While Nanaya was enjoying the good life in New Zealand, Washimine did not stop promoting "Madoka Magica".
Because the magical girl theme is a natural fit for anime exhibitions, "Madoka Magica" appeared in several anime exhibitions in a row over the following period of time.
Although the influence of these comic exhibitions is slightly less than that of the San Diego Comic Con, they still have a good publicity effect.
The reason why Washifeng promoted "Madoka Magica" so hard at the comic exhibitions in the first half of the year is because "Madoka Magica" is not the protagonist of this year's San Diego Comic Exhibition.
After all, "Madoka Magica" was already introduced in detail last year, and it's hard to find any particularly exciting news if we talk about it again.
At the same time, the focus of this year's San Diego Comic-Con promotion is naturally "The Avengers" which will be released next year.
Fortunately, after the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in February, "Madoka Magica" finally had its first batch of loyal fans.
Looking at these tourists dressed as five-color magical girls, the staff at the Washimine booth felt very gratified.
These loyal fans have also made "Madoka Magica" a very popular presence at comic conventions.
Although Nanaya was far away in New Zealand, he was unable to attend these comic conventions.
But he still conducted several media interviews in the form of remote question and answer sessions.
It can also be regarded as cooperating with Washimine to promote the movie.
On the other hand, as "Madoka Magica" is getting closer to completion.
Nanaya finally started to consider the film soundtrack.
Although both soundtracks and sound effects belong to the "listening" part of the movie's audio-visual effects, there are still very obvious differences between the two in their specific operations.
Sound effects are more about making the images more realistic, so even if they are only fantasy objects in the story, filmmakers need to make the sounds of these objects sound closer to reality.
But the soundtrack is different. Its role is more to set off the plot and atmosphere.
A good soundtrack can not only leave a deep memory in people's minds, but can even be recorded in history along with the movie and passed down forever.
The most obvious examples are the soundtracks of The Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean series.
As soon as the music starts, the scenes from the movie will immediately appear in people's minds.
In the past, Nanaya's movies were all produced by ZUN, a drunkard who originally created fan games.
He is now a well-known music producer in Hollywood.
If it weren't for the fact that Nanaya, the skinner, gave him so many tasks, ZUN's works would definitely not be limited to the Type-Moon series.
In fact, Nanaya also regretted using ZUN as an animal.
If ZUN wasn't too busy, he would definitely have been the one composing the music for "Madoka Magica".
Whenever this matter is mentioned, all members of [Erque Studio] will give their boss a middle finger as a sign of respect.
However, Hans Zimmer, the composer for "Madoka Magica" by Nanaya, is not bad either.
This master of commercial music is not inferior to ZUN in terms of talent and level.
Except for "Magia" and "Connect", these two theme songs were restored by Hans Zimmer at the request of Nanaya based on his own memory.
All other soundtracks of "Madoka Magica" were specially composed by Hans Zimmer based on the film plots and video materials provided by Nanaya.
Overall, the results of this master of commercial film music fully meet the requirements of Nanaya.
But up to now, Nanaya still hasn't added the soundtrack to the film's post-production.
On the one hand, it was due to the work progress, and on the other hand, Nanaya had some opinions about the version played.
In Nanaya's opinion, the current bands composing music for movies cannot fully bring out the characteristics of Hans Zimmer's music.
Although the style of the song "Madoka Magica" is somewhat similar to what Nanaya remembered from her previous life, Hans Zimmer also added his own understanding.
Especially in order to match the heavy plot of the film, Hans Zimmer used a lot of depressing electronic music to highlight the tragic fate of the girls.
When Hans Zimmer first saw the movie script, he felt depressed by the madness of the story of Madoka Magica.
In his own words, "This is even crazier than The Dark Knight."
Full of a sense of oppression, it can be said to be a distinctive feature of the soundtrack of "Madoka Magica".
Hans Zimmer used a very coordinated single-note modulation and electronic synthesizer to produce a very strange musical effect.
This kind of music alone can directly give people a strong auditory stimulation.
Not only that, Hans Zimmer also divided the soundtrack into three parts according to the theme of the movie.
For the witch, he used a lot of cold tones to create a dark atmosphere for the soundtrack.
Many discordant chords, almost crazy and weird melodies, extremely rich electronic elements, and high-pitched sound effects similar to those of ancient religious trials.
Such a variety of sound effects, through various combinations and collocations, eventually become ever-changing music clips.
These music will become the exclusive background music for different witches.
Although there is not much original material, after various variations and combinations, the soundtrack for the appearance of these witches not only does not make people feel thin, but makes the emotions fuller and more real.
Nanaya even felt that these music could serve as material and arguments for the audience to analyze each type of witch in the future.
Then the other part is the soundtrack of magical girls.
This soundtrack is extremely gorgeous to match the girls' fighting style.
I don't know if Hans Zimmer did it on purpose, but this guy deliberately chose the violin as the main instrument.
This part of the music has a powerful effect through the violin's continuous sixteenth note jumping bow.
Combined with the sense of urgency created by the percussion instruments, it subtly creates a mood of instability and uneasiness.
This shows the inner instability of the magical girls, and also hints at their ultimate tragic ending.
Of course, the soundtrack of Magical Girls is not just that.
As the most commonly used BGM in battle scenes, the sheer tension will surely make it impossible for the audience to release their accumulated emotions.
So Hans Zimmer added long stretched-out notes to the strings, giving people who hear the music a refreshing feeling of passion being released.
Compared to the heavy feeling of history given by the soundtrack of Witch, the soundtrack of Magical Girls gives people a modern feeling through the combination of electronic music and orchestral music.
Although according to the setting, witches should be the future of magical girls.
But this kind of music arrangement is not so abrupt.
This is the first time that Nanaya has collaborated with Hans Zimmer.
But Nanaya had listened to too many Hans Zimmer's film soundtracks in his previous life.
Therefore, Nanaya clearly uses a lot of electronic sounds and rapid transitions between orchestral music, which often appears in many of Hans Zimmer's works.
This technique requires a high level of skill. If one wants to achieve the same effect as the creator, one needs to switch quickly when playing so that the audience does not easily notice.
This is also why Nanaya is dissatisfied with the current band.
As a traditional band, they didn't do a good job of switching between electronic sounds and orchestral music, giving people a strong sense of disconnection.
In addition, the most special third part of the soundtrack is the exclusive soundtrack of Madoka Kaname.
Hans Zimmer divided Madoka's score into two parts according to the plot of the story.
The first part is a beautiful piano solo, which is used to show Madoka's originally peaceful and happy daily life.
However, even in the opening part full of light and joy, the piano melody of the background music uses a series of cold notes.
Hans Zimmer intended to use this to hint that the protagonist, Madoka Kaname, would experience a poignant story.
In the middle of the story, a variation of the magical girl is used to make the transition.
The percussion instruments used to create a sense of uneasiness have been significantly enhanced, in order to reflect Madoka's confusion under the dual pressure of cruel reality and QB's instigation.
And in the last part, from the moment Madoka signed the contract with QB to become a magical girl, the music changed to another style.
In this soundtrack, Hans Zimmer used a seldom-used blend of symphony and opera.
In order to increase the divinity of Kaname Madoka, he widely drew on the characteristics of religious music from all over the world.
Finally, a religious epic tune of the New Century was carefully crafted.
When this music is played, it releases a sensational and awe-inspiring grandeur, as if stirring up wave after wave of magnificent frenzy.
Nanaya believes that the audience in the IMAX theater will be deeply moved by this song.
But for such a good song, the strength of the band playing it is really poor.
"Zimmer, I have no problem with your piece."
In the Weta Workshop conference room, Nanaya, who sat at the head of the conference table, said to Hans Zimmer: "But the performers' level is a little weaker."
This is an obvious problem. Even a music expert like Nanaya can hear the problem.
"I know."
Hans Zimmer nodded to show that he understood.
"Bali" Nanaya turned to his assistant and said, "You are responsible for contacting a few well-known bands to see if there are any willing to take over."
Hiring a well-known band would definitely be a considerable expense, but since so much money has already been spent on "Madoka Magica", a little more won't hurt.
After Bali nodded, Nanaya said, "Zimmer, once Bali reaches an agreement with the new band on the performance, I need you as a music creator to communicate with them in a timely manner."
"OK."
Hans Zimmer agreed immediately, as this was his job.
In fact, Nanaya was concerned about the quality of the film's soundtrack because he was preparing for the soundtrack for future films.
Nanaya could have produced "Madoka Magica" without considering the cost, but he couldn't have ignored the income.
Due to the high cost of film production, income from film-related products has become a necessary means for him to recover funds.
At present, various peripheral products of the film are also under development and production.
The Soul Gem, magical girl weapons, witch-themed underwear, and many other movie props and peripherals, as well as character doll images, have already entered the early design stage.
Nanaya, who has experienced the FZ peripheral sales craze, knows that the peripheral sales of "Madoka Magica" will be an important source of revenue for the movie.
How to make money from his own movies has long been an instinctive reaction for Nanaya.