Take Eight: Score!

I hope you took notice of the playlist I have displayed on the right of this blog. The songs on this playlist is music from many of my beloved films. I am sure you figured out where some of them are from. Especially, if you have been keeping up with my blog and watching or have watched some of the films I recommended. This music is the background music in films and is known as the score of a film. A score is specifically made to accompany a film. Usually scores are orchestral style music. However, recently the styles of scores have been incorporating electronic fundamentals as well. The score’s purpose is to enhance the emotional impact of the scenes in a film.

Composers write scores and are in the guidance of the director and or producers of a film in order to get the right feeling of music for the film. In order for a composer to make music for a film they must see a rough cut of the film. This is why most scores are written towards the editing process of a film. Placing the rough cut with the score the composer takes note of the timing making sure the right part of the music is in sync with what is happening in the scene of the film. Once the composer has written and orchestrated the song he must conduct it be it with an orchestra, chorus, etc. And finally once the music has been composed and orchestrated, the orchestra or ensemble performs the music with the composer conducting. The film is playing on a large screen while the orchestra is performing.

Scores ordinarily do not incorporate lyrics. However, there are some rare instances where a composer will write up a song to be sung by a singer. One example of this would be “My Heart Will Go On” which was the main theme song for the film Titanic (1997). The music was written by composer James Horner, lyrics by Will Jennings and Celine Dion sang it.

Scores are one of my favorite parts of a film. They are always so beautiful and do enhance the feelings you feel while watching a scene in the film with a score in the background. Horror films are a great example of this. Think about the last time you saw a horror film, now imagine one scary scene, was there music playing in the background? More often then not there is. Now imagine that same scene but without the score. It will probably not be as scary as you felt to be with the music. In Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Hitchcock originally did not want the shower scene to have music. However, when composer Bernard Herrmann, played the score while playing the shower scene Alfred Hitchcock changed his mind. The score from the shower scene in Psycho has been declared be many to being one of the scariest theme for any film. (Above left: Psycho shower scene with & without music) How about you what do you think about the music in the shower scene? Did you feel your emotions were more disturbed with or without the sound? Me personally, I thought the music did it more justice. Though some may argue that the scene gives more raw and fearful feelings with the sounds effects from the slashes of the knife rather then the music.

Weather you have seen the films or not most people recognize the theme from Star Wars. The composer of the score from Star Wars is John Williams and he uses a technique in which he has themes for important characters and events. The themes will often have a recurring musical phrase associating with the character or event. This is known as a leitmotif. Star Wars has many themes for is central characters like Dark Vader and Princess Leia. Princess Leia’s theme is one of my most favorite scores. It’s tune is so enchanting and romantic. John Williams is serious the man. He has won five academy awards. He has composed the themes for Jaws, Superman, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Raiders of the Lost Ark and many more.

Aside from John William my favorite composers would have to be Hans Zimmer (The Lion King, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Pirates Of the Caribbean), Howard Shore (The Lord Of The Rings trilogy), Alexandre Desplat (The King’s Speech, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I & II, Twilight Saga: New Moon) and Danny Elfman (Edward Scissorhands, Silver Linings Playbook).

Do you have a favorite score or composer? If so, what is it? I’m both curious and intrigued to know :)

Take Two: Hollywoodland

There are so many ways in which one can first approach the topic of film. You can start from the technical details of when and how the first motion picture was filmed or maybe go into depth of the first filmmakers. I debated on how to approach this post but nothing set in my mind until I started thinking about Hollywood. So why not start with the history of American cinema?

To begin I’d like to mention a brief history of motion pictures in a more technical aspect. We first come significantly acquainted with motion pictures in 1872. Eadweard Muybridge, an English photographer, decided to fix a row of cameras and quickly take pictures of a galloping horse. As the horse passed the cameras he had placed on the side of the track, Muybridge used a thread to trigger the shutter of the camera. He so happened to shot this horse in Palo Alto, CA so in a sense you can say this was the start of cinema in America. 

The Horse In Motion (1878) by Eadweard Muybridge

This event was a spark that ignited more people to try and invent such a device that would capture moving images. Thomas Edison was one of the first people who came up with such a device (kinetoscrope). And so with the emergence of these more enhanced cameras, came the start of Hollywood.

The years between 1917-1960 is known as the Golden Age of Hollywood. This time in Hollywood began right after the World War I and after the silent film era. The Jazz Singer was the first film in America to have sound.

Southern California is known for its constant beautiful warm sunny weather. So why not have it as the entertainment capitol of the world? That’s what filmmakers back in the early 20^th century thought as well. And thus Hollywood became the filmmaking hot spot.

Films during this Golden Age were distinguished by their stagnant styles. The styles of these films had to do with the story lines, themes and directing substance. The plot of these film consisted of a beginning, middle and end. And the storyline always had the main character undergo a series of struggles or obstacles that they had to overcome to achieve a certain goal. The main genres of the films were dramas.

The directors of this time in film had limited opportunities to explore different styles of directing. Films were usually shot with many medium and close ups shots. Which lets the audience see some of the scene’s background but its primary focus are the characters.

Hollywood became inhabited by major movie studios. The Big Five, as they are notably referred to as, were the top guns in the distributing of films. They consisted of: Warner Brothers, 20^th Century Fox, RKO Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). These studios had distinguished styles as well as actors who would only appear in their films. Clarke Gable one of the most famous actors of all time was MGM’s golden boy actor. These studios were nicknamed “The Big Five” for a reason for they were the studios making the most money. They owned most of the theaters, which left the other studios not in “The Big Five” not as successful. “The Big Five” also used tactics like block booking to up their revenue. Block booking was when these major studios made theaters play only the group of movies they wanted them to play. This tactic however was outlawed in 1948.

As I mentioned earlier, many directors were not very artsy with their directing and editing because of the certain style films at this time held. However, there were some directors in the classical Hollywood era that did stray from specific style of filmmaking. Alfred Hitchcock, for example, is most noted for some of his artsy scenes shown in his films like Pyscho. Hitchcock also drifted away from the a normal plot line by killing a main character in the middle of the film.

This time in cinema was a remarkable era. Many of the films made during The Golden Age Of Hollywood are now know as classics in American film. Not only that but they are referenced in other realms of pop culture endlessly.

Some films that I recommend you should watch if you're interested in seeing these works for yourself are:

• Casablanca (1942)
• Rebel Without A Cause (1955)
• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• Citizen Kane (1941)
• Psycho (1960)

“Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.” – Marilyn Monroe