One of my pleasures is classic movies. When I was a kid I was especially captivated by the Universal movie monsters, the two big ones being Dracula and Frankenstein. While these are certainly tame by today’s standards, I still admire them as they were the first of their kind.
Other than the opening credits, these films have no music in them. Yet as I watched them, I could hear atmospheric music and soundscapes bubbling up in the background. So I thought, why not compose my own score for these films. I have no intention of making money with them and it would be an exercise in film scoring.
Dracula is my first attempt at creating music and blending it with dialogue.
This is the scene in which Renfield enters the castle and meets Dracula for the first time. I love it because it drips with gothic atmosphere and creepy foreboding. It is also the first time we hear Bela Lugosi’s distinctive and now iconic Romanian accent say, “I am…Dracula”.
Here is the scene as it was shown in 1931:
Here it is with my music added:
So my question is, did I ruin Dracula? No doubt purists will say yes and from that perspective, I would not disagree.
I guess I would say I couldn’t help myself! 🙂
Much better. Great job, Eric! How did you do that?
The music works wonderfully. Really captures the feeling of creeping dread.