I'm making a video slideshow for my boss' retirement party (tonight). I have the visuals done and just need to add the music. I have some classical CDs, but I'm not really sure what would work. I have iTunes, so if there is something y'all think would be perfect, I could download it. I need music that would fit the following:
1. Just Starting Out music for early childhood 2. Peppy Boy Scouty music for the school years 3. In college 4. Met and married his wife (Pachelbel's Canon?) 5. 40 years of working for the Boy Scouts. 6. Ending with music with a good finish for the final "Thank you" frame.
I'm a bit at a loss here. Any advice - something you think would be perfect?
[ November 30, 2005, 04:28 PM: Message edited by: katharina ]
Posted by CalvinMaker (Member # 2032) on :
How about "Born to be Wild" for the college years? :-)
Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :
I'm terrible at these things, but I'll put in my two cents.
1. Just Starting Out music for early childhood
With a Little Help From My Friends, performed by Joe Cocker (The Wonder Years theme).
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
CM: *laugh* He& was in a frat.
Beren: That makes sense. There aren't really pictures of him with friends, though. It's mostly of adults - parents, grandparents, etc.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
"Kindergarten Wall" or "Room at the Top of the Stairs" both by John McCutcheon for little kid years.
edit: Just the beginning of "Room," though, since the whole song goes through moving out to go to college.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
dkw, Kindergarten Wall is perfect. Okay, kid years taken care of. Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :
4. Met and married his wife (Pachelbel's Canon?)
You have lots of easy choices here. Maybe the song they danced to at their wedding? I like Frank Sinatra's version of Can't Take My Eyes Off You.
5. 40 years of working for the Boy Scouts.
Forever Young, by Bob Dylan.
6. Ending with music with a good finish for the final "Thank you" frame.
Kind And Generous by Natalie Merchant. (Please, anything but Wind Beneath my Wings.)
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
For 1, "With a Little Help from My Friends" is fine
For 2, I recommend "Five Candles" by Jars of Clay
or you could flip those two without much trouble...
I think the Canon is a good one for the "Married his Wife" part... or "Unchained Melody" by the Righteous Brothers
I take it College was 40+ years ago? maybe a party song reflective of the Era? Chuck Berry, Jerry Lewis, or Little Richard perhaps? "Louie, Louie" might work, but the (mostly unintelligible) lyrics are supposed to be fairly offensive so that might be deemed inappropriate.
For 40 years of service, you might want a montage of songs... I'm gonna take a dare here, because it's not exactly appropriate, but it does just about cover the background of the time period: "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel. Garth Brooks' "Standing Outside the Fire" isn't too bad... it's about Love, but that implies service, too -- "Life isn't tried, it is merely survived, if you're standing outside the fire."
I think "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac could be a real positive send off, saying "this isn't an ending, but a beginning." Semisonic's "Closing Time" actually ends with the line "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." Neither are big glaring finales, though, both a little more of a quiet, reflective fade.
If you really want to be cute, you could use the instrumental "Sirius" by Alan Parsons Project. It's what Basketball Arenas use to get their fans revved up for the game... you know, when the lights go out and the spotlights come on and they start introducing the home team? I think that would be funny over baby pics or even pregnant mommy pics...
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
He really likes classical music - is there anything classical-ly? Movie soundtracks would work, too. I am seriously thinking about using some of the Harry Potter soundtrack I love so much.
It's someone who likes classical music and has spent the last 40 years working for the Boy Scouts. I'm afraid daring isn't really in the picture.
*goes to listen to the Natalie Merchant song*
I was thinking of O Mio Bambino Caro for the wedding, because there's no intro.
Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :
If he likes classical music, off the top of my head I think "Jupiter" from Holst's "The Planets could be funny for the opening.
Possibly "Flight of the Bumblebee" for the 40 years of Boy Scouts? That might depend on the pictures.
Of course, those two pieces are pretty well-known and recognizable...if he's really a classical freak, he might appreciate something less "popular", but I think the general audience would "get" those two pretty easily.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Hmm...the Natalie Merchant doesn't work quite right - it's too contemporary, I think.
Maybe there's something int he Last of the Mohicans soundtrack.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Oh...Flight of the Bumblebee is a great idea. That will be for the Boy Scout camp years, I think.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I'm using Another Year Ends from GoF sountrack for the final frames. My boss really likes Harry Potter.
I hope this doesn't drive the music majors away in disgust. Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
oh... for forty years of work, the end title to "Glory" might work nicely, I think. Try that...
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Hmm...that doesn't appear to be on iTunes.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Okay, what's some great, big, swelly opening music? Something like Star Wars, except not Star Wars. *thinks*
Wow, Horowitz is NOT working at all.
Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :
*points to Holst suggestion*
I really love that one. It's so big and dramatic that it always makes me smile.
Edit: the samples they have on itunes of "Jupiter" doesn't have the opening measures in it - that's the part you'd want.
Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :
How about the Indiana Jones theme (John Williams) for the Boy Scout stuff? Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
"Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity" That's a great title.
Hmm...I'm listening to it right now. This is interesting. I might be looking for something a little more bombastic.
Ooo...Indiana Jones for Boy Scouts years is a great idea.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
Forrest Gump Suite for any classical music might work.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Wait - I have that. Maybe I can put the Flight of the Bumblebee for college years. That just leaves the opening and the work years unscored.
*goes to look at Forrest Gump*
Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :
Okay, I just dug out my cd that has "Jupiter" on it, and it appears that I'm actually thinking of a different piece. I could've sworn that was it, but it's not, so now I'm trying to remember the right one...this will bother me all day otherwise.
It's a piece that gets used a lot at planetarium shows, and I think it's been used in soundtracks a fair bit...can't think of which movies, though....
*thinking*
Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :
Another big, bombastic piece could be "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana...that might be a bit over the top, though.
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
"Mars" is pretty bombastic in an "Imperial March" sorta way...
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I have the opening of the LOTR soundtrack for the opening bars, I think. It's amusing to me, anyway, and it sounds nice.
Now just for the working years. Surely there's some upbeat, happy, busy classical piece?
Maybe Mozart's 40th?
Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :
Upbeat and busy piece?
How about Aaron Copland's "Hoe Down"? It's the music for those "Beef, it's what's for dinner" commercials.
Or maybe Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue.
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
"Gates of Kiev" from Pictures at an Exhibition (Mussorgsky) is a good fanfare piece.
I would think twice about using an aria for the wedding part. They almost always have some problematic lyric or context. If he's a fan, he might know them.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Fanfare for the Common Man for the opening?
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
Mozart's 40th (the first movement, which is the one that everyone knows) is the opposite of happy.
I like Beren's idea of "Hoedown." Another good sparkly piece is the first movement of Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony (No. 4).
If you want/need more suggestions for the other ones, let me know.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
quote:I would think twice about using an aria for the wedding part. They almost always have some problematic lyric or context. If he's a fan, he might know them.
You'd never get away with all this in a play, but if it's loudly sung and in a foreign tongue, it's just the sort of story audience adore - in fact, the perfect opera.
*grin*
Thank you for the Italian symphony suggestion. I have that one.
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
Any Service Band playing the Carmen Dragon arrangement of America the Beautiful for the Adult Boy Scout leader stuff. Or any arrangement of Irvin Berlin's God Bless America. The Boy Scouts of America actually own the copyright for that one.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I used both Bumblebee and Indiana for Boy Scouts years, which leaves college years unscored again. I'm really tempted to put in Chuck Berry.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
I absolutely love the idea of Bumblebee for scout camp photos. Good call!
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
For teh closing, try Into the West, from LOTR, as it is an end of an era. Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
AAAAA!!
I just lost all the audio work I had done. I don't know where it went. My computer froze, and it looks like it all reverted. Oh, blast. Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
COuld be Mars, that is a martial tune for the God of War. Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :
"I'm really tempted to put in Chuck Berry."
I think that is a fun choice. The younger folks all know Johnny B Goode from the Back to the Future movies, and it is a fun tribute to New Orleans. Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Chuck Berry hates me. I couldn't get it to work, even after getting two different versions.
I used Shake, Rattle, and Roll for the college years.
Posted by racingbird (Member # 8400) on :
My voice teacher pointed out to me that the fact that "O Mio Babbino Caro" is in practically every romantic opera song collection is hilarious. If you actually have it in context and translate it, she's having a gigantic adolescent fit at her father. It runs something along the lines of "Daddy darling, I want to go buy myself an engagement ring from this guy. I love him, and if I love him in vain, I'm going to throw myself into the river! Please, please PLEEEEEEEASE...."
Tantrums as romance-- doesn't work for me, but then again, I have toddlers, so tantrums as anything doesn't work for me.
(edit: man, I can't spell today.)
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
quote: Oh dear daddy Oh dear daddy I love him, he is so handsome I want to go to Porta Rossa to buy the ring Yes, yes, I want to go there And if my love were in vain I would go to Ponte Vecchio and throw myself in the Arno I fret and suffer torments Oh God, I would rather die
Daddy, have pity, have pity Daddy, have pity, have pity
You're right. That's hilarious.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by katharina: Peppy Boy Scouty music for the school years
PINK FLOYD — Another Brick in The Wall Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
That's opera for ya, though. Posted by human_2.0 (Member # 6006) on :
How long is it? http://www.freeplaymusic.com has timed music in all styles, and is free as long as it isn't used in a comercial setting.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
The movie is made. Everything works.
And I have a lovely .AVI file that is almost 2 GB. That can't be right. How do I get it smaller?
Posted by GaalDornick (Member # 8880) on :
I was going to suggest "Shook me all night long" from ACDC for the wife song Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
Not to point out the obvious, but did you use any .wavs for music?
How was the movie made? It's a powerpoint thing, right? Maybe you can change the quality.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
The movie was made in Adobe Premiere. The music files are either .wavs or .mp3s.
I'm sure I did it inefficiently. It was the first one I ever made - I did my best. Does anyone know anything about AVI files?
Posted by human_2.0 (Member # 6006) on :
You have to compress it using a codec. Divx is the standard on Windows I guess. You probably have Quicktime 7 (since you have iTunes) and could compress it with Sorenson 3 (not sure if that is on the Windows version) or H.264/AVC/MPEG-4 layer 10. But the machine playing it would need that codec too.
Or you could compress it to MPEG-2 and burn it to a DVD. But I'm really the wrong person to be telling you because I only know how to do this stuff on a Mac.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
It worked! I don't know how - I didn't make it happen. It took about six people and borrowed equipment. But it will work. Yay!
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
For anyone who still cares, here is the music I ended up using, in order:
1. A Storm Approaches from ROTK 2. Kindergarten Wall 3. Flight of the Bumblebee 4. Indiana Jones theme 5. Shake, Rattle, and Roll 6. O Mio Bambino Caro 7. Beethoven's 5th 8. Fanfare for the Common Man 9. Roman Carnival Overture, Op.9 10. Forrest Gump suite 11. Another Year Ends from GOF
It worked - there was a great deal of sweat and tears and workarounds involved, but it worked. Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
You'll have to give me some tips, then, Kat -- for when I want to do something like that for Ivygirl's high school graduation party.....
FG
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
I'm sure you did a great job. Just for the record, though - the aria is "O mio babino (or even 'babbino') Caro". And in the context of the opera it is kind of funny.
I'm glad that it all went well and I know they must have appreciated all the hard work you put into this. What a nice thing for you to do!
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Blushing]](graemlins/blushing.gif)
I could've sworn that was it, but it's not, so now I'm trying to remember the right one...this will bother me all day otherwise.![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
My computer froze, and it looks like it all reverted. Oh, blast.