| Production Notes INDEX > Production Notes 12 November, 2005 |
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Today we will present the music recordings that took place on October 18, 20 and 25.
- Recording of the Symphonic Orchestra
- Recording of the Jazz (small group) and the Piano (solo) performances
- Recording of Mid- and Small-Sized Orchestras
As soon as the animation process was finished, we started the music recording. The music performed for this recording session will be decisive for giving life to the movie.
As well as for our previous work "NITABOH", the world known jazz pianist Makoto Kuriya will take part in "JAPAN, Our Homeland" as the music director. For "JAPAN, Our Homeland", Mr. Kuriya composed 21 music pieces. Starting with the theme song of the movie, he gave birth to so many new melodies and still adapts with great harmony to the director's vision of the movie. Nothing can describe Mr. Kuriya's music better than the word "beautiful". Within his dazzling and sensitive melodies co-exist tenderness and strength, creating for the movie an original musical atmosphere.
October 18: Recording of the Symphonic Orchestra Live Music Strikes Our Heart
Today we recorded the symphonic orchestra in the sound studio "Sound City" near Roppongi, Tokyo. The symphonic orchestra is composed of 50 artists: 40 string players along with several woodwind players (oboe, flute, clarinet, fagot, etc.) and percussions. The conductor to take charge of this large scale symphonic orchestra is Mr. Masamichi Amano, the successful, widely known artist who also joined "NITABOH" as the conductor of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. He has gained quite a reputation outside Japan as well. Right after the orchestra recording of "JAPAN, Our Homeland," he flew to the United States.
Most of the music performance was approved by the director at one try, the artists are first-class performers, after all. Mr. Kuriya incorporated a synthesizer into the recording of "Moon Over The Desert" to generate the fantastical atmosphere. This kind of trick can be done only by a professional artist like Mr. Kuriya, who is experienced both in classic music and jazz piano. The director Nishizawa highly praised Mr. Kuriya's synthesizer technique that successfully added the dreamy mood he wished for one of the movie scenes featuring the desert.
Nowadays, the symphonic music can be easily created with a computer. The recent trend is to use computer-generated music not only in TV cartoons but also in animation feature films for the theater. However, in the production of "JAPAN, Our Homeland" as well as for "NITABOH," we stuck to our favorite style of using the real and live orchestra performance for all the background music. Music does not only transmit its melody to our ears, it can also reach our heart and mind by delivering its soul via air vibrations.
Our first movie "NITABOH" was highly evaluated as a music film with a great quality and officially invited to be screened at the International Festival of Music Films (MOFFOM) in Check Republic in 2005.
October 20 Recording of Jazz performance(small group) and Piano (solo performance)
Three foremost experts in Japanese Dixieland jazz music gathered for us today: Mr. Yoshihiro Nakagawa (trumpet) with his first son Mr. Kotaro Nakagawa (banjo) and second son Mr. Eijiro Nakagawa (trombone) who made his debut at the age of 8. Other leading performers include Mr. Koji Shiraishi (clarinet) who is one of the members of "Kenichi Sonoda and Dixie Kings", Mr. Koki Nando (drum) and Mr. Katsuyuki Kawae (tuba).
There are three scenes that feature jazz music in "JAPAN, Our Homeland." The overall length of the jazz performance you can hear in the movie is only 3 minutes. Since the running time of the movie is 100 minutes, the 3-minute-long jazz performance is just a tiny handful of the whole movie. Nevertheless, the recording gathered so many top-of-the-line jazz musicians! What a luxurious session!
The top performers seem to be having a great time, enjoying themselves with their own jazz performances. Listening to their cheery Dixie jazz played in the recording studio, the movie production staff can't help but whistle and swing their bodies to the rhythm. The recording came to an end all too soon while the staff members were still all lost in the music. Although we all wished the music could have lasted a little longer, the recording certainly was entertaining, leaving us the same pleasant feeling than when listening to a music concert.
After the jazz, comes the recording of two piano performances (solo) by Mr. Kuriya. In contrast with the jazz recording, the studio is now filled with calm and beautiful melodies that cocoons the listeners in a lulling silence.
October 25 Recording of Mid- and Small-Sized Orchestras
The sound of the strings adds elegance to the session
Just like the music in our previous work "NITABOH" which has been internationally acclaimed, we can expect a great deal from the music in "JAPAN, Our Homeland."