ReMix:Final Fantasy VIII "The Oscar Goes to Laguna Loire" 3:43

Man, it's wild out there in Hollywood, with the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes being the first dual writers & actors strike in more than 60 years. I hope they can hold the line and get that paper, y'all; the execs at the top would hoard it ALL if they could! :-D If this drags out for months and months, and we're bereft of the industry's all-important movie magic, then we've at least got a little something in the spirit of cinema for you with Bluelighter's orchestral tribute to FF8's Laguna, from the free, blockbuster-sized Final Fantasy VIII: SeeDs of Pandora album! Guillaume explains his turn in the director's chair for this piece:

"Here is an orchestra track I've made on "Slide Show Part 1 & 2", made some years ago at the beginning of the album project. As with my arrangement of "Treno" FFIX, I wanted to give an orchestra dimension to a piano track. This arrangement sounds like a march band at the beginning and the end. And the middle parts get closer with some movie soundtracks. For the title, I've imagined a ceremony broken by some film extracts, hence the idea of the Oscar. Beginning and ending describe an Oscar ceremony and middle sections describe some action scenes extracted from the movie of character Laguna. Enjoy!"

Album co-director Darkflamewolf picked up on the way Bluelighter shifted the scene, so to speak, from section to section:

"The first Bluelighter song I heard for the album and indeed one of the first to be completed for it. I've always liked this style of remix from them and this just seemed to build upon everything they've done before into a beautiful culmination of song with quirky elements that reminds us of Laguna Loire, making it my favorite! The big band orchestra-like nature of this track, combined with its center section which contrasts heavily with the beginning and end of this song, you can't say it doesn't have variety and a sound all its own."

The tonal shift at 1:40 was my personal favorite area here, a very successful bit of dynamics pulled off by Bluelighter before returning back to the lighthearted feel at 3:04. As noted by both Darkflamewolf and fellow album co-director Jorito, this was the 80-track FF8 album's very first completed entry, so the creativity displayed here had to bode well for the project's future prospects. (Easy to say when you've got the successful finish product before you, harder to say in the midst of pulling everything together!)

"This was the very first song that was finished for the album. As I listen to this, I can hear the sound of a film roll in a camera in my mind, a bit like what you'd get with silent movies. And I think it makes sense, as Bluelighter's remix is doing a lot of storytelling through music, with each section representing a different chapter in a story. I wouldn't call it an orchestral track per se -- it has more a carnival vibe to me personally -- but it's a good translation of the ragtime style of the source track. A good combination of more lighthearted segments and a more serious, tense middle section make this an interesting musical listening experience."

I love where Jorito's coming from, as it's really cool comparing this to the old-timey ragtime sound of the original songs. Bluelighter not only retained that throwback flavor in a different way with the more carnival-esque treatment of the opening and closing sections, but he also took the film-inspired flavor in a modern twist via the middle section, framing it in a more current-sounding cinematic style (tension indeed!) where you could envision a kids' film's animated Laguna running and gunning in the lead-up to a "Desperado" and -- *POOF* -- crisis averted! Go get it, press play, then it's 3... 2... 1... ACTION!