Anyway, following up on my Film Trailer Music post a while back, I just wanted to add some more notes on this very great but very niche genre.

Firstly, another film trailer music company to add - Two Steps from Hell - who have really come to the fore for me since their amazing work on the new Star Trek film trailer (this is one that just completely hits my emotions).

(Hat tip to Soundtrack Geek for providing the information I was looking for on the credit - and also for referring me to Trailer Addict - where I can see full screen HD versions of film trailers - much better than the small boxes on the Apple Trailers section (come on, Quicktime - let’s have a full screen mode!).

In the meantime, YouTube may be lower quality, but there are some nice compilations on there - just find this one covering artists you may be familiar with by now, such as X-Ray Dog and Internmediate:
Epic Trailer Music Volume 1 (NOTE: Check the “more infor” section at the top left for a credit list and direct links to the start of each listed track).

In the meantime, happy listening, and see how long it’ll be before I can finally get my X5D running fully on my iMac. I just need those seriously good orchestral sounds, not least the drum kits and full symphony sound …

For example, one of the first videos I’ve uploaded into iMovie is taken from on board a small boat, and while the scenes I’ve filmed look great, the movement of the boat could make a person watching the video feel sea sick!

So I’ve looked to capture stills from the video imagery itself, which means I still get a record of some great imagery, without making viewing unpleasant for the viewer.

To capture stills from video in iMovie:

1. Simply point your mouse over the piece of video which has the image you want to capture
2. Right click your mouse and select “Add Still Frame to Project”

And that’s all.

“Plugin Hybrid Mor cannot be found”

This seemed to run through a number of instruments and certainly wasn’t welcome, so I contacted Apple Support and ran through a series of checks to correct this.

Eventually, the solution was fairly simple:

1. Reinstall Garageband
2. Then run a software update for Garageband.

The issue comes up when files under the Hybrid Morph folder disappear.

Why this happens isn’t easy to fathom, but I’ve had applications not fully install with the OS X boot disc so I guess it’s just one of those gremlins that can come up.

You may be able to install just Garageband from the boot disc, but if you don’t have the relevant permissions, just re-install all applications and you should be fine from that.

Worked for me, so hopefully this works for you.

However, I’ve just been speaking to a Ray Ford from Apple Support who has been very helpful with this - and got it fixed in a few simple steps.

1. Click on Macintosh HD on the top right of your desktop (or whatever else you’ve called your Harddrive)
2. Click through System > Library > LaunchDaemons
3. Now look for the file apple.com.mio.VDCAssistant.plist - and send it to trash.

Start iMovie and that should work.

Of course, worked for me, and it’s definitely worth double-echking with Apple support first before deleting any files.

Ray advised that there’s a good chance of there being an official page on this fix going up on the Apple site once it’s passed through legal & compliance.

Film trailer music is some of the most exciting and invigorating music around - sharp orchestral and choral pieces, that I absolutely love.

I’ve always chased down film soundtrack music with good choral pieces, and love those dramatic orchestral pieces.

However, while film soundtracks of the classical score are often readily available, it is remarkably difficult to get hold of recordings of trailer music itself.

Over the past few days I’ve been looking more closely at this very niche part of the industry and found that there are a small number of names who seem to dominate.

NOTE: If you ever want to find credits on a particular film trailer, I’ve found Soundtrack.net’s trailer section to be invaluable - for example, here are the tracks used in the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring trailer.

X-Ray Dog

This company has an extensive collection of music - none of which is available for sale to the general public.

However, exploring YouTube shows that X-Ray Dog has a very powerful portfolio of credits to its name: YouTube: X-Ray Dog.

For example, here’s a fan-made short covering trailers X-Ray Dog have provided music for:

For sheer power, a section of music from the Fellowshop of the Ring trailer is possibly one of X-Ray Dog’s most powerful: Gothic Power.

Truly it’s a tragedy that Gothic Power isn’t available to the public directly.

More on X-Ray Dog music:
Website: http://www.x-raydogmusic.com/
Last FM: http://www.last.fm/music/X-Ray+Dog

Pfeifer Broz. Music

Another well-credit film trailer music outfit is Pfeifer Broz. Music, which follows the same pattern of short dramatic pieces - there’s a sample trailer reel of credits below:

More on Pfeifer Broz. Music:

Website:
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Pfeifer+Broz&search_type=
Last FM: http://www.last.fm/music/Pfeifer+Broz.+Music

Immediate Music

This company is more enigmatic - on the one hand, You Tube is filled with music labelled as Immediate Music and Sountrack.net lists them as a composer credit..

However, much of the music is available on the album “Epicon” under the band name “Globus” - the suggestion being that Immediate Music positions itself more as a label, even though Yoav Goren is credited with most of the Globus music.

Either way, this is in the public domain, and while some tracks are a bit hit and miss (as though appealing to a pop structure), some of it is truly great - especially the absolutely stunning Preliator.

See how Preliator shows below as a fan-made trailer for the mediocre Final Fantasy XII film:

Hans Zimmer

Hans Zimmer comes up a lot as a composer credit for film trailer music - he’s also the genius behind the excellent Lord of the Rings soundtracks.

It’s hard to find truly great examples of trailer music with a Hans Zimmer credit, possibly because I haven’t searched long enough - however, the haunting piece of music used over the Pearl Harbour trailer and from the Thin Red Line film I find very powerful.

The moment the Japanese planes fly over the washing lines raises the hairs on my spine and makes my eyes water - a beautiful minimal, but powerful, piece:

Requiem for a Tower

Of course, while we’re talking about film trailer music, remixed versions of Requiem for a Tower are very popular - based on Clint Mansell’s Lux Aeterna from Requiem for a Dream.

According to a number of videos on YouTube “Requiem For A Tower Makes Anything Epic“.

Film Trailer Music - conclusion

Listening to different film trailer music helps gives an idea of the sort of arrangements and punctuation used in existing popular scores - but unfortunately, much is not available for the public to buy.

However, many of the inspirations and sources remain similar - Carl Orff’s “O Fortuna Velut Luna” from “Carmina Burana” remains an obvious template - and modern film music often provides great inspiration in itself.

Of all my collection of movie soundtracks, Conan The Barbarian by Basil Poledouris remains my clear favourite, and talking to other people, is a popular underground favourite.

In the meantime, I just have to get my X5D set up properly with my Apple and Logic Pro, and then I can really get started.

However, I found I didn’t have a Firewire cable that appeared to fit - all I had was a USB Firewire.

Anyway, after Googling around it looks as though all I need is a 6 pin to 4 pin Firewire cable.

So just ordered one - hopefully will be here in a few days, then I can get around iMovie and post some how-to’s on using different features of it. And maybe post some video online.

ADDED: Just in case you’re wondering where to plug in the cable to the HV30 or 20, it’s at the back of the camera, at the top - just to the right of the eye piece on the HV30.

However, CTRL doesn’t work for these shortcuts on an Apple unless you configure them.

Simple solution, though - Apple use the CMD key instead.

On most Apple keywords I’m using (normal with lead and bluetooth) the CMD key is next to the CTRL one and has something like a four-leaf clover image with a square in the middle.

So using CMD+ your required key will easily replicate some of the core short cuts you may be used to from Windows.

The iSight forums on the Apple support forums seems to contain a number of complaints about the issue relating to both iMac and Macbooks.

While there is a troubleshooting FAQ for iSight, so far there does not seem to be an adequate fix.

I’ve used the disk utility to repair my harddrive permissions, and about the last thing I can try at present is resetting my SMC.

I’m not holding my breath, so in the meantime, I guess I’ll have to be patient.

ADDED: No, it didn’t work - still no iSight for iMovie.

The Apple Mighty Mouse is supposed to address this by offering a four-button interface (if you count the scroll button), but it is designed to look like a left-click only mouse.

Therefore the inexperienced user may end up being more confused, so here’s a quick explore.

Apple Might Mouse

The Apple Might Mouse is a four button interface, with the following click features:

- Left click
- Right click
- Scroll and scroll click
- Central click on both sides

The Might Mouse comes with left-click only configured as standard which can confuse Windows users, but getting right click set up is pretty easy.

1. Click on the Apple logo at the top left of your screen
2. Select Preferences for your main control panel
3. Click on Keyboard and Mouse
4. Select Mouse
5. Use drop down menus to select configuration

If you want to have right-click functionality enabled, just select this on the right-hand drop down menu.aca

Exit the screen and - voila! - your mouse now has right-click enabled like an ordinary Windows machine.

The monitor is very bright, but unfortunately using your keyword shortcut or using your monitor settings in Utilities will not result in the brightness being reduced very far.

It seems to be a bug in the iMac that the brightness settings in the 24″ monitors are stuck on high and can;t be taken down to a comfortable level for long-periods of use.

Luckily, there are a couple of different programs you can use to reduce this:

Shades

Shades is a simple downloadable program that sets up a new brightness bar on your desktop, allowing you to reduce the brightness significantly.

This is what I use on my iMac, too - and it means my Apple is much more pleasant to use with the brightness range much more in normal parameters for general use.

You can find it here - just download to a folder and double-click to install: Shades - control the brightness of your screen

Splasm

Another one that seems to work via a slider on your desktop display, to help reduce monitor brightness.

I’ve not used this application, but it states that changing out - if you want to - is pretty easy:

The effects of Brightness Control are completely reversible by quitting the application, hitting the escape key, or using its handy ‘Restore’ button!

You can download it from here: Splasm Software: Brightness Control

DarkAdapted

This looks like a much more advanced program that keeps the artist in mind - instead of simply looking to reduce contrast, it allows for specific manipulation of gamma levels and more.

So if you are not simply looking to reduce the glare but instead need to control it tonally, then this sounds like something you may be more interested in.

According to the feature list:

# Customizable gamma presets. Use predefined settings, create your own, and manipulate your presets with ease. For example, use the “Dark Red” setting to preserve your dark adaptation. Or create a preset to deal with monitor characteristics or viewing conditions.
# Adjust gamma values via sliders or from the keyboard.
# High-resolution sliders allow you to adjust red, green, and blue video components individually and in real time. Sliders can be set to report gamma values as percentages or as raw gamma values.
# Keyboard control of gamma color values, using raw gamma values or percentages. Switch between percentage/raw display with a press of the spacebar.
# Ganged Slider Mode allows you to control all three gamma components in unison, optionally preserving the gamma’s relative values between adjustments.
# Small screen mode hides advanced controls, minimizing the use of valuable screen real estate. The control window may also be hidden entirely.
# Select a preset by typing the first few letters of its name.
# Export and import gamma presets to and from disk files. Many sample presets files are included with the download.
# Full AppleScript support (on Mac OS), including a sample AppleScript with the Mac OS download.
# “Gamma Toggle” keys offer a quick return to full brightness. Modifier keys are fully assignable, and display in the control window to remind you what they are.
# Switching to gamma presets is performed via smooth fades, never abrupt shifts in screen color or brightness.
# Gamma fade duration is user-configurable (from instantaneous to two seconds), and slider controls may be set to update in real time during the fade.
# Almost all windows “remember” their positions on your screen.
# Saved gamma preset can be restored when DarkAdapted is launched, and reset when DarkAdapted quits.
# Automatic refresh preference can override gamma adjustments made by screen savers or other software.
# Automatic or manual checking for updates via the Internet.
# Useful display features show gamma changes’ effects on selected text, as well as text on different backgrounds.

# Useful numeric and graphical readouts of gamma values.
# Includes the same powerful night vision technology as ScopeDriver, a full featured telescope control program.
# Excellent, hyperlinked documentation can be opened from within DarkAdapted.
# Try DarkAdapted Pro’s advanced features for free, as often as you like.
# And many other time savers and productivity enhancers.

(Note: there is also a Pro version for Mac with more features.)

Sounds a bit more complicated than what I need, but if it’s something that appeals to you, you can download it here: DarkAdapted