ep. 41: Live-Scoring for the Virtual Cinema (part 2)

The Silent Film Music Podcast with Ben Model

"Live-Scoring for the Virtual Cinema" – in part two of this conversation, Ben Model discusses what it's been like to accompany silent films throughout 2021 via live-streams he's produced and presented out of his home. Ben and co-host Kerr Lockhart discuss: the differences for Ben between the creative mindsets of scoring a silent film while performing in a theater, when recording a score and when hosting a live-stream; the reasons Ben prefers live-scoring a stream to pre-recording the music; thinking of the home viewer as the audience, and more. Episode 41 Show Notes: To preview or not to preview films before accompanying themview The Eagle with synthesized orchestral score based on cue sheetsEyewitness account of accompanist in the silent era preparing by looking at the poster and lobby picturesWhy authentic compiled scores are often not suitable; often repetitiveSilent Film Sound and Music Archive (sfsma.org)Score materials for The Birth Of A NationThe Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Rodney Sauer, music directorThe Paragon Ragtime Orchestra - Rick Benjamin, music directorAn excerpt from Metropolis using the original Gottfried Huppertz scoreOne of many explanations of the whole tone scaleOpening of Modern Times“In A Mist” by Bix Beiderbecke as an example of whole-tone composition from 1927Sponsor announcement by Undercrank Productions: Accidentally Preserved Volume 4How has playing for live-streams influenced Ben’s playing?Ben discusses scoring the 1916 Italian film “Ceneri” (view here with a score by someone else.)Having to play while being a television director“You can always play less”Excerpt from Ben’s score for The Making of a Stetson HatErnie Kovacs as a model and playing in the “intimate vacuum” of television (or streaming)Sign-offs