Research

Famous film music composers

John Williams- Born in long island New York, 8th February 1932. son of percussionist for
CBS Radio. Moved to Los Angeles in 1948. Young pianist and lead in Jazz band.
Recognised as Hollywoods most innovative talents.

Hans Zimmer- Born in Germany. Recognised as Hollywoods most innovative talents.

Featured in Buggys music video Video Killed The Radio Star. Started film music in
London after collaboration with Stanley Myers. Invented use of combining old and new
musical techniques.

John Barry- Born in York England, 1933. His dad Jack owned 3 cinemas, and by age 14
he was able to work projector box. Bought up around films and begun to assimilate the
music accompanying the films. before he left St. Peters he already new he wanted to be a
composer.

Research

Jerry Goldsmith- Born on February 10th 1929, studied piano with Jakob Gimpel
and composition, theory, and counterpoint with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.
Attended classes in film composition given by Mikls Rzsa at the Univeristy of
Southern California. Employed as a clerk typist in music department at CBS. Was
given his first embryonic assignments as a composer for radio shows there.

Alan Silvestri- Born in Manhattan in 1950. First drawn to music at early age as a
drummer. His love for instruments quickly grew to include the bassoon, clarinet,
saxophone and guitar. Writing his own music lead him to study at Berklee college
of music in Boston as a composition major. Hit road as guitarist, then moved to
Hollywood which lead to his first movie score with 1972s The Doberman Gang.

Research

History of film music

Before the 1930s

All films were silent

Music was already a common element in theatre.

Music was brought to film to add depth to the 2D images on screen.

Music also covered up the noise of the projector

Most silent films were accompanied by orchestras or pianists

Music books were published to provide the accompanists with ideas for scene
music.

A lot of films had suggestion lists on what music to play in which scene.

Research

1930s

With the invention of the talking picture, music once again became
an important aspect of film.

In the beginning , sound music followed the precedent of its

ancestors, using complied western music. This practice soon
gave way, to original scores. Max Steiner wrote the first original
score for King Kong in 1933.

At first music was only used as a basic reinforcement in the latter

part of the decade. Composers began to experiment and develop
there own style of unobtrusively supporting film plot and
characters.

Research

1940s

Composers refined their knowledge even more.

An important composer was Bernard Hermann. was seen as one of the

most influential. Broke a lot of barriers to create music that greatly
improved the films for which he wrote.

1950s

Up until the 1950s film music was symphonic, how ever in this era jazz
opened up a large new world of possibilities. Jazz was used for animated
films and musicals but never had been used in mainstream films of 1930s
and 1940s. The use of Jazz not only "contemporized" the sounds and
theme of movies, but fewer musicians were needed, thus making
orchestration less expensive.

Research

1960s

The use of jazz and other experiments went on into

the 1960s.

1970s

There was nothing new in this decade. Decade was

spent perfecting things in the previous decade.
John Williams and others created scores using
these techniques, and are still memorable today.

Research

1980s and 1990s

Synthesised sounds in films started in 1980s.

Scoring underwent a major revolution. It became
possible to score an entire film with only one
performer. the synthesiser was used to produce
many sounds on many different instruments.This
allowed popular songs to become basis for
popular scores.

Does film really need

music with it?
By Joseph Hearn

Introduction
In this presentation I will discussing film music and the history of it. I will also be discussing how film
music has changed over time and how film music effects one of my favourite films. As well as this I will be
talking about famous film music composers and different instruments used in film music. Ill be coming up
with an overall conclusion at the end of the presentation as to whether music is really needed in film.

Questionnaire

I asked my friend mat to fill out a questionnaire for me and here is what he said for some of the
questions.

How do you feel film music has changed over the years?

I feel that film music has grown in dynamic content and has become more technical. Film music back
in the 1990s was mainly orchestral, now its turned mainly technical.

What main instruments to do think are used in most orchestral film music?

I think that Cello, Trumpet, Violin, Drums, Flute would be the main instruments

Why do you think these instruments are used in orchestral film music?

I would say these instruments are used as they add tension and can be made to have such strong
dynamics and sound epic as well as romantic and sad.

Do you think that film needs to have music with it and why?

I feel that film definitely needs to have music to it. Music in film adds to the immersive experience and
without it I would say that film would not be the same and would not have the same effect on the
audience.

Questionnaire

Name 4 famous film music composers

John Williams, Hans Zimmer, John Barry and Howard Shore

Name 5 well know pieces of film music

Harry potter, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Star Wars and Indiana

Jones

Who in your opinion is the greatest film music

composer?

John williams

Famous Film Music Composers

There are a lot of different film music

composers that have created very
famous pieces of music, but the most
well known composers are:

John Williams was born in Long Island,

New York on the 8th of February 1932.
He discovered music almost immediately
due to being the son of a percussionist
for CBS radio and the Raymond Scott
Quintet. After moving to Los Angeles in
1948, the young pianist and jazz band
leader started to experiment by
rearranging songs. At the age of 15 he
was set on becoming a concert pianist
and at 19 he made his first composition.
At age 24 he orchestrated for Alfred
Newman and Lionel Newman.

Famous Film Music Composers

John Williams

John Williams is one of the best known, awarded and financially

successful composers of film music. He has a huge list of awards
including 41 oscar nominations, and actually winning 3 oscars. He
won the Emmys twice, Golden Globe three times and the
Grammys 18 times, and thats just to name a few. John Williams
wrote some of the most well known pieces of film music such as
music for: Harry Potter, Star Wars, E.T , Jurassic Park , Indiana
Jones and the first two Jaws films.

As well as film music John Williams also wrote music for some well
known TV series as well. Such as To Kill a Mocking Bird, South
Pacific, Peter Gunn and many more.

Famous Film Music Composers

Hans Zimmer

Hans Zimmer was born in Germany and is

recognised as Hollywoods most innovative
talents. He featured in in the music video for The
Buggles' single "Video Killed the Radio Star, on
August 1 1981 which became a worldwide hit
and helped usher in a new era of global
entertainment as the first music video to be aired
on MTV.

Hans Zimmer started film music in London during

a long collaboration with well known composer
and mentor of Hans Zimmer Stanley Myers which
included the film my beautiful laundrette, he
soon began to work on some successful solo
projects including A World Apart and during
these years he invented the use of combining old
and new musical techniques. Now days this work
has lead him to be seen as the father of
integrating the electronic musical world with
traditional orchestral arrangements.

Famous Film Music Composers

Hans Zimmer

A real turning point in Hans Zimmers career was in 1988 when

he was asked to score Rain Man for director Barry Levinson.
The film then went on to win an oscar for best picture of the
year and earned Zimmer his first Academy Award nomination
for best original score. The next year he also composed the
score for another best picture of the year recipient Driving
Miss Daisy starring Morgan Freeman. In total Hans Zimmers
work has been nominated for 7 Golden Globes, 7 Grammys
and 7 Oscars. Hans Zimmer has written music for great films
such as: Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, Lion King and
Mission Impossible, this is just to name a few.

Famous Film Music

Composers

John Barry

John Barry was born in York, England 1933, and

was the youngest of three children. His father Jack
owned 3 cinemas and by the age of 14 he was able
to operate the projector box on his own. As he was
brought up around films and cinemas he soon
began to assimilate the music which accompanied
the films he saw nightly to a point even before he'd
left St. Peters school he had decided that he
wanted to become a composer.

John Barry was helped by having local lessons for

piano and trumpet, as well as being taught theory
by tutors as divers as Dr Francise Jackson. With
help from his lessons and tutor he soon became
equipt to go on and persue his chosen career, but
still didnt have the knowlege on how to actually get
started in this business. He soon had the idea to
start a band of his own, and this is where the john
barry seven began to emerge, and John barry
successfully launched them in 1957 due to a series
of TV appearances and tours.

Famous film music composers

John Barry

A recording contract with EMI then soon followed and although the
first releases made by them didnt make the charts, John Barry and
his unoubted talent showed promise,and led to the studio
management at Abbey road allowing him to make his debut as an
arranger and conductor for other artists on the EMI roster.

In the sixties John Barry was writing music for films such as "Born
Free", which was a double oscar winner, "Zulu" and five bond films,
as well as many more. In the seventies he scored the cult film
"Walkabout" and "Queen of Scotts".

Famous film music

composers
Howard Shore
Howard shore was Born on October
18, 1946 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
as Howard Leslie Shore. He is
known for his work on The Lord of
the rings: Return of the King,
Fellowship of the ring and Two
Towers. Howard shore was a
member of the horn section in the
canadian Band Lighthouse in the
early 1970s. He was also the first
Musical Director of the original
incarnation of the band from
Saturday Night Live.

Famous film music

composers

Howard shore

Shore and future SNL producer

Lorne Michaels first met as
teenagers at summer camp in
Canada, where they put on shows
including their own musical/
comedy show called The Fast
show Shore is the uncle of
composer Ryan Shore. Since
1979, he has scored all but one
The Dead Zone of director
David Cronenbergs theatrical
films. Cronenberg is also from
Toronto.

Famous film music

composers.

Howard Shore

As well as The Lord Of

The Rings, shore has
scored two of the three
sequels that have won
Best Picture. The first was
The Silence of the
Lambs, Lord of the
Rings Return of the King
then followed this in 2003.

Logbook

I found out this information about film music

composers in early December. It took me nearly
the whole month to find out this information as it
was a lot to research.

My favourite pieces of film

music

In my opinion some of the greatest pieces of film

music that has been created is:

The Lord of the Rings: I feel the music created

by composer Howard Shore for this film is one of
the greatest pieces of film music as I feel the use
of orchestral instruments like Violas, Cellos,
Trumpets and Timpani, really create images in
the listeners mind and the fact the music is slow
and thin at times really creates an atmosphere in
the film that has rarely been seen.

Film music before the 1930s

Before the "talking picture" was invented, films were completely

silent, the infusion of music into the film venue is said to have
happened for lots of reasons. Music was already used in theatres,
and was brought over not only because of tradition but also to add
depth to the two dimensional image that would be shown on
screen. As well as this it also covered up the huge amount of
sound that would be produced from the projector.

Many of the silent films created before the 1930s were

accompanied by anything from full orchestras to organists and
pianists. Music books were also produced to provide the
accompanists with ideas for scene music, categorised by mood,
event or elements. A lot of the films came with a suggestion list of
what music to pla in the chosen scene.

Film music in the 1930s

With the birth of the talking pictures, music once again

found its self becoming a vital assets in the film industry. At
first sound films followed the precedent set by their
ancestors, using "complied western". This however soon
stopped to make way for the creation of original scores. The
very first original score was created by Max Steiner, for the
film "King Kong" in 1933.

Though at first music was only really used as reinforcement,

towards the later half of the decade, the composers began
to experiment and to develop their own way of unobtrusively
backing up the films plot and characters.

Film music in the 1940s and

1950s

In the 1940s composers were refining their experties even more.

one of the most important an influencial composers of this time
was Bernard Hermann. Bernard broke many barriers and traditions
in order to make film music that massively improved the films for
which he wrote the music.

Up until the 1950s film music was completely synthesised. In the

1950s however jazz opened a large and new world for the film
music industry. Although Jazz had already been used in musicals
and animated films it had never been used for mainstream films of
the 1930s and 1940s. The use of jazz not only made the sounds
and themes for films different but fewer musicians were needed
therefore making orchestras less expensiive.

Film music in the 1960s and

1970s

The use of jazz and a lot of other experiments,

continued to go on into the 1960s. It was in this
decade that acceptance of new music, led to the
scoring of "INSERT TITLE HERE" the first movie to
use a rock soundtrack.

The 1970s passed with not a lot of innovation, this

decade was mainly spent finalising and perfecting
things in the previous decade. Composers such as
John Williams created scores using these
techniques, that are still memorable these days.

Film music in the 1980s and

1990s

Synthesised sounds were first used widely in the 1980s, and

film scoring again underwent a big revolution. It became
theoretically possible to score a whole entire film with only one
performer. This was done by using the sythesiser to create the
sounds of many instrumentalists. The year caused popular
songs to become the basis for entire scores.

Today, with the daily development of new technology and the

general knowledge gained from a century of experiences, film
composers have the ability to create the perfect score
accenting the movies plot and characters in such a way that it
enhances the film and turns it into an experience.

Logbook

I found out the information about the history of

film music and how it has grown in January, this
bit of research didnt take as long as i was able
to find the information easily. This meant I was
able to finish researching this before the end of
the month.

Instruments used in popular film

music

Jaws

Tuba and Cello

James Bond

Trombone

Keyboard

Piano

Trumpet

Flute

Trumpet

Saxophone

Drums

Castanets

Bass guitar

Piano

Trombone

Xylophone

Harry potter

Celesta

Viola

Violin

Cello

Cello

Timpani

Trumpet

Drums

French Horn

Cymbal

Flute

Titanic
Violin
Cello

Pirates of the caribbean

Violin

Austin Powers
Piccolo
Flute

What genre do some

orchestral instruments fit into?

Cello- Romance, Action and Fantasy

Trumpet, Violin, Flute and Drums- Romance,

Adventure, Action and Comedy

Trombone and piano- Romance comedy and

horror

Extra information on film

music

Film music can be divided into two different categories,

music contained within the action and background music.

Music contained within the action, is usually referred to as

diegetic music. It is included in the story, e.g. music heard on
a radio. Most film music is non diegetic.

Background music is often known as underscoring. It adds to

the mood of the scene, reinforcing dramatics developments
and aspects of character.

What does film music serve

to do?
Film music serves to:

Establish atmosphere, time and place

Move the action forward

Describe the character

Accompany scene changes

Add to dramatic impact

Mickey mousing

When music is precisely timed with events that are

happening it is known as mickey mousing. For
example, someone slipping on a banana skin
could use a descending scale followed by a
cymbal crash. Mickey mousing is most commonly
used in comedy films.

Logbook

I found out this information about instruments

and mickey mousing towards the end of
January. The information was hard to find at first
but once it was found it didnt take long to write
up.

Film music

In a film score, the orchestration and instrumentation, can be very

important. Instrumental colour can suggest images for example
bagpipes evoking Scotland or muted brass suggesting something
sinister.

Film music is composed to accompany the action on screen and often

uses:

Quick and abrupt changes of tempo, harmony and melody

Rapid shifts from one musical idea to another.

Film music composers usually use leitmotifs, to help build a sense of

continuity. A leitmotif is a recurring musical idea, which is associated
with a particular idea, character or place. Leitmotifs are manipulated to
match the action and mood of a scene.

Film music
Leitmotifs can be altered by:

Changing the pitch or rhythm

Changing the instrumentation or accompaniment

Adding new material

Developing fragments of the idea

Leitmotifs can be found in the film scores of many film music composers
including Bernard Herrmann (Psycho) Jerry Goldsmith (Planet of the
Apes) and Danny Elfman (Batman). Probably one of the most well know
leitmotifs in film music is John Williams shark leitmotif in Jaws. The two
notes F and F sharp, played on the low register of the cello signify
something threatening and getting closer and closer.

Electronic Film music

The first all electronic film score was composed and

performed by Bebe and Louis Barrons for Fred
Wilcoxs 1955 film Forbidden Planet a science
fiction adaptation of The Tempest starring Leslie
Neilsen and Walter Pidgeon. While Forbidden
Planet is widely looked at as one of the classics of
early SF cinema for its difficulties of plot and
characterisation, two qualities that had been mostly
absent from the relatively new film genre, it is
probably best remembered for the Barrons'
compellingly "alien" score.

Electronic film music

As former students of experimental composer

John Cage, the Barrons were no strangers to the
more experimental side of composition and
performance. However their work for Forbidden
Planet was so different and not recognized
considering the then popular film music, they
were known as Electronic Tonalities rather than
the more traditional composed and performed
by in the films credits. Bebe Barron later
remarked that.

Electronic film music

Of course, the Barrons were not the first to work with completely
electronic tones; just the year before Stockhausen's entirely
electronic work Studie II premiered. Moreover, by this point in
time, even more mainstream film audiences were beginning to
grow accustomed to electronically generated (and recorded)
sound. But these sounds were often draped in the "warmth" of
more traditional acoustic timbres as in Franz Waxman's score
for Rebecca. As Timothy Taylor points out, when isolated,
electronic tones were mostly used diegetically to represent that
which was alien (such as the famous theremin-as-flying saucer
in The Day the Earth Stood Still) while acoustic tones
accompanied that which was human. The Barrons attempted to
make the machines speak for both the human and the alien and
never before had such a large audience been forced to
confront so directly the strange sounds of electronic circuitry.

Popular film music

Jaws

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=A9QTSyLwd4w

Popular film music

Indiana Jones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTpp8PQSog

Popular film music

Star wars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=_D0ZQPqeJkk

Popular film music

Jurassic Park

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8zlUUrFKM

Popular film music

Harry Potter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htaj3o3JD8I

Popular film music

Lord of the Rings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=1iYEwFDLVnM

Popular film music

Gladiator

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=6t_4BL1TXbw

Logbook

All this information was found in February. This

took a whole month as it was a lot of information
and it took along time to find information that
would be relevant to my topic.

Conclusion

From the research I have found and the questions that I

have asked people, as well as the information they have
given to me I would say that, overall film music is a very
important aspect in the overall quality of the film. Films
back in the 1930s were silent and are nowhere near as
immersive as some of the films now days. For example, if
a film like lord of the rings had no music to it then it would
not of had the same effect on the audience and wouldnt
keep then as interested as if there was music included.
As well as this without film music, i feel pop music and
other genres of music would be as they are now, I believe
film music has shaped what pop music is like now days.

Sources page and Logbook

Websites used when researching

https://prezi.com/loy4l007x_kq/what-are-the-most-popular-instruments-used-in-film-music-and-what-genreswould-you-use-them-in/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/music/popular_music/film_music1.shtml

https://www.youtube.com

Sources I used

Personal information from people questionnaires

Watching films and studying music from them

Blogs

To find out some of my information I contacted film companies like 20th century fox and asked them questions.