Movie music doesn’t just effect finished feature-length film – it has just as much of an impact in a 60-second trailer. Take, for instance, the teaser trailer for Inception. The gripping sensation you get from the teaser does come from Christopher Nolan’s genius, yes, but that is an unfinished product. What delivers Nolan’s intended emotion is the addition of a simple, yet thunderously intense score. Nobody knows where these sounds came from, but there is an eerie similarity to some tracks from The Dark Knight. Watch the 60-second teaser below and prove to me how it would be just as powerful without the music.
On the other hand, what about trailers that implement popular music to evoke a certain sense of awesomeness, like Iron Man 2. We were given a taste of Ozzy Osbourne’s song “Iron Man” remixed in the Iron Man trailers. But now, with the sequel, it would seem that the remixing has reached a whole new level. Just check out the 1:44 mark of the Iron Man 2 trailer, when Iron Man and War Machine are surrounded, the synchronization of landings and musical cues (“The Razor’s Edge” by AC/DC) are out of this world.
You’ve just got to watch out for those awful trailers with “new metal” slashing through the footage and turning what could seem like a classic epic into a teen romp of testosterone like Clash Of The Titans.
So, how does music in film make you feel? Or do you not actually notice it? Does the addition of a well-known composer peak your interest in an upcoming film? Any favorites? Unleash on the comments board below…
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Even if the film itself is total crap (and we've had more than our fair share of those lately), a well-done orchestral score can make all the difference.
I also freely admit that when I hear about an upcoming film, after wondering about casting and who the director will be, the next question on my mind is who will be scoring the film.
And in the interest of full disclosure, my father collected soundtrack albums for a number of years, and he was always interested in who would be composing the music for a particular film. That love of movie music was passed on to me, and there are certain composers that I really enjoy listening to, including Danny Elfman, Michael Giacchino and Hans Zimmer.
Currently, my favorite soundtracks are The Wolfman, Sherlock Holmes and Star Trek. But what has me a wee bit peeved is that Giacchino's score for Up was supposed to have been released as a soundtrack album last year, but so far, I haven't seen it yet. Hope that will be corrected very soon.
I got it the Up score on iTunes a couple weeks ago. What do you mean? Is there a different version?
Anything by Lalo Schifrin, or Michael Small – who scored Klute, The Parallax View and Marathon Man – instantly evokes “1970s tense thriller/cop show”. It's something about the sparse orchestration.
Jerry Goldsmith's incredible free-form soundtrack played a major part in establishing the skewed world of Planet Of The Apes. Ditto Vangelis with Blade Runner, and the “electronic tonalities” of Forbidden Planet. Howard Shore's understated drones and sick pulses were perfect for the emotionless, almost documentary style (and I mean that in a good way) of David Cronenberg's movies, and added to the queasy, unsettling feel of Silence Of The Lambs and Seven. Sergio Leone's films would be entirely different beasts without the flamboyance of Ennio Morricone.
Non-original soundtracks can do the trick as long as they're well-chosen. Hearing the likes of Photek, Source Direct and The Aphex Twin was one of the highlights of the first Blade movie for me. The musical pieces Stanley Kubrick chose for 2001: A Space Odyssey are now totally inseparable from his visuals. I saw it on the big screen again in '01 and those unearthly compositions by Ligeti – particularly the one used during the “Stargate” sequence towards the end – made the experience overwhelming and awesome (as in “inspiring awe” rather than “awesome, dude”).
The songs Richard Kelly selected for Donnie Darko combined perfectly with the atmospheric pieces composed by Michael Andrews. One of the best ever uses of both original and “found” music, I reckon.
It was supposed to be released on CD shortly after the movie was in theaters, and I haven't found the CD yet. I'm not a fan of iTunes, because it constantly updates itself, and it gets annoying.
Unfortunately, by that time Disney was putting out all its soundtracks that didn't have exploitable songs a la “Hannah Montana The Movie” and “The Princess And The Frog” via downloads (except for “Old Dogs,” which despite not being a John Debney score album – in fact, Debney has no tracks on it at all – was only digitally released). Which was annoying, especially re “A Christmas Carol.”
They seem to have backtracked now, what with “Alice In Wonderland” getting a physical CD. Or maybe they know you don't mess around with Danny Elfman…
Mike – - can I just say spot on about John Williams. Especially his work on “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones,” “E.T.,” “Hook,” “Jurassic Park,” “The Patriot,” “Catch Me If You Can” (which was just a pleasant surpirse). I like his use of the themes. Connecting lines of music that unite the picture. You just have to hear a piece and you're right back there. Everytime I heard amazing music I just assumed it was John Williams.
I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Alan Silvestri. I always thought that “Back to the Future” was John Williams because it was so awesome. But a number of years ago I learned the turth and wanted to say good job.
I'm also a fan of Danny Elfman, Jerry Goldsmith, Hans Zimmer (I love what he did with “Hannibal” and with Klaus Badelt's original score from “Pirates of the Caribbean”), Alan Silvestri (obviously), Michael Giacchino (although I really think his Oscar should've been for “Star Trek” if he had to win one at all), Carter Burwell on “In Bruges” was phenomenal, although I didn't mind his work on “Twilight.”
Mike – - can I just say spot on about John Williams. Especially his work on “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones,” “E.T.,” “Hook,” “Jurassic Park,” “The Patriot,” “Catch Me If You Can” (which was just a pleasant surpirse). I like his use of the themes. Connecting lines of music that unite the picture. You just have to hear a piece and you're right back there. Everytime I heard amazing music I just assumed it was John Williams.
I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Alan Silvestri. I always thought that “Back to the Future” was John Williams because it was so awesome. But a number of years ago I learned the turth and wanted to say good job.
I'm also a fan of Danny Elfman, Jerry Goldsmith, Hans Zimmer (I love what he did with “Hannibal” and with Klaus Badelt's original score from “Pirates of the Caribbean”), Alan Silvestri (obviously), Michael Giacchino (although I really think his Oscar should've been for “Star Trek” if he had to win one at all), Carter Burwell on “In Bruges” was phenomenal, although I didn't mind his work on “Twilight.”