Film Music Composers

Film Music Composers

Introduction

Music plays an integral part in society by reflecting the most important happenings of the time. Music is part of the everyday happenings from the radio or television commercials to even movies we watch. It feels good and exhilarating to watch the action, be part of the emotions of the characters in a movie. Music is powerful and it highly influences the film score composers and as a result, they take into consideration the score while writing music to be included in the movies. The composers aim to ignite emotion in the audience as they watch a movie, in that the storyline of the movie is bound to the accompanying music. The power of music in films enables the audience to remember the themes of films unconsciously. Therefore, the film score is the cornerstone of the film’s success.

Pinar Toprak   Captain Marvel (2019)

Pinar is a Turkish/ American composer whose music has been featured in movies from 2004 and the latest was in 2019 with the famous film; Captain Marvel. With a background in classical music education, her film scores have mainly been classical instruments such as synths and harps among others. Toprak’s composition fits the storyline of Captain Marvel. The film score begins with synths for the aliens and the harp for the humans. The combination of the entire orchestral instruments and synths brings about a unified whole[1]. As Captain Marvel first arrives at Maria Rambeau’s house in Louisana, the 1994 R&B hit plays in the background of the scene. The cue is effective as Captain Marvel is about to begin her mission.

Captain Marvel takes the audience back to the 1990s and the music used in the film facilitates the same. As a result, film composers use songs that already existed. The film takes the audience back to the 90s and allegedly tries to pay homage to the 90s film. The nostalgia inherent in Captain Marvel brings out action films during that time. In the 1990s, most of the action films have their settings in outer space such as the legendary sci-fi action film, Terminator. Moreover, the cue acts as a motivator for Captain Marvel as she embarks on a difficult but important journey.  The combination of the lyrics and the scene, the film stimulates the feelings of self -confidence, boldness, and strength in the audience[2]. 

In contrast, the film has too much music in the first thirty minutes of the film. This tends to low the film score as other stylish tactics could be used such as silence to further deepen the suspense. Also, the orchestral score is not cohesive as music is played separately. However, the music was not integrated but was separated and the impact of the music was not well placed. Generally, the orchestral musical instruments and synths were effective at exhibiting the thematic material, innovation, and in better use of contrasts to exemplify the different themes and moods of the film.

Wendy Carlos A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Carlos’s music and composing career begun as she emulated her parents in piano, trombone, trumpets, and drums.  Carlos was interested in the electronic arrangement of the fourth movement to Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven. Additionally, she used some instruments to increase the score of the composition. The instruments included spectrum follower which was a prototype of the vocoder which converted human voices to electronic signals. The signals resulted in the audience being scared which was the intended purpose of the story. Therefore, Carlos’ soundtracks were extraordinary[3].

In the science fiction film, Beethoven’s music figures add on to the storyline by creating suspense. Alex is poorly handled against his will, violently placed on a chair and his eyelids held open by steel clamps. In this cue and many violent ones, the score. The actual symphonic sounds heavily rely on the synthesizer as an instrument. In the film A Clockwork Orange, Alex is displayed as a heartless and cold man who engages in violence, sex, and even rape. Wendy Carlos is the composer of music in the film who uses loud music to welcome the audience to the deadly cold eyes of Alex DeLarge. The loud music supplements the character and nature of Alex as a heartless and cold man. As a result, Wendy Carlo’s composition scores highly as it is effective.

In contrast, Carlos’s musical cues are meant to counter violence, sex, and rape. Alex is seen to particularly love the Beethoven. Moreover, he sings to it while being violent beating up people in the streets of London. In this case, the music does not complement it. Instead, it contradicts the scene and what message in the song. Moreover, Beethoven is seen to be setting the pace for the sequence of atrocities that Alex commits such as beating up a family and raping his wife.

Being a horror movie, music is used to intensify the emotions of fear and empathy. Carlos truly delivered these emotions to the audience. Besides, the composure of classical music acts as a calming effect for the intensively violent scenes.

Michael Abels   Get Out (2017)

Just like Topak, Michael Abel has a background in concert orchestral music which also includes blues, jazz and bluegrass music. one of the latest outstanding art forms of Abels is the film Get Out by Jordan Peele. from the orchestral background, Abel incorporated black roots in his composing for the film Get out.

In the beginning, the soundtrack uses fewer strings which brings about the haunting emotion. horror movies are aimed to bring the audience at the edge and spur up intimate sounding music. Abels’ score helps to bring this hyperreal nightmare to life.

The film depicts themes of love, horror, and comedy. Michael Ables brings out these themes through his composition. The first cue the humor that accompanied by the handshake in the garden. The summery music brings out the humor but in an awkward way, as it was funny to everyone else other than Chris. In the scene, the music was underscored as it was conflicting and uncomfortable for Chris.[4]

Michael uses a variety of cues to bring out emotions of love, fear, and horror in the audience. Some of the scores are very inspiring. For instance, the “Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga” cue which is a choir singing in Swahili. The translation for this cue is “listen to the ancestors”. The cue reflects on Michael’s African heritage as an African American and also did not rely on stereotypes. Abel combines traditional orchestral and bold and striking action to foster the horrific emotions of fear in the audience. Additionally, in the “Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga” cue the voices choir as used as a motif to represent the voices of slaves in a racially ambiguous society. This cue is also performed with a background of traditional orchestra that consisted of harp, woodwinds, tuned metal percussion and some electronic.

In addition to the few strings, Abel used a more rhythmic pulse as composed of the normal suspense pulse. As a result, the horrific cue scored highly which further pushes the horror genre of the film. Also, to bring between the various themes of the film, Abel used live instruments over electronic sounds, strings, and rattles. consequently, this helped in transition the unfamiliar scenes into the reality[5].

From the three composers, it is evident that music plays a vital role in the film. The composers use of traditional string orchestra to spur up cues of horror and suspense in the audience. Similarly, Wendy and Abel utilize electronic sounds that in turn create suspense. The film scores take horror and romantic films to another level. They provide a rather refreshing different emotion to the films based on the genre. Consequently, this has led to the composers being an award for their work of art, for example, Michael Abel has been contracted for African American films after his debut on “Get Out”.   However, only Get Out and A Clockwork Orange that use underscores to stimulate emotions in the audience. Although Captain Marvel uses already existing music to supplement and reinforce the scenes, it would be better to use underscores. From the explanations, it is evident that underscores are more versatile in terms of the instrument’s combinations. Despite the flexibility of underscore, songs in the background such as “You Gotta Be” by Des’ree yield nostalgia as they show the films’ setting[6]. Moreover, “Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga” provisions a perfect blend of both songs and orchestral instrumentation.

References

1.Duncan Harrison. “How Composer Michael Abels Produced the Chilling Score for ‘Get Out’.” Crack Magazine. Accessed December 15, 2019. https://crackmagazine.net/article/long-reads/composer-michael-abels-produced-chilling-score-get/.

2.Jason Guerrasio. Inside the inspiring journey of ‘Captain Marvel’ composer Pinar Toprak, from moving to America at 17 to becoming the first female composer of a Marvel movie.  13 March 2019: Accessed 15 Dec. 2019. https://www.pulse.com.gh/bi/tech/inside-the-inspiring-journey-of-captain-marvel-composer-pinar-toprak-from-moving-to/6rj032g

3.Melinda Newman. ‘Get Out’ Composer Michael Abels on Realizing Jordan Peele’s Musical Vision & Bringing Out the Ghosts 3 February 2017 Accessed 15 Dec. 2019. https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7709625/get-out-composer-michael-abels-jordan-peele-interview

4 Noisegate. “Behind The Score: A Clockwork Orange by Wendy Carlos — Noisegate.” Noisegate. Last modified December 20, 2018. https://noisegate.com.au/behind-the-score-a-clockwork-orange-wendy-carlos/.

5 Renfro, Kim. “A Complete Guide to Every ’90s Song ‘Captain Marvel’ Had You Rocking out to.” Business Insider. Last modified March 13, 2019. https://www.businessinsider.com/captain-marvel-music-score-songs-2019-3?IR=T.

6. “You Gotta Be Lyrics by Des’ree.” Lyrics On Demand. Accessed December 17, 2019. https://www.lyricsondemand.com/soundtracks/c/captainmarvellyrics/yougottabelyrics.html.

[1] Jason Guerrasio. Inside the inspiring journey of ‘Captain Marvel’ composer Pinar Toprak, from moving to America at 17 to becoming the first female composer of a Marvel movie.  13 March 2019: Accessed 15 Dec. 2019. https://www.pulse.com.gh/bi/tech/inside-the-inspiring-journey-of-captain-marvel-composer-pinar-toprak-from-moving-to/6rj032g

[2] Renfro, Kim. “A Complete Guide to Every ’90s Song ‘Captain Marvel’ Had You Rocking out to.” Business Insider. Last modified March 13, 2019. https://www.businessinsider.com/captain-marvel-music-score-songs-2019-3?IR=T.

[3] Noisegate. “Behind The Score: A Clockwork Orange by Wendy Carlos — Noisegate.” Noisegate. Last modified December 20, 2018. https://noisegate.com.au/behind-the-score-a-clockwork-orange-wendy-carlos/.

[4] Melinda Newman. ‘Get Out’ Composer Michael Abels on Realizing Jordan Peele’s Musical Vision & Bringing Out the Ghosts 3 February 2017 Accessed 15 Dec. 2019. https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7709625/get-out-composer-michael-abels-jordan-peele-interview

[5] of Duncan Harrison. “How Composer Michael Abels Produced the Chilling Score for ‘Get Out’.” Crack Magazine. Accessed December 15, 2019. https://crackmagazine.net/article/long-reads/composer-michael-abels-produced-chilling-score-get/.

[6] “You Gotta Be Lyrics by Des’ree.” Lyrics On Demand. Accessed December 17, 2019. https://www.lyricsondemand.com/soundtracks/c/captainmarvellyrics/yougottabelyrics.html.