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When you think about memorable film music, you often may think of films that come in threes.
The first of which would come into most minds, would be that of Star Wars. Certainly, John Williams does have a certain style to the way he composes music, and perhaps some of his music does all sound very much the same, but you can't deny that the Star Wars soundtrack has to be one of the greatest film scores ever written.
The use of the music in the film is quite astounding too... you don't need to be told that Darth Vader is a bad guy, and Luke Skywalker is a good guy... the music does it for you. It's used quite powerfully at times too, such as the final scenes of Return of the Jedi, or the twin suns scene at the start of A New Hope.
The second trilogy I can think of with great music, is the Indiana Jones trilogy. John Williams, once again.
The themes of this film are so well known now, it's amazing. Once again, John uses music to stir up emotions during the films... in Raiders of the Lost Ark, in the desert chase scene, the music is used quite powerfully to portrey a number of different feelings. When Indy finally gets control of the truck, you get this wonderful feeling from the music... which is what makes it such an enjoyable series of films.
I don't think, however, than John really did a good job of the music in the second film, the Temple of Doom... it was supposed to be a dark, mysterious theme... but really didn't convey the emotions that it was supposed to. It certainly wasn't powerful enough.
But, without a doubt, my favourite trilogy music has to be that of the Sergio Leone, the spaghetti western trilogy...
For those of you unfamilar with it, it's also refered to as the dollars trilogy, with Clint Eastwood staring as the "man with no name"... or at least, no last name. Although they were made in the order: "Fistful of Dollars", "For a Few Dollars More", and "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly", The last film, TG,TB,ATU, is actually a prequel to "Fistful of Dollars".
Anyway, the use of music in the films is great. Ennio Morricone actually writes the music for certain scenes better than the actual theme music. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly theme tune is quite simple, compared to the "Ecstacy of Gold" theme, or "The Trio", both used in the same film. The "Ecstacy of Gold" is used, as a maddening cowboy runs desperatly around a graveyard, looking for a grave which holds a hell of a lot of gold. The scene without the music would seem dull and boring... but the tenseness created by the running music, added to the imagary, makes the scene very watchable. The last scene, the showdown, features "The Trio". A very powerful piece of music, which, again, added to the beautifully filmed imagary of three men, all facing their deaths... the unique use of the paranoia shown in the men's eyes is also excellent... and even though you already know what the ending is going to be, it still entraps you in a kind of tense world, envolved in the music and style of three men facing their doom.
The second, or last film, depends which way you look at it, "For A Few Dollars More", features a small musical pocket watch. This simple tune is used by Morricone to symbolise death... as when the tune finishes, one person must die. When used for the more powerful scenes, such as the church, or the final duel, the backing to the simple tune is utterly amazing. A church organ is used at one point... and although it could almost be too much, it just manages to stay within it's bounds, and never makes the scene more powerful than it should.
Ok then. Now your turn. What other trilogies have had great music... or just films on their own? I'm a great fan of film music, and it would be interesting to hear everyones views on it.
The first of which would come into most minds, would be that of Star Wars. Certainly, John Williams does have a certain style to the way he composes music, and perhaps some of his music does all sound very much the same, but you can't deny that the Star Wars soundtrack has to be one of the greatest film scores ever written.
The use of the music in the film is quite astounding too... you don't need to be told that Darth Vader is a bad guy, and Luke Skywalker is a good guy... the music does it for you. It's used quite powerfully at times too, such as the final scenes of Return of the Jedi, or the twin suns scene at the start of A New Hope.
The second trilogy I can think of with great music, is the Indiana Jones trilogy. John Williams, once again.
The themes of this film are so well known now, it's amazing. Once again, John uses music to stir up emotions during the films... in Raiders of the Lost Ark, in the desert chase scene, the music is used quite powerfully to portrey a number of different feelings. When Indy finally gets control of the truck, you get this wonderful feeling from the music... which is what makes it such an enjoyable series of films.
I don't think, however, than John really did a good job of the music in the second film, the Temple of Doom... it was supposed to be a dark, mysterious theme... but really didn't convey the emotions that it was supposed to. It certainly wasn't powerful enough.
But, without a doubt, my favourite trilogy music has to be that of the Sergio Leone, the spaghetti western trilogy...
For those of you unfamilar with it, it's also refered to as the dollars trilogy, with Clint Eastwood staring as the "man with no name"... or at least, no last name. Although they were made in the order: "Fistful of Dollars", "For a Few Dollars More", and "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly", The last film, TG,TB,ATU, is actually a prequel to "Fistful of Dollars".
Anyway, the use of music in the films is great. Ennio Morricone actually writes the music for certain scenes better than the actual theme music. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly theme tune is quite simple, compared to the "Ecstacy of Gold" theme, or "The Trio", both used in the same film. The "Ecstacy of Gold" is used, as a maddening cowboy runs desperatly around a graveyard, looking for a grave which holds a hell of a lot of gold. The scene without the music would seem dull and boring... but the tenseness created by the running music, added to the imagary, makes the scene very watchable. The last scene, the showdown, features "The Trio". A very powerful piece of music, which, again, added to the beautifully filmed imagary of three men, all facing their deaths... the unique use of the paranoia shown in the men's eyes is also excellent... and even though you already know what the ending is going to be, it still entraps you in a kind of tense world, envolved in the music and style of three men facing their doom.
The second, or last film, depends which way you look at it, "For A Few Dollars More", features a small musical pocket watch. This simple tune is used by Morricone to symbolise death... as when the tune finishes, one person must die. When used for the more powerful scenes, such as the church, or the final duel, the backing to the simple tune is utterly amazing. A church organ is used at one point... and although it could almost be too much, it just manages to stay within it's bounds, and never makes the scene more powerful than it should.
Ok then. Now your turn. What other trilogies have had great music... or just films on their own? I'm a great fan of film music, and it would be interesting to hear everyones views on it.
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I actually left the Godfather out, because I knew that you would spot it, and go on another pathetic rampage...
Why? Because it makes me laugh.
Why? Because it makes me laugh.
You scum, you forgot the best trilogy ever written, the Godfather. composed by Copolla, which anyone who has seen the film, (not alot of you probably considering you lack of knowledge) will understand.
'(.)'
'(.)'
Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Jaws are all up there at the top as far as trilogies go. But alot of films are now exceeding the "3" limit.
Bond for one, will soon be up to 20, and although its been reworked through the years, Bond`s theme tune is still one of the most recognised pieces of music in the world. With each new film, the Bond music always has its memorable title track and imagery, followed by "that" theme, and of course other scene setting incidental music the format has used repeatedly.
Star Trek is another. Who on Earth does not know the openning fanfare when they hear it?. Again different composers had all added to the Alexander Courage theme over the years but its only recently that it found success, first with James Horner and his rousing score for movies 2 & 3, then Jerry Goldsmith who gave us the Next Gen theme (enhanced from the first Trek film) to the excellent scores for movies 8 & 9.
I wonder, will other film trilogies who exceed their limit have just as memorable scores as those already listed, or will we gone down that dreadful "music inspired by the film" avenue, eg: Scream.
Bond for one, will soon be up to 20, and although its been reworked through the years, Bond`s theme tune is still one of the most recognised pieces of music in the world. With each new film, the Bond music always has its memorable title track and imagery, followed by "that" theme, and of course other scene setting incidental music the format has used repeatedly.
Star Trek is another. Who on Earth does not know the openning fanfare when they hear it?. Again different composers had all added to the Alexander Courage theme over the years but its only recently that it found success, first with James Horner and his rousing score for movies 2 & 3, then Jerry Goldsmith who gave us the Next Gen theme (enhanced from the first Trek film) to the excellent scores for movies 8 & 9.
I wonder, will other film trilogies who exceed their limit have just as memorable scores as those already listed, or will we gone down that dreadful "music inspired by the film" avenue, eg: Scream.
Meka_Dragon wrote:
> I haven't seen it for many years (soon to be rectified) but I seem
> to remember music playing a big part in Back to the Future....
I
> know it had a popular theme song, but what about the other music
> used in the film?
Ah, Huey Lewis and the News...that brings back memories...
Hip to be square, yeah!
> I haven't seen it for many years (soon to be rectified) but I seem
> to remember music playing a big part in Back to the Future....
I
> know it had a popular theme song, but what about the other music
> used in the film?
Ah, Huey Lewis and the News...that brings back memories...
Hip to be square, yeah!
I haven't seen it for many years (soon to be rectified) but I seem to remember music playing a big part in Back to the Future....
I know it had a popular theme song, but what about the other music used in the film?
Anyone remember it?
Tarantino once said something that made a lot of sense to me. He was asked why he never asked specific bands and artists to write music for his films, and he said something along the lines of it had to fit the scene just right, and more often than not, and existing song would do that much, much better than something written specifically for the part.
And he obviously gets it right, the music used in Resevoir Dogs suits it down to the ground, as does Pulp Fictions tunes.
I know it had a popular theme song, but what about the other music used in the film?
Anyone remember it?
Tarantino once said something that made a lot of sense to me. He was asked why he never asked specific bands and artists to write music for his films, and he said something along the lines of it had to fit the scene just right, and more often than not, and existing song would do that much, much better than something written specifically for the part.
And he obviously gets it right, the music used in Resevoir Dogs suits it down to the ground, as does Pulp Fictions tunes.
Just to bring the tone down slightly, I thought the music in Charlie's Angels was very good.
*Silence*
*Tumbleweed*
*Silence*
*Tumbleweed*
Morricone's 'L'Estasi Dell'oro' has to be some of the greatest film music ever written. Vangelis is another composer whom I think writes brilliant scores, the music for 1492: Conquest of Paradise amongst his finest work. The original score for Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet is another example of great scene matching stuff; the music made up half of the film's atmosphere, and you often find more recent high-octane trailers using 'O Verona' to intensify their action. Also, Hans Zimmer's score for Gladiator is brilliant in the way it captures the feeling of the Colosseum battles, and Maximus' afterlife re-union with his family.
Trilogy-wise, Williams wins with his epic Star Wars music.
Trilogy-wise, Williams wins with his epic Star Wars music.
Yep.
Morricone is class.
Now, I'm off to see Tool rock London.
Report tomorrow.
Brilliant music, visuals and a mind-altering evening in store.
Keep it up Mr Thraves
Morricone is class.
Now, I'm off to see Tool rock London.
Report tomorrow.
Brilliant music, visuals and a mind-altering evening in store.
Keep it up Mr Thraves
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