Animation and music are inseparable. Animation works can gain worldwide support and cannot be separated from the power of music. Today, Japanese animated songs are as widely known as J-POP, and the quality of the soundtrack is not inferior to that of real people. How is the current animation music born?
“Keyboard Magazine” published the “Relationship between Animation and Music” in the fall of 2019. Please go to a number of animated music and animated songs, listen to the testimony of the parties, trace the footprints of the masters, analyze the scores of the famous songs, and answer the animation. The process and technique of forming this relationship with music
The composer Zhapu Yuji has received a warm support from the unique worldview. Her vocal songs in idioms, and the use of string, folk, and electronic music, have made many animators and enthusiasts crazy
However, the start of the music career of Zhapu has nothing to do with the soundtrack, but started as a member of the band See-Saw. Since she was a child, she basically only listened to the songs sung by human voices. To be honest, she has little interest in pure instrumental music. However, when she was a member of See-Saw, she received a commission from the bidding work to make a pure instrumental music. She wrote three pieces of music, one of which was favored by the film director Ichikawa, so she suddenly asked her to write music for the movie “Tokyo Brothers” (1995). The producer watched the movie and asked her to write music for the animation. So, she first contacted the animated music and served as the soundtrack for “The Beginning of the Summer of New Orange Road” (1996)
Until the receipt of these commissions, Zhang Pu did not even realize that the film was equipped with music. She thought, “There was still work to write this kind of music.” When I started making, my mind was full of confusion. In the production of “Tokyo Brothers”, Ichikawa director personally came to the studio and asked her to “try this scene to play the piano.” She followed the feeling for a while, and the director of Ichikawa praised her “right, it is this feeling.” In this way, under the guidance of the director of Ichikawa, she finally finished the work
The next “New Orange Road”, although it is an animation, but because it is also a theatrical version, it is not based on the “sadness 1, 2, 3” demand table, but combined with specific scenes, so also Be good to do. However, although Zhapu had been engaged in music before, it was only 20 songs a year. Now suddenly it is necessary to write a 20~30 music soundtrack in a month. When she wrote 5~6 songs, she already felt that her body was hollowed out. Therefore, at the beginning of these two works, she really struggled to make an old life and turned all the things at the bottom of her box
梶浦 and TV animation became attached to the 1997 EAT-MAN. Because it is estimated that she can’t cope with it alone, this work was done together with three composers from EBBY, Mi Tian and Min. With such a point, she has less music to be responsible for, and she is very happy. However, the supervision of this work is really one. Under the supervision, I was very interested in Zhangpu, and I came to see her again in the future. Therefore, if there is no such work, Zhapu may not receive the work of the later. She said that she can get today’s results, but also thanks to the fate of the true supervision
After the “EAT-MAN”, although Zhapu also received several soundtracks, she still doesn’t know how to do pure instrumental music. In this case, the real supervisor came to entrust her: “The next animation invites you to complete all the composition.” The attitude of supervising the music is “In short, how do you like how to do it,” he said to Zhangpu: “Please don’t do the ‘background music’ behind the screen, but do the ‘foreground music’ that comes up constantly.”
Where is it really so under the supervision of the true self? Zhang Pu recalled that during the “EAT-MAN”, she was responsible for making the theme music of the entire work. Because she was the first time to cooperate with the true supervision, she really did not know what to do, so she wrote three songs to bring the past. The first one is a niche song that I like, the second one is “Because it is a TV animation, so I write a little better,” the third one is better written. She asked the truth to supervise: “Which one do you think is good?” The result was that the supervisor did not hesitate and chose her first full release of personal interest. Therefore, she thought that the supervision must be the same as the music preferences. In this sense, the object of his first continuous cooperation is the real supervision, and it is also an important reason for forming himself today. She worked with the true supervision and learned the original soundtrack
The second work with the true supervision is “NOIR” (2001). She thought to herself: “The real work can come one after another.” But she is not as smart as the composer from the class, and the music that has been said to be written is too biased. So she remembered very clearly, at the time, I felt that I would not receive so much work after that
Zhapu felt that at the time, in the world of J-POP, she used the songs of New Age music and world music elements that I liked very much at the time, and there was no demand. However, when you start the music of the original soundtrack, even if you use up what you like, what you are listening to, and write the songs you want to write, it is still not enough. So Zhapu came to a conclusion: “That is, you can do what you want to do!” This made her very excited. She thought that if she could still receive the soundtrack in the future, there would be only two or three steps, so I had to finish what I had wanted to do but did not do in NOIR
She also writes the music she wants to write, whether it is suitable for animation or not. Therefore, the music of this work sometimes has a national style, and because the stage is in Paris, there is sometimes a Parisian taste, and sometimes there is a music similar to hymns, and the world is in a mess. She didn’t think about anything, just looking at the music she liked
However, this kind of “chaotic” music, coupled with animation, is very suitable. Zhapu believes that this is because the method of supervising music is also unique. “NOIR” is a work that takes no music for 5 minutes and only takes music for granted. Really supervised because I liked one of the themed music that she wrote for animation, “Canta Per Me”, so it is not enough to put 3 episodes in one episode. And the volume of the music is also very large. He uses the music created by Zhang Pu like a musical. From this perspective, animation is also an unprecedented work
Next, the producers of “Mobile Suit Gundam SEED” seem to have heard the songs of See-Saw used in “NOIR”, and they came to the door and asked them to play the ED theme song for this work. And this ED “あんなに一绪だったのに” received favorable comments, 梶浦由Remember to receive the entrustment of the episode. This made her feel very lucky. Before that, she had made a number of original soundtracks, but because of the See-Saw ED, she once again let others realize that “this person will also write songs.” If not, she may have to work with the original soundtrack
“Mobile Suit Gundam SEED” episode “暁の车” was published in the name of the group FictionJunction YUUKA. After that, she also provided songs to the animated works in the form of groups. This is not a strategic thinking, but a matter of course. After receiving the work of writing up to the episode, she first wrote “暁の车”, then thought about whom to look for and sing in the musical The voice of Nanli Muxiang, which has cooperated with, is suitable for this song, so she is invited to sing
梶 之前 梶 梶When the animation is to be broadcast, the credits must have the name of the singer, so she proposes to publish it in the name of FictionJunction YUUKA
Fictionjunction YUUKA was not intended to be a single event, but a one-time name for “暁の车”. However, this song became popular, and it was sold in a general music program. It is widely known, and this has become a fixed combination
Zha Pu believes that he is really lucky. Not only is this popular work, but the previous “NOIR” is also the same. The success of that work has raised the popularity of late-night animation and benefited from it
After the FictionJunction, Zhapu also formed the Kalafina group. This was when she made “The Realm of the Air”, she received a commission, not only the background music, but the theme song, including her world view. Because there are 7 chapters in the animation, there are 7 proposals for each new singer to sing. Zhapu suggested that in this case, he had to find someone who sang well, so he held an audition selection singer
But after the audition, and can’t find 7 sings well. So Zhai Pu thought, and together with these people, did all the 7 theme songs and selected the members. When it came time to give the group a name, she began to think, should this group end with “The Realm of Space”? After all, it is not easy for the singing group to be composed or cultivated. She does not want Kalafina to end up with the work of “The Realm of the Air”. But if the group does not achieve certain results, she can’t irresponsibly say “can continue.” Although “The Realm of the Air” became the fuse of the theatrical animation in the future, at the beginning, there was no TV animation and directly on the theatrical version, which seemed to be regarded as a very reckless practice
The music and the plot of “The Realm of the Air” are very harmonious. This is because the production company ufotable pays attention to music, and Zhapu has obtained video data composed of complete dynamic mirrors and accurate time points, and the music is produced with the data. This is an invaluable experience for making soundtracks. Especially when making TV animations, the composer just finished the music and couldn’t combine the music and the picture. The “Empty Realm” is the first to have a moving picture. When you make music against the picture, you can feel for yourself that “the amount of sound that is relative to the story is too big.” Zhapu understands the part of music performance, for example, in order to maximize the climax, the front must try to restrain music and so on. Such a first and foremost experience in making music for nearly ten films combined with the screen changed her life as a composer
Moreover, because “The Realm of the Air” is a theatrical version, the audience will not run away and will sit in the cinema for a long time. Therefore, in this work she can achieve the challenge of TV animation is difficult. For example, in a two-hour work, there is no music in the first 20 minutes, only noise. The TV animation ends in just 30 minutes, so the music must also be turned around during this time. Extending this time to two hours and writing music, I feel very rewarding
Before starting Kalafina, she thought, I want to do what I like. Instead of widening the river, you can dig deep into the river. When See-Saw and FictionJunction, she still receives the customer’s needs. But she hopes that Kalafina will not be bound, but will only show up in the narrow range she wants to do
Being able to do this is also because the work is in harmony with oneself. Before starting to make music, Zhapu read the original novel of “The Realm of the Empty”, and felt that the rhythm of the article is very appetizing for himself, and his mind will continue to emerge. She had a hunch that the concert of this work was very good. So, until now, she felt that this work allowed her to create music as she wished