By: Sara Montero

MUSIC IN FILM AND ITS HISTORY

THE EARLY BEGINNINGS OF FILM

• Thomas Edison invented the Kinetograph

• The first Kinetoscope parlor opened on April 14, 1894

• Inspired by the Kinetograph, the Lumiere brothers invented the Cinématographe

• The first public showing of a Lumiere brothers film took place on December 28, 1895

FUSION OF FILM AND MUSIC1900S – 1920S

• Accompanists, either pianists or entire orchestras, were hired to drown out the noise made by the projector during silent film viewing

• Accompanists were either given books of musical ideas or suggestion lists for songs to play

• Most historians believe that Camille Saint-Saen’s score for L’Assissinat du Duc de Guise (1908) was the first original score

• Joseph Carl Breil wrote the first feature length musical score for The Birth of a Nation (1915)

THE DAWN OF THE TALKIES1930S – 1940S

• The Jazz Singer (1927) was the first feature length film with synchronized dialogue and song sequences

• Most of the songs used are traditional Jazz standards and some Jewish prayer songs

• Max Steiner composed the first completely original score for King Kong (1933)

THE JAZZ REVOLUTION1950S

• The rising popularity of jazz music revolutionized the way music for film was written and the format of orchestration

• Fewer musicians were required to record scores

• One of the earliest films to use this technique was A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) whose score was written by Alex North

• The score for the film Anatomy of a Murder (1959) was written by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn and performed by Ellington’s jazz orchestra

THE EXPERIMENTAL TRADITION1960S

• For Pyscho (1960), Alfred Hitchcock, the director, wanted a jazz score, but Bernard Hermann, the composer, chose to write for a smaller string orchestra

• Hermann stated that the string soundtrack would “reflect the black-and-white cinematography “ of the film and allow him to play with more tones and dynamics

• Ennio Morricone composed his classic composition for The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1967)

• What made Morricone’s score so unique was his use of non-typical musical instruments

ADDITION OF ROCK MUSIC1970S

• The 1970’s saw a shift towards using rock music and very early synthesizers in film soundtracks

• Although there are several classical pieces in A Clockwork Orange (1971), its original score, written by Wendy Carlos, which uses synthesized music, is the most haunting

• Isaac Hayes became a household name when he was asked to write and perform the entire soundtrack for Shaft (1971)

• Suspiria (1978) was full of eerie lighting and evocative cinematography, but what truly frightened audiences was its soundtrack written by the Italian progressive rock band Goblin

THE RISE OF SYNTHESIZERS1980S

• During the 1980s, the synthesizer became a readily available instrument, which allowed entire scores to be written using just a synth

• Vangelis combined both classical, melodic compositions with synthesizers to create a dark, futuristic score for Blade Runner (1982)

• Prince starred and wrote the soundtrack for Purple Rain (1984). This proved that a movie didn’t need an instrumental score, but could rely on a soundtrack with several different songs

• Beetlejuice (1988) score was written by Danny Elfman and incorporated a symphonic orchestra, synthesizer, and voice, and two Harry Belafonte songs

THE PREVALENCE OF POP AND ROCK MUSIC1990S

• Not much changed in terms of film scoring techniques from the 1980s to the 1990s, but using soundtracks with pop and rock songs instead of orchestral scores certainly became more popular

• Quentin Tarantino chose solely rock music from the 1960s through the 1980s for the soundtrack for his film Reservoir Dogs (1992)

• John Williams went against the trend of the time and stuck to his orchestral roots for the Jurassic Park (1993) score

• The Trainspotting (1996) soundtrack contains only rock and pop music from the 1970s through the early 1990s

ADVANCEMENT OF TECHNOLOGY2000S

• As technology continued to progress through the new millennium, so did the sound of synthesizers and the ability create more extravagant scores and soundtracks

• Yann Tiersen was chosen to compose the Amélie (2001) soundtrack. While the soundtrack contains music that Tiersen had already written, it also includes several new pieces as well as “Guilty,” a single from 1931

• For The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), the soundtrack contains both an original orchestral score written by Mark Mothersbaugh and various rock songs from the 1960s through the 1990s

• There Will Be Blood’s (2007) score was written by Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead and consisted of original orchestral music

THE PRESENT AND FUTURE2010S

• Although there have been no major differences in film scoring techniques between the 2000s and 2010s, soundtracks and scores continue to push the envelope

• Scott Pilgrim is a musician in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010), so it is only fitting that the soundtrack is jam packed with musical artists. Bands like Beck, Metric, and Broken Social Scene all wrote songs and produced tracks for the soundtrack.

• For Inception (2010), Hans Zimmer wanted to create “a very electronic score… filled with nostalgia and sadness” to reflect the tone of the film. He also used guitar sounds played by Johnny Marr, guitarist of The Smiths

• Cliff Martinez was hired to write an electropop score to match the cinematography of Drive (2011). The soundtrack is full of retro keyboards, 80s synthpop, and five songs by different artists that match the sound of the score