downs resemble the lives in the Halls of Mandos, at least as told in the Script. Some people "formed" and active, others lurking to varying degrees, others still completely insubstantial. Time generally goes by slowly, it a thread was equated to a conversation - but sometimes it goes fast - Deadline Chicken anyone? - and has no correlation to RL time. The difference, of course, being that we want people to stay here. I guess an Undead theme is very appropriate for what we do.)

I liked the Script, it was an excellent read! It's a shame it's unfinished. I know I've complained about some stuff not going the way I envisioned, but that's only because all the rest of it had nothing to complain of.


In unrelated news, I finished the first chapter of Dawn. This one can be read by itself, since the deviation from the known and predictable storyline happens later on. And once that happens, I wonder if binge-reading is better than going one chapter every couple weeks. I fear that it rather lost in translation. :/ Also, fair warning - I have not read over it to make sure it flows smoothly, and I'm sure it's full of spontaneous mid-sentence tense changes, Yoda grammar, run-on sentences, and other ungainly weirdness. If something does stick its neck out to you, or a more colourful wording occurs to you, please comment on it and I'll fix it.

Right now I think this literary pastime is the more productive of the two. I do my thing in snatches these days, and I find it a lot easier to translate one sentence at a time than to compose one note at a time, it takes me a lot longer to "get in the mood" for music. I might just leave music till better days (read: 3-ish weeks from now), unless I unexpectedly get a solid few hours of time to work on it.

[Galadriel55]

Appeal - more-or-less-final.

I love the entrance part, and I love Beren's "I ask: give me men" stanza. I knew what I wanted to do with that one from the start, and the whole song was building up to that point. I think it turned out pretty good. My least favourite part is "Carefree is the life" - it still sticks out as a bit bland or at best sarcastic, when I think Beren here is feeling more genuinely betrayed than casually cynical.


Going through my files for Minions, I found: revised music, and revised minion choir, which - now I remember - was made hilariously Gollumesque because I screwed up the microphones and it was accidentally recorded through the worst one I have. I was quite bummed about it at the time but perhaps it was serendipitous, depending on how comical or Christmas Elves-like the Minions are meant to sound. I could redo them in more creepy voices if we wanna go for creepy instead of cute little Gollums.

I think I also have Aria re-singing files lying around somewhere. Gotta look through those as well at some point.

As for Les Mis remakes, I think you might enjoy this one.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I think I also have Aria re-singing files lying around somewhere. Gotta look through those as well at some point.

Aha, found it! A better take than the one currently in the video, and also features the debut of Elanor's new microphone. I thought at the time that I could do an even better one, there were a few moments I wasn't happy with for this one, but my vanity will just need to suffer this one out. Would it bee too much trouble to ask you to swap the vocals in the video?

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

By the way, does Tolkien ever say what exactly happened to Thuringwethil? Did she just happen to be an unfortunate evil soul who got crushed in the fall of the tower? How did she actually die?

As far as I know, she's never even mentioned while alive - just as a handy bat-fell.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

That's neat! It would be nice to see these places, even if just stills. I live in a place with lots of natury places around too now, and I was actually thinking about doing a cosplay / live action thing in some distant future... But for me it's very much still purely hypothetical. Shame about the cave, but it would be nice to see the other places!

Good news!



The follies of planning... originally I was going to use what I remembered as an old white bridge with a cliff-face waterfall at one end for the gates of Minas Tirith. Yeah... that bridge was replaced a decade or two back, and the 'cliff' is more of a gulley. So I moved to this spot, which used to be a bridge until they took it out. The light-and-dark feel was just perfect for the Showdown.

Sort of pondering replacing the V2 banner images in the Libretto with these once I have a full set... I don't know, though; the colour-on-black effect of V2 makes it all look very classy, and these would make it very... green.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Appeal - more-or-less-final.

I love the entrance part, and I love Beren's "I ask: give me men" stanza. I knew what I wanted to do with that one from the start, and the whole song was building up to that point. I think it turned out pretty good. My least favourite part is "Carefree is the life" - it still sticks out as a bit bland or at best sarcastic, when I think Beren here is feeling more genuinely betrayed than casually cynical.

I mean.. it's Beren mouthing off to an authority figure, this is literally his whole thing. ^_^ I think the contrast between his initial sassy comeback "Fat lot of good your ring was!" and his more heartfelt "If you'd ever /been/ in love you'd get it" works very well.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Going through my files for Minions, I found: revised music, and revised minion choir, which - now I remember - was made hilariously Gollumesque because I screwed up the microphones and it was accidentally recorded through the worst one I have. I was quite bummed about it at the time but perhaps it was serendipitous, depending on how comical or Christmas Elves-like the Minions are meant to sound. I could redo them in more creepy voices if we wanna go for creepy instead of cute little Gollums.

C'mon, cute Gollums is clearly the way to go. They're so precious!

(I'm sorry. But I'm not actually sorry.)

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Aha, found it! A better take than the one currently in the video, and also features the debut of Elanor's new microphone. I thought at the time that I could do an even better one, there were a few moments I wasn't happy with for this one, but my vanity will just need to suffer this one out. Would it bee too much trouble to ask you to swap the vocals in the video?

I'll take a look at all these files when I get a chance. Just swapping in the vocals should be pretty easy, and I think the Aria already has the new logo title card, so that should be a quick swap.

hS

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

The follies of planning... originally I was going to use what I remembered as an old white bridge with a cliff-face waterfall at one end for the gates of Minas Tirith. Yeah... that bridge was replaced a decade or two back, and the 'cliff' is more of a gulley. So I moved to this spot, which used to be a bridge until they took it out. The light-and-dark feel was just perfect for the Showdown.

There - the breath of springtime fills the air; there - the grass is dappled with the dew...

Very lovely. The contrast of a "dark island" and "bright beyond" is very fitting.

Originally Posted by Hui

Sort of pondering replacing the V2 banner images in the Libretto with these once I have a full set... I don't know, though; the colour-on-black effect of V2 makes it all look very classy, and these would make it very... green.

Your choice. I don't see anything wrong with green. And you know how I feel about Jareth-Finrod.

Originally Posted by Hui

I mean.. it's Beren mouthing off to an authority figure, this is literally his whole thing. ^_^

Very true.

Originally Posted by Hui

C'mon, cute Gollums is clearly the way to go. They're so precious!

(I'm sorry. But I'm not actually sorry.)

Nah, me neither.

Originally Posted by Hui

I'll take a look at all these files when I get a chance. Just swapping in the vocals should be pretty easy, and I think the Aria already has the new logo title card, so that should be a quick swap.

Looking at the video, I realized you put me as "first author" in the credits - but Aria is yours.



EDIT: lectures are very important... veeeryyyy impoooortaaaant....
(But now I'm stuck because the first stanza of the chorus has different chords from the second and things just aren't lining up properly)
(Edit2: I think I figured it out, and updated the link. And I also now think that I did Captivity incorrectly, but it's a still-sounds-good incorrectly)

[Galadriel55]

Light and dark can both be damned, together will crazy work schedules!

...It's amazing what one can accomplish with the inertia of constant intense work when one suddenly lands in a free weekend with relatively few responsibilities. I am somewhat surprised at the amount of productivity. This song for one can no longer be said to be unfinished. ^.^

(I rather am proud of myself for catching up to the imaginary schedule, so that it might be finished sometime before I retire )

I rather enjoyed the variations-on-a-theme feel with that short repeating down-up-down drip-drop segment. And is that Luthien's theme making an appearance in the second section of the piece? You bet it is. Why? I think my best answer is - why not? It's about love, and it's not terribly obvious or out of place, it's like an easter egg for people who know the musical (because this piece of the melody doesn't formally appear until Dream).

A word of warning, this piece is much quieter relative to the other ones I've done recently. Part of that is that it's not a mini orchestra the entire time but more of a piano with wind instrument support, like Wind - it has fewer competing voices. And the other part is that the volumes I've set here are more in the mezzo range as opposed to the f to fff I had in the last few pieces. So it would probably need more volume adjusting relative to the recording to be heard. I am actually wondering if I should not make the quieter parts louder relative to the more exciting bits, because my suspicion is that they might not be heard at all beneath the voice, or if they are then the loud bits would be overwhelmingly loud. I think the best way is to test it out, and I can adjust the volume if there are issues on the first take, it's a bit hard to judge without the voice there. It's a more thoughtful and gentle song, it's supposed to be more subtle - but it should also be in the hearing range.


EDIT: I couldn't rest easy until I tried it out, even though I'm too hoarse to sing properly and can't hit the higher notes. I think it works reasonably enough that I have hope for it and don't feel the compulsion to go rebalance the volumes immediately. ^.^ It's a grand song, I am very happy that we can now sing it with music. Happy First Song to you! :-)


EDIT 2: hey, look what the cat dragged in to my youtube feed! Another Zong performance! I've only seen the Prison Duet so far, but it looks like they have a whole concert. I like this version of Prison - and they change the words a bit: in the end instead of Finrod's "of these two lamps", they have Beren commending him for his loyalty, before going into his "only the faithful can stand on the edge without fear". I like the music and the acting, and the music here is actually very simple sounding and I might use it to draft the piece. ^.^ Beren's aesthetic is also interesting - he seems to still be "medieval warrior" rather than "bandit" appearance, but a bit more on the rougher side and not the super romantic V1 style, yet not in Thug zone. I peaked at Duel of Song too - they have Sauron wearing the Silmarils. >.< The acting is superb, they do some amazing staging stuff there. Finrod is right on. I don't agree with their choices for Sauron though (and not just over the Silmarils) - I think they might have been going for the "Necromancer" aesthetic, but it ends up more like necromancee. The result is that he isn't convincing, he doesn't sound/look powerful, it doesn't sound like he actually should be winning. But yes I am biased because I am just so enamoured by the V1 Sauron, who met my vision perfectly of what the embodied Sauron would have looked like - Elf-like but slightly vampiresque, haughty, overbearing in his confidence, and giving the general sense of emanating power. Or at least Rock God, who might be awfully gleeful but still has that sense of easy power. This Sauron doesn't carry the same conviction. But all of this aside, I really enjoyed that performance! I am totally watching this tomorrow!

...Ugh, who am I kidding, I've watched it all today. It's not a whole concert, just a few clips.
Meeting - an excellent example of acting out that song without making it look the slightest bit like a rape scene *glares at V2 on which I still hold a grudge for ruining that song for me*
Appeal - I don't think this version is my favourite, but some good acting and some interesting musical choices.
Ballad to Amarie - very heartfelt, I like it. The music cut out in the middle, and the guy didn't beat an eye, he landed right on the note and the beat when it came back on - damn he's good!
Duel of Song - as I said above, I am in love with the staging here, and Finrod here is truly someone who could take on a Maia in a Song of Power. Absolutely recommend watching. Actually... is Sauron trying to mind-control Finrod's Elves?... Could very well be... It's an interesting idea, but I think it misdirects Finrod's second section to be more specific than intended (e.g. "falsehoods and illusions" now only seems in context of his bewitched friends, and not the world in general, and "strength to counter you" does in no way mean a couple extra guys with spears). This puts a very different interpretation of how and why Sauron won - almost like he did so by "convincing" the Elves of his point of view, rather than finding the crack of doubt within Finrod. Still, watch it for the acting, you will not regret it!
Captivity - okay, now Sauron just looks like he's wearing a nightgown and he's just hard to take seriously. But man do he and nearly-broken Finrod make a great acting pair when it's just them and not the Elf choir! Seriously, this cast and whoever did the staging/choreography are really good at their stuff.
Prison Duet - yup, good acting, and I am so using this to sketch out the melody.
Truth - very believable. If I'm not mistaken, the score is the same or very similar to the ...2010?... concert performance with the V1 cast members, where I also liked Truth.
A collection of fragments - a different channel but this is clearly the same performance. Featuring the Loyalty stanza of Lament, Luthien Not At Bay (another bit with some cool acting), a snatch of Dream which seems to taking place after Captivity (with the alternate lyrics that I can finally make out!*), and Showdown (where Sauron tries to zombifie Beren with some interesting results).


Overall impression? Excellent acting skills, and I think I've finally found a Finrod to rival the V1 actor - though I still think Susalev holds the gold trophy. The music is not too heavy on the rock, and the singing is pretty good. Some curious interpretations, which I don't necessarily agree with but make sense within the frame of the lyrics. I wish there was a full performance video available, I would totally watch the full thing. This show definitely gets the Best Acting and Choreography trophy, it's not even a competition.


*Let heart over duty all decide,
Let [=so what if] my path lie over an abyss!
The threads of former ties will tear,
What do I care for the weight of immortal years
When my soul belongs to you?

(And now that there is pretty much a rhyme already in there my translation reflexes are tingling)
Let heart over duty all decide,
Let my journey take me far and wide,
The threads of former ties will tear,
What good are my immortal years -
Only a burden while my heart with you abides!



Huh, and here's another neat fragment collection that was in the same batch of links - Lay of Leithian the Musical. It has what seems to be an equivalent of Doriath Duet / Tonguelashing, followed by the lovers' return, and the hunt for Carcharoth. Features mentions of Daeron and Huan! Maybe I'll jot down a translation tomorrow, it doesn't have subtitles.


...Aaaand now it is nearing 1am and this time it is entirely my own fault that I'm not getting enough sleep.

[Galadriel55]

I've had a few denser work shifts and am mainly Downsing on my phone, so I haven't been able to listen to your recording yet. I will do in the next few days. But it just occurred to me that Heart is again pitched in the somewhat odd key, for Lora's low voice. Do we need to move the pitch again? I think for Wind we moved it up by a third. Let me know how you and Cebestel feel about this one. Up by a third here would put it in C major, which I for one would not be complaining about. But go by what you're comfortable with.

[Galadriel55]

I finally recorded Dream... after like a million takes of still not being happy, here's what made me least dissatisfied: Luthien's part. Then I sang Beren too, because I like the song - and that made me remember a couple things I have blissfully forgotten. Firstly, singing from memory, I totally forgot Beren's new Purpose line, and screwed up his words in the end a little. Goot thing we didn't have to reconstruct the Zong from memory. Secondly, I am rubbish at being consistent with the start of the phrases. I don't even match to myself. I wanted to sing along to your recording so that we would match beats and it wouldn't sound horribly off-synch, but now it's gone into the Google Void. Also, I was gonna play around with the harmonies and make sure that it sounds clean, because the worst thing you can do in a song is attempted but failed harmony. Do you still happen to have your recording saved somewhere?


Next up: Sons of Feanor. All the parts, and Luthien alone. As always, I am not really happy with it, but I suspect I'll never be - so here is what is, until one day I might redo the lot of it. (And I think I also don't remember the Feanorians' words that well either, now that I've looked at our Libretto again... I should stop doing this "sing by memory cause of course I know it!" thing)

[Huinesoron]

[Crawls out of the depths of the Great Barrow] I... liiiive...

Ahem. ^_^ It's slightly past the end of my lunchbreak, so this is going to be little except a bare link:

10 - Dream - Complete video

No subtitles as yet, and I'm happy to adjust things if they need it; I just wanted to return with something worth posting.

The final shot of Beren under the arches leads directly into Camp, which in turn will lead directly into Heart.

"Sons of Feanor" doesn't use any new art (it's the Red Nargothrond set from the second half of Quarrel), so should be relatively quick to put together once I actually figure out the recording.

hS

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

[Crawls out of the depths of the Great Barrow] I... liiiive...

All hail!

You can't believe how exciting it is to see a new post on this thread, regardless of the post content.

...actually, who am I kidding, you probably totally can.

That is to say: SQUEEEEEEEE!

Originally Posted by Hui

10 - Dream - Complete video

That is... (somewhat unexpectedly) impressively good. I am off tune in one place but it will have to keep for now. I love Beren's part. And - did you re-record the duo section? Because this matches surprisingly well given that I didn't have your recording to match to when I sang my part. It sounds awesome! And it integrates well with all the musical bits. I actually did not expect it to come together this well.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

That is to say: SQUEEEEEEEE!

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

That is... (somewhat unexpectedly) impressively good. I am off tune in one place but it will have to keep for now. I love Beren's part. And - did you re-record the duo section? Because this matches surprisingly well given that I didn't have your recording to match to when I sang my part. It sounds awesome! And it integrates well with all the musical bits. I actually did not expect it to come together this well.

I didn't have to rerecord anything! The only thing I did was shift half of my final line forward by a fraction of a second; everything else was perfectly synced. I was totally expecting masses of issues, but it just... worked.

I think that means you did a really good job on the instrumental.

(I've also added a couple more of the photos to the Libretto, because... I was bored. Still lots to go!)

hS

Edit: Aaaaand I've just sneakily managed to get the collection of links back into the end of the Libretto too. ^_~

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

I didn't have to rerecord anything! The only thing I did was shift half of my final line forward by a fraction of a second; everything else was perfectly synced. I was totally expecting masses of issues, but it just... worked.

That is just baffling, but you know what - I'll take it!

Originally Posted by Hui

(I've also added a couple more of the photos to the Libretto, because... I was bored. Still lots to go!)

Oooo, the Nargothrond songs! Very pretty!

Originally Posted by Hui

Edit: Aaaaand I've just sneakily managed to get the collection of links back into the end of the Libretto too. ^_~

*gasps* What -- How -- Never mind how, but thank you!

I was trying to find a link to Prison Duet the other day - I remember saying something about a good quality recording which I thought would be easier to work with for the sketch. But while browsing the thread for it, I instead came across the Script comments, and started a reread, and got distracted. I kept putting off trying to scavenge all the links again, this is an enormous task!