Today I would like to highlight some instrumental songs I enjoy!
Most are from soundtracks, so you're going to notice a lot of Hans Zimmer in this list, as I have a fangirl crush on just about every soundtrack this guy's done (Hans Zimmer has done the soundtrack for lots of movies, some of which you may recognize: The Da Vinci Code, The Dark Knight, Inception, Kung Fu Panda, and the entire Pirates of the Caribbean series).
Feel free to pop into the comments section and suggest other awesome songs!
Okay, maybe it's just me, but lately I've noticed there's not a lot of big moments in movies and books.
At least, not in the last few published novels I've read or movies I watched on Netflix. I know this is subjective, and I can still think of a bunch of movies and books that are exempt from this observation, so they are excused from class.
Perhaps I should explain what I mean by "big moment" so the rest of you at home can decipher my meaning.
Simply put, it's a turning point. It can be a major change of direction for the plot, or when some of what character is working towards pays off, or a major set back. The most obvious example is the climax of the plot, but there should be other, smaller climaxes.
And yeah, there were turning points in the offending books and movies, but they felt really small. Little Timmy made a B on his math test. Rhonda found her lucky penny. Events that progressed the plot, but they didn't feel like much. It was "meh" instead of "Wow, I can't wait to find out what happens next!"
Think about big moments. Harry Potter discovers he's a wizard. Po finds inner peace. A coach gives an inspiring speech in innumerable sports movies. John McClane walks across broken glass shoeless. Johnny gets Baby out of a corner. Frodo is entrusted with the One Ring.
There's a cathartic effect from these turning points, whether things are better or worse for the main character. Something important has changed, and life can never be the same again.
Not every moment in the movie or book needs to feel like this of course, but turning points should make you feel something. They should stir you, throw you towards the remaining turning points until the inevitable climax occurs and you feel the biggest release of all: the resolution (or conversely, you feel the most pissed off you spend X number of hours of your life on this piece of crap and can never get them back).
I'm not saying every turning point should be POW POW EXPLOSION OMG THE KILLER BEES ARE IN MY RACCOON WOUNDS!!!!!!!!!! but unless they are more dramatic than the events around them, they don't feel like anything at all.
I really believe that a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat or a book that is physically impossible to put down has among other things, a dynamic plot. There's twists and turns and high and lows and you're always emotionally engaged.
But that's just me. My attention span is currently that of a coked up squirrel, so I am harder to entertain at the moment. It might be why I've noticed it more, but it's still something to keep in mind.
What say you? How you do feel about turning points and how they relate to your own work?
Yesterday I went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 and was surprised at how good it was.
Normally sequels are a dicey proposition. Sometimes the writers don't understand exactly why the first movie did so well, so when they create a sequel they try to just redo the first movie, only slightly different. They replay the same gags, and the characters never seem to know what they are doing.
Happily, this did not happen in Kung Fu Panda 2. They took the characters you saw in the last movie, and expanded on them. Po is now the Dragon Warrior, and fighting together with the Furious Five to protect the Valley of Peace from bandits. The villain comes in the form of a peacock, Lord Shen, who is not playing with a full deck. He plans to rule China not with Kung Fu, but with a powerful new weapon using gunpowder. If that sounds awesome, that's because it is.
In addition to an interesting new villain, we get an amazing origin story for Po. I can't really say more than that without giving away part of the movie, but Po and Lord Shen have some history together that instead of revealing right away, the writers instead chose to drag it out for a satisfying conclusion, since we the viewer know the answers that Po is seeking from Lord Shen.
The writing is good, they develop Po in a satisfying character arc, and once again, the music is simply beautiful. Somehow they balance all of that with Po screwing things up and laughing while he's doing it. Instead of making him seem like an idiot, to me it just makes him more human. Or more panda if you prefer. There were several scenes in the later part of the movie, where Po is working through his personal demons to reach inner peace that had me tearing up. I can't remember the last time I saw such a poignant scene where the character searches inside themselves, through a haze of misery and pain, to find what they are truly made of. In short, if you want to write a great sequel, be it book or a movie, you have to maintain the character you developed in the first part, but continue to develop him in new and interesting ways. You want to bring the viewer/reader back to the world they loved in the first part, without acting like nothing has changed and you're just going to repeat what happened previously. This cheapens the first part, because then it feels like the first movie or book was for nothing and now you're sitting through more events that have no impact on the character. Instead, find new ways that you can test your character.
You're all creative. I am sure you can come up with something. What about you? What makes a great sequel for you?
