Urban Legends: Final Cut
(2000)
Score Information
Orchestrations by John Ottman Arranged and conducted by Damon Intrabartolo Performed by the Munich Symphony Orchestra View a sample score sheet from "The Scoring Stage" |
1. Welcome to Alpine / Amy's Theme (1:20) *music and lyrics by Damon Intrabartolo |
John's Thoughts
Over a year ago when I began the adventure of Urban Legends, I knew that the recording of the score would mark a milestone; it would signal the end of a long journey. At the time it seemed a distant fantasy, but when on May 26th I stepped into Arco Studios in Munich, I didn't take the moment for granted. The score was written and a year's creative angst behind me. All that remained was getting through 70 minutes of music in 30 hours, plus a few more weeks of finishing up my film. So being on that recording stage was surreal.
Most of the worry revolved around wondering if the sheet music was going to make it from LA for the next day's sessions. Sure enough, upon our arrival in Munich, three boxes of music didn't make it. I kept saying, "I knew it, I knew it!!" to everyone's irritation. No matter how long I stared at the luggage turnstile, those boxes were never going to slide out! So the night before recording was a nail-biter, tracking them down in Los Angeles. At 5AM before our first session, the last box flew in. Life on the edge!
Upon driving up to the outside of the recording studio in Munich, we weren't exactly at ease. The outside looked as if perhaps at one time the building was used for horse stables. But upon stepping inside, I was relieved to see no stacks of hay, but a real (and very blue) recording studio within.
Language barriers didn't prove to be much of a problem; although my oft-incoherent jet-lagged speech from the control room was probably more difficult to decipher than any German in the room. The Munich Symphony did a wonderful job diving into a tremendous amount of material, and conductor Damon Intrabartolo kept us on a frenetic track.
In this genre of film, characters are given very little time to meet the audience, and the composer's task becomes more daunting in terms of creating mini-themes that must form an immediate connection to them in snippet-like time. Amy's "theme" is two 8-note piano motifs that change hands throughout the score depending on the mood. Her theme has its brief orchestral resolution near the end of "Final Showdown." The character of Trevor has a mysterious, yet longing four-note clarinet motif which can often be heard intertwining with Amy's. This makes its debut on the CD about halfway into "Meeting Trevor." Two "mystery themes" play in moments of suspicion: One is darkly chordal in nature; the other more magical with piano and celeste. These two short themes briefly combine in the beginning of the "The Tower." Over-all the score hints that there is more of a thriller atmosphere, with homages to Hitchcock's era best touched upon in the action sections of the "Tower" cue. (Why else would I have had the writers put a bell tower into the script?!) You can also catch a bit of the original Urban Legend piano motif in the cues, "I Know a Good Story" and "Soulmate," as these scenes hint to the original film. I always wanted to use a wind machine in the percussion section, so listen for that imbedded with bowed gong. It's always fulfilling when acoustic instruments can create as strange a sound as a synthesizer might be used for.
Some of the action cues were a real work-out and hopefully will be fun to listen to. I hope you enjoy the strange world of Urban Legends: Final Cut.