Vampire Hunter D

I know, FSM already ran a column about the Anime METROPOLIS, which was called the best Anime ever. I have to admit that I haven't seen METROPOLIS, but after watching the new version of VAMPIRE HUNTER D, I can hardly believe there is an Anime out there which tops this fantastic action/horror/love story, be it in regards to animation, imagination or storyline.

VAMPIRE HUNTER D is set in a distant future where mankind has been almost wiped out by world wars and evil vampires. After a young girl is kidnapped by a vampire, her family hires the vampire hunter D to get her back. D is half-man, half-vampire and liked by neither group. But he is not that lonely, as a parasite lives inside his left hand (probably the strangest buddy-movie idea there is). D is joined by a group of human warriors and soon they face all kinds of monstrous vampires, witches and werewolves. When they finally reach the girl they learn the shocking truth about her disappearance....

I attended a screening at the Fantasy Film Festival in Germany and the audience just loved it -- for minutes there were standing ovations in the sold-out theater. The movie left me speechless in my chair -- I never thought an animated movie would blow me away as VAMPIRE HUNTER D 2000 (or BLOODLUST, which is an alternate title) did. Moreover, it was one of the few movies this year which made me immediately go to the record store and look for the soundtrack. (This only happened so far with A.I., FINAL FANTASY and THE MUMMY RETURNS.)

Unfortunately, the score hasn't been released outside Asia so far, but I was lucky enough to get it on an auction at Amazon.com for the normal price of a CD. And what a score it is, ranging from heavily percussion-driven, electronic, pounding action cues which Hans Zimmer would be proud of, to exciting Latin choir horror tracks, to orchestral chase sequences which almost tore the speakers in the theater apart.

This is by far the best score I have heard in an Anime and probably the most accessible to the general, outside-Asia soundtrack listener (just think of the score to AKIRA -- as musically inventive as it may be, it's hard to listen to -- or the strange score of GHOST IN THE SHELL). American composer Marco d'Ambrosio wrote a straightforward action score that delivers on all aspects. It's a ride as great as the movie itself and moreover pushed the already incredible movie to the absolute limit.

So, thanks to the World Wide Web, I managed to come in contact with composer d'Ambrosio and he was friendly enough to talk a little about this movie and his MarcoCo Studio.

After the interview I will review the score album in short...

Roman Deppe: Can you tell us a little bit about your musical background , what made you go into the film business and how you got there?

Marco d'Ambrosio: As far back as I can remember, music has always affected me very deeply. I started playing trumpet at 10 years old (and I still try to play as much as I can). I got interested in composing and film music in high school. For some reason, the score to Blade Runner flipped a very big switch in my brain, and I knew what I wanted to do, but I took what then seemed a circuitous route to get there.

I went to college to study music, but I also studied engineering (acoustics) as a double major. This was at the University of Hartford. At the time I attended college, film scoring programs had not really come about yet. I felt that technology would play a major part in the creation of music in the future, and I was really interested in audio, so in addition to working on my musical chops, I also worked hard on my technical chops. I worked at the college recording studio under David Budries, a great mentor and friend, recording, editing and learning a lot of classical music.

After I graduated, I got a job as an acoustics engineer, still playing and creating music on my own time, ocassionally taking a work sabbatical to concentrate on just music. It was during this time that the MIDI revolution was in full swing and I put together my first studio in Boston. I started getting some commissions to write scores for modern dance companies in New York.

In 1989, I was offered a technical job at Lucasfilm, to work for their THX division. During this time, I learned a lot about film sound, from people like Tomlinson Holman and Ben Burtt. It was Ben who gave a me a shot at writing music for some of the documentaries he was working on. At this time, I was also starting to do some sound design on the THX trailers. I slowly started to get more and more work as a composer, until there was finally enough for me to do it full-time, which I've been now doing for about eight years.

RD: What's behind MarcoCo. Studio? I understand you are not only scoring films, but also do some other film-related things...can you tell us a little bit about that?

MdA: MarcoCo. started as my project studio for creating scores. It is now a professional audio-post facility located in Northern California. Our main focus is still the production of my scores, but we can also provide a "one-stop" place where filmmakers can get all their "creative" audio needs met. Our goal is to provide a product where all the audio is truly integrated, i.e. the dialogue, sound design, and music really work together from the conceptual stage. We staff up or down according to the project, and can pretty much take a film all the way to final mix. We have a great relationship with Skywalker Sound, so on some of the larger projects we'll bring the mix for print mastering there. We did this for Urban-Vision's "Vampire Hunter D."

RD: How did you get involved with VAMPIRE HUNTER D 2000? It seems quite uncommon that an Asian movie has an American composer.

MdA: Mata Yamamoto, one the producers of "Vampire Hunter D," had heard some of my music for "JoJo's Bizarre Adventures," an Anime series released primarily in Japan. As a trial, he asked me to write the music and produce the sound for the short promo of VHD that came out a few years ago. He liked my work and so offered us the film.

RD: Were you familiar with Animes (and their music, if there is a special kind of Anime music) and what were you thinking when you saw the movie the first time?

MdA: My only other experience with Anime had been with JoJo, which to me seems very different from most. VHD is also very different, so visually rich and beautiful. When I first saw it I knew it was something special. I had seen the very first version done in 1985 as a reference. I felt the new version had captured what made the first one so interesting AND took it even further.

RD: At which point of the movie's production did you get involved?

MdA: I began writing music for it as soon as the picture editing and English dialogue was complete. We started sound design at the same time too.

RD: What was your musical approach to the movie?

MdA: My musical approach to the film was a hybrid one, much like the film is. I really tried to incorporate and fuse many elements and genres together, horror, classical gothic, futuristic, and being of Italian origin, even "Spaghetti Western." These were the same ideas the producers and director had. We agreed the score had to be epic in scope, and that a "live" orchestral sound was necessary, so we worked our budget to allow for that.

RD: Was scoring an Anime different to scoring an "ordinary" American animated film or live-ation?

MdA: Speaking only for myself, I feel that the Anime projects I've scored are much closer to live-action films than traditional American animation.

RD: How was the working process withthe director/producer? Were their any language barriers?

MdA: My working process with the director/producer was much like I would score a completely American live-action project. We spotted the film for music and then I would submit MIDI sketches of the cues for approval, after which I would orchestrate further and prepare the score for whatever live instruments I was planning to record. The biggest difference was that I was sending all my sketches for approval via email, CDs and video tape to Japan! Kawajiri-san, the director, Mata Yamamoto and Maruyama-san, the producers, would then make their comments, which would be translated back into English and emailed back to me. It really wasn't as difficult as it might sound, it just took a little more effort trying to understand each other, but it was very rewarding when it worked. When Kawajiri-san came to visit from Japan for the recording sessions, I felt that we had really connected despite the language barrier. We were all after the same thing.

RD: What electronics did you use and how big was the orchestra and choir?

MdA: I used three EMU EIV's and three Roland S-760 samplers to complement the orchestral parts. Synthesizers were used to create a lot of the ambient textures. Those included a Roland XP-50 and JD990, Korg T-3, Oberheim OB-8 and Matrix 6, and a KYMA/Capybara Sound Design Workstation. There were 20 players in the orchestra, mostly strings and brass recorded in separate sessions. The choir consisted of 16 voices, but we did multiple takes of them and combined them during the mix.

RD: Wow, it really sounds as if it was a huge choir. That's amazing, so how long is the score all in all and how much time did you have to write it?

MdA: The score is about 65 minutes long. I had about 12 weeks to write and prepare the score, 10 days to record, edit, and do a 5.1 premix.

RD: Has the movie already been released in Asia and how was it and your music received? Do you know when it will come out in the U.S.?

MdA: It has been released in Asia and we were happy to hear to that it and my music were received very well. After its initial release schedule elapsed, the film was extended another month in theatres. Regarding the U.S. release, we had our U.S. premier at the Egyptian theatre in Hollywood which was sold out and a big success. Urban-Vision is now planning the release in major U.S. cities within the next two to three weeks.

RD: Were you involved with the nice but short End Title song?

MdA: I wasn't really involved with the song, just its balance during mixing with the rest of my score. As far as I know that version was only for the Asian market, but I agree, it's a nice song.

RD: Are you satisfied with it or do you think you could have done it better, if so, what would you do different now? (Although I can't think of anything to change, it's just great the way it is.)

MdA: Thanks Roman, I can't really say I'd change anything either. Of course you always wish you could have more time to tweak this and that or a bigger orchestra or better equipment, etc. But I can honestly say I really put my soul into this score, into making it truly work for the film, and that's what matters. I would love to do another large-scale Anime film. I think you will see more of them as theatrical releases in the future.

RD: Would you say, that your score to VAMPIRE HUNTER D represents your musical style in general? Or is it very different from the rest of your work?

MdA: I think that since I created the score it's part of my musical style, but I try not to close myself in. I'm interested so many different styles of music. I just work to connect the right musical directions/ideas up with the right projects. Of course, they'll always have my particular approach, whatever that is.

RD: Your wife Terri was the Audio Supervisor on the movie...what exactly was her job?

MdA: Her job as Audio Post Supervisor was to oversee the entire operations of delivering the completed soundtrack. This included managing our crew of sound designers, foley artists, editors, and assistants, as well as scheduling playbacks, scoring sessions, mix and mastering dates. While I was locked up writing the score, she basically ran the ship.

RD: Besides the almost-impossible-to-get CD from Japan, is there an album planned for the US? Or is it possible to get a CD from your studio?

MdA: Yes, there is a plan to release the album in the U.S., coinciding with release of the film.

RD: What are your current or forthcoming projects?

MdA: There is a film I scored in U.S. theatres now, a live-action comedy called Haiku Tunnel. I'm also currently working on the new series of JoJo's Bizarre Adventures which is being released in Japan on DVD.

RD: Thank you very much.

VAMPIRE HUNTER D (2001) *** 1/2

Music Composed, Orchestrated and Conducted by Marco d'Ambrosio

Ever Anime A8-1368 (Japan)

27 Tracks - 66:13

As does the movie, this CD comes thundering in right from the start. After a short time of ambient, dark, scary mood in the opening cue the pounding percussions kick in and with almost no breaks the CD will rock your home. Similar to the Media Ventures efforts, but still d'Ambrosio relies more on heavy electronic effects and goes more to a rock/techno-approach, which works incredibly well with the machine-gun editing and wild photography of the movie. Nevertheless, most of the cues feature simple but exciting string riffs, which broaden the scope of the score and add even more suspense. Especially the cue "Grove" builds up to a powerful chase finale. The overall tone of these tracks is very dark, although not in particular relying on horror. But even as the movie is about a group of heroic Vampire Hunters (humans and non-humans), d'Ambrosio avoids a strong heroic theme, just as it would not be right for the movie: The Hunters in the end don't do anything heroic, except try to survive. The closest you can get to a hero theme you'll find in "Marcus Brothers," but still there are lots of dissonant passages throughout this cue. A short statement of the hero theme you can also find in "Sunlight," played by a solo trumpet -- neat, but short, and still more melancholic than heroic.

When the remaining duo finally reaches the Castle of Chaythe and are confronted with the vampire queen Missa, the score once again shifts gear and features in the final cues a full blowns Latin choir and creates an unsettling atmosphere (Castle of Chaythe) until all hell breaks loose in the showdown cue "Vampyra Missa": All electronics, orchestra and choir crash down on each other for over five minutes -- one of the most exciting action-pieces I have heard in a long time. I can hardly believe that the actual choir consisted only of 16 voices!

Finally we get a bittersweet love theme mostly for piano in "Charlotte's Love" and even find some uplifting material in "A Bit(e) of Hope" -- a nice, simple cue, which unfortunately is a little bit short.

The Japanese band Do As Ifinity provides the End Títle cue, which I actually like a lot, although it is a little bit to happy for the movie and especially for the dark tone of the score, but still it is an enjoyable song.

The CD is exciting throughout and can't be recommended enough. If you are only into pure orchestral music, then it's too percussion- and electronic-driven, no question about that, but Zimmer fans will get a kick out of it, and for the general action/horror-fan it is worth checking out.

AND DON'T FORGET TO WATCH THE MOVIE!

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