I was helping a friend move a few weeks back and, to add some levity, we whistled while we worked. Like, literally. As we lugged boxes, we played a simple, movie-theme version of Name That Tune. It said a lot that, even though most of were tone deaf and could barely carry a tune, we could guess almost every title within only a few notes. These themes were memorable enough to be recognized even through such mangled presentation.
The experience reminded me that my favorite movies are always the ones where I’m seriously into the score; ones where I want to own the soundtrack. I’m talking about Conan the Barbarian, Terminator 2, Gattaca, Star Wars, Robocop, Superman, Back to the Future, Batman… just off the top of my head.
Another revelation: the "catalog of the memorable" peters off years ago.
This is something I've noticed for a while. That 80s movie mega-mix I posted a while back was yet another reminder of what I feel is lacking. The thinking these days, unfortunately, seems to be that a score shouldn't draw attention to itself... not even a teensy bit. Thus, you largely get generic ambient beds instead of lush compositions. The difference is especially noticeable whenever a franchise is revived and the new personnel neglect the music that's as much a character of the series as the leads--and I think you know exactly what I'm talking about.It's not my imagination, either. I have friends who’re professional composers or music school students - - people who know a lot more about the subject and have spent a lot more time observing it than I have - - and they’re similarly baffled by this new preference for vague minimalism. A lot of them think that talents like John Williams, Basil Poledouris and Alan Silvestri come from an old school of musicians who actually studied music theory and learned how to read and write sheet music, whereas their successors are a generation of “button pushers.” I'd hate to think that what I'm talking about, here - - what I enjoy so much - - is old-fashioned; because the score can often make or break a movie for me. I think fondly of the little-seen (and otherwise, not especially remarkable) ’99 horror movie Ravenous, for instance, largely because of its provocative blue grass score.
Hopefully, the metronome's swinging the other way. I'm sure a lot of you will agree with me that 300 and Inception made such big splashes because their music-driven trailers made strong impressions on viewers. Hopefully, the people making decisions will notice that, too.
One of my most memorable movie experiences was during Jurassic Park on the reveal of the brachiosaurus as the amazing music swelled underneath.
Anyways, great article and I'm looking forward to more from this feature.
AND NOW, A COOL PERSONAL STORY THAT IS SEMI-RELEVANT TO ARTICLE.
Back in 8th grade in my band class, my teacher decided that for extra credit, he would play a few minutes of like 10 movie theme songs (I think they were all John Williams), and whoever correctly recognized the most won. I won -naturally- but the awesome part was that I knew what the theme to Saving Private Ryan was, even though I had never seen the movie or heard the song before. The music just started playing and I was like "Yep, World War II". I blame Medal of Honor, but infer what you will about the state of soundtrack creation today.
I mean, would the Bourne movies benefit from a really catchy, memorable theme tune? I don't know.
But the score should follow the film. A lot of films these days don't necessarily NEED strong melodies and the like. Like the films in the 80s has changed, the music also does.
some movies do have great scores thoug. like the new star trek.
Pirates of the Carribean, Up, LotR, Star Trek, and Harry Potter all are newer movies with great soundtracks.
Oh and Howard Shore.
And don't even get me started on the shit that was the Terminator Salvation soundtrack.
Basically, I totally disagree with you. There's a lot of great composers today, and they put up a lot of great work. They may have their moments of unmemorable scores, but there's hours of great tracks from this year and this last decade in film score.
Even TV and video game scores offer something exiting. The Lost soundtracks have always been a favorite, and Bear McCreary (Human Target, BSG) is currently doing amazing work. In video games, the Modern Warfare 2 soundtrack was surprisingly great (done partially by Hans Zimmer), and both the Mass Effect soundtracks are about as good as most any movie soundtrack you'll find today.
Point is, I think we're currently in another golden age of soundtracks.
And the giant orchestral scores with sweeping melodies are still there. Up and How To Train Your Dragon come to mind.
And while this generation of film composers might push more buttons than those in the past, we all know and study aspects of music theory. Nothing can take away from pen and paper, but keeping up with technology is an absolutely necessary step to stay successful. (Just finished my degree in Film Scoring...)