Film Composer Research

Film Composer Research

Bernard Herrmann: Born on 29^th June, 1911, in New York City. He was one of the original and distinctive composers to work in the film field. He was a voracious who enjoyed the works of individualist writers’ like D.H. Lawrence, Eugene O’Neill and James McNeill Whistler. In addition, he studied the scores of some great symphonists, played recordings of his father’s gramophone and attended Carnegie Hall concerts. He began his formal music education in 1927 at DeWitt Clinton High School in 1927. He won a composition prize in at the age of 13 and founded his own orchestra at the age of 20. He produced some of his works and wrote nine scores for Alfred Hitchcock. He was also an experimenter in the application of sounds in film scores, The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) which scored for two theremins, pianos and a horn section. Also a consultant on electronic sounds on the mixtrautonium for The Birds (1963). He wrote an opera, Wuthering Heights, and a cantata, Moby Dick. He died on December 24^th, 1975, (due to a heart attack), after recording his last score for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976).

John Towner Williams: Born in Long Island, New York on February 8^th, 1932. Found and discovered music to be easy. After moving to Los Angeles, as a young pianist and leader of his jazz band, he experimented with arranging tunes at the age of 15. Premiered his first original composition, a piano sonata, at the age of 19. Found work with Hollywood Studios as a piano player, accompanying such fare like the TV series Peter Gunn (1958), South Pacific (1958), The Apartment (1960), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), etc. Formed a friendship with Bernard Herrmann. Best known, financially successful composers in U.S history. He has a massive awards list which consists of 41 Oscar Nominations (5wins), twenty-odd Gold and Platinum Records, slew of Emmy (two wins), Golden Globe (three wins), Grammy (18wins), National Board of Review (and a Career Achievement Award), Saturn (6 wins) and BAFTA (7 wins) as well as an honorary doctorate degree. He is one of the most respected composers for Cinema.  During the 70’s, he was known as the King of Disaster Scores with Poseidon Adventures (1972), Earthquake (1974) and the Towering Inferno (1974).

Ennio Morricone: Born on 10^th November, 1928, in Rome, Italy. Classmate of Sergio Leone which would form the greatest director/composer relationships. Studied at Rome’s Santa Cecilia Conservatory where he specialized in the trumpet. His first film score for A Fistful of Dollars when he was hired by Sergio Leone. His score for that film were unorthodox instrumentations such as bells, electric guitar, harmonicas, Jew’s harp as well as memorable tunes. This changed the Western music. He also contributed to other film genres such as comedies, dramas, thrillers, horror films, romances, art movies, etc. making him the world’s most versatile artists. He has written 400 film scores such as Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers (1966), Roland Joffé's The Mission (1986), Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987) and Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso (1988).

Elmer Bernstein: Born on April 4th, 1922, in New York City. Served in the US Army Air Corps in WW2. Worked in various artistic endeavors as well as painting and the theatre. Also performed as an actor and dancer. His composition work scored for United Nations radio programs, television and industrial documentaries. His original scores range over a variety of styles like his groundbreaking ground score of for The Man with The Golden Arm (1955), light musical comedies like Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) and his familiar score, The Magnificent Seven (1960). He acquired a sort of status among American Football fans when his main theme The Great Escape (1963) was hummed and played during matches.

Hans Zimmer: Born on 12^th September, 1957, in Hesse, Germany. Known as one of the Hollywood’s most innovative musical talents. Featured for the music video for The Buggles’ single “Video Killed the Radio Star”, became a worldwide hit and signified a new era of global entertainment as the first music video to be aired on MTV (August 1, 1981). Introduced to the world of film music in London where he met famed composer and mentor, Stanley Myers, which included the film My Beautiful Laundrette (1985). Scored two Best Picture Winners, in the early 1990’s, as well as his award winning score, The Lion King (1994).

Thomas Newman: Born on October 20^th, 1955, in Los Angeles, California. Known for his work on Wall-E (2008), Skyfall (2012) and A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004). Tuned percussion plays a part in his scores, e.g. American Beauty (1999). Plays a piano on his own scores, during slow, moody passages. Graduated from Yale University with a masters in music composition Keyboard player for “The Innocents” rock band. During the 2000 Summer Olympics, he played part of his scores in movies such as Erin Brockovich (2000), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), etc. on NBC during short biographies of certain athletes.

James Horner: Born on 14^th August, 1953, in California, USA. Began studying piano at the age of 5 and was trained at the Royal College of Music in London, England. Received a bachelor’s degree in music at USC and completed his Ph.D. in Music Composition and Theory at UCLA. He composed music for certain, famous movies such as Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan (1982). This lead to film offers and opportunities to work with world class performers. He made over 75 projects and worked with people such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Oliver Stone and Ron Howard. Established as a strong voice in the world of film scoring.

Danny Elfman: Born on 29^th May, 1953, in California, USA. His elder brother, Richard Elfman and Danny started a musical troupe together in Paris, “Mystic Knights of Oingo-Boingo” was created for his brother’s directorial debut, Forbidden Zone (1980). Formed a relationship with director, Tim Burton. Did his first orchestral film score for Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985). Referred to as “Hollywood’s hottest film composer”. Combines orchestral sounds with digital sounds in his works, e.g. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). Also uses a lot of brass and percussion in his film scores. Wrote a score for Black Beauty (1994) and released a solo album in 1984, So-Lo, which features most of the band members from Oingo-Boingo.

Howard Shore: Born on 18^th October, 1946, in Ontario, Canada. Known for his work on The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), etc. Member of the horn section in the Canadian Band Lighthouse in the early 1970’s. Scored two out of three sequels. First was the Silence of the Lambs (1991), the sequel to Manhunter (1986). The second was Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). Worked with Hollywood Bowl conductor, John Mauceri, for the national performances of “The Lord of the Rings Symphony” in six movements.

Chosen Composer (Hans Zimmer):

Born on 12th September, 1957, in Hesse, Germany. Known as one of the Hollywood’s most innovative musical talents. Featured for the music video for The Buggles’ single “Video Killed the Radio Star”, became a worldwide hit and signified a new era of global entertainment as the first music video to be aired on MTV (August 1, 1981). Introduced to the world of film music in London where he met famed composer and mentor, Stanley Myers, which included the film My Beautiful Laundrette (1985). Scored two Best Picture Winners, in the early 1990’s, as well as his award winning score, The Lion King (1994).

Overall, his work was nominated for 7 Golden Globes, 7 Grammys and 7 Oscars for Rain Man (1988), The Gladiator (2000), The Lion King (1994), As Good as it Gets (1987), the Preacher’s Wife (1996), The Thin Red Line (1998), The Prince of Egypt (1998) and The Last Samurai (2003). He used state-of-the-art technology and a creative environment to offer scoring opportunities to young composers at his Santa Monica-based musical “think tank”. This method launched careers of notable composers like Mark Mancina, John Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams, Nick Glennie-Smith and Klaus Badelt. Additional awards and honors include Lifetime Achievement Award in Film Composition from the National Board of Review and the Frederick Loewe Award in 2003 at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Also received ASCAP’s Henry Macini Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Analysis of Zimmer’s work (Man of Steel):

This film is optimistic in tone, lighthearted and includes touches of humor. This movie deals more with the questions of being an outsider. Superman, an alien from the planet, Krypton (which was destroyed), tries to fit in with the rest of the human society. He is faced with a dilemma that if he reveals his power to the world, he will no longer be considered as one of them. Hans Zimmer’s score signifies a loose coordination between certain themes and situations involving certain characters. Due to this, it is difficult to put a label on his themes and require a more descriptive title than the name of a character or place in the film. In addition, many of its themes are given dual meanings which are either opposite or complement of one another.

The first theme we hear at the start of the film is the ostinato. This theme shows a duality meaning that we see either Jor-El (the father of Superman from Krypton) and Kal-El (Superman). Near the start of the film, Jor-El escapes on a dragon-like creature with the codex (object containing the genetic code for the entire population of Krypton). We hear this theme in the brass (from 1:18). This particular theme also occurs in scenes, where focus of Jor-El is on Kal-El, when the baby (Kal-El) raised into the escape pod near the film’s start (1:42). It also occurs when Jonathan Kent (foster father of Superman on Earth) shows him the escape pod in which he arrived on Earth (from 1:49).

Therefore, there is a loose connection between the theme and the characters. It doesn’t signify any one specific emotion or situation with these characters. The main theme for the film is used flexibly in relation to Jor-El/Kal-El. This connection is strengthened by the fact that this theme is closely related to the Superman “heroic” theme in its triplet-based rhythms, rising motifs and relatively large intervals.