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let's frolic in the meadow with mama

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THAT'S WHY YO EARS RAGGEDY

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A bit different than my usual content on this channel, but I've found several inconsistencies in the music between various releases and dubs of Bambi and wanted to compile them!

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Source: McDonald's Happy Meal Ad (1988)

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Source: Bambi VHS Promo (1989)

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"Hey dude this is the 5th time thise week you've watched bambi-"

Me:

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Various bits of instrumentals I've been able to get out of the lyrical Bambi songs :) I'd do anything to have the full versions, but even just these make me happy. The chorus tends to drown out the instrumental music in the officially released versions, but I think it's beautiful even on its own.

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I realize I've never properly taken the time to properly nerd out about a scene on this blog before. Let's change that!

Analysis below the cut!

So this is Man's first introduction. A lot of people think this is where Bambi's mother is shot, but that's not until later on. This happens right after Bambi meets his (unbeknownst to him) father for the first time.

The second that danger becomes apparent, the Great Prince leaps down the hill to warn the others. The palette switches from fairly naturalistic and detailed to solid, saturated colors in a matter of seconds as the meadow descends into utter chaos. The scene is crowded and disorienting and hardly anything stays in the frame long enough for your eyes to focus on. Notice the animals are running from right to left; as Westerners, our instinct is to view things from left to right because of how we read. Having the camera pan in the opposite direction can cause a feeling of uneasiness in the viewer; I probably don't need to spell out why that's a smart choice of shot composition for a scene like this.

(For the record, I know next to nothing about music theory, so excuse my potentially inaccurate language.) And of course, Man's leitmotif is playing the entire time. This is the first of three times it appears in the film. It's a simple three-note melody at its core, but depending on the intensity or chaos of the particular moment, several instruments add onto it. This is noticeable from the beginning. The theme starts out as nothing but strings but quickly builds up as chaos breaks out. The original three-note melody is still audible the entire time.

As the crowd thins out leaving only Bambi and his parents, the extra instrumentation disappears- we are once again left with those menacing strings, this time accompanied by a progressively louder banging drum and an eerie horn. To me, the drum beat is symbolic of a heartbeat, and the sound of the horn resembles that of a siren.

The visuals also shift as the situation becomes extremely dire. The palette has become dark and desaturated. The atmosphere of these shots almost feels like that of a storm about to break out; nothing has happened just yet, but the tension is unbearable. As the camera cuts to Bambi, he is tiny and alone in the top corner of the frame. The meadow around him is completely empty.

Finally, The Great Prince comes to the rescue! As he appears in the frame, Man's theme is accompanied by a bit of Gallop Of The Stags. The Prince gestures for Bambi to follow him, and they're soon joined by Bambi's mother. The closer they get to safety, the lighter the palette becomes again as they dash into a beam of sunlight.

As with all major Man scenes, the music grows more and more intense before coming to an abrupt stop, and this is when the tension finally breaks. A single gunshot rings out, and the sound of the ricochet of the bullet tells us that everyone is safe. For now. (Not so) fun fact, this is the only scene in either film in which Bambi is seen with both of his parents.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! I have about this many thoughts on every single scene in both films haha. If this gets any notes at all, I might do some more analyses in the future!

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bug

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Here's my fan remaster of Fun on the Ice! I spent tons of time on it and I'm really proud of it! Here's the original for comparison.

I had to do. So Much Work to it. The quieter/slower parts are nowhere to be found on the soundtrack release so i just had to use the audio directly from the movie. The soundtrack release was also lacking all the percussion (jingle bells, snare drum) so I had to put those pieces into it like a puzzle using a picked-apart version of the film's 5.1 audio tracks. This is why certain parts of the remaster sound noticeably more clear and crisp than others. Unfortunately, I was unable to get rid of Thumper's scream at the end, because it was on the same channel as the snare.

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me: EEYIKES! i want to provide additional context to my paper, but i find parentheses to be too obtrusive. however will i indicate the bottom of my page has a footnote?!

the humble asterisk:

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Here's a lovely rendition of "I Bring You A Song" from Camarata's interpretation of Bambi's soundtrack! Apologies for the crackling, I did the best I could, but unfortunately, all LP uploads will more or less sound like this. In my opinion, though, it adds to the charm ;)

There are four other tracks on this album, including all the songs from the movie as well as "Bambi Overture", which is exactly what it sounds like. I will be uploading all of them over the course of the next little while (with the exception of Little April Shower, which is sadly blocked by copyright).

Hope you enjoy! This is the first time the audio from this record is ever being uploaded online (to my knowledge). Hooray for media preservation!

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A prince does not... uh... nevermind.

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Just posted a new soundtrack remaster! I recently discovered an Audacity plugin that streamlines my remastering process a ton (and makes the finished product sound even better) so I'll be using that from now on. While it's basically impossible to truly convert mono audio into stereo, this plugin does a damn good job at making it sound leagues better.

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How DARE they deprive him of his lovely lashes in the sequel

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Adolescent Bambi from Walt Disney's Story and Songs from Bambi (1969)