Howard Shore Master Class. Master Class: Steven Spielberg & John Williams. Song Exploder | The Martian. “The Martian” In the film “The Martian,” astronaut Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) is stranded on Mars, forced to rely on science and his ingenuity in order to survive. The film opened at #1 at the box office, and has earned critical praise as well. In this episode, composer Harry Gregson-Williams breaks down his music from the film, where part of his job was to score the excitement of scientific discovery and the grandeur and mystery of Mars itself.
Buy The Martian Score Suite (as heard in this episode), or the entire Original Motion Picture Score on iTunes. Harry Gregson-Williams conducting The Martian scoring session at Abbey Road studios: (Photo by Benjamin Ealovega) The Martian – Official Trailer This episode is sponsored by Hover (use the offer code MARTIAN for 10% off your first purchase), Dropbox, and MeUndies. Legendary Composer Leonard Bernstein on the Future of Music, Harvard 1973. By Maria Popova “A great new era of eclecticism is at hand.” In the fall of 1972, legendary composer Leonard Bernstein was appointed the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard, his alma mater — a position originally created in 1925 to bring celebrated poets as campus residents and student advisors and previously occupied by such luminaries as T. S. Eliot, e. e. cummings, and Robert Frost. In 1973, Bernstein delivered his sextet of lucid lectures, aimed at an intelligent listened not musically trained but keenly interested in how music works and how to listen to music.
Titled The Unanswered Question, the lectures — covering Musical Phonology, Musical Syntax, Musical Semantics, The Delights and Dangers of Ambiguity, The Twentieth Century Crisis, and The Poetry of Earth — spanned more than 11 hours, all of which are now available online. Donating = Loving Bringing you (ad-free) Brain Pickings takes hundreds of hours each month. Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter. HuffPost Live. Danny Elfman on Film Scores, 'Simpsons' and Working With Tim Burton | Rolling Stone. The way film composer and former Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman tells it, his whole career boils down to two words: "Fuck it.
" He muttered that philosophical phrase when he offered an opportunity to write his first movie score – for director Tim Burton's feature debut, Pee-wee's Big Adventure – and the musician said it again when given the chance to perform his now-impressive catalog of symphonic cinematic creations in his "Music From the Films of Tim Burton" concert series.
The shows, which opened in London in 2013 and will kick off its New York City at Lincoln Center on July 6th, contain 15 suites of music from throughout Elfman's three decades of collaborations with the director — from the primal mania of Pee-wee to the textured grandeur of Alice in Wonderland, with stops at Beetlejuice, Batman and Edward Scissorhands, among others, along the way. "So I remember sitting backstage, hyperventilating before I walk out, and Helena Bonham Carter's there," he continues. Why is that? James Horner Tells The Story Behind Five Of His Classic Film Scores. The lauded movie composer goes deep on Steven Spielberg, Terrence Malick and Rick Moranis. James Horner's back catalogue of film scores is ridiculous. Among his 158 IMDb credits are, most famously, James Cameron's box-office smashers Titanic and Avatar, but his repertoire is much broader and deeper. Horner has worked within just about every genre you might care to name.
Fantasy? Willow. Horner rarely gives interviews, but for the first-time in 30 years, the English-born, US residing composer is striking out on his own, releasing a concerto entitled 'Pas De Deux'. "In film score work I have a master and despite my best wishes or best conceived plans it all has to go to my employer for approval. 1. "Star Trek has a built-in audience expecting a certain relationship between characters. "The villain stuff, the big effects stuff, the chases, all of that takes care of itself because it's all visually stunning. 2. "It's the intimacies of the storytelling that make it come alive. 3. 4. 5. How Film Composers Work" If a few scratchy chords conjure up the image of a shower, a knife and an unsuspecting young woman, or a bar of menacing music brings to mind a cruising underwater shark, you've responded to the work of a film composer.
In movies like "Psycho" (1960) and "Jaws" (1975), the film composer has provided a musical accompaniment that blends almost unconsciously with speech and action to create a mood [source: Internet Movie Database]. But as invisible as these musical motifs seem at the time, the successful ones can linger long after the credits roll, triggering memories of bold adventure (the "Star Wars" series), ephermeral magic (the "Harry Potter" series) or impending doom and salvation ("The Lord of the Rings" trilogy).
Creating the magic is all part of a day's work for film music composers like Danny Elfman, Howard Shore or John Williams. There are plenty of tough decisions and lots of hard work behind creating an apparently seamless film score. Psycho - The Shower Scene With And Without Music. Man Of Steel Soundtrack - Sculptural Percussion - Hans Zimmer. John Williams conducts circus tain chase from Indiana Jones and the last crusade. Bernard Herrmann: The Ghost & Mrs. Muir - Film Score Guide - Alexander Publishing. Regarded as one of the greatest film composers of all time, Bernard Herrmann was responsible for some of the most memorable music in film. His work with Alfred Hitchcock produced a slew of classics including Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), and Psycho (1960). Several years before collaborating with Hitchcock, however, Herrmann composed the brilliant score for The Ghost and Mrs.
Muir (1947), which remained a personal favorite of the composer's. Herrmann's score reinforces the film's romantic theme, and much of the music has an appropriately elegiac quality. In mood, orchestration, and even to some extent thematic identity, it seems to prefigure his music for Vertigo. In this latest addition to the Scarecrow Film Score Guide series, author David Cooper examines Herrmann's career in general, as well as the specific elements that went into the creation of The Ghost and Mrs. VSL Studio Chat with Danny Elfman. SoundCloud. Interview Michael Giacchino JUPITER ASCENDING. Making of a Film Score. Trent Reznor, Danny Elfman and Top Composers Reveal Insecurities, Power of Procrastination and the Real Story Behind 'Interstellar's' Controversial Sound Mix. This story first appeared in a special awards issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Film composers love to talk about insomnia. Prior to The Hollywood Reporter roundtable with five of the industry's most sought-after film scorers, the group — Marco Beltrami, 48 (The Homesman), Danny Elfman, 61 (Big Eyes), John Powell, 51 (How to Train Your Dragon 2), Trent Reznor, 49 (Gone Girl), and Hans Zimmer, 57 (Interstellar) — chatted at length about their preferred sleep aids.
Most favor Ambien, but at least one opted for a method that might or might not be entirely legal (hint: It involves THC). Then there's Zimmer, who is such a night owl, he referred to the 1 p.m. start of the sit-down as "my morning time. " The discussion that followed touched on the technical, like less-than-ideal sound mixes, and the personal, including the admission that their lives are so hectic, they rarely get time to relax with family and listen to music for pleasure. Big Eyes composer Danny Elfman ZIMMER I so agree. Watch Trent Reznor, Danny Elfman, & Hans Zimmer Discuss Their Work In A Composer Roundtable. The Hollywood Reporter got some of the composers of the top films of the year together to talk about their craft. The panel includes Trent Reznor (Gone Girl), Danny Elfman (Big Eyes), Hans Zimmer (Interstellar), John Powell (How To Train Your Dragon 2), and Marco Beltrami (The Homesman) — most of them have a good chance at getting nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Score.
It’s a really fascinating conversation, and the interviewer makes the wise decision to take a backseat and let these great minds bounce off of each other for almost 50 minutes. Reznor in particular discusses how he had to schedule recording time with Atticus Ross in between the latest Nine Inch Nails tour, which he says may have benefitted him in the long-run and allowed him to think things out more clearly. THR also did similar panels with male and female actors, directors, writers, and producers this year, if you’re so inclined.
Watch below. ‘How To Train Your Dragon 2′: Getting the Music to Soar. Hans Zimmer - making of HANNIBAL Soundtrack. How Alexandre Desplat creates a film score in three weeks. If you have a full-length feature film in need of a score very quickly Alexandre Desplat may be your composer. The Frenchman has built up an unrivalled reputation in the film world for speed and reliability - with recent credits including The King's Speech, Godzilla and Unbroken. But three films equals less than half his yearly output, he tells the BBC. Alexandre Desplat sits in a small room at Abbey Road studios in London, taking a break before the afternoon's recording session downstairs. Director Tom Hooper awaits, ready to put finishing touches to his third commercial for Jaguar.
But Desplat is happy to take time to expound on what makes a good film composer. "The first thing is, you can't write movie music if you don't know how to write quickly," he says. "It's not unusual to have only three weeks to score a picture. "Sometimes it's because another composer has left the project. I ask how he keeps up a strike-rate of three or four movies a year. So does he write music each day? CONVERSATION WITH JAMES HORNER JAMES HORNER. "If you build it he will come …" Just like Ray Kinsella, the character played by Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams, a voice (or rather my intuition) led me to create the Association and the James Horner Film Music website.
Every minute, every hour spent working for this project was partly guided by an objective I held close in my heart: publish a new, previously unreleased conversation with James Horner. I gave myself five years to get there. Next January we will celebrate four years of JHFM… Unlike the composer, who never listens again to his old music and who never looks in the rearview mirror, I’ve often enjoyed turning to the past to evaluate the path taken. I wanted to preface this article by David Hocquet to thank you, dear partners, for allowing me to fulfill my dreams. We built it, he came. Jean Baptiste Martin, President of the James Horner Film Music Association The following discussion was held on November 13, 2014. JH: It's all coloring. JH: I can't remember the score. SoundWorks Collection Interview Series - Composer Marco Beltrami. This week we talk with Composer Marco Beltrami about his recent collaboration with Director Tommy Lee Jones for his film, The Homesman.
Jones’ instructions to composer Marco Beltrami were typically succinct. “He told me to be creative and find an authentic source of inspiration for the music,” says Beltrami. “That period was a spare time in American music. The themes we developed drew on the simple folk tunes of the time and are orchestrated to reflect the austere nature of the landscapes and lives of the characters.” Beltrami wanted to evoke the loneliness and desolation the homesteaders lived with daily. In order to create that feeling, Beltrami and his partner Buck Sanders created what they call a wind piano. Usually, Beltrami says, he prefers to work in his studio, where controlled conditions create a warm beautiful sound. Working with Jones was a singular and inspiring experience for the composer. Marco has been nominated twice for Academy Awards for Best Score.
Comments. Composer Hans Zimmer Talks 'Interstellar' Origin, Punk Influence on 'Dark Knight' (Exclusive Video) Christopher Nolan's epic Interstellar began with a mysterious letter the director sent composer Hans Zimmer, the latter told a gathering of students Oct. 15 at Loyola Marymount University's School of Film and Television. Without telling Zimmer that he was planning a futuristic science-fiction film — and without even telling him what the movie was about — Nolan sent Zimmer a letter typed (with a typewriter) on thick paper, outlining what he saw as the theme of his film and asking Zimmer to spend one day writing some musical ideas.
Zimmer was hooked, even though he didn't know what Nolan planned to do. In one night, he wrote a four-minute piece with piano and organ. "I really just wrote about what it meant to be a father," said Zimmer. See more Hans Zimmer on Writing the Music for 'Interstellar' At the end of the filming of Interstellar, Nolan gave Zimmer a watch. A full transcript of the interview follows.
ZIMMER: Hello. GALLOWAY: I know, I heard you get up very late each day. GALLOWAY: Why? Elliot Goldenthal vs. Tyler Bates - Victorious Titus/Returns A King. Song Exploder | Episode 7: Jeff Beal. House of Cards (Main Title Theme) In this episode, composer Jeff Beal deconstructs the main title theme music to the Netflix original series House of Cards, which has been nominated for multiple Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Original Main Title Theme and Outstanding Music Composition. The show was adapted from a British series of the same name by writer Beau Willimon, and director and executive producer David Fincher.
Jeff talks about his collaborative process with Fincher, and how they found the mood and musical palette for the show and its theme, and how it changed from season one to season two. A brief word of warning, if you haven’t watched the first season, there are spoilers about how that season ends. You can buy the House of Cards score by Jeff Beal on iTunes here. footnotes:Supertramp – Crime of the CenturyJeff Beal on IMDB. Film Studies 101: Michael Giacchino On Being A Composer | Features | Empire. From Music Editor to Oscar Winning Composer: The Surprising Story Behind the Music of 'Gravity' When Steven Price came on to "Gravity," it was for a short two-week music editing gig; when he left, he'd spent a year on the project as the film's composer.
At first, Price was brought on to help with an internal studio screening for Alfonso Cuarón's technologically-stunning space epic and the two got to talking about how music could work in the film. Two weeks became six weeks, and then Cuarón asked Price to write the score. "When I spoke to Alfonso, it was clear that he was looking to do something different," Price told me in a phone interview from London. "He was looking to investigate how the music could work. " Price had already been experimenting with sound and score for the studio screening, and he "started making odd noises and stuff," as he puts it, dreaming up a soundscape he could use for a film in which silence plays such a huge role.
As Cuarón instructs the audience at the beginning of "Gravity," in space, "there is nothing to carry sound. " Sandra Bullock in 'Gravity' Www.filmscorerundowns.net/other/elliot_goldenthal.pdf. Elliot Goldenthal. People + Opinion : Artists / Engineers / Producers / Programmers One of Hollywood's most intelligent composers, Elliot Goldenthal is equally adept at writing for the big screen as the concert hall or theatre. We talk to him about his background and approach to composition, technology and orchestration. Mark Wherry "I tend to gravitate to dramatic and mythic subject matter," admits composer Elliot Goldenthal, who, having written scores for films such as Alien 3, Batman Forever, Interview With The Vampire, Titus and Final Fantasy, needs little introduction in these areas. While he may not be a household name in the same way as John Williams, Goldenthal is widely appreciated amongst film-score devotees for his distinctive style of composition and orchestration, combining both tonal and atonal harmony, and bringing electronic and ethnic influences into the traditionally romantic world of film scores.
In addition to his instrumental studies, Elliot also began composing as a teenager. A Conversation with Elliot Goldenthal - The Score with Edmund Stone. Alien - Scorepedia. Composers Roundtable with Hans Zimmer, Thomas Newman, Steven Price, and Alan Silvestri. Angelo Badalamenti explains how he wrote "Laura Palmer's Theme" Making Notes: Starting Out As A Composer. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Production Diary 14. 'The Hobbit': Howard Shore's soundtrack. Composer Focus - Music & Audio Tutorials. 5 Orchestration Lessons from John Williams' Flight to Neverland - Composer Focus. Alexandre Desplat Talks Embracing Humor Through Music in 'Philomena' Score. Upcoming Film Scores. 'Philomena' Composer Alexandre Desplat Probably Wrote One Of Your Favorite Film Scores.
Interview with Thomas Newman. Video: The Music of “Lost” Danny Elfman on Tim Burton, The Simpsons and his return to singing live | Film. BBC iPlayer - Sound of Cinema: The Music that Made the Movies: The Big Score. Joe Hisaishi in Budokan - Studio Ghibli 25 Years Concert (BluRay, 1080p) Revenge composer iZLER shares his process to scoring story and character. Composer Interview: Mark Mancina. 'Game of Thrones' Composer Ramin Djawadi: 'I'm Just Trying to Create Something Magical' (Q&A) How the Game of Thrones Composer Scored the Massively Epic Music of Pac Rim | Underwire. Why Hans Zimmer Got The Job You Wanted (And You Didn't) I am Hans Zimmer - Ask Me Anything! : IAmA. AirTalk Event: The History and Future of Hollywood Film Music | Events. 'Avengers' Composer Alan Silvestri: Bringing Heroes Together with Music EXCLUSIVE. Howard Shore Use Well the Days (Part 1) WKUK - Season 5 - John Williams.