↓
 

Film Music Notes

Analysis, Style, Technique, and More

Film Music Notes
  • Home
  • About

Category Archives: Analysis

Post navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →

Celebrating Star Wars Films, Part 2 of 6: Uses of Darth Vader’s Theme

Film Music Notes Posted on November 17, 2015 by Mark RichardsAugust 27, 2017

This is the second in a series of six posts on themes from the Star Wars films. Each post will examine a theme from each of the six films in turn, leading up to an analysis of the score for … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, John Williams, Star Wars | 3 Replies

Celebrating Star Wars Themes, Part 1 of 6: Uses of the Force Theme

Film Music Notes Posted on November 8, 2015 by Mark RichardsAugust 27, 2017

Through the first six films of the Star Wars saga, John Williams’ inimitable scores have generated a large body of musical themes that have played an inextricable part in building the fantasy world that is the backbone of the films. … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, John Williams, Star Wars | 6 Replies

Oscar Nominees 2015, Best Original Score (Part 5 of 6): Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar

Film Music Notes Posted on February 18, 2015 by Mark RichardsAugust 28, 2017

When director Christopher Nolan first approached his regular composer, Hans Zimmer, to write the score for Interstellar, he wanted to avoid the clichés associated with the science-fiction genre and “engage Hans in a very pure creative process.” To do this, … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Hans Zimmer, Oscars | 11 Replies

Oscar Nominees 2015, Best Original Score (Part 4 of 6): Gary Yershon’s Mr. Turner

Film Music Notes Posted on February 12, 2015 by Mark RichardsAugust 28, 2017

English composer Gary Yershon has largely staked out his career in various realms of dramatic music, scoring mainly for theater but also for television, radio, and film. His experience in writing original music for feature films has been for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Gary Yershon, Oscars | 1 Reply

Oscar Nominees 2015, Best Original Score (Part 3 of 6): Jóhann Jóhannsson’s The Theory of Everything

Film Music Notes Posted on February 5, 2015 by Mark RichardsFebruary 5, 2015

No stranger to film scoring, Jóhann Jóhannsson has been writing music for films for the last fifteen years (mainly for films from his native Iceland and from Europe), and has had plenty of experience in scoring other narrative works such … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Oscars | 3 Replies

Oscar Nominees 2015, Best Original Score (Part 2 of 6): Alexandre Desplat’s The Imitation Game

Film Music Notes Posted on January 29, 2015 by Mark RichardsFebruary 14, 2019

In addition to earning two Oscar nominations in 2014, Alexandre Desplat managed to score some of the year’s biggest box-office successes as all five of the films he scored ranked within the top fifty-five. These include The Grand Budapest Hotel, … Continue reading →

Posted in Alexandre Desplat, Analysis, Oscars | 2 Replies

Oscar Nominees 2015, Best Original Score (Part 1 of 6): Alexandre Desplat’s The Grand Budapest Hotel

Film Music Notes Posted on January 21, 2015 by Mark RichardsAugust 28, 2017

2014 was another busy year for Alexandre Desplat, who scored a total of five films released that year, of which both The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Imitation Game have been nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Score. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Alexandre Desplat, Analysis, Oscars | 8 Replies

Ennio Morricone’s Score for Once Upon a Time in the West (Part 3 of 3): The Frank/Harmonica Theme

Film Music Notes Posted on June 30, 2014 by Mark RichardsJanuary 13, 2017

  In most film scores, themes are usually associated with a single character. This is the case, for example, with the previous two themes examined in this blog series: those for Jill and Cheyenne. But the other prominent theme in … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Classics, Ennio Morricone, Style | 5 Replies

Ennio Morricone’s Score for Once Upon a Time in the West (Part 2 of 3): Cheyenne’s Theme

Film Music Notes Posted on March 31, 2014 by Mark RichardsNovember 18, 2014

  “Cheyenne’s theme” from Once Upon a Time in the West is another example of Ennio Morricone’s economical use of melodic and harmonic materials, and unusual choice of instrumentation that help bestow his music with a very distinctive sound. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Classics, Ennio Morricone, Style | 1 Reply

Oscar Nominees 2014, Best Original Score (Part 5 of 6): Steven Price’s Gravity

Film Music Notes Posted on March 1, 2014 by Mark RichardsAugust 28, 2017

British composer Steven Price has steadily risen through the ranks of the film music world, beginning as performer, arranger, and programmer for film composer Trevor Jones, moving on to music editing on such blockbuster films as The Lord of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Oscars, Steven Price | Leave a reply

Post navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →
&copy Mark Richards. Content on this site may not be reproduced in any way without written permission from the author.
↑