Day 1121: Trailer Music

It should be no surprise that, as a music major, I tend to jam out to whatever song Disney has come up with to feature in the newest movie trailer, and since we're entering the Twentieth Century and more modern music in my music history and theory course this semester, it felt like the perfect time to share some of my favorite trailer songs!

Inside Out | Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith

If we're talking about trailer music, then we'd better mention Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith that's featured in the trailer for Inside Out. I remember crying the first time I saw this trailer simply because the sadness part got to me. I think it probably got to all of us (the Toy Story 3 and Up portions especially).

Cinderella | Aeon - Nick Murray

Easily one of my favorite movie trailer pieces, I used Aeon for a segment of the band trip video last year, and while a lot of times I end up hating the piece after using it for video editing, I still adore this one! It's elegant and emotional and simply perfect for the trailer to Disney's 2015 live action remake of Cinderella. 

Big Hero 6 | Top of the World - Greek Fire

Big Hero 6 had a lot of awesome music surrounding it, which came as a pretty decent surprise to me. I wasn't really enthused about the idea of Big Hero 6 to begin with, but it grew on me, and now I'll watch the adventures of Hiro and Baymax any day, and I think a lot of that has to do with "Top of the World," which caught my attention in the trailer! 

Saving Mr. Banks | Lost and Found - Katie Herzig

Similar to "Aeon," the piece used in the trailer for Saving Mr. Banks caught my attention, as though I wasn't already completely emotionally invested in the film. The music in the film as a whole is certainly one of my favorite soundtracks, but then again, the fact that it's one of my favorite movies probably has something to do with that. 

Wreck-It Ralph | Good Feeling - Flo Rida

The trailers for Wreck-It Ralph had a lot of great music, including the one featured in the teaser trailer, "Good Feeling," but also "Some Nights," which was used in the trailers that followed. What do I love about it? It's upbeat, it's catchy, and it certainly gets stuck in your head. If that's really a good thing I'm not quite sure, but we'll say it is.

I could probably go on forever about my favorite music in Disney Movie Trailers, because almost every time a new trailer comes out I end up with a new favorite song to listen to all the time. I have realized how dangerous this is though, because now I want to go and watch all these movies (Wreck-It Ralph especially...it's been too long). Alas, I'll have to postpone such movie watching for a later date! 

Let me know in the comments below which trailer songs you love! 

Have a magical day! 

Day 1015: Disney Kitties

You know what's even better than just plain Disney? Disney movies retold with kittens! Really, really cute kittens!

If you follow The Pet Collective on YouTube, you may have seen some of these adorable Cat Versions of Disney films, but literally they're the perfect break to a long day:

If you want to procrastinate even more on your work, you can find tons of other Cute Kitten versions of shows and movies on The Pet Collective YouTube channel! Just try not to watch them all at once, alright? 

Now...if they'd only make a Kitten version of OUAT. 

Have a magical day!

Day 870: Immortals

Because I'm absolutely a music major and definitely addicted to this song, I figured I would do a quick spotlight on one of my favorite songs at the moment: "Immotals" by Fall Out Boy. And you know what that means, time to listen while we chat!

I remember watching the trailer for Big Hero 6 and just loving the music, which is actually a completely different song ("Top of the World" by Greek Fire), but for some reason, "Immortals" has really stuck out to me over the past few weeks since seeing the film. 

And really, I think this is a theme we've seen with Disney over the past number of years. Whoever is behind choosing the music from pop culture to go into these films and trailers is doing a spot on job. I fall in love with just about every song they use, one of the huge reasons that I'm actually thrilled to see Paint the Night when I head to Disneyland in August. For those of you that don't know, the entire parade is based on the song Owl City recorded foe Wreck It Ralph, "When Can I See You Again." It happens to be one of my favorite songs, as Owl City is one of my favorite artists, so to have my worlds collide once again is pretty awesome. 

But until August, I'll be avoiding full recordings of Paint the Night and instead sit here and enjoy some more Fall Out Boy. 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on May 24 due to computer issues).

Day 788: Big Hero 6

I can't believe how late to the game I am on this one. I love movies, especially Disney movies, and I love going to see them in theaters, but with a busy schedule like mine, sometimes it just doesn't work out very well. It means that my family never got around to seeing Big Hero 6, and now that's finally out on DVD, we had a chance to watch it.

Now, I don't think it's another Frozen, not by a long shot, but I'm certainly satisfied with the care Disney gave to this film. I'm slowly getting into the Marvel stuff (next on my list is the Captain America films), mostly due to my love of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Granted, I haven't really had time to watch that series this season either, and I have the distinct feeling that I'll catch up once I finish catching up on Chasing Life, especially now that SHIELD will be back for the spring season (just like OUAT...seems ABC has a thing going with this split season thing). Regardless, I really enjoyed Big Hero 6.

The music, and I'll mention this first since I'm currently listening to the soundtrack, was phenomenal. Very upbeat, and I know I texted Megan saying that it would make some seriously great studying or driving or superhero cleaning action music. Does this mean that the next time I'm cleaning the bathroom I'll be blasting this music? Yes, yes it does.

Second, I know that when everyone else I know saw it, they all said that I'd get super emotionally attached to Tadashi, and you know what, I tried not to. I tried so hard. And yet, I still was and I still cried when he died because that's not a spoiler because we all knew it was going to happen anyway. That being said, I'm honestly not sure who my favorite character was. I liked everyone pretty equally except for Fred. I just wasn't a huge fan of him. I mean, maybe I'm a bit bias because Go-Go was voiced by Jamie Chung, who happens to portray Mulan on OUAT, and Honey Lemon's style was just perfection, and I totally saw some of myself in Wasabi, and you just can't not like Baymax and Hiro. If I HAD to pick a favorite though I think it'd have to be Go-Go. I feel like her "superpower" is exactly what I'd want.

As for my favorite part? Definitely "Low-Battery Baymax" and the whole Fist Bump Thing. I literally laughed every single time he would fist bump and then go "Ba la la la la." Adorable. But as a college student who sees drunk people every so often, low-battery Baymax was pure hilariousness.

All in all, while it's not my favorite Disney film (remember, that's a REALLY hard list to get on), it's definitely not my least favorite either, and I plan on rewatching it very, very soon.

Oh, and Feast was adorable too. I love Winston so much.

Have a magical day!

Day 783: Happy Oscars!

I do believe that in the past year I've gained a real respect for everything it takes to put together a film, and I'm sure some of you are sick of hearing about the band trip video by now, but as I face the release of that video on Thursday of this week, watching The Oscars is kind of weird for me. We watched as awards go to cinematographers, directors, actors and writers, among many other things, and I have, if only on a small scale, an understanding of what they all do. Every step of the way through my own band trip video, even if it is just that, a video, I thought of it like a film, a real film, one that I made with the best resources I had available to me. Now, "One Band's Dream" might not be quite the same as "Big Hero 6" or "The Theory of Everything," but on some level, to me, as the creator, it was.

I almost wrote a blog post on this last week, but I do find it unfortunate that creators are literally unable to appreciate their work the same way as an audience, and that's why every reaction is so infinitely important. Every recognition we get for our work is a like a little  nod in our direction, because otherwise we may never even know the gravity or brilliance of what we've done.

Think about it this way:

A writer can read their own book, but they'll never get to read it for the first time. They'll never have the experience of dealing with a cliffhanger and wondering for eternity what will happen in the next novel, because they always know.

The creator of a television show will be able to see their vision come to life on screen, complete for the first time with music and visuals, but they too will never experience a hiatus. They know that the ships of the show will survive, or won't survive.

Those who work on film sets get to be a part of the action. They can watch as things all work in sync, as the cast creates a beautiful picture framed by the cinematographer. And they can be proud of the product they create, but they will always find errors and be their own worst critic.

And that's the point. While, as creators, we CAN be extremely proud of the product we put out, at the same time we will never have those first experiences with it. We will always find that one little flaw that's in the film, while others sit and watch in awe at the finished production that we spent hours on end on.

Which is why I really, truly love the Oscars. I don't always have time to watch them, and sometimes they're a bit frustrating, and they certainly aren't without error, but I think creators deserve that recognition. I mean, we're going to continue doing what we do best regardless of whether or not we have a bright shiny little golden man statue in our hands at the end of the night.

But having one doesn't hurt either.

Congrats to everyone who won at the Oscars the other night, especially Walt Disney Animation for their wins with "Feast" and "Big Hero 6."

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on February 25).

Day 641: Coming Soon

Back in the day when we all had to use VHS players instead of DVD or BluRay players we all had to actually sit through the previews on the tape. Now we generally just skip them, or at least most people do. When I'm with other people I generally head right to the movie, but when I'm all alone I like to actually watch the previews. It's kind of like a reminder about what was going on at the time the film (or the version of the film) was released. Plus, on some of those old Disney VHS movies you can find some of those great old Walt Disney World Vacation commercials.

Therefore, it should be no surprise that I still love watching movie trailers, and there are a couple of them out right now for upcomming Disney films, including two films I'm pretty excited about.

First off we have Inside Out, which is the newest movie from Pixar. It's about the voices inside your head and while I'm still a bit confused about what the entire thing is about (although when aren't we confused?), it's a really great Teaser Trailer. And let's admit it, the part in the middle totally almost made us all cry.

And then we've got the trailer for Big Hero 6, which much like the rest of the recent Disney animated films, I was really skeptical of at first. But now? Now I'm excited. This film looks great and I can't wait to head to the theater to see it this November. And you'd better believe that I hope to meet the characters at Hollywood Studios when I'm at WDW in January since it was recently announced that they'd be making an appearance there. 

And of course this blog post wouldn't be complete without Into the Woods, which is probably the film I'm most excited for at the moment. It's not out until January, but oddly enough, it's actually the musical we're doing at SNC this year, and it's filled with the fairy tales I love and adore so much. Plus Chris Pine. Enough said.

Which film are you most excited about?

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on October 20).