Every week we do a movie of the week on the Facebook page. For those non facebookers I though i'd post it on here as well for those who are interested.
This week, the original and classic "Assault On Precinct 13" from 1976 directed by the fantastic film-maker an composer Jon Carpenter. The film involves a group of police officers and citizens who are trapped in a nearly abandoned Police Precinct building in Los Angeles when a band of gang members conduct a murderous siege to avenge the death of their leader by a man who then sought refuge in the nearly empty building.
The soundtrack to the film has had a massive influence on many electronic music artists over the years and has been described as a seminal moment. It is interesting (but not surprising) that the soundtrack for Assault On Precinct 13 is only 26 minutes long.
Carpenter said "In my own defence, it was all the time I could afford in the recording studio. I had to compose and perform a few mood pieces that I could use again and again through the movie. This was 1976 - the days of ultra-low-budget movie-making. The entire cost of Assault was $100,000. You can imagine how much we spent on the score.
Before recording the music, I thought of Bernard Hermann and his ability to achieve maximum impact from minimum means. As I recall, I had about 3 days to complete the score. I remember having great difficulty with a quiet piano sequence to be played over the death of Nancy Loomis' character Julie. The main title theme was relatively easy after we established the beat. Ice Cube told me 25 years later that the beat always comes first.
Assault On Precinct 13 is a truly minimalist score. I never imagined that anyone anywhere at any time would listen to the music on its own away from the images and narrative."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGME6jCwqw0
This week, the original and classic "Assault On Precinct 13" from 1976 directed by the fantastic film-maker an composer Jon Carpenter. The film involves a group of police officers and citizens who are trapped in a nearly abandoned Police Precinct building in Los Angeles when a band of gang members conduct a murderous siege to avenge the death of their leader by a man who then sought refuge in the nearly empty building.
The soundtrack to the film has had a massive influence on many electronic music artists over the years and has been described as a seminal moment. It is interesting (but not surprising) that the soundtrack for Assault On Precinct 13 is only 26 minutes long.
Carpenter said "In my own defence, it was all the time I could afford in the recording studio. I had to compose and perform a few mood pieces that I could use again and again through the movie. This was 1976 - the days of ultra-low-budget movie-making. The entire cost of Assault was $100,000. You can imagine how much we spent on the score.
Before recording the music, I thought of Bernard Hermann and his ability to achieve maximum impact from minimum means. As I recall, I had about 3 days to complete the score. I remember having great difficulty with a quiet piano sequence to be played over the death of Nancy Loomis' character Julie. The main title theme was relatively easy after we established the beat. Ice Cube told me 25 years later that the beat always comes first.
Assault On Precinct 13 is a truly minimalist score. I never imagined that anyone anywhere at any time would listen to the music on its own away from the images and narrative."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGME6jCwqw0
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