Oblique Bleak Night
DARKNESS in the Season of LIGHTS...
Approach it this way: you're scoring a movie set in the holiday season, but it's *not* a happy script. It can be a suicidal, alcohol drenched drama about love and loss. It can be a glimpse into a dystopian future or post-apocalyptic setting and how the survivors might celebrate or mourn the season. It can even be a horror flick or action thriller where a madman is on the loose, donning a jolly red costume and bringing DEATH to all the girls and boys...
The key is to use the usual holiday tropes and cliches, but *twist* them to your own hope-destroying ends. Use samples from Christmas songs, modified lyrics, quotes from holiday movies, or even narrate or create a small radio play scene about the lack of cheer in your version of the season.
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the technical rules for this month are as follows -
1 - your track MUST be -
(!) BASED UPON HOLIDAY TROPES, CLICHES, OR SAMPLES
(a) encoded in .mp3 or .ogg format at 128kbps or lower
(b) no longer than 2 minutes running time
(c) named with the artist and track names in the filename! pHz likes this format: month-year-artistname-tracktitle. I prefer: year_month_artist_track. TRY to stick to something like that. also, you should AT LEAST have the artist and title fields of the MP3/OGG ID tags completed (both these requirements PREFERRED, but we'll be nice if you vary slightly: it's just easier to handle lots of entries when you provide all the identifying info!)
(d) composed using at least some plugin instruments or effects
(e) entered into the contest by posting a DIRECT link in this RULES & SUBMISIONS thread (use the GOSSIP thread for everything else)
(f) submitted before the deadline: 11:59:59pm on Friday December 31, 2004 on the International Dateline, the last second of 2004 anywhere on Earth! Note that this deadline is later than usual to allow for a busy season and all possible vacation time!
2 - your track SHOULD be -
(a) composed specifically for this contest
(b) original material / remix / or hybrid in any style
3 - only one entry per person - no resubmissions without permission from the moderator
4 - any tracks not adhering to these rules will be strictly disqualified
5 - voting (non-participating voters must have at least 20 posts to vote) will run from the submission deadline until midnight on friday 7th january 2005 - anyone voting for themselves will find ALL their votes disqualified - any entrants NOT VOTING will also be disqualified (have to vote to win!)
6 - prizes this month so far ...
...NONE! If you are a Developer feeling some charity in this season, please PM me with details about what you'd like to donate to the prize pool!
Otherwise, I'll have to offer my traditional "Custom-designed contest t-shirts to the Top 3 winners".
I didn't know I had it in me. Honest.
during the process. I am pretty happy with the mix though, at least until I get some decent monitors and I can hear all the crap in there. 