The Art of the Film Score

It may be no secret to some that film scores are sort of a secret obsession of mine. When films were silent, the score was important in the dramatics of the players as to the feeling of the audience. Although, silent films tend to be a bit on the creeping end of boredom for most, they're interesting to watch from a cultural standpoint, especially if one focuses on the efforts of Germany's early film industry which, with no knowledge of the French/American sideshow captures, instead focused on the more serious ground of film. Film did not begin producing truly remarkable scores until about the mid-1920's Russia and from there began to progress, facing some declines in between now and then but altogether remaining pretty unremarkable until about the early 1990's when score composers began to focus more on innovations in music.

The most notable from the early 1990's without a doubt would be Schindler's List, composed by John Williams, one of my personal favorites when it comes to score composition. In conjunction with the violinist Itzhak Perlman, one of the most well known film scores as well as violin solos was produced. Schindler's List is already a heart-wrenching social realist film by Spielberg that truly delivers the message Spielberg had intended. To compose a piece of music that holds the fear, sadness, and altogether morbid state of the time puts John Williams, the first of the composers on my list of great film scores, somewhere near the top. Personally, I've always looked at Schindler's List as one of the most important films ever made.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLK5OWU2YGw

The first film to ever draw my attention to the soundtrack would without a doubt be Gladiator, a compilation of Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard. I can never forget sitting in the theater with my dad when I was nine being completely thrilled by just the music alone so that when my dad asked me how the movie was all I could reply with was, "The music was amazing," or something like that. The next day he bought the soundtrack for me and I can remember listening to it for two weeks straight. I was so happy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHAvjaHtlMA -My favorite part. To this very day.

Later, films would develop dramatic soundtracks mirroring that of Romantic Era composition, with their lack of restraint and their wonderful feeling, some films even borrow from this era, most commonly used is "Flight of the Valkyries" a very daring Wagner composition for the time. Films such as The Fountain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihF_aXi-Huk and Requiem for a Dream exemplify these dramatic compositions both by Clint Mansell. Perhaps, however when there is a mix of the original classics such as in Dario Marionelli's composition for V for Vendetta, where Tchaikovsky is used in between percussion at the very opening of the film, introducing the nature of the soon-to-be-announced character, V. Some of the more dramatic soundtracks seem to be repeated as time progresses, John Murphy's "The Surface of the Sun" for the movie Sunshine was recycled in Kick-Ass, completely abandoning the original feeling and creating a new feeling showing the true versatility within these modern compositions.

Moving into even more innovative works of modern composition, film scores have become for many movies, enjoyable just as they are, without pictures to amplify the feeling of the music. For Memoirs of a Geisha John Williams collaborated with the extremely talented modern cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman to create a beautiful work that combines classical composition with Japanese traditionalism. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT1-Uo5eUJk James Newton Howard examines colonial American instruments combined with classical composition in The Village. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyUwUW-lRjY

Dario Marianelli is a score composer that reached further into individual composition, putting forth music that was more personal and innovative in creative material used in both Atonement http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_wN9hSdIKw and Pride and Prejudice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQgnEvQX3eM (A very beautiful composition by itself in its entirety). Marianelli's piano pieces are remarkably beautiful and, again, enjoyable just on their own. However, as far as relation to the film and conveying the emotion portrayed on the screen as well as putting forth a truly spirited piece of music, James Horner's composition for All The King's Men (also one of my all-time favorite films) is a perfectly delivered work (in my opinion of course). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Irs5cJ-Ph-8

There are many films that I did not mention such as Inception, Pan's Labyrinth, The Illusionist, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which are all exceptional soundtracks. It's just that I could probably write about this all day and I doubt anybody is really going to read this post anyway. On a side note, I did not mention Danny Elfman because, although a fantastic composer, proven to me by Good Will Hunting, I feel he is too limited with Tim Burton. The magical realism theme is catchy and mystical, but is turning rather cliche in my opinion. The Nightmare Before Christmas is noteworthy for Danny Elfman's actual singing participation as well as Big Fish for sort-of kind-of branching out of that eerie lullaby music Tim Burton enjoys so much. But most of the films listed in this paragraph supersede the music composed within them, albeit they would be nothing without the score, the story lines are very intricate and beautiful, so the soundtracks (some nominated/winners of Academy Awards) get pushed to the background.

In short, I really enjoy soundtracks.