🐴 Official Track for the movie by Paris Paloma

[Laurë]

Hey there!

An official song was released for the film, and I think it's worth sharing for those interested.

Here's the audio:

and the music video:

The music video is worth watching, because I think it has some new animation clips that weren't in the trailers. The fight scene clips show-cased look a lot more fluid then the ones in the trailer, which is a relief. From the trailer, the animation felt very stiff to me, but hopefully it was just a bad selection of scenes.

I was genuinely surprised to see they got Paris Paloma to do it, I guess I thought she was a smaller artist. That said, her style and the few songs of hers I've heard fit Tolkien pretty well imo.

What do you think about the new scenes and song?

 

[Server Room Gremlin]

I thought it looked and sounded very good. This music video has a more 'unique' feel to it, which I appreciated. I think the trailers leaned a bit too much on referencing earlier Lord of the Rings movies. It felt more like its own thing with the clips they chose here, as well as the song.

 

[Halasían]

The music video was better than the trailer by far. Still, as much as I like the music video, it didn't quite seem quite in place with my vision of the Rohirrim. Still looking forward to the movie.

 

[Annatar]

What do you think about the new scenes and song?

I liked the soundtrack on an emotional level the first time I heard it, and I think it fits the Rohan theme quite well. Nowadays I don't expect much from film adaptations after all the disappointments, but this little music video is a positive surprise. 👍
The “Heo” from the refrain also fits well with the well-known syllable “Eo” of the Rohirrim.

The fight scene clips show-cased look a lot more fluid then the ones in the trailer, which is a relief. From the trailer, the animation felt very stiff to me, but hopefully it was just a bad selection of scenes.

As high quality as the music may be, I unfortunately still find the quality of the animations poor. The new scenes also look very cheap and not worthy of a cinema highlight. It's simply not fluid enough and looks like a cheap series production of a niche anime. That might be okay for television, but not if you want to have real and lasting success with a Tolkien story in cinemas.
If the story is told well overall, you might be able to overlook this, but the jerky visuals shown so far are not particularly good advertising...

 

[Laurë]

As high quality as the music may be, I unfortunately still find the quality of the animations poor. The new scenes also look very cheap and not worthy of a cinema highlight. It's simply not fluid enough and looks like a cheap series production of a niche anime. That might be okay for television, but not if you want to have real and lasting success with a Tolkien story in cinemas.
If the story is told well overall, you might be able to overlook this, but the jerky visuals shown so far are not particularly good advertising...

That's a very interesting perspective!

As I've said, I definitely agree that things look stiff but it doesn't really look 'cheap' to me . . . The colors are very rich and nice, the character designs are more complicated then one might expect from cheap animation, and the fights aren't blatantly bad, just stiff and a little basic. Maybe it's all that 90's and early 2000's anime I've seen but there's a lot worse out there, and at this point I'm grateful for 2D animation of any kind.

When I mentioned I thought some of the clips in the music video were smoother I was referring to the clips at 2:07-2:14, 2:23-2:26, 2:29-2:32, 3:07-3:09. I thought that these ones felt surprisingly smooth compared to some of the other material, especially the quality of the large-scale battle scenes. The one scene of Hera fighting several people in front of the burning buildings that they keep showing does look pretty rough though.

It's certainly not Disney renaissance or Studio Trigger level quality though, and I can totally understand your disappointment. This is just my two cents I guess.

 

[Annatar]

The colors are very rich and nice, the character designs are more complicated then one might expect from cheap animation, and the fights aren't blatantly bad, just stiff and a little basic.

I absolutely agree with you on this point. And I'm definitely going to see the movie in the cinema. Even if I fear that the animation will be bad, I still hope for a good story that is at least 80% true to the lore, which is much more important to me personally. However, I fear that it will be more important for mass taste (and thus for commercial success) that the animations are fluid and of high quality, and unfortunately that looks very bad at the moment, unless there's another surprise...

 

[Laurë]

I absolutely agree with you on this point. And I'm definitely going to see the movie in the cinema. Even if I fear that the animation will be bad, I still hope for a good story that is at least 80% true to the lore, which is much more important to me personally. However, I fear that it will be more important for mass taste (and thus for commercial success) that the animations are fluid and of high quality, and unfortunately that looks very bad at the moment, unless there's another surprise...

Ah, yes, I 100% agree that a good story is far more important and I definitely hope that's the case!

I'll admit that I haven't thought much about the mass opinion of the film . . . so far it hasn't been marketed vary widely, It's pretty niche, in my opinion, and I don't know if the theater will have many people other then previous Tolkien or lotr fans. It feels like it can be difficult to get the average joe to appreciate animated features when it's not something in a genre most people already like, for example, the Spiderverse movies.

Maybe that's just me being pessimistic though😅. Of course I'd love for the film to be widely successful but I just don't know if the audience is there.

 

[Annatar]

Yes, I also think it would be a shame if good opportunities were wasted here due to a lack of budget...

There was already an anime attempt with Bakshi's 1978 adaptation. Although it didn't fail completely, it doesn't exactly count as a masterpiece either. Above all, the movie was not successful enough to tell the story to the end. That probably won't happen here, but I still hope that given its relevance and prominence, it will be an exceptionally good movie and not just an average movie that will be quickly forgotten.
But let's see, maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised, like with this soundtrack...

 

[Laurë]

Yes, I also think it would be a shame if good opportunities were wasted here due to a lack of budget...

There was already an anime attempt with Bakshi's 1978 adaptation. Although it didn't fail completely, it doesn't exactly count as a masterpiece either. Above all, the movie was not successful enough to tell the story to the end. That probably won't happen here, but I still hope that given its relevance and prominence, it will be an exceptionally good movie and not just an average movie that will be quickly forgotten.
But let's see, maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised, like with this soundtrack...

I hope so as well!

(And I think you might mean animated, not anime because I'm fairly sure that the 1978 adaptation was a western production?)

 

[Annatar]

(And I think you might mean animated, not anime because I'm fairly sure that the 1978 adaptation was a western production?)

Yes, it was a western production:

The Lord of the Rings (1978 film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And it was strongly influenced by the hippie zeitgeist. The producers had probably consumed massive amounts of mushrooms or LSD. 😄
(Similar or even worse with the Hobbit cartoon. )
So don't consume that! For me, these films are a good anti-drug campaign. 😄 👍

 

[Eljorahir]

I like the song.

I noted a few phrases that are familiar from LOTR (in bold).
Anybody know where they got the phrase "heo is se wind" from? One of Tolkien's languages, I guess?

You ask, "Who will answer? In need, who'll come?"
When the last line is broken, when the day is all but done
Heo is se wind, heo is se wind
You are the wind that’ll carry them home

When fire burns low, turns into smoke
When all the songs are sung
Remember those and all who rode to battles lost and won
I know the fear you have inside, let hope below the doubt
If dark the night, be the light when all of the lights go out

You ask, "Who will answer? In need, who'll come?"
When the last line is broken, when the day is all but done
It's you, your name they’re calling, from the deep they will rise
Go forth and they will follow, time to fight, it's time to ride
Heo is se wind, heo is se wind
You are the wind that will carry them home

Rise now, o rider, oh, rise with the dawn
You don't know what fate awaits, but know you're not alone

Heo is se wind, heo is se wind
You are the wind that'll carry them home
Ride now for ruin, ride for your kin
Take up your shield, maiden, and ride to the world's end

 

[Laurë]

Yes, it was a western production:

The Lord of the Rings (1978 film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And it was strongly influenced by the hippie zeitgeist. The producers had probably consumed massive amounts of mushrooms or LSD. 😄
(Similar or even worse with the Hobbit cartoon. )
So don't consume that! For me, these films are a good anti-drug campaign. 😄 👍

I'll admit I have never seen it, only heard of it 😅 . Though I did watch the Rankin/Bass Hobbit movie as a kid. It's been too long for me to remember if it was any good or not.

 

[Laurë]

I like the song.

I noted a few phrases that are familiar from LOTR (in bold).
Anybody know where they got the phrase "heo is se wind" from? One of Tolkien's languages, I guess?

You ask, "Who will answer? In need, who'll come?"
When the last line is broken, when the day is all but done
Heo is se wind, heo is se wind
You are the wind that’ll carry them home

When fire burns low, turns into smoke
When all the songs are sung
Remember those and all who rode to battles lost and won
I know the fear you have inside, let hope below the doubt
If dark the night, be the light when all of the lights go out

You ask, "Who will answer? In need, who'll come?"
When the last line is broken, when the day is all but done
It's you, your name they’re calling, from the deep they will rise
Go forth and they will follow, time to fight, it's time to ride
Heo is se wind, heo is se wind
You are the wind that will carry them home

Rise now, o rider, oh, rise with the dawn
You don't know what fate awaits, but know you're not alone

Heo is se wind, heo is se wind
You are the wind that'll carry them home
Ride now for ruin, ride for your kin
Take up your shield, maiden, and ride to the world's end

After some searching online I found this twitter post about the phrase:

(Nerd of the rings is a popular youtuber in the fandom I beleive).
It definitely makes a lot of sense within the context of the song and film.

 

[Annatar]

I'll admit I have never seen it, only heard of it 😅 .

As a Tolkien fan, I think you should have seen the Bakshi film at least once, although there are probably also many justified dissenting voices. 😄

 

[Laurë]

As a Tolkien fan, I think you should have seen the Bakshi film at least once, although there are probably also many justified dissenting voices. 😄

I know my parents have seen it and don't hate it, same with my brother. I didn't end up watching it with them out of chance, really. By the time I had read lotr and was interested in watching an adaptation, I was old enough for the live action moves so I skipped the animated one that my parents considered more kid friendly.

Maybe I will get around to it one of these days, though I'm not big on watching movies. I still have two of the live action hobbit movies to slog through at some point 😅

 

[Annatar]

I still have two of the live action hobbit movies to slog through at some point 😅

In my experience, a lot depends on the age at which you look at something.
When you're young, a lot of things can shape you - both positively and negatively.
When you're no longer young, nothing can influence you, but a lot of things can suck.
You're still young according to your profile, so don't let yourself be influenced, stay open-minded and do your own thing, no matter what old people like me or others here say... 😄

 

[Laurë]

In my experience, a lot depends on the age at which you look at something.
When you're young, a lot of things can shape you - both positively and negatively.
When you're no longer young, nothing can influence you, but a lot of things can suck.
You're still young according to your profile, so don't let yourself be influenced, stay open-minded and do your own thing, no matter what old people like me or others here say... 😄

. . . I'll admit, even though I am still pretty young it may already be too late for me😅
I strongly disliked the first one and constantly have a hard time turning the literary and narrative analysis part of brain off even if I tell myself I won't take the piece of media seriously.
That said, I do find that I can enjoy a fantasy story even if it's pretty terrible because the vibes alone are nice, I just happen to like the genre that much lol (I have seen all of RoP after all).