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Who here is sick of a reflecting music montage...
- Thread starter Recoil
- Start date
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Absolutely. This went from "nice touch" to "nauseating cliche" in record time. On the other hand, it saves me time watching TV. Since I time-shift 90% of what I watch via the DVR, I not only lose about 15 mintues of commercials per hour, I can also save 5 or 6 minutes at the end of many episodes by fast-forwarding through this crap, pausing at the end to see if there is any dialogue worth listening to.
Regards,
Joe
Regards,
Joe
Chilli
High Treason Prevention Officer
Re: Who here is sick of a reflecting music montage
Not havign watched Alias, I'm not sure I know what you mean..
.. if you mean the kind of thing they kept doing on Lost last season - kitschy music, slow-motion pictures of everybody sitting around socialising/being pissed/whatever - yes, that stuff must DIE. SOON.
Not havign watched Alias, I'm not sure I know what you mean..
.. if you mean the kind of thing they kept doing on Lost last season - kitschy music, slow-motion pictures of everybody sitting around socialising/being pissed/whatever - yes, that stuff must DIE. SOON.
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Re: Who here is sick of a reflecting music montage
I never watched Alias either, but since everybody except game shows seems to have used this technique, I had no trouble recognizing it from the description. I've seen it too many times.
They often use a currently a popular song sung by people who never learned to ennunciate or to sing quite on key (or who keep trying to sing outside their range.) The lyrics, to the degree they can be understood, usually have only a tenuous connection to the drama. (Sometimes a virtually unknown band that the producer's brother is in, or which he heard on some alternative music station on his way into the studio to shoot the episode.
)
But yeah, this is the part at the end of the episode where they show where everybody ends up and there are many serious looks and much slo-mo photography and fancy angles so the director can prove he went to film school. A lazy writer's way to avoid having to actually pen a denoument, or a network's way of doing some product placement for a group's CD.
Regards,
Joe
I never watched Alias either, but since everybody except game shows seems to have used this technique, I had no trouble recognizing it from the description. I've seen it too many times.
They often use a currently a popular song sung by people who never learned to ennunciate or to sing quite on key (or who keep trying to sing outside their range.) The lyrics, to the degree they can be understood, usually have only a tenuous connection to the drama. (Sometimes a virtually unknown band that the producer's brother is in, or which he heard on some alternative music station on his way into the studio to shoot the episode.
) But yeah, this is the part at the end of the episode where they show where everybody ends up and there are many serious looks and much slo-mo photography and fancy angles so the director can prove he went to film school. A lazy writer's way to avoid having to actually pen a denoument, or a network's way of doing some product placement for a group's CD.
Regards,
Joe
GKarsEye
Regular
Re: Who here is sick of a reflecting music montage
Hey, leave Bob Dylan and Neil Young alone. They rock.
I'm fortunate enough not to watch such shows (I wait until a show's been around for a couple of years and gets awesome reviews before I even think about watching it on DVD or downloads), but even I know the technique. My ex-gf would sometimes watch Grey's Anatomy and, on top of the boring, lame, predictable "drama" of those horrifyingly dull superficial characters, the last 10 minutes would be spent EMOTING cinematically like that. Blech.
Hey, leave Bob Dylan and Neil Young alone. They rock.
I'm fortunate enough not to watch such shows (I wait until a show's been around for a couple of years and gets awesome reviews before I even think about watching it on DVD or downloads), but even I know the technique. My ex-gf would sometimes watch Grey's Anatomy and, on top of the boring, lame, predictable "drama" of those horrifyingly dull superficial characters, the last 10 minutes would be spent EMOTING cinematically like that. Blech.
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Re: Who here is sick of a reflecting music montage
Someone once said that "singer-songwriter" is a word "Used to describe either a writer who cannot sing or a singer who cannot write." I'll give Bob and Neil a pass because they actually can write. I get tired of the non-writing singers who often can sing passably in their own range but think it cool to let me hear their voices crack and squeak when they reach for notes they cannot handle - also of singers who think they can write but really can't.
"The free lunch originated during the Depression. Free verse also frequently arises out of depression. If you feel the need to set down your thoughts in the form of an unstructured poem, simply eat something sweet and lie down until the impulse passes." -- Fran Liebowitz, Metropolitan Life
Regards,
Joe
Someone once said that "singer-songwriter" is a word "Used to describe either a writer who cannot sing or a singer who cannot write." I'll give Bob and Neil a pass because they actually can write. I get tired of the non-writing singers who often can sing passably in their own range but think it cool to let me hear their voices crack and squeak when they reach for notes they cannot handle - also of singers who think they can write but really can't.
"The free lunch originated during the Depression. Free verse also frequently arises out of depression. If you feel the need to set down your thoughts in the form of an unstructured poem, simply eat something sweet and lie down until the impulse passes." -- Fran Liebowitz, Metropolitan Life
Regards,
Joe
Recoil
Regular
Re: Who here is sick of a reflecting music montage
Lost is notorious for doing it. Smallville used to do it a ton. New shows that do it that I watch are Heroes and Jericho. Actually, so many shows do this it could write a page about it. It used to be done sparingly. I remember a few Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes ending like that, but very few. Shows these days, EVERY episode ends that way.
Lost is notorious for doing it. Smallville used to do it a ton. New shows that do it that I watch are Heroes and Jericho. Actually, so many shows do this it could write a page about it. It used to be done sparingly. I remember a few Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes ending like that, but very few. Shows these days, EVERY episode ends that way.
GKarsEye
Regular
Re: Who here is sick of a reflecting music montage
Frankly, these days, I'm actually a bit more annoyed by singers who stay in their own range and sing competently but whose music is so boring yet so successful because Starbuck sells their CDs.
I don't wanna name names, but Norah Jones and Diana Krall are some names that I'm naming.
There are, however, a disgusting amount of "jazz" singers who can't sing for shit who are married to record company executives. That's probably what you're hearing on TV.
Frankly, these days, I'm actually a bit more annoyed by singers who stay in their own range and sing competently but whose music is so boring yet so successful because Starbuck sells their CDs.
I don't wanna name names, but Norah Jones and Diana Krall are some names that I'm naming.
There are, however, a disgusting amount of "jazz" singers who can't sing for shit who are married to record company executives. That's probably what you're hearing on TV.
KoshFan
Regular
Re: Who here is sick of a reflecting music montage
Recoil, the BtVS eps were the ones I was thinking of -- and usually they played over scenes of intense emotional distress, such as the Season 2 finale. I also remember one in Firefly, but there it was purely instrumental, and there were interesting things going on onscreen. So it can be done well. But it shouldn't be an everyday affair.
Recoil, the BtVS eps were the ones I was thinking of -- and usually they played over scenes of intense emotional distress, such as the Season 2 finale. I also remember one in Firefly, but there it was purely instrumental, and there were interesting things going on onscreen. So it can be done well. But it shouldn't be an everyday affair.
Recoil
Regular
Re: Who here is sick of a reflecting music montage
Well, if you re-read my initial post, i never said that they CAN'T be done well. I know they were used in Firefly and BtVS and other shows --- but they were used in those shows SPARINGLY. The thread was about "who is sick if seeing them every fucking week on like every show on TV now." As JoeD said, it went from "Nice touch" to "Way overused cliche" in record time...
Well, if you re-read my initial post, i never said that they CAN'T be done well. I know they were used in Firefly and BtVS and other shows --- but they were used in those shows SPARINGLY. The thread was about "who is sick if seeing them every fucking week on like every show on TV now." As JoeD said, it went from "Nice touch" to "Way overused cliche" in record time...
Re: Who here is sick of a reflecting music montage
FreeBagel that been done before too, think it was the children of dune mini series or maybe dune, such as deaths of Rabban, Paul and leto generally fighting.. Then for this site the particular scene of a bunch of Narns slaughtering a poor centauri butcher.well overlayed with other members of the cast elsewhere singing gospel music Though supposes neither of those scenes were trying to sell a crappy pop cd especially the b5 scene.
FreeBagel that been done before too, think it was the children of dune mini series or maybe dune, such as deaths of Rabban, Paul and leto generally fighting.. Then for this site the particular scene of a bunch of Narns slaughtering a poor centauri butcher.well overlayed with other members of the cast elsewhere singing gospel music Though supposes neither of those scenes were trying to sell a crappy pop cd especially the b5 scene.
Mindwalker
Regular
I'm the ass who likes 'em btw, do I get a prize?
Mindwalker
Regular
I voted the "hell yeah" option.
Hey!
I wanted to be unique just like everybody else 
Jonny_Fever
Regular
Re: Who here is sick of a reflecting music montage
When I first read this I thought of CSI. You know how when they do the lab stuff, there is always music playing over the scene as they are doing DNA or whatever tests they do. If they took those scenes out, they would actually have to add in about 10 - 15 minutes of plot.
When I first read this I thought of CSI. You know how when they do the lab stuff, there is always music playing over the scene as they are doing DNA or whatever tests they do. If they took those scenes out, they would actually have to add in about 10 - 15 minutes of plot.
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Re: Who here is sick of a reflecting music montage
What CSI does is plot, and is not an example of the kind of thing being discussed here. There is a difference between a scene in the show that plays without dialogue (and thefore will normally have music under) and the kind of concluding montage this thread is about. CSI is about process and that includes showing the characters performing the tests they do. (The way Grissom dusts for prints vs. the way Sara does or Greg does also reveals character. So does the interaction of the characters when there are two or more in one of these "process" scenes. Some of the best scenes in the show - and some of the best acting - come when there is no dialogue - as even the writers will admit.)
Regards,
Joe
What CSI does is plot, and is not an example of the kind of thing being discussed here. There is a difference between a scene in the show that plays without dialogue (and thefore will normally have music under) and the kind of concluding montage this thread is about. CSI is about process and that includes showing the characters performing the tests they do. (The way Grissom dusts for prints vs. the way Sara does or Greg does also reveals character. So does the interaction of the characters when there are two or more in one of these "process" scenes. Some of the best scenes in the show - and some of the best acting - come when there is no dialogue - as even the writers will admit.)
Regards,
Joe
GaribaldisHair
Regular
Re: Who here is sick of a reflecting music montage
Gotta agree with Joe. If we were going to include CSI's lab scenes in this category then we would have to include B5 scenes such as the battle aboard the station in Severed Dreams.
Gotta agree with Joe. If we were going to include CSI's lab scenes in this category then we would have to include B5 scenes such as the battle aboard the station in Severed Dreams.
