One aspect of film we have just barely touched on in this class is musical accompaniment in film and how it has developed over time. I feel about soundtracks the way Suzanne feels about editing. The soundtrack has always been my favorite aspect of film, and I think the artistic expression conveyed by music in this medium is often overlooked, or at least taken for granted. I love the way just the right song can change the mood of a scene, and so often we are not even conscious of what is affecting us.
I also love the creativity that is used when blending soundtracks with certain scenes. I remember, several years ago, watching a film at an independent film festival in Flagstaff. I don’t recall the name of the film, or even the plotline. I only remember a single scene, of a woman lying on a couch, with headphones on. There is a soundtrack playing, and for all we know, the music is purely non-diegetic. But when the woman takes the headphones off, the music stops abruptly. It’s not until that point that the audience realizes they were listening to the same music that the woman was listening to. I thought this was such a simple, yet elegant touch, and it allowed us to get “inside the head” so to speak, of the character.
Music accompanied even the earliest silent films, albeit “performed live, ranging from a large orchestra in major theatres down to continuous piano in smaller halls” (http://encyclopedia.stateuniversity.com/pages/20102/silent-film.html). When we watched Buster Keaton’s The General (1926) in class early this semester, I was able to share in a bit of the delight that those first audiences must have felt when they heard the sound effects created by the instruments during Keaton’s physical comedy routines. I thought this precursor to Foley artists was a clever addition to an already comedically brilliant and artistically innovative film.
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| Danny Elfman |
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| Randy Newman |
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| Hans Zimmer |
When we talk of auteurs, I believe there are a few contemporary film music composers who belong in this category. Artists such as Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman and Randy Newman are almost immediately identifiable by their scores. It is a wonder where Disney would be without the German-born Hans Zimmer, who has at least eight films slated to release in 2011-2012. Zimmer has a vast repertoire of credits (over 100 titles) under his belt, composing for blockbusters such as Backdraft (1991), Thelma & Louise (1991), Toys (1992), The Lion King (1994), and Gladiator (2000). Randy Newman has been equally, if not more valuable to Pixar as Zimmer has to its parent company. Newman’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” has become probably one of the best known themes for an animated movie. Newman also composed the soundtracks for Cars (2006), Monsters, Inc. (2001) and A Bug’s Life (1998). Danny Elfman has composed for all but five of the films Tim Burton has directed and/or produced. However, as synonymous as Elfman is with Burton, he has scored dozens of other films, from Emilio Estevez’s Bonny and Clyde-inspired Wisdom (1986) to the Spiderman trilogy.
I can't end a conversation about soundtracks without brining up the film August Rush (2007), with an original score by Mark Mancina. The soundtrack is uncharacteristically inspiring for a composer who has mostly specialized in action films (Shooter [2007], Con Air [1997], Speed [1994]). I have included the final scene of the film, that uses a diegetic score simultaneously as mood music. (Keep in mind, if you have not seen this film, this is the final scene, and so this is definitely a spoiler.)
