This joyously energetic medley of Tom and Jerry music composed by the legendary Scott Bradley was performed recently by the John Wilson Orchestra as part of the 2013 BBC Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Peter Morris, who arranged the performance with Wilson, has written extensively about the work:
We wanted to create a score that wasn’t too fragmented and that didn’t rely on visuals so the music you hear is a compilation of some of the best bits of Scott Bradley’s music. There is no single video for the music—it comes from eight different cartoons: Smitten Kitten, Sufferin’ Cats, The Framed Cat, Cat Fishin’ Just Ducky, Jerry and Jumbo, The Cat Comes to Dinner and Mouse for Sale.
John is a dab hand at reconstructing scores from audio. Check his Wiki page for info. In this case, however, we used score fragments, archives and a lot of patience. I used FCP to extract candidate snippets of video and linked them to create a 3 candidate narratives which John and I then worked on. Copyright is a nightmare (MGM, Warner, Sony, Turner, EMI have all owned bits in the past) – only JW has the clout to cut though that quagmire. Scores are as rare as hens’ teeth.
Bradley’s original scores were played by typically 20 to 25 musos. In fact, if you look at the beginning of the performance there are only 3 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello and 1 bass, to start with the original MGM sound. However, more instruments are added as the piece progresses to the full 100-piece orchestra at the end. Scott Bradley also preferred orchestral sound effects to ones added by the sound department, hence the big “shock chords” that you find at various places.
Are you excited about the upcoming launch of Seven (the Series)? Seven adventures from seven fantastic YA authors: Eric Walters, John Wilson, Ted Staunton, Richard Scrimger, Norah McClintock, Sigmund Brouwer and Shane Peacock. And all seven titles will be released on the same day!
To help you decide which of the seven adventures to read first, Orca Book Publishers is releasing an excerpt from one book each month leading up to the series launch on October 10, 2012. The excerpt for August is from Sigmund Brouwer’s Devil’s Pass.
About Devil’s Pass
Seventeen-year-old Webb’s abusive stepfather has made it impossible for him to live at home, so Webb survives on the streets of Toronto by busking with his guitar and working as a dishwasher. When Webb’s grandfather dies, his will stipulates that his grandsons fulfill specific requests. Webb’s task takes him to the Canol Trail in Canada’s Far North, where he finds out that there are much scarier things than the cold and the occasional grizzly bear. With a Native guide, two German tourists and his guitar for company, Webb is forced to confront terrible events in his grandfather’s past and somehow deal with the pain and confusion of his own life.
Visit www.seventheseries.com to download an excerpt of Devil’s Pass or any of the five previously published excerpts.
What’s the best way to promote a romantic comedy about prostitution? The producers of the 1963 Billy Wilder film Irma la Douce decided to advertise it with an animated trailer. They commissioned John Wilson and his studio Fine Arts Films to create the piece. Animation director Michael Sporn has scanned the trailer’s artfully designed, never-before-seen storyboards and posted them onto his blog. They can be viewed HERE and HERE.
Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation |
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Post tags: Billy Wilder, Fine Arts Films, John Wilson
