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Topic: Six-note theme on Turtle Island..., ...with a vague movie resemblance...< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
Ugo Offline




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Posts: 5495
Joined: April 2000
Posted: Oct. 21 2007, 08:42

During the online game I played yesternight with María, Trinidad and Gary, there was a discussion, which also took place here in the past few weeks, about the notes played by the stone head (the Easter Island-like idol) on Turtle Island. María thought they were similar to the famous five-note call in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Well, IMHO, simply put - they're not. :) They're different both musically and in mood. And this is why...

- On Close Encounters, the five-note call is D-E-C-low C-low G. [It's played in various keys throughout the movie, but when the aliens actually respond to it, it's played in the key of C Major. ;)]

- On Turtle Island in the Tr3s Lunas game, when you approach the stone head, you hear six notes (not five). They are: G#-A-G#-E-low B-E. Completely different from above. :D

- Also, I think the mood of the two themes is different. In Tr3s Lunas, the theme has no specific purpose - it's just one of those themes which are linked to specific objects or places and play whenever you approach those objects or places [e.g. like the drums in the Indian village]. In Close Encounters, the five-note theme actually has a purpose - it's meant as a form of communication (between the humans and the aliens), or as a language. So I think its mood is slightly more serious than the six notes on Turtle Island. :)

What do you all think about this?


--------------
Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian
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Trinidad Offline




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Posted: Oct. 23 2007, 09:10

I agree, the notes and mood are different in both, but I think there're still some similarities in other aspects:

First, the effect produced by both doesn't seem to be a melody, but just an isolated sequence of repetitive notes without a strong structure.

Also, both sequences fit in a single bar, can be played with the same duration with a very little alteration of the speed, and both seem to be faster at the start and slower at the end.

And last, but maybe most important, though in the movie there're five notes, while in the game there're six, the "routes" you have to follow to play both are very similar: up, down, down, up in the movie, and up, (down, down), down, up in the game. Of course, the intervals change, but the difference is not dramatic.

So, for me, both are obviously different, but still there're some resemblances. It's like comparing the original melody of TB with one of the versions Mike has created after it. Some of them are very different, but still they have something in common. I don't think it would be very risky to think that Mike was inspired by the movie to create that fragment of the game, specially knowing that he likes a lot that kind of stuff.
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1 replies since Oct. 21 2007, 08:42 < Next Oldest | Next Newest >

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