Book Description
50 Movie Music Moments comprises a wide-ranging collection of analyses of some of the most fascinating uses of music in modern Hollywood cinema. Considering narrative strategies, filmmaking techniques, functions of film music, audience engagement and conditioning, cultural implications, and intertextuality, the case studies gathered here introduce music as a crucial element of film.
In fifty examples drawn from popular and critically acclaimed Hollywood films from the late 1950s to the present, the collection showcases the many dimensions of film music and its role in cinematic storytelling. Each example includes an analysis addressing the film’s context and providing a close reading of how music, narrative, and visual elements of the scene interact. Case studies exploring the role of music in film include Amadeus, Gladiator, Baby Driver, The Dark Knight, Philadelphia, Schindler’s List, and Black Panther.
This invaluable collection offers an ideal resource to support undergraduate and graduate courses in film music history, film scoring, and filmmaking, as well as readers with a general interest in music in film.
50 Movie Music Moments
(in alphabetical order– this is not a ranking)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Airplane! (1980)
Amadeus (1984)
American Beauty (1999)
American Psycho (2000)
Arrival (2016)
As Good As It Gets (1997)
Babel (2006)
Baby Driver (2017)
Back to the Future (1985)
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Black Panther (2018)
BlacKKKlansman (2018)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
Captain Marvel (2019)
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Get Out (2017)
Gladiator (2000)
Goldeneye (1995)
Jackie Brown (1997)
Jaws (1975)
Marie Antoinette (2006)
Monster (2003)
Moonlight (2016)
Philadelphia (1993)
Promising Young Woman (2020)
Psycho (1960)
Rocky (1976)
Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt) (1998)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Selma (2014)
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
Star Wars: A New Hope (Episode IV) (1977)
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Graduate (1967)
The Hours (2002)
The Joker (2019)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
The Shining (1980)
The Social Network (2010)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Trainspotting (1996)
TRON: Legacy (2010)
Up (2009)
Wayne’s World (1992)
Witness (1985)
Zoolander (2001)
Book Description
Music plays an integral role in the experience of film, television, video games, and other media—yet for many directors, producers, and media creators, working with music can be a baffling and intimidating process. The Film and Media Creators’ Guide to Music bridges the gap between musical professionals and the creators of film and other media projects, establishing a shared language while demystifying this collaborative journey. Organized with a modular chapter structure, the book covers fundamental topics including:
Why (and when) to use music in a project
How to talk about music
Licensing existing music
Commissioning original music
Working with a composer
Geared toward emerging and established creators alike, this book takes a practical approach to the process of finding the best music for all forms of moving image. The Film and Media Creators’ Guide to Music offers hands-on advice for media creators, providing readers with the confidence to approach the planning, commissioning, creation, and placement of music in their projects with the awareness, understanding, and vocabulary that will enable them to be better collaborators and empowered storytellers. For students and professionals working across film and media, this book is the essential guide to using music creatively and effectively.
Table of Contents
Foreword by John Ottman
Introduction
Chapter 1: Why Use Music at All?
Chapter 2: Different Types of Narrative Media Music
Chapter 3: How to Think and Talk about Music
Chapter 4: When to Think and Talk about Music
Chapter 5: Licensing Existing Music
Chapter 6: Commissioning Original Music
Chapter 7: Collaborating with a Composer
Chapter 8: Finalizing Your Project
Glossary
Book Description
Christopher Nolan’s caped crusader trilogy—Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises—is considered by many to be one of the finest translations of comic book characters to the big screen. The second film in the series, The Dark Knight, was both a critical and commercial success, featuring an Oscar-winning performance by Heath Ledger as the Joker. The score—by Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer and eight-time Oscar nominee James Newton Howard—also received accolades, including a Grammy. Intricately interwoven with the sound design—and incorporating Mel Wesson’s ground-breaking ambient music design, —Zimmer’s and Howard’s music gives the film an added layer of ominous tones that makes palpable the menace facing Gotham City.
In Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s The Dark Knight: A Film Score Guide, Vasco Hexel delves into the composers’ backgrounds to reveal the many facets of meaning in the highs and lows of the score. This book also highlights the working methods of Zimmer and Howard and how they collaborated with each other and the filmmaking team to create such a memorable soundtrack.
By drawing on unprecedented access to some of the key creators of the film, the author provides unique insights into the score’s composition. Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s The Dark Knight: A Film Score Guide will be of interest to cinema and music scholars, as well as fans of both composers.
Understanding Contextual Agents and Their Impact on Recent Hollywood Film Music Practice
(Ph.D. thesis, 2014)
Abstract
Hollywood film composers work within a complex process of film production, with limited control over the final outcome. Certain contextual agents have shaped the developing craft and caused recent Hollywood film music (since 1980) to depart from the symphonic neo-Romantic style that has traditionally and commonly been associated with Hollywood film scores. Developments in storytelling, changing demographics among filmmakers and composers, evolving business models, and the influence of television have altered the content and style of Hollywood films and film music. Furthermore, technological advances in film, soundtrack, and music production have contributed to changes in prevalent composer practice. Film music is always mediated by the films it accompanies and contemporary Hollywood films that speak a progressive language tend not to use conventional music of the classical Hollywood tradition. Film music must bow to commercial pressures that are often at odds with originality. An analysis of theworkload distribution among composers in the 50 top-grossing Hollywood films each year between 1980-2009 reveals an uneven distribution skewed towards a select few individuals. These composers exert considerable influence on their field. Further findings summarized in this thesis also show a statistically significant increase in non-melodic minimalist writing as well as strong correlations between non- orchestral instrumentation and non-traditional musical stylesover the past three decades. This thesis assesses recent Hollywood film music practice and the opportunities and challenges screen composers face. Acknowledging the role and influence of so-called contextual agents in film music composition means to consider film scores in the spheres of conceptualisation and compositional practice. The key research question addressed in this thesis is: ‘What is the context in which Hollywood film composers actually work and how does this affect their creative practice and the musical outcome?’