FINAL Flashcards
(23 cards)
DIMITRI TIOMKIN
Born in Russia
* Played piano in Russian silent movie theatres
* 1925 – USA: worked in vaudeville
* Began work in Hollywood during the 1930s
IMPORTANT FILMS:
1. Lost Horizon (1937);
2. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
3. High Noon (1952)
BERNARD HERMAN
Born in New York City
- Studied at Julliard
- CBS radio in 1934
- Conductor of the CBS orchestra
- Notable for contributions to concert music
- 1938 Orson Wells
IMPORTANT FILMS
1. citizen Kane
2. the day the earth stood still
3. psycho
4. taxi driver
JOHN BARRY
classical pianist / trumpet
- turned to pop music in his 20s
- by early 1960s is a well-known British pop
musician
IMPORTANT FILMS:
1. dr. no (James Bond)
2. born free
3. out of Africa
JERRY GOLDSMITH
born in Los Angeles
- Spellbound
- west coast – studied with Rosza at USC
- Starts working at CBS radio in 1950
- Gradually doing more work for television.
- Film work starting in 1957.
IMPORTANT FILMS:
1. spellbound
2. patton
3. planet of the apes
JOHN WILLIAMS
born in 1932 to musical parents.
- Trained as a concert pianist at Julliard
- Television (late 1950’s)
- Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, Gilligan’s Island.
IMPORTANT FILMS
1. jaws
2. Star Wars (orchestral style of korngold came back)
3. lost in space, land of the giants, the sugar land express
THE 1980’S
Strongly influenced by the work of John Williams
- Composers moving back to the orchestra as a starting point.
- Dominant musical style is Neo-Romantic fused with elements of modernism.
- Main themes tend to be tonal.
- Notable composers who become prominent during this period are James Horner,
Michael Kamen, and Alan Silvestr (BACK TO THE FUTURE)
JAMES HORNER
Born in Los Angeles
- Father Harry was an Academy Award winning set
designer / art director
- Grew up in England where he attended the Royal
College of Music
- Returns to Los Angeles in his teens
- Despite the fact that his father worked in the film
industry, Horner felt that film composing was not a
serious artistic outlet
- Began composing for film while at UCLA in 1978 for the American Film
Institute (AFI)
- First major film score: The Lady In Red (1979)
Breakthrough score was for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
- Among his best-know work: Aliens (1986), Field of Dreams (1989),
Braveheart (1995), Apollo 13 (1996)
IMPORTANT FILMS:
1. titanic
2. glory
3. Star Trek 2
WENDY CARLOS
Film Scores included:
- A Clockwork Orange (1971)
- The Shining (1980)
- Tron (1982)
- Using synthesizers but still in the orchestral tradition
LATE 1960’S, EARLY 1970’S
Musicians working in popular styles begin to experiment with synthesizers.
- Emergence of progressive rock and early electronica. Both made use of
extended instrumental works
VANGELIS
Born in Greece
- Largely self-taught
- Created music by layering instruments
one at a time.
IMPORTANT FILMS
- Chariots of Fire (1981)
- Blade Runner (1982)
DANNY ELFMAN
Danny Elfman: (1953- )
- American Born
- Influences include Bernard Herrman
and The Day The Earth Stood
Still.
- Forbidden Zone (1979)
- Oingo Boingo
- “Weird Science” (1985) Oingo Boingo – from the
film of the same name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm-upHSP9KU
- Breakthrough score was for Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
(1985) Directed by Tim Burton
- Frequent collaborator with Tim Burton
IMPORTANT FILMS
1. Beetlejuice
2. Edward scissorhands
CHARACTERISTICS OF DANNY ELFMAN
Frantic / Carnivalesque (child-like in a nightmarish way)
- Frequent use of 3/4 time (waltz rhythm) and 2/4 (polka rhythm)
- Frequent use of glockenspiel/celeste, low woodwinds, harp glissandi, and
wordless choir
- Hitting the action – to the point of “Mickey Mousing”
HANS ZIMMER
German born / self-taught keyboardist.
- Late 1970s / early 1980s – pop music keyboardist / synth programmer
- worked with The Buggles (Video Killed The
Radio Star-1979).
Video for “Video Killed The Radio Star”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8r-tXRLazs
-1980, working on jingles brought him to the attention of British film
composer, Stanley Myles.
- With Myles: Moonlighting (1982), My Beautiful Launderette (1985)
IMPORTANT FILMS:
1. RAIN MAN
2. THIN RED LINE
3. INTERSTELLAR
4. INCEPTION
5. DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY
THE ZIMMER EFFECT
inspired movies such as;
1. mad max: fury road
2. dune
3. joker
through the use of braams, electronic
PSYCHO
limited budget – shot in black and white
- Herrmann uses only strings “black and white” score
- Cues tend to set a single mood and show little response to
what happens minute by minute
- Overall the mood is bleak and has little emotional warmth
FILMS IN THE 1960’S
Turbulent period in American history:
- Civil rights
- Vietnam War
- Generational gap
Films in the 1960s:
- cultural revolution of the late ‘60s results in films with a strong sense of irony
and cynicism.
- End of the Studio System leads to freelancing and independent productions
- cost escalate
- while orchestral scores are still produced, cost factors lead to many smaller
ensembles or popular music scores
- MID 1960: SMALLER “MODULAR” SYNTHESIZERS WERE REPLACING OLDER BIGGER MODELS
During the 1960s:
- continuing growth of popular music influences
- continuing growth of use of dissonance - atonalit
CHARACTERISTICS OF JOHN WILLIAMS
Influenced by both the traditional approaches of Wagner/Korngold as
well as more recent modernist styles.
- Neoromantic
- No contemporary popular music, but capable of composing in Jazz-
influenced styles.
his film work is reworked into orchestral works
- self-contained concert pieces
- music takes on a life outside the film world.
EARLY 1980’S
By the early 1980s, synthesizers have become smaller, more powerful, and more
affordable.
- 1983: MIDI – Music Instrument digital
interface.
- When combined with a personal computer
in now possible for a single musician to produce
long, complex works (such as a film score)
without the need for expensive recording studios.
Will also allow composers with
little or no technical training to
work out complex ideas
including music for orchestra
without the need for written
notation
STAR TREK 2
Score is primarily orchestral and tonal. Also includes some
modernist elements and electronic instruments.
Example – Main Theme
- starts with electronic instruments.
- theme is grand and lyrical but lacks an “action hero”
quality. Why?
POTA
social and political critique
- blend of orchestral instruments with elements
such as animal horns and mixing bowls
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS
Elements of “Frankenstein” and “Beauty And The
Beast”
- Tchaikovsky “The Nutcracker” (1892)
- Fourth collaboration between Elfman and Burto
HYBRID- ORCHESTREAL
- HO: combining the components of orchestra with electric components (strings, low brass and percussion, blended with synthesized sampled brass, strings and percussion)
THIN RED LINE (ZIMMER) MARKS THE FIRST TIME HE TRIED OUT WITH THIS STYLE
