Suspiria and The Eagles

The Dario Argento movie entitled Suspiria was filmed in synchronization with Eagles albums. The movie must be cued up exactly as the drum roll begins during the beginning credits, and the album must be cued up so that the music of the first song begins exactly as the beginning credit drum roll in the movie begins. If the cue-up for the movie and the album are exact, the actors move in perfect time with the music, their eyes even moving to the music. Also, melody and theme synchronization becomes obvious. It must be exact or much is lost. The movie's alchemical symbolism elaborates on the alchemical theme presented in the music. The following albums have been confirmed:

Eagles
Desperado
One Of These Nights
Hotel California

I have seen this movie a long time ago; some scary stuff I must admnit!

I agree with the IMDB tagline for this movie:

The Only Thing More Terrifying Than The Last 12 Minutes Of This Film Are The First 92!

And now this information about synchronization? Spooky stuff! Will have to test it and try if it really works.

Nice find!

No, it wasn't.

The score was done by Claudio Simonetti and Goblin. It was recorded in a studio with several subliminal cues mixed in. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer were pretty influential, and Keith Emerson was even tapped to record the score for SUSPIRIA's sequel, INFERNO.

The Alchemical themes were written in by co screenwriter, then wife and future mother of Asia Argento, Daria Nicolodi. The Eages had nothing to do with it.

Although everything you say is correct Brimstone, I don't think that was what Scorpio meant. The music you talk about is the actual sountrack and he talks of a totally seperate piece of music that when put to the movie, shadows or compliments what is happening on screen. Whether this was done on purpose I don't know, but in my view (if the dates correspond, I would have to check) it would have been the Eagles placing the music to Argento's masterpiece rather than the other way around!

Personally, I cannot imagine anything other than Goblin's awesome sountrack playing over the movie!

Originally posted by SunChaser
Although everything you say is correct Brimstone, I don't think that was what Scorpio meant. The music you talk about is the actual sountrack and he talks of a totally seperate piece of music that when put to the movie, shadows or compliments what is happening on screen. Whether this was done on purpose I don't know, but in my view (if the dates correspond, I would have to check) it would have been the Eagles placing the music to Argento's masterpiece rather than the other way around!

Personally, I cannot imagine anything other than Goblin's awesome sountrack playing over the movie!

I know, right? Goblin is amazing, and I can't believe they actually got away with the subliminal cues. All that being said, I could acccept the arguement that the Eagles sync'd it, rather than Argento. Except, if true, it must have been a terrible pain in the arse.

Personally, I think the original post was a little odd ball. Nothing wrong with that, I can even respect the creativity behind it. But, Argento went through a really strange process scoring the film. They didn't even use temp tracks during the workprint, because Goblin scored it along the way. Check out the WORLD OF HORROR documentary, and they actually show clips of the Studio mixing process. Negatives with a temp score whould have been impossible to produce, because SUSPIRIA was filmed with a three strip color process. A very strange, very messy, very complicated color timing process followed.

It reminds me of Ennio Morricone, who would often times score an entire film without ever watching it. He would write his composition based upon the short story treament. An amazing talent from the most prolific composer the world has ever seen.

I would recommend actually trying the synchs. The albums work into the movie in a clearly designed-in manner. There is no mistaking it for accidental synchronization. Then try Argento's Opera to the music of Judas Priest, synchronizing the beginning of the music with the first appearance of the raven's eye at the beginning of the movie. If you are not precise, then much subtlety is lost.

All you have to do to synch a movie is make a working master by mixing all of the albums onto one tape. Then you design the story in synchronization with the music on the tape in very many interesting ways; work the camera to the music while filming; allow the actors to synch or "dance" with the music while playing their respective roles; and then edit film to the music. The film soundtrack is then created on its own to compliment the film without any consideration for The Eagle's music.

It seems that this is a common practice also.

Dario Argento's Phantom of the Opera was filmed in synchronization with Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins. This was also done with at least four other films from the period, including Girl Interrupted, Fight Club, Eyes Wide Shut, and Virgin Suicides. Siamese Dream by the same group synched with Phantom of the Opera, and I haven't had time to confirm a match for the other films. Will also have to check other film releases from the period for synchronization with the Smashing Pumpkins music catalog.

Think about it...

How many takes are reshot in a typical movie? For every retake of a 30-second scene, the music would have to be re-cued to the exact spot where it ended. Then ....Director : "Perfect scene, everybody!"
Music syncher : "No, no, Brad's eyes were way off the beat! Take number 12".

And there's the editing process. It's amazing that finished film can be cut out of a picture, and the film still synchs !

Quite a feat of technology!

Originally posted by Scorpio Shaping Flow
Dario Argento's Phantom of the Opera was filmed in synchronization with Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins.

The simple arguement that shoots down your theory, which is based on the exact timing of the evnts as they unfold on film, in relation to the corresponding music, is that most of Argento's films have been cut down from the original Italian release.

Every single one of Argento's films, when released in the United States and Canada, have been pretty well butchered upon original release. Anywhere from 4, to at least 20 minutes have been cut out of each. And arbitrarily, based upon the wishes of the American distributors. Even now, since Bill Lustic purchased the American domestic rights for Argento's films, they still vary in length, when compared to the U.K., German, and Japanese releases.

It's still impossible to sync something that never had a standard running time in the first place.

I'd also like to point out that when films are transfered from PAL to NTSC, the actual length of the film changes. So, any synchonization that might occur when the film was in PAL, would change when it was duplicated into the NTSC format. Vice Versa.

All you have to do to make thirty takes is dance the scene thirty times, then you choose the best overall scene. I doubt the director even has to mention the music.

The American DVD release synchs about as perfectly as any other synch I have seen, and that is supposed to be the difinitive version. All the other versions being butchered doesn't present a problem. The movie was still filmed to the music, and if different versions went out of synch for business reasons, it's still magic. The primordial butcher has a place in the artistic process too.

Originally posted by Scorpio Shaping Flow
The primordial butcher has a place in the artistic process too.

God bless ya, man. You win. Shave my head and sign me up for the cult.
The whole world really has gone mad in a deep, dark, HP Lovecraft sort of way.