Special Topic Project Joseph

8/19/2019 Special Topic Project Joseph

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Research

• Famous film music composers

• John Williams- Born in long island New York, 8th February 1932. son of percussionist for

CBS Radio. Moved to Los Angeles in 1948. Young pianist and lead in Jazz band.Recognised as Hollywoods most innovative talents.

• Hans Zimmer- Born in Germany. Recognised as Hollywoods most innovative talents.

Featured in Buggys music video “Video Killed The Radio Star”. Started film music in

London after collaboration with Stanley Myers. Invented use of combining old and new

musical techniques.

• John Barry- Born in York England, 1933. His dad Jack owned 3 cinemas, and by age 14he was able to work projector box. Bought up around films and begun to assimilate the

music accompanying the films. before he left St. Peters he already new he wanted to be a

composer.


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Research

• Jerry Goldsmith- Born on February 10th 1929, studied piano with Jakob Gimpeland composition, theory, and counterpoint with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

Attended classes in film composition given by Miklós Rózsa at the Univeristy of

Southern California. Employed as a clerk typist in music department at CBS. Was

given his first embryonic assignments as a composer for radio shows there.

• Alan Silvestri- Born in Manhattan in 1950. First drawn to music at early age as a

drummer. His love for instruments quickly grew to include the bassoon, clarinet,saxophone and guitar. Writing his own music lead him to study at Berklee college

of music in Boston as a composition major. Hit road as guitarist, then moved to

Hollywood which lead to his first movie score with 1972s “ The Doberman Gang”.


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Research• History of film music

• Before the 1930s

• All films were silent

• Music was already a common element in theatre.

• Music was brought to film to add depth to the 2D images on screen.

• Music also covered up the noise of the projector

• Most silent films were accompanied by orchestras or pianists

• Music books were published to provide the accompanists with ideas for scene

music.

• A lot of films had “suggestion lists” on what music to play in which scene.


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Research

• 1930s

• With the invention of the talking picture, music once again became

an important aspect of film.

• In the beginning , sound music followed the precedent of its

ancestors, using complied “western music”. This practice soon

gave way, to original scores. Max Steiner wrote the first original

score for King Kong in 1933.

• At first music was only used as a basic reinforcement in the latter

part of the decade. Composers began to experiment and develop

there own style of unobtrusively supporting film plot and

characters.


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Research• 1940s

• Composers refined their knowledge even more.

• An important composer was Bernard Hermann. was seen as one of the

most influential. Broke a lot of barriers to create music that greatly

improved the films for which he wrote.

• 1950s

• Up until the 1950s film music was symphonic, how ever in this era jazz

opened up a large new world of possibilities. Jazz was used for animated

films and musicals but never had been used in mainstream films of 1930s

and 1940s. The use of Jazz not only "contemporized" the sounds and

theme of movies, but fewer musicians were needed, thus making

orchestration less expensive.


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Research

• 1960s

• The use of jazz and other experiments went on intothe 1960s.

• 1970s

• There was nothing new in this decade. Decade wasspent perfecting things in the previous decade.John Williams and others created scores usingthese techniques, and are still memorable today.


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Research

• 1980s and 1990s

• Synthesised sounds in films started in 1980s.Scoring underwent a major revolution. It became

possible to score an entire film with only one

performer. the synthesiser was used to produce

many sounds on many different instruments.Thisallowed popular songs to become basis for

popular scores.


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Does film really need

music with it?By Joseph Hearn


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IntroductionIn this presentation I will discussing film music and the history of it. I will also be discussing how filmmusic has changed over time and how film music effects one of my favourite films. As well as this I will betalking about famous film music composers and different instruments used in film music. I’ll be coming up

with an overall conclusion at the end of the presentation as to whether music is really needed in film.


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Questionnaire• I asked my friend mat to fill out a questionnaire for me and here is what he said for some of the

questions.

• How do you feel film music has changed over the years?

• I feel that film music has grown in dynamic content and has become more technical. Film music back

in the 1990s was mainly orchestral, now its turned mainly technical.

• What main instruments to do think are used in most orchestral film music?

• I think that Cello, Trumpet, Violin, Drums, Flute would be the main instruments

• Why do you think these instruments are used in orchestral film music?

• I would say these instruments are used as they add tension and can be made to have such strongdynamics and sound epic as well as romantic and sad.

• Do you think that film needs to have music with it and why?

• I feel that film definitely needs to have music to it. Music in film adds to the immersive experience andwithout it I would say that film would not be the same and would not have the same effect on theaudience.


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Questionnaire• Name 4 famous film music composers

• John Williams, Hans Zimmer, John Barry and Howard Shore

• Name 5 well know pieces of film music

• Harry potter, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Star Wars and Indiana

Jones

• Who in your opinion is the greatest film music

composer?

• John williams


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Famous Film Music Composers

• There are a lot of different film musiccomposers that have created veryfamous pieces of music, but the mostwell known composers are:

• John Williams was born in Long Island,New York on the 8th of February 1932.He discovered music almost immediatelydue to being the son of a percussionistfor CBS radio and the Raymond ScottQuintet. After moving to Los Angeles in1948, the young pianist and jazz band

leader started to experiment byrearranging songs. At the age of 15 hewas set on becoming a concert pianistand at 19 he made his first composition.At age 24 he orchestrated for AlfredNewman and Lionel Newman.


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• John Williams

• John Williams is one of the best known, awarded and financially

successful composers of film music. He has a huge list of awards

including 41 oscar nominations, and actually winning 3 oscars. Hewon the Emmy’s twice, Golden Globe three times and the

Grammy’s 18 times, and that’s just to name a few. John Williams

wrote some of the most well known pieces of film music such as

music for: Harry Potter, Star Wars, E.T , Jurassic Park , Indiana

Jones and the first two Jaws films.

• As well as film music John Williams also wrote music for some well

known TV series as well. Such as To Kill a Mocking Bird, South

Pacific, Peter Gunn and many more.


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• Hans Zimmer

• Hans Zimmer was born in Germany and is

recognised as Hollywoods most innovative

talents. He featured in in the music video for The

Buggles' single "Video Killed the Radio Star”, on

August 1 1981 which became a worldwide hitand helped usher in a new era of global

entertainment as the first music video to be aired

on MTV.

• Hans Zimmer started film music in London during

a long collaboration with well known composer

and mentor of Hans Zimmer Stanley Myers which

included the film “my beautiful laundrette”, he

soon began to work on some successful soloprojects including “A World Apart” and during

these years he invented the use of combining old

and new musical techniques. Now days this work

has lead him to be seen as the father of

integrating the electronic musical world with

traditional orchestral arrangements.


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• Hans Zimmer

• A real turning point in Hans Zimmer’s career was in 1988 when

he was asked to score “Rain Man” for director Barry Levinson.The film then went on to win an oscar for best picture of theyear and earned Zimmer his first Academy Award nominationfor best original score. The next year he also composed thescore for another best picture of the year recipient “DrivingMiss Daisy” starring Morgan Freeman. In total Hans Zimmer’s

work has been nominated for 7 Golden Globes, 7 Grammysand 7 Oscars. Hans Zimmer has written music for great filmssuch as: Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, Lion King andMission Impossible, this is just to name a few.


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Famous film music composers

• John Barry

• A recording contract with EMI then soon followed and although thefirst releases made by them didnt make the charts, John Barry and

his unoubted talent showed promise,and led to the studio

management at Abbey road allowing him to make his debut as an

arranger and conductor for other artists on the EMI roster.

• In the sixties John Barry was writing music for films such as "Born

Free", which was a double oscar winner, "Zulu" and five bond films,

as well as many more. In the seventies he scored the cult film

"Walkabout" and "Queen of Scotts".


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Famous film music

composersHoward ShoreHoward shore was Born on October

18, 1946 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

as Howard Leslie Shore. He isknown for his work on “The Lord of

the rings: Return of the King”,

“Fellowship of the ring” and “Two

Towers”. Howard shore was a

member of the horn section in the

canadian Band Lighthouse in theearly 1970s. He was also the first

Musical Director of the original

incarnation of the band from

Saturday Night Live.


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Famous film music

composers• Howard shore• Shore and future SNL producer

Lorne Michaels first met as

teenagers at summer camp inCanada, where they put on shows

including their own musical/

comedy show called “The Fast

show” Shore is the uncle of

composer Ryan Shore. Since

1979, he has scored all but one“The Dead Zone” of director

David Cronenberg’s theatrical

films. Cronenberg is also from

Toronto.


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Famous film music

composers.• Howard Shore• As well as The Lord Of

The Rings, shore hasscored two of the threesequels that have wonBest Picture. The first was“The Silence of the

Lambs”, “Lord of theRings Return of the King”then followed this in 2003.


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Logbook

• I found out this information about film music

composers in early December. It took me nearly

the whole month to find out this information as it

was a lot to research.


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My favourite pieces of film

music• In my opinion some of the greatest pieces of filmmusic that has been created is:

• The Lord of the Rings: I feel the music createdby composer Howard Shore for this film is one ofthe greatest pieces of film music as I feel the useof orchestral instruments like Violas, Cellos,

Trumpets and Timpani, really create images inthe listeners mind and the fact the music is slowand thin at times really creates an atmosphere inthe film that has rarely been seen.


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Film music before the 1930s

• Before the "talking picture" was invented, films were completely

silent, the infusion of music into the film venue is said to have

happened for lots of reasons. Music was already used in theatres,

and was brought over not only because of tradition but also to add

depth to the two dimensional image that would be shown onscreen. As well as this it also covered up the huge amount of

sound that would be produced from the projector.

• Many of the silent films created before the 1930s were

accompanied by anything from full orchestras to organists andpianists. Music books were also produced to provide the

accompanists with ideas for scene music, categorised by mood,

event or elements. A lot of the films came with a suggestion list of

what music to pla in the chosen scene.


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Film music in the 1930s

• With the birth of the talking pictures, music once againfound its self becoming a vital assets in the film industry. Atfirst sound films followed the precedent set by their

ancestors, using "complied western". This however soonstopped to make way for the creation of original scores. Thevery first original score was created by Max Steiner, for thefilm "King Kong" in 1933.

• Though at first music was only really used as reinforcement,towards the later half of the decade, the composers beganto experiment and to develop their own way of unobtrusivelybacking up the films plot and characters.


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Film music in the 1940s and

1950s• In the 1940s composers were refining their experties even more.

one of the most important an influencial composers of this time

was Bernard Hermann. Bernard broke many barriers and traditions

in order to make film music that massively improved the films forwhich he wrote the music.

• Up until the 1950s film music was completely synthesised. In the

1950s however jazz opened a large and new world for the film

music industry. Although Jazz had already been used in musicals

and animated films it had never been used for mainstream films ofthe 1930s and 1940s. The use of jazz not only made the sounds

and themes for films different but fewer musicians were needed

therefore making orchestras less expensiive.


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1970s• The use of jazz and a lot of other experiments,

continued to go on into the 1960s. It was in this

decade that acceptance of new music, led to the

scoring of "INSERT TITLE HERE" the first movie touse a rock soundtrack.

• The 1970s passed with not a lot of innovation, this

decade was mainly spent finalising and perfectingthings in the previous decade. Composers such as

John Williams created scores using these

techniques, that are still memorable these days.


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1990s• Synthesised sounds were first used widely in the 1980s, and

film scoring again underwent a big revolution. It became

theoretically possible to score a whole entire film with only one

performer. This was done by using the sythesiser to create thesounds of many instrumentalists. The year caused popular

songs to become the basis for entire scores.

• Today, with the daily development of new technology and the

general knowledge gained from a century of experiences, filmcomposers have the ability to create the perfect score –

accenting the movie’s plot and characters in such a way that it

enhances the film and turns it into an experience.


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Logbook

• I found out the information about the history of

film music and how it has grown in January, this

bit of research didn’t take as long as i was able

to find the information easily. This meant I was

able to finish researching this before the end of

the month.


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Instruments used in popular film

music• Jaws Titanic Austin Powers

• Tuba and Cello Violin Piccolo

• James Bond Cello Flute

• Trombone Keyboard Piano

• Trumpet Flute Trumpet

• Saxophone Drums Castanets

• Bass guitar Piano Trombone

• Xylophone Pirates of the caribbean

• Harry potter Violin

• Celesta Viola

• Violin Cello

• Cello Timpani

• Trumpet Drums

• French Horn Cymbal

• Flute


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What genre do some

orchestral instruments fit into?

• Cello- Romance, Action and Fantasy

• Trumpet, Violin, Flute and Drums- Romance,

Adventure, Action and Comedy

• Trombone and piano- Romance comedy andhorror


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Extra information on film

music• Film music can be divided into two different categories,

music contained within the action and background music.

• Music contained within the action, is usually referred to asdiegetic music. It is included in the story, e.g. music heard ona radio. Most film music is non diegetic.

• Background music is often known as underscoring. It adds tothe mood of the scene, reinforcing dramatics developmentsand aspects of character.


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What does film music serve

to do?Film music serves to:

• Establish atmosphere, time and place

• Move the action forward

• Describe the character

• Accompany scene changes

• Add to dramatic impact


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Mickey mousing• When music is precisely timed with events that are

happening it is known as mickey mousing. For

example, someone slipping on a banana skin

could use a descending scale followed by acymbal crash. Mickey mousing is most commonly

used in comedy films.


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Logbook

• I found out this information about instrumentsand mickey mousing towards the end of

January. The information was hard to find at first

but once it was found it didn’t take long to write

up.


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Film music• In a film score, the orchestration and instrumentation, can be very

important. Instrumental colour can suggest images for examplebagpipes evoking Scotland or muted brass suggesting somethingsinister.

• Film music is composed to accompany the action on screen and oftenuses:

• Quick and abrupt changes of tempo, harmony and melody

• Rapid shifts from one musical idea to another.

• Film music composers usually use leitmotifs, to help build a sense ofcontinuity. A leitmotif is a recurring musical idea, which is associatedwith a particular idea, character or place. Leitmotifs are manipulated tomatch the action and mood of a scene.


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Film musicLeitmotifs can be altered by:

• Changing the pitch or rhythm

•

Changing the instrumentation or accompaniment • Adding new material

• Developing fragments of the idea

• Leitmotifs can be found in the film scores of many film music composersincluding Bernard Herrmann (Psycho) Jerry Goldsmith (Planet of theApes) and Danny Elfman (Batman). Probably one of the most well knowleitmotifs in film music is John Williams’ shark leitmotif in Jaws. The twonotes F and F sharp, played on the low register of the cello signifysomething threatening and getting closer and closer.


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Electronic Film music• The first all electronic film score was composed and

performed by Bebe and Louis Barron’s for Fred

Wilcox’s 1955 film “Forbidden Planet” a science

fiction adaptation of “The Tempest” starring LeslieNeilsen and Walter Pidgeon. While “Forbidden

Planet” is widely looked at as one of the classics of

early SF cinema for its difficulties of plot and

characterisation, two qualities that had been mostly

absent from the relatively new film genre, it is

probably best remembered for the Barrons'

compellingly "alien" score.


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Electronic film music

• As former students of experimental composer

John Cage, the Barrons were no strangers to the

more experimental side of composition and

performance. However their work for “ForbiddenPlanet” was so different and not recognized

considering the then popular film music, they

were known as “Electronic Tonalities” rather than

the more traditional “composed and performedby” in the films credits. Bebe Barron later

remarked that.


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Electronic film music• Of course, the Barrons were not the first to work with completely

electronic tones; just the year before Stockhausen's entirelyelectronic work “Studie II” premiered. Moreover, by this point intime, even more mainstream film audiences were beginning togrow accustomed to electronically generated (and recorded)

sound. But these sounds were often draped in the "warmth" ofmore traditional acoustic timbres as in Franz Waxman's scorefor “Rebecca”. As Timothy Taylor points out, when isolated,electronic tones were mostly used diegetically to represent thatwhich was alien (such as the famous theremin-as-flying saucerin The Day the Earth Stood Still) while acoustic tones

accompanied that which was human. The Barrons attempted tomake the machines speak for both the human and the alien andnever before had such a large audience been forced toconfront so directly the strange sounds of electronic circuitry.


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Popular film music

• Jaws

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=A9QTSyLwd4w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9QTSyLwd4whttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9QTSyLwd4w


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Popular film music

• Indiana Jones

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-

bTpp8PQSog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bTpp8PQSoghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bTpp8PQSog


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Popular film music

• Star wars


v=_D0ZQPqeJkk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D0ZQPqeJkkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D0ZQPqeJkk


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Popular film music

• Jurassic Park

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8zlUUrFK-

M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8zlUUrFK-Mhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8zlUUrFK-M


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Popular film music

• Harry Potter

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htaj3o3JD8I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htaj3o3JD8Ihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htaj3o3JD8I


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Popular film music

• Lord of the Rings


v=1iYEwFDLVnM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iYEwFDLVnMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iYEwFDLVnM


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Popular film music

• Gladiator


v=6t_4BL1TXbw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t_4BL1TXbwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t_4BL1TXbw


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Logbook

• All this information was found in February. Thistook a whole month as it was a lot of information

and it took along time to find information that

would be relevant to my topic.


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Sources page and Logbook

• Websites used when researching

• https://prezi.com/loy4l007x_kq/what-are-the-most-popular-instruments-used-in-film-music-and-what-genres-would-you-use-them-in/

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/music/popular_music/film_music1.shtml

• https://www.youtube.com

• Sources I used

• Personal information from people questionnaires

• Watching films and studying music from them

• Blogs

• To find out some of my information I contacted film companies like 20th century fox and asked them questions.

•
https://www.youtube.com/http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/music/popular_music/film_music1.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/music/popular_music/film_music1.shtmlhttps://prezi.com/loy4l007x_kq/what-are-the-most-popular-instruments-used-in-film-music-and-what-genres-would-you-use-them-in/https://prezi.com/loy4l007x_kq/what-are-the-most-popular-instruments-used-in-film-music-and-what-genres-would-you-use-them-in/

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Special Topic Project Joseph