[PIGMI] TRON the game

[Simon Wittber]

> Ah, but the analogy here is really: The pie was gristle and mush, but it was
> a great pie because it has nice tomato sauce on it.
>
> Or: The cake was mouldy and rancid, but it had great icing so the cake was
> excellent.

We could go in circles here by adding various adjectives, but I think
you understand my point, which is that a soundtrack is integral to the
entire experience.

> I'm reacting to the apparent rating of Tron highly based solely upon it's
> visual and auditory elements. I notice nobody has said anything about the
> story, or characters, or really anything else. Was there a single character
> you actually cared about in the film at all? Does anyone feel the story was
> well crafted or clever or interesting or well thought out?

No, as I said previously, the story was simple and common, but that
doesn't make it bad.

> A soundtrack alone cannot carry a film - there must be more, otherwise you
> don't really have a movie at all, you have the equivalent of a fireworks
> display - great sight and sound, but no other elements.

I disagree here, Close Encounters of the Third Kind in particular has
no discernible story, yet the music and musical elements of that film
tell a story by themselves. When I hear the signature sequence of
notes from the film, I find it is impossible not to relive the
experience of "visiting aliens", but the story is not something I
remember at all.

> But how to dig deep and discover all that? At the time of watching the film
> the music washed over me leaving no impression at all, other than the vague
> knowledge it was techno music with a drum beat. After the movie I checked
> out the Daft Punk site and listened more closely to a couple of tracks to
> find....nothing more. Repetition of a riff does not equal progression.
> Single tune melody with no harmony.
>

I don't think I can help you here. Maybe have a go at crafting some
audio from a few loops, and the experience may enlighten you. :-) In
the soundtrack, progression comes from layering of sound, and slowly
adding, subtracting and multiplying filters and effects, I think they
made good use of bit-destruction-type filters on a fairly slow drum
track.

> Sounds like you may be a Daft Punk fan? Would you enjoy any film as long as
> it had a Daft Punk soundtrack?

No, in general I don't listen to Daft Punk, and I think this
soundtrack is different to their usual stuff.

> The story wasn't simple. It was a mess that had absolutely zero internal
> consistency and sense. It meandered, lost the plot (literally), fell to
> pieces, bored you to tears and went nowhere, attempted nothing, failing to
> be interesting, engaging, or entertaining. It raises more questions than it
> could ever possibly answer, and it does not, cannot answer them as the
> film-makers literally have no idea.

Son loses Dad. Son finds Dad who is in trouble. Son tries to help Dad.
Dad sacrifices himself to save Son. Game Over. Banal, simple and
common, yet overall it was a great trip. Also, I think all questions
were answered when he turned the computer off in the last moments of
the film! :-)

I think if you judge this film as a programmer or developer, it cannot
stand up to any kind of scrutiny. You have to treat it as an
incredibly fanciful tale with no basis in reality. I had to
consciously do this myself, early in the film.

-Sw.