Rich Douglas: 		+++|+++|+++|		(9)
Joshua Taylor: 		+|			(1)



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Abadoss
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First place: Rich Douglas
Honorable mentions: Joshua Taylor


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Joshua Taylor (not voting)
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Rich Douglas - I certainly liked your piece.  It was actually hard to not like your piece.  A lot of the elements you employed were those from some of the great movie soundtracks that are everyone's favorites.  It must be great fun to have all of that software available to you.  I was happy to see that you got really into writing for this theme, what with the slide show, end credits theme, storyline, and everything.  It's a great feeling isn't it?  I've experienced that a few times, though the results weren't quite as nice sounding.

Now for some specifics.  My favorite part of your piece was the chord progression for your main theme.  I listened to it a few times and found it to be i - III - IV - i.  Or maybe it was i - III - IV - III, now that I listen to it again.  The IV - i (or IV - III) movement has a real nice sound to it, and the heavy concentration of major chords in a minor key is a classic movie music technique.  If you haven't guessed it by now, I'm the guy who commented on your youtube video (c3h4ohcooh3) comparing it to "I See You" from Avatar.

I think my only (minor) complaint was how your piece trailed off for a while after about 2 minutes.  If it were my piece I would have introduced a B section where there was either a tempo or style change.  I probably would have briefly introduced another theme there that would foreshadow the theme of one of the main characters that you would meet later in the film.  Regardless of that section I also would have appreciated a more robust climax at the end of the piece.  It kind of felt like it tried to build back up into something epic, but then trailed back off again.

I have to admire your ability to manipulate one theme for so long, though.  I really struggle with using processes in my music to keep themes alive longer as well as keep them interesting.  I will frequently wind up writing 8 bars of a theme then coming up with a really cool transition for a second theme, and then I have to go back later and figure out how to expound on that short section.


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ddavis1979 
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Rich Douglas - Positives: It was a good length and very much fit the mood of the theme. It really felt like it was telling a story. Negatives: It was a little slow and dragged out at time.

Joshua Taylor - This was also a very good peice, but it was short, it didnt fit the theme as well, and it reminded me of trying to figure out a puzzle somewhere in Hyrule (Zelda). But it did stay consistent with sound there were no laggy spots in the composition.


First place: Rich Douglas


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shojin
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Rich Douglas - It gives me a strong vibe of Greg Edmonson's score for firefly, along with Inon Zur's Fallout 3 score. I suppose that's good, since firefly was partially a western, and Fallout 3 post-apocalyptic, which is what he was going for.


First place: Rich Douglas