Here’s volume 2 of our Creative Commons songs picks that have the cinematic soundtrack feel.
This Week’s Picks
We pick up where we left off two weeks ago, with music for films. I have put together another mixtape of songs that I think fit perfectly with different types of films. Because let’s face it, even if you can find a really good song, you always end up needing more. 🙂 I feel like most of these songs are more suited for narrative feature or short films rather than documentary style. But it’s really up to you how you use these songs. You will see some familiar names for music, but you will definitely see some new ones that I hope to feature more on this blog. So let’s do this!
Prelude No. 4 by Chris Zabriskie (CC-BY)
It’s the simplest of tunes, as always with Chris. He puts such a wide range of emotion into his pieces that the most simple of tunes, this time a piano piece, is able to tell so much. The song begins with such a fast pace tempo that you think this might be a nice, happy go lucky song but somehow there is still a bit of melancholy in the song, a bit of sadness. And at the end when the piano just slows down, you feel like the whole song has just turned and something tragic has happened. As I said, a wide range of emotion in this simple song.
Bittersweet by Ars Sonor (CC-BY-SA)
Bittersweet from Ars Sonor is off a relatively new album (only a couple weeks since its release) but it has a great dark tone to it, perfect for that grim future film you are making. I kind of feel that this song exemplifies the featured image for the post this week. A city that looks like it has plenty of technology and should be full of life and happiness and yet, there is something dark and evil about it. Can anyone say Skynet?
Bernard FINAL by Ian Alex Mac (CC-BY)
If you were waiting for that epic soundtrack piece, here it is. With a blend between something you might hear from the old school Batman soundtrack (the one with Michael Keaton, which is by far still the best ones in my mind) and Edward Scissorhands (hmmm I’m noticing a trend here….) I think this track delivers you that action punch while putting a dark twist on it. It feels like it is a great opening song to have for your film while the credits are rolling and the crowd is getting to their seats with their popcorn in hand.
Think House of Cards. Immediately upon hearing this song, I was transported to DC and could see Frank and Claire Underwood running on the streets with their security detail behind them. It’s a great mix of blues and soundtrack-like vibes and could be used for any modern drama scene. Its tone, while not anxious in my opinion, certainly does help to build tension. (Note: Ron recently used this song in this week’s Radio Film School episode, “Technology & Filmmaking.” Be sure to check it out.)
Subdivision of the Masses by Philipp Weigl (CC-BY)
I call this the hero song of the five. While the title might not immediately direct one to think that, I feel like the tone and the crescendo of the song make it definitely feel like you would want this to be playing while your hero is overcoming his challenge, inspiring the people to rise up (against the machines, perhaps??). Â It gives off a very modern almost futuristic tone so I think this would be great for films that might be looking at setting their timeframes a few years to a decade or two in the future. It’s got some grit and some great elevation to it.
