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Written by Sunil Dhokia Setting The Scene Ah the unseen maestro working in the background. That last sprinkling of fairy dust that can take a movie from being good to a masterpiece. Yes, I am talking about movie composers, who are often the unsung heroes in movies and who through modern filmmaking techniques, which focus more on creating musical effects than developing thematic material, have struggled to find their voice in this cluttered marketplace of movies today. Purpose Of The Article In this article, I am going to focus on some of the composers in movie history, who through the brilliance of the filmmakers who made those movies, have allowed their musical themes to be another key character. These are none other than Elmer Bernstein, Alan Silvestri and John Williams. My short discussion on these composers will be based on my personal experiences of growing up and listening to the various movie themes that they have crafted. Elmer Bernstein Let's start with a composer who was working during the golden era of Hollywood, Elmer Bernstein. My first exposure to his work was on To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). The story about a lawyer, Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) who is tasked with defending a black man, wrongly accused of rape in the early 1930s of Alabama, Maycome in the U.S. To Kill A Mockingbird's 'Main Title' Theme For all of the technical brilliance of the movies opening scene involving a young Scout (Mary Badham) using a crayon on a piece of paper, it's the simple piano notes played by Elmer Bernstein as the camera pans across the table of items, that brilliantly expresses the innocence of children before his title theme is showcased towards the end of this scene. This musical theme for me becomes the backbone of the themes expressed in the movie; for how children ultimately do not differentiate people by colour or race, but by the individual themselves. Ultimately, it's hard for me to not get emotional at the sheer power of the movies title theme. Alan Silvestri We move on now to Alan Silvestri. The composer who much like the individual that I will come to shortly, has a knack for developing beautiful musical themes and motifs across many of the movies that he has composed on (in particular his frequent collaborations with the great Robert Zemeckis). For my first entry point into this musical legend was none other than the sci-fi classic, Back to the Future (1985). For the uninitiated, it's the story of Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) in which he is sent back to 1955 in a DeLorean with a built-in time machine to try and convince his parents to fall in love (no pressure), so that he and his siblings can exist back in 1985, as well as trying to stop Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) from being killed. 'Back To The Future' Main Title Theme The first opportunity we get of hearing the movie's title theme is during the scene where Marty meets Doc Brown at the Twin Pines Mall in which the latter reveals to Marty the DeLorean time machine. As the scene develops, Marty jumps into the DeLorean, after Doc Brown is shot multiple times by Libyan terrorists. At this point, it's a great joy to hear what Silvestri has a great knack for in propulsive action musical beats as Marty is being chased by these terrorists, with small hints of the movies title theme. It's not until Marty says the infamous words "lets see if you bastards can do 90" to the chasing Libyans, that the title theme is fully and brilliantly expressed to the audience. For me, this theme perfectly represents the sci-fi adventure aspect of the picture and therefore conveys the crazy time-travel mechanics of the story at hand. John Williams With the utmost respect to the two previously mentioned composers, it's safe to say that I have left the best for last. The only and one John Williams, whose career has spanned decades and who has a unique ability to develop not only title themes for movies, but also develop themes for individual characters. My personal favourite character theme from John Williams's body of work is Yoda's Theme from the Star Wars franchise. This is because the theme is able to convey the wonder and mystery of this iconic character. His music will often have you humming in the most unexpected of places (public toilets for me - a bit too personal perhaps). Impact Of John Williams Towards My Passion For Movie Scores My childhood and by default adulthood from a musical standpoint in watching countless movies has most definitely been shaped by John Williams. From the awe- inspiring 'Welcome to Jurassic Park' main title theme, that perfectly captures the wonder of dinosaurs in Jurassic Park (1993), the jazzy, Blues instrumentation of the title theme in Catch Me If You Can (2002), to the uniquely Eastern European quality of his haunting title theme for Schindler's List (1993), I have always found myself enjoying his music both within the confines of the movies and outside of them as well. And this is testament to how John Williams is able to transcend movie scores in a way unique to his musical voice. What Makes These Composers Great? The one key element that brings Elmer Bernstein, Alan Silvestri and John Williams together (apart from the fact that they are all musical geniuses), is their ability to develop thematic material that is both unique to the movies they are composing for, but in many cases, having a life of its own, long after the movies have been released. Conclusion In summary, I hope this article does not fall on deaf ears, as I long for the day that Hollywood movies have musical material that is not only thematic (appropriate to the story and characters of course), but also unique in expressing the musical voices of the both the current and next generation of movie composers. Please find the movie themes mentioned above at the bottom of this article, as I hope you gain great enjoyment out of listening to these great composers work as I do. Your Thoughts What do you think about the state of movie scores today and how it compares to the scores of yesteryear? Please feel free to comment below as I would love to hear your thoughts. Note on YouTube Content: All content in the YouTube videos below belong to their respective owners. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
1 Comment
Chetna
13/3/2020 22:56:52
Another great read!
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About MeMy name is Sunil Dhokia, I'm a movie fanatic and love all things Hollywood. Blog Archives
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