![Javier Bayon 7](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Javier_Bayon_7.jpg)
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called
cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to enhance the dramatic narrative and the emotional impact of the scene in question. Scores are written by one or more
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
s under the guidance of or in collaboration with the film's
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''Di ...
or
producer and are then most often performed by an ensemble of musicians – usually including an
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
(most likely a
symphony orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...
) or band, instrumental soloists, and choir or vocalists – known as playback singers – and recorded by a
sound engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
. The term is less frequently applied to music written for other media such as
live theatre
Live Theatre, formerly Live Theatre Company, is a new writing theatre and company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. As well as producing and presenting new plays many of which go on to tour nationally and internationally, it seeks out an ...
,
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
and
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
programs, and
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
, and said music is typically referred to as either the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
or
incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...
.
Film scores encompass an enormous variety of styles of music, depending on the nature of the films they accompany. While the majority of scores are orchestral works rooted in
Western classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
, many scores are also influenced by
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
,
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
,
pop,
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
,
new-age
New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...
and
ambient music
Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It may lack net composition, beat, or structured melody.The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast, Bloomsbury, London, 2003. It u ...
, and a wide range of ethnic and
world music styles. Since the 1950s, a growing number of scores have also included
electronic elements as part of the score, and many scores written today feature a hybrid of
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
l and electronic instruments.
Since the invention of
digital technology Digital technology may refer to:
* Application of digital electronics
* Any significant piece of knowledge from information technology
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange al ...
and
audio sampling, many modern films have been able to rely on digital samples to imitate the sound of live instruments, and many scores are created and performed wholly by the composers themselves, by using
music composition software, synthesizers, samplers, and
MIDI controllers
A MIDI controller is any hardware or software that generates and transmits Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data to MIDI-enabled devices, typically to trigger sounds and control parameters of an electronic music performance. They mos ...
.
Songs
A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...
such as pop songs and rock songs are usually not considered part of the film's score, although songs do also form part of the film's soundtrack. Although some songs, especially in
musicals
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...
, are based on thematic ideas from the score (or vice versa), scores usually do not have lyrics, except for when sung by choirs or soloists as part of a cue. Similarly,
pop songs that are dropped into a specific scene in a film for emphasis or as
diegetic music
Diegetic music or source music is music in a drama (e.g., film or video game) that is part of the fictional setting and so, presumably, is heard by the characters. The term refers to diegesis, a style of storytelling.
The opposite of source mu ...
(e.g., a song playing on a character's car radio), are not considered part of the score, although the score's composer will occasionally write an original pop song based on their themes, such as
James Horner
James Roy Horner (August 14, 1953 – June 22, 2015) was an American composer. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements, and for his frequent use of motifs associated with Celtic music.
Horner's first film score was i ...
's "
My Heart Will Go On
"My Heart Will Go On" is a 1997 song recorded by Canadian singer Celine Dion. The song serves as the main theme to James Cameron's blockbuster film ''Titanic'', based on an account of the transatlantic ocean liner of the same name which san ...
" from ''
Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
'', written for
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...
.
Terminology
A film score may also be called a background score, background music, film soundtrack, film music, screen composition, screen music, or
incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...
.
Process of creation
Spotting
The composer usually enters the creative process towards the end of filming at around the same time as the film is being
edited
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
, although on some occasions the composer is on hand during the entire film shoot, especially when actors are required to perform with or be aware of original
diegetic
Diegesis (; from the Greek from , "to narrate") is a style of fiction storytelling that presents an interior view of a world in which:
# Details about the world itself and the experiences of its characters are revealed explicitly through narra ...
music. The composer is shown an unpolished "rough cut" of the film before the editing is completed and talks to the director or producer about what sort of music is required for the film in terms of style and tone. The director and composer will watch the entire film, taking note of which scenes require original music. During this process, composers will take precise timing notes so that they know how long each cue needs to last, where it begins, where it ends, and of particular moments during a scene with which the music may need to coincide in a specific way. This process is known as "spotting".
Occasionally, a filmmaker will actually edit their film to fit the flow of music, rather than have the composer edit their score to the final cut. Director
Godfrey Reggio
Godfrey Reggio (born March 29, 1940) is an American director of experimental documentary films.
Life
Reggio was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to an old and distinguished Louisiana family descended from Francesco M. de Reggio, an Italian noblem ...
edited his films ''
Koyaanisqatsi
''Koyaanisqatsi'' (), also known as ''Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance'', is a 1982 American experimental film, experimental non-narrative film directed and produced by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by R ...
'' and ''
Powaqqatsi
''Powaqqatsi'', also known as ''Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation'', is a 1988 American non-narrative film directed by Godfrey Reggio and the sequel to Reggio's experimental 1982 film, ''Koyaanisqatsi''. It is the second film in the Qatsi trilo ...
'' based on composer
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
's music. Similarly, the relationship between director
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone (; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter credited as the pioneer of the Spaghetti Western genre and widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in the history of cin ...
and composer
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...
was such that the finale of ''
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' ( it, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, literally "The good, the ugly, the bad") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Clee ...
'' and the films ''
Once Upon a Time in the West
''Once Upon a Time in the West'' ( , "Once upon a time (there was) the West") is a 1968 epic Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone, who co-wrote it with Sergio Donati based on a story by Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Leone ...
'' and ''
Once Upon a Time in America
''Once Upon a Time in America'' ( it, C'era una volta in America) is a 1984 epic crime film co-written and directed by Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The film is an Italian–American venture produce ...
'' were edited to Morricone's score as the composer had prepared it months before the film's production ended.
In another example, the finale of
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
's ''
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' was edited to match the music of his long-time collaborator
John Williams
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...
: as recounted in a companion documentary on the DVD, Spielberg gave Williams complete freedom with the music and asked him to record the cue without pictures; Spielberg then re-edited the scene later to match the music.
In some circumstances, a composer will be asked to write music based on their impressions of the
script
Script may refer to:
Writing systems
* Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire
* Script (styles of handwriting)
** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...
or
storyboards
A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, in the ...
without seeing the film itself and has more freedom to create music without the need to adhere to specific cue lengths or mirror the emotional arc of a particular scene. This approach is usually taken by a director who does not wish to have the music comment specifically on a particular scene or nuance of a film and which can instead be inserted into the film at any point the director wishes during the post-production process. Composer
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, Oscars and four Grammy Awards, Grammys, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Tony Awar ...
was asked to write music in this way in 2010 for director
Christopher Nolan
Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his lucrative Cinema of the United States, Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. ...
's film ''
Inception
''Inception'' is a 2010 science fiction action film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced the film with Emma Thomas, his wife. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by infiltr ...
''; composer
Gustavo Santaolalla
Gustavo Alfredo Santaolalla (born 19 August 1951) is an Argentine musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for composing his film scores with his collaborator and acclaimed director Alejandro González Iñárritu, which composed the ...
did the same thing when he wrote his Oscar-winning score for ''
Brokeback Mountain
''Brokeback Mountain'' is a 2005 American neo-Western romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee and produced by Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Adapted from the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx, the screenplay was written by O ...
''.
Syncing
When writing music for film, one goal is to sync dramatic events happening on screen with musical events in the score. There are many different methods for syncing music to picture. These include using sequencing software to calculate timings, using mathematic formulas and free timing with reference timings. Composers work using
SMPTE timecode
SMPTE timecode ( or ) is a set of cooperating standards to label individual frames of video or film with a timecode. The system is defined by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers in the SMPTE 12M specification. SMPTE revised t ...
for syncing purposes.
When syncing music to picture, generally a leeway of 3–4 frames late or early allows the composer to be extremely accurate. Using a technique called Free Timing, a conductor will use either (a) a stopwatch or studio size stop clock, or (b) watch the film on a screen or video monitor while conducting the musicians to predetermined timings. These are represented visually by vertical lines (streamers) and bursts of light called punches. These are put on the film by the Music Editor at points specified by the composer. In both instances, the timings on the clock or lines scribed on the film have corresponding timings which are also at specific points (beats) in the composer/conductor score.
Written click track
A written click track is a method of writing bars of music in consistent time values (i.e. 4 beats in :02⅔ seconds) to establish a constant tempo in lieu of a metronome value (e.g. 88 Bpm). A composer would use a written click if they planned to conduct live performers. When using other methods such as a metronome, the conductor has a perfectly spaced click playing in his ear to which he conducts. This can yield stiff and lifeless performances in slower more expressive cues. One can convert a standard BPM value to a written click where X represents the number of beats per bar, and W represents time in seconds, by using the following equation:
Written clicks are expressed using 1/3 second increments, so the next step is to round the decimal to either 0, 1/3, or 2/3 of a second. The following is an example for 88 BPM:
''2.72 rounds to 2.66, so the written click is 4 beats in :02⅔ seconds.''
Once the composer has identified the location in the film they wish to sync with musically, they must determine the musical beat this event occurs on. To find this, they use the following equation, where bpm is beats per minute, ''sp'' is the sync point in real-time (i.e. 33.7 seconds), and B is the beat number in 1/3 increments (i.e. 49⅔).
Writing
Once the spotting session has been completed and the precise timings of each cue determined, the composer will then work on writing the score. The methods of writing the score vary from composer to composer; some composers prefer to work with a traditional pencil and paper, writing notes by hand on a
staff and performing works-in-progress for the director on a piano, while other composers write on computers using sophisticated
music composition software such as
Digital Performer
Digital Performer is a digital audio workstation and music sequencer software package published by Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) of Cambridge, Massachusetts for the Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms.
Ancestry
In 1984, Mark of the Un ...
,
Logic Pro
Logic Pro is a digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI music sequencer, sequencer software application for the macOS platform. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software developer C-Lab which ...
,
Finale,
Cubase
Cubase is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by Steinberg for music and MIDI recording, arranging and editing. The first version, which was originally only a MIDI sequencer and ran on the Atari ST computer, was released in 1989. Cut-dow ...
, or
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...
. Working with software allows composers to create MIDI-based demos of cues, called
MIDI mockup
A MIDI mockup is an extensive demo of a recording project built using virtual instrument software or hardware to stand in for acoustic instruments.
These extensive demos are frequently used in projects requiring large budgets to record, such as f ...
s, for review by the filmmaker prior to the final orchestral recording.
The length of time a composer has to write the score varies from project to project; depending on the post-production schedule, a composer may have as little as two weeks or as much as three months to write the score. In normal circumstances, the actual writing process usually lasts around six weeks from beginning to end.
The actual musical content of a film score is wholly dependent on the type of film being scored and the emotions the director wishes the music to convey. A film score can encompass literally thousands of different combinations of instruments, ranging from full symphony orchestral ensembles to single solo instruments to rock bands to jazz combos, along with a multitude of ethnic and world music influences, soloists, vocalists, choirs and electronic textures. The style of the music being written also varies massively from project to project and can be influenced by the time period in which the film is set, the geographic location of the film's action, and even the musical tastes of the characters. As part of their preparations for writing the score the composer will often research different musical techniques and genres as appropriate for that specific project; as such, it is not uncommon for established film composers to be proficient at writing music in dozens of different styles.
Orchestration
Once the music has been written, it must then be
arranged or orchestrated in order for the ensemble to be able to perform it. The nature and level of orchestration varies from project to project and composer to composer, but in its basic form the orchestrator's job is to take the
single-line music written by the composer and "flesh it out" into instrument-specific sheet music for each member of the orchestra to perform.
Some composers like
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...
orchestrate their own scores themselves, without using an additional orchestrator. Some composers provide intricate details in how they want this to be accomplished and will provide the orchestrator with copious notes outlining which instruments are being asked to perform which notes, giving the orchestrator no personal creative input whatsoever beyond re-notating the music on different sheets of paper as appropriate. Other composers are less detailed, and will often ask orchestrators to "fill in the blanks", providing their own creative input into the makeup of the ensemble, ensuring that each instrument is capable of performing the music as written, and even allowing them to introduce performance techniques and flourishes to enhance the score. In many cases, time constraints determined by the film's post-production schedule dictate whether composers orchestrate their own scores, as it is often impossible for the composer to complete all the required tasks within the time frame allowed.
Over the years several orchestrators have become linked to the work of one particular composer, often to the point where one will not work without the other.
Once the orchestration process has been completed, the sheet music is physically printed onto paper by one or more
music copyists
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
and is ready for performance.
Recording
When the music has been composed and
orchestrated
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...
, the orchestra or ensemble then performs it, often with the composer conducting. Musicians for these ensembles are often uncredited in the film or on the album and are contracted individually (and if so, the orchestra contractor is credited in the film or the
soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...
). However, some films have recently begun crediting the contracted musicians on the albums under the name
Hollywood Studio Symphony
The Hollywood Studio Symphony (sometimes the Hollywood Freelance Studio Symphony) is the credited name of the symphony orchestra behind many major soundtracks, including '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'', ''Suck ...
after an agreement with the
American Federation of Musicians
The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM/AFofM) is a 501(c)(5) labor union representing professional instrumental musicians in the United States and Canada. The AFM, which has its headquarters in New York City, ...
. Other performing ensembles that are often employed include the
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
(performing film music since 1935) the
City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech: ''Filharmonici města Prahy'') is a classical orchestra, predominantly composed of Czech classical, jazz and guest musicians.
The history of the orchestra goes back to the Film Symphony Orchestr ...
(an orchestra dedicated mostly to recording), the
BBC Philharmonic
The BBC Philharmonic is a national British broadcasting symphony orchestra and is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Philharmonic is a department of the BBC North Group division based at MediaC ...
, and the
Northwest Sinfonia
The Northwest Sinfonia is a session symphonic orchestra based in Seattle, mostly renowned for recording soundtracks to motion pictures and computer games. It was founded in 1995 and is credited with over 100 recordings.
It draws its members mostl ...
.
The orchestra performs in front of a large screen depicting the film, The conductor and musicians habitually wear headphones that sound a series of clicks called a "click-track" that changes with
meter
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...
and tempo, assisting to synchronize the music with the film.
More rarely, the director will talk to the composer before shooting has started, so as to give more time to the composer or because the director needs to shoot scenes (namely song or dance scenes) according to the final score. Sometimes the director will have edited the film using "temp (temporary) music": already published pieces with a character that the director believes to fit specific scenes.
Elements of a film score
Most films have between 45 and 120 minutes of music. However, some films have very little or no music; others may feature a score that plays almost continuously throughout.
Temp tracks
In some instances, film composers have been asked by the director to imitate a specific composer or style present in the temp track. On other occasions, directors have become so attached to the temp score that they decide to use it and reject the original score written by the film composer. One of the most famous cases is
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
's ''
2001: A Space Odyssey'', where Kubrick opted for existing recordings of classical works, including pieces by composer
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...
rather than the score by
Alex North
Alex North (born Isadore Soifer, December 4, 1910 – September 8, 1991) was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (one of the first jazz-based film scores), ''Viva Zapata!'', ''Spa ...
, although Kubrick had also hired
Frank Cordell
Frank Cordell (1 June 1918 – 6 July 1980) was a British composer, arranger and conductor, who was active with the Institute of Contemporary Arts. He also composed music under the name Frank Meilleur or Meillear (Meillear being his mother's ma ...
to do a score. Other examples include ''
Torn Curtain
''Torn Curtain'' is a 1966 American Political thriller, political thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. Written by Brian Moore (novelist), Brian Moore, the film is set in the Cold War. It is about ...
'' (Bernard Herrmann), ''
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...
'' (Gabriel Yared), ''
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl'' (Alan Silvestri), Peter Jackson's ''
King Kong
King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...
'' (Howard Shore), and ''
The Bourne Identity'' (Carter Burwell).
Structure
Films often have different themes for important characters, events, ideas or objects, an idea often associated with
Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's use of
leitmotif
A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglici ...
. These may be played in different variations depending on the situation they represent, scattered amongst incidental music. The themes for specific characters or locations are known as a motif where the rest of the track is usually centered around the particular motif and the track develops in line with the motif.
This common technique may often pass unnoticed by casual moviegoers, but has become well known among genre enthusiasts. One prominent example is
John Williams
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...
' score for the ''Star Wars'' saga, and the numerous themes in
''Star Wars'' music associated with individual characters such as
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. The character is the central antagonist of the original trilogy and, as Anakin Skywalker, is one of the main protagonists in the prequel trilogy. ''Star Wars'' creator George ...
,
Luke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the protagonist of the original film trilogy of the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. Portrayed by Mark Hamill, Luke first appeared in ''Star Wars'' (1977), and he returned in ''The ...
, and
Princess Leia
Princess Leia Organa is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, portrayed in films by Carrie Fisher. Introduced in the Star Wars (film), original ''Star Wars'' film in 1977, Leia is princess of th ...
. Similarly, the
music of the ''Lord of the Rings'' film series featured recurring themes for many main characters and places. Another notable example is
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the Rambo (franchise) ...
's
Klingon
The Klingons ( ; Klingon: ''tlhIngan'' ) are a fictional species in the science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''.
Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the original ''Star Trek'' (''TOS'') series, Klingons were swarthy humanoids c ...
theme from ''
Star Trek: The Motion Picture'' (1979), which later composers in the
''Star Trek'' film series quoted in their Klingon motifs, and which was included on numerous occasions as a theme for
Worf
Worf, son of Mogh is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. He appears in the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (''TNG'') and seasons four through seven of '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (''DS9'') as well as t ...
, the franchise's most prominent Klingon character.
Michael Giacchino
Michael Giacchino (; born October 10, 1967) is an American composer of music for films, television and video games. He has also served as a director for television. He has received many awards, including an Oscar for his work on '' Up'' (2009), a ...
employed character themes in the soundtrack for the 2009 animated film ''
Up'', for which he received the Academy Award for Best Score. His orchestral soundtrack for the
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
''
Lost
Lost may refer to getting lost, or to:
Geography
*Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland
* Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US
History
*Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
'' also depended heavily on character and situation-specific themes.
Source music
"
Source music
Diegetic music or source music is music in a drama (e.g., film or video game) that is part of the fictional setting and so, presumably, is heard by the characters. The term refers to diegesis, a style of storytelling.
The opposite of source m ...
" (or a "source cue") comes from an on screen source that can actually be seen or that can be inferred (in academic
film theory
Film theory is a set of scholarly approaches within the academic discipline of film or cinema studies that began in the 1920s by questioning the formal essential attributes of motion pictures; and that now provides conceptual frameworks for und ...
such music is called "
diegetic
Diegesis (; from the Greek from , "to narrate") is a style of fiction storytelling that presents an interior view of a world in which:
# Details about the world itself and the experiences of its characters are revealed explicitly through narra ...
" music, as it emanates from the "
diegesis
Diegesis (; from the Ancient Greek, Greek from , "to narrate") is a style of fictional, fiction storytelling that presents an interior view of a world in which:
# Details about the world itself and the experiences of its characters are reveale ...
" or "story world"). An example of "source music" is the use of the
Frankie Valli
Francesco Stephen Castelluccio (born May 3, 1934), better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer, known as the frontman of the Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice.
...
song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" in
Michael Cimino
Michael Antonio Cimino ( ; February 3, 1939 – July 2, 2016) was an American filmmaker. One of the "New Hollywood" directors, Cimino achieved fame with ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978), which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best D ...
's ''
The Deer Hunter
''The Deer Hunter'' is a 1978 war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Slavic-American steelworkers whose lives were upended after fighting in the Vietnam War. The three soldiers are played by Robert De Niro, Chr ...
''.
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
's 1963 thriller ''
The Birds'' is an example of a Hollywood film with no
non-diegetic
Diegesis (; from the Greek from , "to narrate") is a style of fiction storytelling that presents an interior view of a world in which:
# Details about the world itself and the experiences of its characters are revealed explicitly through narr ...
music whatsoever.
Dogme 95
Dogme 95 is a 1995 avant-garde filmmaking movement founded by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the "Dogme 95 Manifesto" and the "Vows of Chastity" ( da, kyskhedsløfter). These were rules to create films ba ...
is a filmmaking movement, started in Denmark in 1995, with a manifesto that prohibits any use of non-diegetic music in its films.
Artistic merit
Music criticism
The artistic merits of film music are frequently debated. Some critics value it highly, pointing to music such as that written by
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897November 29, 1957) was an Austrian-born American composer and conductor. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential composers in Hollywood history. He was a noted pianist and compo ...
,
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...
,
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely re ...
, and others. Some consider film music to be a defining genre of classical music in the late 20th century, if only because it is the brand of classical music heard more often than any other. In some cases, film themes have become accepted into the canon of
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
. These are mostly works from already noted composers who have done scores; for instance,
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
's score to ''
Alexander Nevsky
Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky (russian: Александр Ярославич Невский; ; 13 May 1221 – 14 November 1263) served as Prince of Novgorod (1236–40, 1241–56 and 1258–1259), Grand Prince of Kiev (1236–52) and Grand P ...
'', or
Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
' score to ''
Scott of the Antarctic
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra N ...
''. Others see the great bulk of film music as meritless. They consider that much film music is derivative, borrowing heavily from previous works. Composers of film scores typically can produce about three or four per year. The most popular works by composers such as
John Williams
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...
are still far from entering the accepted classical canon, although there is a growing appreciation for the broader contribution of composers such as Williams among some classical composers and critics; for example, the Norwegian contemporary classical composer
Marcus Paus
Marcus Nicolay Paus (; born 14 October 1979) is a Norwegian composer and one of the most performed contemporary Scandinavian composers. As a classical contemporary composer he is noted as a representative of a reorientation toward tradition, tonal ...
has said that he considers Williams to be "one of the great composers of any century" who has "found a very satisfying way of embodying dissonance and avant-garde techniques within a larger tonal framework" and who "might also have come the closest of any composer to realizing the old Schoenbergian
icutopia that children of the future would be whistling 12-tone rows."
Even so, considering they are often the most popular modern compositions of classical music known to the general public, major orchestras sometimes perform
concerts of such music, as do
pops orchestra
A pops orchestra is an orchestra that plays popular music (generally traditional pop) and show tunes as well as well-known classical works. Pops orchestras are generally organised in large cities and are distinct from the more "highbrow" symphony ...
s.
Preservation efforts
In 1983, a non-profit organization, the
Society for the Preservation of Film Music, was formed to preserve the "byproducts" of creating a film score, including the music manuscripts (written music) and other documents and studio recordings generated in the process of composing and recording scores which, in some instances, have been discarded by
movie studio
A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production ...
s. The written music must be kept to perform the music on concert programs and to make new recordings of it. Sometimes only after decades has an archival recording of a film score been released on CD.
History
The origins of film music are disputed. According to
Kurt London
Kurt is a male given name of Germanic or Turkish origin. ''Kurt'' or ''Curt'' originated as short forms of the Germanic Conrad, depending on geographical usage, with meanings including counselor or advisor.
In Turkish, Kurt means "Wolf" and i ...
, film music "began not as a result of any artistic urge, but from a dire need of something which would drown the noise made by the projector. For in those times there was as yet no sound-absorbent walls between the projection machine and the auditorium. This painful noise disturbed visual enjoyment to no small extent. Instinctively cinema proprietors had recourse to music, and it was the right way, using an agreeable sound to neutralize one less agreeable." On the contrary, film historian James Wierzbicki asserts that early film showings (such as the
Lumier brothers’ first film screening) would have been social events to the capacity that they had no need to mask the sounds of a projector mechanism. As these early films began to move out of exhibition spaces and into
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
theaters, the role of film began to shift as well. Given that vaudeville theaters typically employed musicians, it is likely that this is the point when it became commonplace for film to be accompanied by music. Audiences at the time would have come to expect music in the vaudeville space, and as such live musical accompaniment to films grew out naturally.
Before the age of recorded sound in motion pictures, efforts were taken to provide suitable music for films, usually through the services of an in-house pianist or organist, and, in some cases, entire orchestras, typically given
cue sheets as a guide. A pianist was present to perform at the
Lumiere brothers' first film screening in 1895. In 1914,
The Oz Film Manufacturing Company
The Oz Film Manufacturing Company was an independent film studio from 1914 to 1915. It was founded by L. Frank Baum (president), Louis F. Gottschalk (vice president), Harry Marston Haldeman (secretary), and Clarence R. Rundel (treasurer) as an ...
sent full-length scores by
Louis F. Gottschalk
Louis Ferdinand Gottschalk (October 7, 1864 – July 15, 1934) was an American composer and conductor born in St. Louis, Missouri. The son of a Missouri governor, also named Louis, he studied music in Stuttgart, Germany, where his father, a judg ...
for their films. Other examples of this include
Victor Herbert
Victor August Herbert (February 1, 1859 – May 26, 1924) was an American composer, cellist and conductor of English and Irish ancestry and German training. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is be ...
's score in 1915 to ''
The Fall of a Nation
''The Fall of a Nation'' is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Thomas Dixon Jr., and a sequel to the 1915 film ''The Birth of a Nation'', directed by D. W. Griffith. Dixon, Jr. attempted to cash in on the success of the controversi ...
'' (a sequel to ''
The Birth of a Nation
''The Birth of a Nation'', originally called ''The Clansman'', is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and play ''The Cla ...
'') and
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...
' music for ''
The Assassination of the Duke of Guise
''The Assassination of the Duke of Guise'' ( 1908) (original French title: ''La Mort du duc de Guise''; often referred to as ''L'Assassinat du duc de Guise'') is a French historical film directed by Charles le Bargy and André Calmettes, adapte ...
'' in 1908. It was preceded by
Nathaniel D. Mann
Nathaniel D. Mann (1866–1915) was an American composer best known for his work with L. Frank Baum. He composed at least two songs with Baum, "Different Ways of Making Love" and "It Happens Ev'ry Day," and another with John Slavin, "She Didn't R ...
's score for ''
The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays
''The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays'' was an early attempt to bring L. Frank Baum's Oz books to the motion picture screen. It was a mixture of live actors, hand-tinted magic lantern slides, and film. Baum himself would appear as if he were giving a l ...
'' by four months, but that was a mixture of interrelated stage and film performance in the tradition of old
magic lantern
The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that used pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lenses, and a light source. Because a si ...
shows. Most accompaniments at this time, these examples notwithstanding, comprised pieces by famous composers, also including studies. These were often used to form catalogues of
photoplay music
Photoplay music is incidental music, soundtrack music, and themes written specifically for the accompaniment of silent films.
Early years
Early films (c. 1890-1910) merely relied on classical and popular repertory, mixed usually with improvisati ...
, which had different subsections broken down by 'mood' and genre: dark, sad, suspense, action, chase, etc.
German cinema
The film industry in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema made major technical and artistic contributions to early film, broadcasting and television technology. Babelsberg became a household synonym for the early 20 ...
, which was highly influential in the era of silent movies, provided some original scores such as
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...
's movies ''
Die Nibelungen
''Die Nibelungen'' ("The Nibelungs") is a two-part series of silent fantasy films created by Austrian director Fritz Lang in 1924, consisting of ''Die Nibelungen: Siegfried'' and ''Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge''.
The scenarios for bot ...
'' (1924) and ''
Metropolis
A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
A big c ...
'' (1927) which were accompanied by original full scale orchestral and leitmotific scores written by
Gottfried Huppertz
Gottfried Huppertz (11 March 1887 – 7 February 1937) was a German composer who is perhaps most known for his scores to German expressionist silent films such as the science fiction epic ''Metropolis'' (1927). He collaborated with director Fritz ...
, who also wrote piano-versions of his music, for playing in smaller cinemas. Friedrich W. Murnau's movies ''
Nosferatu
''Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'' (German: ''Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens'') is a 1922 silent German Expressionist horror film directed by F. W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire who preys on the wife ...
'' (1922 – music by
Hans Erdmann
Hans Erdmann (7 November 1882 – 21 November 1942) was a German composer. He produced several film scores for German films.
Selected filmography
* ''Nosferatu'' (1922)
* '' Le testament du Dr. Mabuse''/''The Testament of Dr. Mabuse'' (1933)
* ' ...
) and ''
Faust – Eine deutsche Volkssage
''Faust – A German Folktale'' (German: ) is a 1926 silent film produced by Universum Film AG, Ufa, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Gösta Ekman (senior), Gösta Ekman as Faust, Emil Jannings as Mephisto, Camilla Horn as Gretchen/Marguerit ...
'' (1926 – music by
Werner Richard Heymann
Werner Richard Heymann (14 February 1896 – 30 May 1961), also known as Werner R. Heymann, was a German-Jewish composer active in Germany and in Hollywood.
Early life and education
He was the younger of 4 boys born to a corn merchant. His old ...
) also had original scores written for them. Other films like Murnau's ''
Der letzte Mann
''The Last Laugh'' (german: Der letzte Mann, ) is a 1924 German silent film directed by German director F. W. Murnau from a screenplay written by Carl Mayer. The film stars Emil Jannings and Maly Delschaft.
Stephen Brockmann summarized the film' ...
'' contained a mixing of original compositions (in this case by
Giuseppe Becce
Giuseppe Becce (3 February 1877 – 5 October 1973) was an Italian-born film score composer who enriched the German cinema.
Biography
Becce was born in Lonigo/Vicenza, Italy. He showed his musical talents early and was named the director of ...
) and library music / folk tunes, which were artistically included into the score by the composer. Much of this influence can be traced further back to
German Romantic forms of music.
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
’s ideas on
Gesamtkunstwerk
A ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' (, literally 'total artwork', translated as 'total work of art', 'ideal work of art', 'universal artwork', 'synthesis of the arts', 'comprehensive artwork', or 'all-embracing art form') is a work of art that makes use of al ...
and
leitmotif
A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglici ...
in his operas were later picked up on by prominent film composer
Max Steiner
Maximilian Raoul Steiner (May 10, 1888 – December 28, 1971) was an Austrian composer and conductor who emigrated to America and went on to become one of Hollywood's greatest musical composers.
Steiner was a child prodigy who conducted ...
. Steiner and his contemporary
Erich Korngold
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897November 29, 1957) was an Austrian-born American composer and conductor. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential composers in Hollywood history. He was a noted pianist and compo ...
both immigrated from Vienna, bringing with them musical structures and ideologies of the late Romantic period.
In France, before the advent of talkies,
Erik Satie
Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...
composed what many consider the first "frame by frame" synchronous film score for director
René Clair
René Clair (11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. He wen ...
's avant-garde short ''
Entr'acte
(or ', ;Since 1932–35 the French Academy recommends this spelling, with no apostrophe, so historical, ceremonial and traditional uses (such as the 1924 René Clair film title) are still spelled ''Entr'acte''. German: ' and ', Italian: ''inte ...
'' (1924). Anticipating "spotting" techniques and the inconsistencies of projection speeds in screenings of silent films, Satie took precise timings for each sequence and created a flexible,
aleatoric
Aleatoricism or aleatorism, the noun associated with the adjectival aleatory and aleatoric, is a term popularised by the musical composer Pierre Boulez, but also Witold Lutosławski and Franco Evangelisti, for compositions resulting from "action ...
score of brief, evocative motifs which could be repeated and varied in tempo as required. American composers
Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclassic ...
and
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...
cited Satie's music for ''Entr'acte'' as a major influence on their own forays into film scoring.
When sound came to movies, director Fritz Lang barely used music in his movies anymore. Apart from
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...
whistling a short piece from Edvard Grieg's ''Peer Gynt (Grieg), Peer Gynt'', Lang's movie ''M (1931 film), M – Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder'' was lacking musical accompaniment completely and ''The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse'' only included one original piece written for the movie by Hans Erdmann played at the very beginning and end of the movie. One of the rare occasions on which music occurs in the movie is a song one of the characters sings, that Lang uses to put emphasis on the man's insanity, similar to the use of the whistling in M (1931 film), ''M''.
Early attempts at the synchronization of sound and image were failures, in large part due to mechanical and technological limitations. Phonograph, Phonographs, the only medium available for recorded sound in the early twentieth century, were difficult if not impossible to synchronize with the rotation of film projectors. In the cases where an attempt was made, sound was further limited by an inability to properly amplify it. However, in the 1920s improvements in radio technology allowed for the amplification of sound, and the invention of sound on film allowed for the synchronization thereof. A landmark event in music synchronization with the action in film was achieved in the score composed by
Max Steiner
Maximilian Raoul Steiner (May 10, 1888 – December 28, 1971) was an Austrian composer and conductor who emigrated to America and went on to become one of Hollywood's greatest musical composers.
Steiner was a child prodigy who conducted ...
for David O. Selznick's 1933 ''King Kong.'' A fine example of this is when the aborigine chief slowly approaches the unwanted visitors to Skull Island who are filming the natives' sacred rites. As he strides closer and closer, each footfall is reinforced by a background chord.
Though "the scoring of narrative features during the 1940s lagged decades behind technical innovations in the field of concert music,"
[ ] the 1950s saw the rise of the modernist film score. Director Elia Kazan was open to the idea of jazz influences and dissonant scoring and worked with Alex North, whose score for ''A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 film), A Streetcar Named Desire'' (1951) combined dissonance with elements of blues and jazz. Kazan also approached Leonard Bernstein to score ''On the Waterfront'' (1954) and the result was reminiscent of earlier works by
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...
and Igor Stravinsky with its "jazz-based harmonies and exciting additive rhythms."
A year later, Leonard Rosenman, inspired by Arnold Schoenberg, experimented with atonality in his scores for ''East of Eden (film), East of Eden'' (1955) and ''Rebel Without a Cause'' (1955). In his ten-year collaboration with
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
,
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely re ...
experimented with ideas in ''Vertigo (film), Vertigo'' (1958) and ''Psycho (1960 film), Psycho'' (1960). The use of non-diegetic jazz was another modernist innovation, such as jazz star Duke Ellington's score for Otto Preminger's ''Anatomy of a Murder'' (1959).
Composers
Academy Award nominees and winners
Box office champions
The following list includes all composers who have scored one of the 100 highest grossing films of all time but have never been nominated for a major award (Oscar, Golden Globe etc.).
* William Alwyn – ''Swiss Family Robinson (1960 film), Swiss Family Robinson'' (1960)
* Joseph DeBeasi – ''American Sniper (film), American Sniper'' (2014)
* David Buttolph – ''House of Wax (1953 film), House of Wax'' (1953)
* Brad Fiedel – ''Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' (1991)
* Alexander Janko – ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding'' (2002)
* Bill Justis – ''Smokey and the Bandit'' (1977)
* Harald Kloser – ''The Day After Tomorrow'' (2004), 2012 (film), 2012 (2009)
* Heitor Pereira – ''Despicable Me (film), Despicable Me'' (2010), ''The Smurfs (film), The Smurfs'' (2011), ''Despicable Me 2'' (2013)
* Trevor Rabin – ''Armageddon (1998 film), Armageddon'' (1998), ''National Treasure: Book of Secrets'' (2007)
* Thomas Wanker – ''2012 (film), 2012'' (2009)
* Pharrell Williams – ''Despicable Me (film), Despicable Me'' (2010), ''Despicable Me 2'' (2013)
* Chris Wilson – ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding'' (2002)
Relation with directors
Sometimes, a
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
may unite with a Film director, director by composing the score for many films of a same director.
John Williams
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...
' professional relationship with
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
and George Lucas is one of the most prominent in film history, with Williams scoring all but five of Spielberg's films, and all the installments of both of Lucas' blockbuster franchises (''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones''); Williams won all five of his Oscars in his collaborations with the two. Additionally, Danny Elfman did the score for all the movies directed by Tim Burton, with the exception of ''Ed Wood (film), Ed Wood'' (score by Howard Shore) and ''Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'' (score by Stephen Sondheim). Another documented instance is the relationship of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross with David Fincher.
Production music
Many companies provide music to various film, TV and commercial projects for a fee. Sometimes called library music, the music is owned by production music libraries and licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media. Examples of firms include Warner Chappell Production Music, Jingle Punks, Associated Production Music, FirstCom Music, VideoHelper and Extreme Music. Unlike popular and classical music publishers, who typically own less than 50 percent of the copyright in a composition, music production libraries own all of the copyrights of their music, meaning that it can be licensed without seeking the composer's permission, as is necessary in licensing music from normal publishers. This is because virtually all music created for music libraries is done on a work for hire basis. Production music is therefore a very convenient medium for media producers – they can be assured that they will be able to license any piece of music in the library at a reasonable rate.
Production music libraries will typically offer a broad range of musical styles and genres, enabling producers and editors to find much of what they need in the same library. Music libraries vary in size from a few hundred tracks up to many thousands. The first production music library was set up by De Wolfe Music in 1927 with the advent of sound in film, the company originally scored music for use in silent film. Another music library was set up by Ralph Hawkes of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers in the 1930s. APM, the largest US library, has over 250,000 tracks.
See also
* AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores
* List of film score composers
* List of film director and composer collaborations
* ''Score (2016 film), Score'', a 2016 documentary film about film scores
* ''Film Score Monthly''
References
Further reading
* Andersen, Martin Stig.
Electroacoustic Sound and Audiovisual Structure in Film. ''eContact! 12.4 — Perspectives on the Electroacoustic Work / Perspectives sur l’œuvre électroacoustique'' (August 2010). Montréal: Canadian Electroacoustic Community, CEC.
* Dorschel, Andreas (ed.). ''Tonspuren. Musik im Film: Fallstudien 1994–2001''. Universal Edition, Vienna 2005 (Studien zur Wertungsforschung 46). . Scrutinizes film score practice at the turn from the 20th to 21st century. In German.
* Elal, Sammy and Kristian Dupont (eds.).
The Essentials of Scoring Film. ''Minimum Noise''. Copenhagen, Denmark.
* Harris, Steve. ''Film, Television, and Stage Music on Phonograph Records: A Discography''. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1988. .
* MacDonald, Laurence E. (1998
''The Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History'' Scarecrow Press. .
* Holly Rogers and Jeremy Barham, ''The Music and Sound of Experimental Film''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
* Slowik, Michael. ''After the Silents: Hollywood Film Music in the Early Sound Era, 1926–1934.'' New York: Columbia University Press, 2014.
* Spande, Robert
"The Three Regimes – A Theory of Film Music"Minneapolis, 1996.
* Stoppe, Sebastian, ed. ''Film in concert: film scores and their relation to classical concert music''. Glückstadt: Verlag Werner Hülsbusch, 2014. .
* Stubblevine, Donald J. ''Cinema Sheet Music: A Comprehensive Listing of Published Film Music, from ''Squaw Man'' (1914) to ''Batman'' (1989)''. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1991. .
* Various contributors [wiki].
Films with Significant Electroacoustic Content. ''eContact! 8.4 — Ressources éducatives / Educational Resources'' (September 2006). Montréal: Canadian Electroacoustic Community, CEC.
External links
; Film music organizations
Film Music SocietyInternational Film Music Critics Association
; Journals (online and print)
*
Film Music Magazine'
*
'
*
The Journal of Film Music'
*
UnderScores : le magazine de la musique de film'
; Education
*
International School for Film Score Composition and Production'
; Language
*
{{Authority control
Film scores,