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The Great(er) Gatsby

hal_over_9000

hal_over_9000

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The Great(er) Gatsby

I have begun working on this project now:


This book is one of my favorite novels of all time. When i heard one of my favorite actors, Dicaprio was going to play the title character, i was excited. When i left the theater however, i felt disappointment. Not towards the story, it was a fairly faithful adaption, but more to the incessant usage of modern music and culture. For my edit, i want to remove ALL of the awful rap music that plays during the film, and replace it with more time appropriate music. I'm sure i'll end up trimming some of the movie, but i don't can't think of any scenes at the moment (I'm open to suggestions if any). I plan on adding back in the deleted scenes from the film (the parts i can use anyway) because they were in the book and help the narrative.

I experimented with a scene to see how effectively i could remove the background music, here is what i came up with:




Original Scene:


Greater Gatsby Version:



I replaced the background music to the speakeasy music from "Once Upon a Time in America.
I think the removal of the rap music worked out okay here, i'll probably have to cut out some of the close ups of the dancers because it doesn't match the music. The music here isn't necessarily the final song i'm going to use (although if people like it i'll keep it), but i used it as part of the demo because its original use was in a similar scene in its movie.

After doing a rewatch, i noted that the film actually stops using rap music towards the latter half of the film and instead switches to more age appropriate music so i won't be removing those parts.
 
I'm trying to include in the deleted scenes from the film, which includes a much better ending in my opinion. The problem is that some parts of these scenes aren't entirely finished
. I'm going to attempt to finish these scenes by implementing the missing background shots, but if that turns out looking funny i'll probably just cut the bits that aren't going to work.
 
nice work on that music replacement! I've avoided this film so far because of the music choice, but I'd definitely watch this. The dancing girls create a bit of a mis-match, but I'm sure that can be handled with some clever cuts.
 
I think so of the jazzz tracks and original score should still be included.
the Bryan Ferry Orchestra and Craig Armstrong had some good tracks.
 
The biggest problem i'm having is figuring out what music to replace the rap songs with. The sequences are edited to match the songs so i have to work around that with the songs i want to replace with. I have a few songs in mind, but i'd also like other suggestions on this because there could be better options that i wouldn't think of. Take this scene for example:



I can't think of a good enough song to replace the music with here that can match whats happening on screen.
 
the novel's set in 1922. i'm no expert on that era (except for some familiarity with little rascals episodes), but here are some popular songs from that year; many of these artists have tunes posted on youtube, so you can sniff out whether they fit into your edit.

http://tsort.info/music/yr1922.htm
 
ssj said:
the novel's set in 1922. i'm no expert on that era (except for some familiarity with little rascals episodes), but here are some popular songs from that year; many of these artists have tunes posted on youtube, so you can sniff out whether they fit into your edit.

http://tsort.info/music/yr1922.htm
Click to expand...

Thanks for the list. The problem is these songs are really slow and don't really work well with the quick cuts and speed of scenes like the party one i posted above, they just sound out of place. I don't necessarily feel that i have to use songs from the 20s, just ones that fit the era. For example, the music i used in the speakesy scene wasn't from the 20s, but fit what was happening on screen and had a timeless enough feel that doesn't make it as jarring as the rap music.
 
Boardwalk Empire has soundtracks you could mine...

 
This is such a hard sell because Baz Luhrman's overstylised (I dunno what the hell to call it) choices ruin the film, modern dancing, modern music, vintage cars that perform like AAA license sports cars. Even when you replace the music there's still those party scenes that look like a 1920's costume themed Rave. Not sure how you can get around that.
 
TM2YC said:
Boardwalk Empire has soundtracks you could mine...

Click to expand...

Hmm i love Boardwalk Empire, but using the soundtrack isn't really a viable option. The problem is, the scenes where the rap music plays are live performances by musicians in the movie, without vocals. Also the party scenes are very fast and too quickly cut to use one of those slow sounding songs. Its a little hard to describe so i'll put together a video of the scenes to show what i mean visually.

Omaru1982 said:
This is such a hard sell because Baz Luhrman's overstylised (I dunno what the hell to call it) choices ruin the film, modern dancing, modern music, vintage cars that perform like AAA license sports cars. Even when you replace the music there's still those party scenes that look like a 1920's costume themed Rave. Not sure how you can get around that.
Click to expand...

This is a legitimate complaint, i can try and trim some of the more modern looking parts but i'm focusing the most on the music.


I tried to find a song from the 20s to fit the party scene above, but nothing i came across could really match the pace of whats was happening on screen. In the end, i decided to try out a well known jazz classic with the scene and i think it came out well enough.


Original Scene in question:




Greater Gatsby Version:

[video=youtube_share;NzJviWx41Co]

This song wasn't written until the mid 30s, but i don't think its that big of a deal because its still the same genre of music that was popular doing this movies timeframe, and is still closer to the original source compared to the rap version.
 
Nice work!
I actually thought about replacing the soundtrack myself one day but seeing your work in progress the project is obviously in capable hands already! :)

There are several YouTube Channels specialized in archiving music from that era
https://www.youtube.com/user/edmundusrex
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfZVI8Kq2yuxNOO9tpvdmZg
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwLrizwAVDNwOqnfCxd_DUQ

I'm sure with a little effort you can find even more
I've discovered dozens of amazing songs through these channels so far!
 
A bit of Django Reinhardt or Emmet Ray - check out the soundtrack to the wonderful Woody Allen film "The Sweet and Lowdown

 
Interesting (and challenging!) project. The Billboard lists can be a good resource for songs. Here is 1921, for instance. Ain't We Got Fun was a hit this year, and it was used for the closing credits of the 1974 adaptation, IIRC.

Apart from this, mood music from different films can be just as effective. I think old music will work badly because of the visual quality, but you can try something newer that's not too Hans Zimmer-y but still retains an element of classicism. I can't really think of any right now. I'm sure Jerry Goldsmith or Howard Shore, or for that matter 70s/80s Maurice Jarre or even John Barry. Or: for that matter, the Nelson Riddle score for the 1974 adaptation (if it's ever been released digitally).
 
Wow wasn't expecting so much interest in this project, thanks a lot for all your suggestions!

Surprisingly enough, after going through the film a few more times, i realized there aren't actually that many sequences with the rap songs in them. The scenes that do have them however are important which makes them the most memorable. I've finished up most of the rap removal, but there is still one huge (massive really) scene that i i still need to score, the party sequence. I'm having an extremely difficult time trying to find music that can match this super long and elaborate sequence. I thought i'd post the clip here (with the music removed) to see if anyone can come up with better suggestions then i can come up with:


(a side note, i find it amusing to watch these sequences without any music XD)


One other thing i'd like to get an opinion on, is the non rap modern music bits. If you are wondering what i mean by this, here is an example from the movie:



The song used in this scene is a modern production, but i don't find it to be too out of place like the rap songs. I don't really want to replace it, but if enough people think i should, i will.


Everything else is coming along fine, after the party sequence is finished the score will be mostly complete.
 
One thing that may help is to use the rap songs to your advantage. By this I mean figure out the bpm (beats per minute) and search for songs of the same bpm or exactly half or exactly double. If the footage is already cut to musical timing, this method would ideally retain that precise timing. There are many resources online that list or help find bpm's of popular songs, I imagine there must be some that list songs of the era you're going for.

Another idea (though one I've never gotten to work very well) is to speed up or slow down a song from one bpm to another bpm to match the footage better. This would require a 2 out of 3 combination of either some extreme luck, really amazing software, or very precise calculations.

Good luck!

PS. I wanted to say, your music removal is great! Is it just a matter of a rather clean center channel in a surround mix, or is there more going on behind the curtain?
 
addiesin said:
One thing that may help is to use the rap songs to your advantage. By this I mean figure out the bpm (beats per minute) and search for songs of the same bpm or exactly half or exactly double. If the footage is already cut to musical timing, this method would ideally retain that precise timing. There are many resources online that list or help find bpm's of popular songs, I imagine there must be some that list songs of the era you're going for.

Another idea (though one I've never gotten to work very well) is to speed up or slow down a song from one bpm to another bpm to match the footage better. This would require a 2 out of 3 combination of either some extreme luck, really amazing software, or very precise calculations.

Good luck!

PS. I wanted to say, your music removal is great! Is it just a matter of a rather clean center channel in a surround mix, or is there more going on behind the curtain?
Click to expand...


Sounds like an interesting idea, i'll look into it for the party scene because that's all i have left to score.

Yeah the music removal was simply deleting the tracks that were only music and leaving the dialogue in. Occasionally vocals played on the dialogue track so in these cases, i either muted the lyrics (if possible) or turned up the volume on the new music to drown out these parts.
 
in an alternate reality, this movie would contain period-appropriate music, and a faneditor would create a what if this had a rap soundtrack edit. ;-)
 
I hate to burst your bubble, but I can still hear the music in that party scene posted above, and I can still hear Jay-Z under the jazz music in the speakeasy scene. I don't even have to strain to hear them, and I'm listening on the old, terrible speakers on my computer at work. Am I seriously the only one?
 
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