Modern film scores are terrible… March 17, 2008
Posted by ghostof82 in : Film General , trackback…says a report by Dalya Alberge, arts correspondent in The Times today. How odd is that? Makes my post the other day about movie music seem strangely prescient. The report states that “Most film music written today is terrible, with few scores lingering in the memory like the underwater menace of Jaws or the whimsical Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, top compsers have told The Times.” It goes on to quote Hans Zimmer and Anne Dudley who bemoan the blandness of the majority of modern scores, and that many seem to have scores by committee.
Indeed that’s a familiar criticism of film-making in general, from the script to the casting, resulting in a ’safeness’ and me-too trend in movies. I recall that the excellent Gabriel Yared score for Troy was dropped completely following preview screenings, the producers rushing to James Horner to produce a last-minute score that was familiar and easy on the ears- what nonsense. Yared’s score really was magnificent. A few months ago I asked why every super-hero film since Tim Burton’s BATMAN seemed to require a Danny Elfman soundtrack. And while Hans Zimmer is complaining, he must recognise that he, and his Media Ventures outfit, is partly to blame. Most films seem to be temped by Zimmer music, considering how their finished scores turn out. How many films have that ‘Gladiatior’ sound?
Too many of modern scores seem to be written by keyboard players with computer skills, the article goes on to say, rather than musicians trained at college. There certainly might be something to that argument. Certainly the great composers, Herrmann, Williams, Goldsmith, all spent many years refining their art, on radio as well as television. There are a lot of young turks with keyboards operating in Hollywood these days, in film and television, who really have much to learn. The question is, are they being ill-served by the modern film-making process? Are the cuts too tight, the pace to fast, for decent music to be written? Why did James Horner not score a single film released last year? Is he tired of trying to make his scores work in films today?
Comments»
A good point. I watched ‘A Fistful of Dynamite’ last night and Morricone’s soundtrack was even more transcendant than I remembered. So much character, humour, rhythm and beautiful, beautiful melodies. More life in the mere soundtrack than in the entirety of most Hollywood movies.
They should try Murray Gold who scores the modern Doctor Who tv series. There’s more variety in his music for that series than a dozen Zimmer or Elfman scores. Some american film music fans who have managed to catch his stuff have been amazed at the bigger Hollywood quality of his sounds, compared say to the cushiony background mush heard on the modern Star Treks, which are actually made in Tinsel Town.