Nicole McCurry

11/20/15
Cinderella (2015)
I chose to analyze the recent remake of the classic Disney movie, Cinderella, to
fit with my theme of romantic movies. Most people probably know the basic storyline of
Cinderella. It is about a little girl who loves her parents with all of her being, and who
loses her mother when she is still young. Her dad dies a few years after that, and after he
had remarried a horrible lady, with two daughters. After her father dies, her stepmother
banishes her to the attic and forces Ella to become their servant. She meets the prince but
she does not know he is the prince at the time. The royal family has a ball so find a
princess, Ellas stepmother forbids Ella to go, so her fairy godmother steps in. Ella goes
to the ball, dances with her prince, and they fall in love. The most infamous part of
Cinderella is Ella losing her shoe and the prince goes all around the country trying to find
whom the shoe fits. Of course it only fits Ella, and they live happily ever after. Patrick
Doyle is the composer of the film and recorded the score with the London Symphony
Orchestra. Kenneth Branagh, the director, gave Doyle specific instructions to make the
music sound romantic. In quite a few scenes, Doyle uses a building technique to have the
music very subtle, almost to where the audience cannot hear it, and then brings it up to a
peak. This is a good technique to really build suspension and emotion to make the
audience feel like they are in the movie with the characters.
Towards the beginning of the movie, her mother becomes ill and subsequently
passes away. It is a very tough situation for Ella to go through, especially at such a young
age. When the doctor comes to their house to have a look at the mother, he comes with

bad news: that she is not going to make it much longer. As Ella is waiting for the doctor
to come out so that she can go in and see her mother, a violin is playing long, sustained
notes that are very somber sounding. For me, violins especially when they are played this
way in the lower register means sadness. As Ellas mother is talking to her and giving her
advice, the music slowly starts to build with more violins playing until they stop talking
and are crying while hugging each other. Soon the music hits a peak and the scene cuts to
a shot of Ella and her father walking through a field signaling that her mother has died.
As they continue to walk though, the violins take a slight turn and start to sound a little
more hopeful. While they are walking towards the camera, the audience watches, as Ella
gets older and turns into a young adult. The hopeful music represents that while she has
lost her mother, shes learning to be okay with it, and is happy that she still has her father
by her side; at least, for the time being. Even the narration helped to reinforce this idea
because the narration says, time passed, and pain turned to memory right before the
music changes.
The next scene I chose is when Ella finds out that her father has passed away
while on the road for his work. The music at the beginning of the scene the music is
happy even though her father is away, because she is hopeful that he will come back and
because he sends her letters often. Except for this day, when the mail carrier arrives with
bad news. When the narrator hints that something is wrong, the music cuts out
completely. This is significant to let the audience know that doom is right around the
corner. As the mail carrier begins to tell Ella what is wrong, long sustained notes
performed by a violin happen again that are somber, just like when her mother was dying.
As the mail carrier keeps talking and Ella fully comprehends what he is telling her, the

violins build on each other and hit their peak when Ella falls to the floor sobbing. Doyle
titled this song Orphaned, which I think is very appropriate, considering that is exactly
what just happened to Ella. Doyle is very good at this, and it fits to really pull that
emotion out of the audience to feel what Ella feels.
After a particularly rough day with her stepmother and stepsisters, where they
come up with her new nickname, cinder-Ella, she takes off into the forest on her horse.
As soon as she sets out, the music picks up and becomes angry and loud. It matches with
the running of the horse and Ellas anger. Then it peaks and stops when they come upon
the stag. If it were not for the stag being hunted by the royals, and also her horrible
stepmother and stepsisters, Ella most likely never would have met the prince, which is
why Doyle probably had the music to stop because it is significant that she comes across
the stag. After she tells the stag to run off before he gets killed, the music almost seems
frantic to fit with the stag running off and Ellas horse freaking out. But when the camera
cuts to the prince, the trumpets become majestic and triumphant because you know that
he is going to become her savior. As the prince helps Ella calm her horse down, they
move in a circle talking to each other. There is a very faint romantic melody playing that
is almost silent, to make you pay attention to what the characters are talking about.
Because neither of them tell the truth about who they are, when the princes captain come
to call him back and he is about to be found out, the music gets silly and mischievous.
Then as hes leaving, it changes back to the romantic melody that was previously playing.
The fairy godmother signifies that something good is about to happen, but in a
mischievous way. Ellas stepmother forbids her to go to the princes ball, and ruins her
mothers dress in the process. She goes outside to watch their carriage leave and that is

when the audience gets the first glimpse of the fairy godmother. The music turns from
somber to playful and then back to somber when Ella is shown again. That playful
interlude is put there to let the audience know that something good is about to happen.
The music turns to hopeful when the fairy godmother is shown fully and then gradually
builds up as she shows Ella who she truly is. The music is still hopeful and then mickeymouses the fairy godmothers thinking process and landing on an idea as Ella suggests
using a pumpkin for the carriage. The music stops after the hits the idea because in the
original cartoon Disney adaption of Cinderella, a pumpkin is also used to make the
carriage and it is a reference to that. As the pumpkin grows, the music grows along with it
and then becomes magical when it makes its final transformation into the carriage. Music
continues to mickey-mouse and sound magical as the fairy godmother changes the mice
to horses, the lizards into coachman, and the goose into the driver.
When Ella arrives at the royal ball, and everyone looks up at her, there is no
music playing to make it more dramatic. The prince looks at her and realizes she is the
girl from the forest and there is still no music. The music does not actually start until after
they get done talking and start to dance. Then a lovely piece of music that Doyle titled
La Valse de LAmour, which translates to The Waltz of Love, begins to play as they
start to dance. It starts off soft when they begin to dance, but as they get more
comfortable with each other, the music obviously builds, as per Doyles signature, and
stays romantic in nature but almost gets playful and even happier. There is a little bit of
mickey-mousing as he lifts her in the dance the music has a lift and the audience gasps.
Then when the song is over and they stop dancing, the music stops and does not start

again until the stepmother and stepsisters start scheming to get in with the prince and it
sounds less romantic and more suspenseful.
Ellas house is the last house that the royal army (?) has to check to see if anyone
fits the shoe. Ella singing Lavenders Blue up in the attic while the stepsisters are
trying on the shoe. Lavenders Blue is played or sung whenever Ella is missing her
mother because her mother used to sing the lullaby to her when she was younger. Soft,
uplifting music is playing as Ella is revealed in the attic and she stands up to her
stepmother. When she goes down and reveals her true self to the prince, who is now the
king, the music changes to romantic music. As she is trying on the shoe, the romance in
both their actions and the music builds and gets happier as the shoe fits. The music then
cuts out as the stepsisters burst in the room right before their lips touch. Music starts
again as the stepsisters burst into the room and start trying to apologize, but now the
music almost seems mocking like we all know they are faking it just to get into good
graces with the king. Then the song slowly transforms back to the romantic music as they
realize that they dont have to listen to their fake apology and sucking up. The romantic
parts of the song make you feel genuinely happy for Ella that she is finally getting what
she wants and that he loves her back. Music cuts out again to one violin (?) playing a low,
sustained note when Ella sees her stepmother standing on the stairs watching her. That
note becomes so quiet you cant almost hear it as Ella says I forgive you, and then a
reprised version of Lavenders Blue that is slower than the normal version, begins to
play again.
Patrick Doyle does a wonderful job of pausing the music when something
significant is about to happen and building the music up to make the audience feel the

important emotions. Along with beautifully composed music, Cinderella is a very pretty
movie with beautiful, vivid colors. Cinderella is a wonderful, classic movie that has
music that fits perfectly for what the movie is portraying; a movie full of romance and
turmoil, and I think that the music perfectly captures that emotion and helps the audience
know how to feel about certain scenes.