Hello to you all,
this my first post. I'm new to composition (coming from a keyboard background, as an amateur, and having just purchased Solo Strings)
Superman: In fact, Williams just kind of Xerox an old Superman theme, that was written for a serial, if I remember well. I was surprised the very first time I heard it that old score: same pedal effect sequence and same first brass notes. May be Williams was commissioned to go from that.
Epic in movies: Elfman says somewhere Williams brought back that way of scoring. So it’s back in the 70’s, with Tower Inferno, following the use of jazz-funk oriented scoring (Shiffrin). I must admit (I’m going subjective there) epic suits those recent blockbusters well, better than an Isaac Hayes work that would shift me away from the mood. As you say, it’s sort of a trend, but that is logical. What is really new to my hears and has largely spread in a less than a decade is the extensive use of percussion. BIG ones. No Williams, no Goldsmith had this, neither the first Horner or whoever. I assume Zimmer and his Media Ventures team can be held responsible for that. Or, more exactly, directors and producers who ask him to repeat a successful receipt.
But I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of room for non epic scores and this room is well filled nowadays. Listen to the beautifully crafted The Pledge score, from Zimmer and Badelt. No French horns, no vibrato strings, just a guitar (Peirera), some percussions, ONE voice, a few synth pads. Zimmer’s Thin Red line looks toward French Impressionists. Raimi’s A Simple Plan, Elfman’s score, is not brassy at all. Debney in Bourne Identity is doing something very interesting: treated drums and dry brass. Thomas Newman is rarely going Epic, though scoring for the majors (but ok, he’s composing the same score over and over, with the same pizzicatos, same harmonics…) Action packed movies are pretty BIG these days, so they want to sound BIIIIG as well. Same range of emotions, I presume. Furthermore, we should never forget that they most of times have 3 month or so to complete a score (ok, some of the cues are composed from the “shadow men”, Zimmer being one the first to bring their contribution into light, but Zimmer is exceptional in many ways).
Oops, that’s a first and long post… I won’t have much more than that to say, anyway [:O]ops:
this my first post. I'm new to composition (coming from a keyboard background, as an amateur, and having just purchased Solo Strings)
Superman: In fact, Williams just kind of Xerox an old Superman theme, that was written for a serial, if I remember well. I was surprised the very first time I heard it that old score: same pedal effect sequence and same first brass notes. May be Williams was commissioned to go from that.
Epic in movies: Elfman says somewhere Williams brought back that way of scoring. So it’s back in the 70’s, with Tower Inferno, following the use of jazz-funk oriented scoring (Shiffrin). I must admit (I’m going subjective there) epic suits those recent blockbusters well, better than an Isaac Hayes work that would shift me away from the mood. As you say, it’s sort of a trend, but that is logical. What is really new to my hears and has largely spread in a less than a decade is the extensive use of percussion. BIG ones. No Williams, no Goldsmith had this, neither the first Horner or whoever. I assume Zimmer and his Media Ventures team can be held responsible for that. Or, more exactly, directors and producers who ask him to repeat a successful receipt.
But I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of room for non epic scores and this room is well filled nowadays. Listen to the beautifully crafted The Pledge score, from Zimmer and Badelt. No French horns, no vibrato strings, just a guitar (Peirera), some percussions, ONE voice, a few synth pads. Zimmer’s Thin Red line looks toward French Impressionists. Raimi’s A Simple Plan, Elfman’s score, is not brassy at all. Debney in Bourne Identity is doing something very interesting: treated drums and dry brass. Thomas Newman is rarely going Epic, though scoring for the majors (but ok, he’s composing the same score over and over, with the same pizzicatos, same harmonics…) Action packed movies are pretty BIG these days, so they want to sound BIIIIG as well. Same range of emotions, I presume. Furthermore, we should never forget that they most of times have 3 month or so to complete a score (ok, some of the cues are composed from the “shadow men”, Zimmer being one the first to bring their contribution into light, but Zimmer is exceptional in many ways).
Oops, that’s a first and long post… I won’t have much more than that to say, anyway [:O]ops:
