… where at tent ion spans are assum ed t o b e so fl eet ing th at trend s l as t m ere m ont hs. Sciss orha nds is ab out as person al as any di rector has all owed th em sel ves t o get, being t he t al e of a m isu ndersto od art ist wh o fears dest royin g what t hey to uch. Elfm an’s resp onse has s ent in fl uenti al ripp les th rough the m usi c ind ustry ev er s ince. Its use of a w ordless chorus seem s t o have charm ed the pants o ff anyon e m aking a fai rytale on bi g screen or sm all , anyth ing sug gesti ng p urity of l ove, and num ero us com m ercial s rang-in g from cars to cos meti cs. It’s su bsequ en tly beco me a st aple of h is o wn work t oo. T he im medi at e fol low -u p wit h Bu rton was an at temp t to b eat H ol-ly wood at i ts own g am e wi th B atma n Ret urns (1992 ). Not onl y d id t hey avoi d dem an ds for marketabl e p op tu nes (Elfm an co -wrote one so ng wit h Siou xsi e An d The Bansh ees ), b ut in bo th to ne an d mus ic they ig nored the yo uth m ark et com pl et el y. L at er th ey brok e genre barri ers wi th th e st op-m oti on aniop-m ated Mu sical The Nig htop-ma re Befo re Chri st op-mas (199 3), t o whi ch the com pos er’s so ng-writ ing s kil ls were of the m ost i mp ortant t ype of narrativ e functi on. The k ooky st yle o f th e son gs an d s co re have featured i n m an y trail ers an d chil dren ’s fil ms sin ce. 5 0s-st yled s ci -fi heyday ho kum fol-lo wed wi th Mars Att acks! (199 6), and then 50s-st yled Hamm er horror ho kum wit h Sl eepy H ollo w (1 999).
Out sid e of bein g kn own fo r the Cronenb erg co llabo rat ion s, Shore became t he l eadi ng li ght for on e of t he few d ubi ous trends th at di d fo rm i n th e 90s . Qu ite why there have been s o m any seri al k ill ers m ovi es i s a trou-bl ing m ystery. Ho wev er, w ith Sil ence Of The La mbs (1 991) a genre was bo rn . Mu lti ple Os car no mi natio ns (alt houg h inexp licabl y not the s co re) sh owed t his was h el d i n hi gher regard th an th e 70s and 8 0s s tyl e of schl ock ho rro r. Shore’s m usic h as been clo ned t o a death of cliché i n s ubsequ en t m ovi es conj uring foreb odi ng and terror. In it s ori gin al sett ing it ’s genuin el y respo nsib le for wh at was t out ed on its releas e to be the mos t frig hteni ng m ovi e o f al l t im e. Take t he poun din g heartbeat o f m us ic away when ‘L ecter Es capes’ and t he rap id cutt ing of people runn ing ab out m ean s not hin g.
Am azi ngl y, Sho re m atched th e d ram atic in tensi ty 4 years l ater with the m er-cil es sly negativ e S e7 en. After its en ormou sly influ en tial o penin g ti tle sequ en ce, t he score is rel entl es sly oppress ive. Col d and i nsi nuati ng, i t po ses a cons tant threat from t he kil ler’s m an ipu latin g hand , and the d ark, wet cit y th at created him . Fo r t he des ert fin al e, s tabbi ng ch ords m ak e th e arrival of
an in nocuou s deli very van seem lik e t he mo st frigh tenin g event i n th e wh ole m ovi e. Onl y one break occurred i n Bu rt on’s rel at ion ship wi th El fm an, and th at w as for Ed Wo od (1 994). For this , the 50s-bas ed B-mo vie hoku m was pass ed t o com pos er Howard Sh ore. Bongo s, theremi n, and a t ouchi ng extract o f ‘Swan L ak e’ remi nd u s of Bela Lug osi ’s era of st ard om, when hi s 19 31 D racul a was a lit tl e early for a s co re of it s o wn. Sho re kept up j ust as di verse a track record as Burt on and El fm an i n t he 90s by his ong oing part-nersh ip with Davi d Cronenb erg. Their Na ked Lu nch (19 91) w as a s urreall y accu rat e adapt at ion of Will iam Burrough s’s n ovel. A great deal o f i ts self-cont ained un iverse com es from t he uni que m usi cal ap pli cati on o f Ornette Colem an bl owin g bebop jazz acros s Mo roccan percus sio n rhyt hm s. M. B ut-ter fly (19 93) i ndul ged t heir sh ared p as sio n for o pera. Then Cra sh (19 96) was s cored for six elect ric gui tars, t hree h arp s, th ree wi nds , and t wo percus-si oni sts . It’s an ideal reactio n to the auto erot ic and feti shi sti c s tory of car cras h survi vors. eXi stenZ (1999 ) s im ilarly pl ayed wit h inst rum en tal make-up , thou gh th is ti me on a full o rches tra’s scale. It also p layed wit h the dy nami cs and acous tics of th e reco rd ing roo m to m usi cal ly refl ect t he fact yo u’re n ev er actu al ly s eei ng wh at ’s reall y happen ing i n t he film unt il the very end .
Befo re Shore returned to t he genre in ex plos ive st yle b y ut ili sin g the d ra-m at ically non-Wes tern sou nd of th e M aster Mu sicians Of Jajou ka fo r The Cell (2 000), and b efo re D r. L ect er ret urned cou rt es y o f Hans Zim mer i n Han nib al (2001 ), t he d ecade w as fi lled wit h glo ssy gl orificati ons of the serial kil ler’s craft. On ly a s mall lis t is needed to ill ust rat e t his : Ba sic Inst inct, Kn igh t Moves, Dr. Gig gles (all 1992 ), Yo ung P ois oner’s Handb ook, Copycat (b oth 1 995), Kis s The Gir ls (19 97), In Dreams, Fal len (bot h 19 98), and Th e Bone Col lector (1999 ). Director J ohn Waters i s abou t t he onl y p er-so n wh ose s ense o f hum our co uld be fo rgi ven fo r st retch ing to Seri al Mom (199 4), but hum ou r did fi nd i ts w ay int o th e horror genre wit h I Know Wha t You Did La st S ummer (1 997) and Urb an Legend (1 998). Respo nsi ble for th is shift was on e o f the 90 s’ bi ggest success s tories, Screa m (199 6).
Post -m od ern iron y i s a term appl ied t o a lot o f film an d TV in Scream’s wake. T he first part of the i dea is t hat characters are well vers ed in pop cul-tu re world s and po ke fun at t hem. The seco nd part (th e iron y) is t hey d on’t kn ow t hey’re in a fil m or TV sh ow s traigh t o ut of on e of t hos e world s.
M arco Belt ram i was th e co mp oser hi red fo r a score to fuse o ld and new st yles and acco mp an y a grou p o f ki ds retread ing Ha llo ween territo ry. It
came about i n several uniq ue w ay s. ‘There was t his radio s how t hat int er-vi ew ed me on the Int ern et , and (di rect or) Wes Crav en 's as sis tant ask ed if th ey kn ew an y com pos ers they could reco mm end. I then had a m eet ing and th ey g av e me the openi ng Drew Barrym ore s cen e to score o n spec.’ It was als o a fairly un ique si tuati on in t hat Belt ram i had never seen a horror film before! ‘Wes taug ht m e a l ot about h ow to max imi ze th e scare po tenti al i n ho rro r mov ies. O ne comm on rule is if n obod y's th ere yo u st ing it, and i f the ki ller's th ere y ou g o si lent .’ Hence the m usi cal red herring when Sy dney op en s an em pty clos et ’s doo r. Th is techniq ue si ts in am ong st his co ntem po-rary electron ic m us ic and so ng placement . It carri es t hrough t he rest of the tri log y, an d also in his scores for Mim ic (1997 ), The Facul ty (1998 ), and Hal loween H20 (19 98) for whi ch he p rovid ed ad dit ional mus ic. Fusi ng est ab lis hed sty les wi th dance rhyth ms h as been prev alent i n horror and related g en re m ovi es ever sin ce.
The oth er mai nst ream di scoveries of the 90s came out of genre pi ctures to o. Ell iot Gol denth al h ad wo rk ed o n a few earl ier m ovi es , b ut it was wit h Al ien³ (1992 ) that au dience and indu stry ears p ricked up wit h di scom fort and int rigue. Before t he fil m even s tarts, the co mp oser m esses wit h y ou th rough a to rt urous ly tai lored re-recordin g of A lfred N ew man’s 20th Cen-tu ry Fo x Fan fare. ‘That was alm ost lik e k nockin g over Lenin ’s s taCen-tue,’
Gol denth al recal ls am us ed ly. ‘Dig ital record ing cam e alon g, and we had 40 m inu tes of m us icians’ t im e at the end of th e recordi ng s es sio n. So rather th an tell th em t o go plu s pay t hem, Fo x sai d th ey wanted a digi tal recordi ng of the logo . Th en I s aid: ‘It’s Al ien. You th ink I can mess wit h it? Can I be su bversiv e wit h i t? So you ’re lull ed i nto a s tate o f non -com prehensi on. We di dn’t have an y score, s o I j ust g ot up on t he s tand and to ld th e m usi ci an s what to d o on what no te.’ Wi thi n a sh ort sp ace of t ime, m any m ore eyes were po int ed hi s w ay, once hi s g ri ndi ng, shri ek ing, yet often bit tersweet st yle began getti ng Oscar n omi nati ons wi th Interview Wit h Th e Va mpire (199 4). It’s a s tyl e that ’s influ en ced plent y o f scores i n t he sam e way as the fusi on m ethod . In fact, h e was a pio neer of fusi ng st yles p re-Scream hi m-sel f, es peci ally wit h th e h igh profil e B atma n Fo rever (19 95).
It was a case of b ei ng pl ucked fro m obs cu rity for Lon don com poser Davi d Arno ld wh o was gifted the sci -fi blo ck bus ter Starg ate (199 4). Full of th e ro mance rejuvenat ed by J ohn Wi lli am s fo r Star Wars and s ly n ods t o ot her p opul ar so undt racks (l ist en fo r 63 3 Squa dron i n the final batt le), the score s howed what happens when a sou ndtrack ent hus iast is giv en a bi g
break. It l ed to th e eno rmou s spo of an d noi se score of Independence Day (199 6), whi ch was as b ig as mov ies coul d be i n th e m id -90s. His n ext m ajor proj ect all owed hi m to reach b ack int o hi s chi ldh ood and t he reas on he was in the in dust ry at all . ‘W hen I saw You On ly Li ve Twice (196 7) as a l ad, Jo hn Barry’s m us ic ju st too k m y h ead off comp letely. T hat was it . Bond to me i s try ing to keep it cool . It’s metal -t ip win klepi ck ers . Lo afers wit h s teel to ecaps . So when I did Tomor row Never Di es (1997 ), it had t o be do ne wit h all that in m in d. I di d tal k to John upfron t abou t it , as s omeon e I resp ect and adm ire. I did n’t want t o pi ss h im off reall y. H e s ai d he t houg ht I was t he one perso n w ho co uld d o i t. That from t he G uvno r! Then we wen t out and go t drun k.’ The fi lm an d score resurrected the flaggi ng sp y seri es aft er a l im p in trodu ct ion fo r Pi erce Bros nan in G oldeneye (1995 ), w hich had a decidedl y no n-Bo ndian mu sical accom panim ent fro m E ri c Serra. Arno ld mo re t han m ad e am ends w ith his h om ag e t o Barry cross ed wit h drum and bass , and to ok thi ngs furth er fo r th e rockin g, samp le-l aced The Wo rld Is No t Enou gh (199 9).
Could You Turn It Up?
If act ion mov ies and sampl e-d riven s co ri ng h ad a n ursin g ho me in the 90 s, it was named M edia Vent ures Entertai nment Group, L LC. In its infancy it was a one-room arrangem ent for Hans Zim mer and pro ducer J ay Ri fkin t o work on Rain Man (1988 ). Wi th the s ubsequ en t s uccess es of B lack Rai n (see Chapt er 3), Da ys Of Thun der (19 90), Pacifi c Heig hts (199 0), and spe-cificall y Backdraf t (1991 ), h e expand ed t he operat ion w ith a purpo se-b uil t faci li ty in Sant a M oni ca, w here he in vit ed other com posers t o hous e t heir st udi os. Zim m er ’s st yle o f ov erl ay ing a m assi ve o rches tra wi th syn thesi zer effects (es pecially percussi ve) qui ckly spread t o t hose w orking un der the sam e ro of. Many co llabo rat ive effo rt s resul ted in mul ti ple nam es credi ted on a s co re. M ark Mancin a was o ne to sp read h is wi ngs and go els ewh ere after hi s S peed (199 4) m ost defini tely help ed define the acti on m ov ie score of t he 90s . He then app lied the st yle t o the h its Bad B oys (199 5) and Twis ter (199 6). Ot her hi gh-octane act ion extravaganzas p ro duced w ith in the M V com plex i nclud e: Whit e S qual l (199 6) by J eff Ro na for director Ridl ey Scot t whi le Zim m er was bus y on ot her t hing s, Face/Of f (1997 ) by J ohn Powel l, Ar magedd on (199 8) by Trevor Rab in, and Enemy Of The Sta te (1998 ) by Rabin an d Harry Gregson -Wi lli am s.
Asi de from the m as siv e coll aboratio n that resul ted in m ult ipl e award gl ory fo r Dis ney’s The Li on Ki ng (1 994), th ei r ot her po pular p ool ing of resou rces was on The Rock (1996 ), which credi ts Ni ck Glenn ie-Sm it h, Zi m-m er, and Harry Gregs on-Will iam-ms . Zim-m m-mer him-m self has cont inu ed t o carry th e act ion torch for Cri mson Tid e (1 995), Broken Arro w (1 996), Th e P ea ce-maker (19 97), Mi ssio n: Impos sibl e 2 (2000 ), an d Gla diat or (20 00). He expl ained his t hink ing behi nd the latt er: ‘All t he acti on sequences, the bat-tl es, came from s itt ing up to my ankles in mu d in th is tent which was l ike a palace wit h all t hese beau tifu l scul ptures aroun d me i n gol d. Ridl ey Scot t expl ained th at M arcu s Aureliu s fo ught thi s battl e for som ethi ng li ke 17 years and he wou ld actuall y have these bu sts and art work all aroun d him . Th e th ing th at we lo ve abo ut th e Rom an civ ili zat ion i s t he el eg an ce of the arch itectu re an d t he art. All of i t w as at my feet , pl us thi s b lood -s oaked eart h. I had thi s crazy i dea to fi nd th e mos t form al and b eaut iful mus ical form that I cou ld t hin k of whi ch woul d reflect thi s beaut y. I s uddenl y th ough t of Vienn es e walt zes, wh ich are so happy and gay wit h a veneer of cult ure att ached to th em . So I m ade wal tzes for the b at tl e scenes w hich are in credi bly savage.’ Th e cros s-pol lin ation of i deas and mus ical form s l ike th es e res ult ed in Z im mer’s appoi ntm ent as Head of Mu sic when the Dream-work s SKG st udi o was fou nded i n th e mi d-90s.
Several in dust ry factors have i nfluenced, affected, an d resul ted fro m the M V s cenario . M ost perti nent is the final sou nd m ix . ‘It's not hard t o do rig ht,’ claim s Danny El fm an. ‘It 's j ust h ard th e way th ings are d one today.
Fil ms now are so nically su ch clu ttered mess es . M usi c and sou nd effect s peop le are all doin g t he sam e thi ngs for th e same m om ents of fil m. The di recto rs do n't un derstand how to separat e th e two aft er the fact, so you get a li tt le of bo th al l th e tim e. Yo u get these cl uttered m ons ters, wh ich i s abou t 85 % t o 90% o f Ho lly wood m ovi es today. The big ger t he budg et , it'll b e a so nic catast rophe.’ A case i n po int wou ld be Ar magedd on, where nearl y every review m ade men tion of th e sheer vol ume o f n ois e.
There are sadly many other exam ples o f tamp eri ng o r stud io i nterferen ce th at have h ind ered t he fil m com po ser’s craft at th e tail en d of the 20 th Cen-tu ry. The sys tem i s now hi ghly reli an t on the result s of test screening s, where a rand om grou ping of cinem ag oers i s em powered t o tickb ox as pect s of a fi lm int o bei ng chang ed . Thi s o ft en leads to re-sh ooti ng fo otage, wh ich of cou rs e means mus ical edi ts o r comp lete re-scoring of scenes. Worse st il l, it can lead t o w hat’s kn own as a ‘t oss ed s co re’ if t oo many vot ers con sider
th e m us ic uns uppo rt ive. Replacement scores, nearly always by a di fferen t com pos er, are s omet hing collecto rs increasing ly d es pair at. Th ere have been scatt ered i nstances of th is i n years g one by. Si r Wi lli am Walt on’s rep lace-m en t by Ro n Good win o n Bat tl e Of Bri tai n was lace-m enti oned in Ch ap ter 4.
Goo dwin also repl aced H en ry Manci ni o n Hit ch cock’s Frenzy (197 2). Yet i t go t t o th e poin t d uring the 9 0s t hat wi thd rawi ng b ig name com pos ers ’ work was co mm onp lace. For ex am pl e i n 1 998, Enni o M orricone was repl aced by M ichael Kam en for W hat Dreams May Come, and Jo hn Barry by Jo hn Ot t-m an on G oodb ye Lover.
One t ech nolo gical ad vancem ent that’s p ro ved dam aging on many film scores is d igi tal edi tin g. Al tho ugh a b lessi ng for fi lm makers t o wo rk fas t and m eet rel eas e d ead lines , it h as played h av oc wit h scores havi ng t o stay i n cons tant fl ux u p t o th e l ast m in ute as scen es change in leng th and sequence.
One of t he b iggest v ictim s of this was Jo hn Wi lli ams’s Th e Pha ntom Men-ace i n 19 99. As h int ed at i n Chapt er 5 , i n com bin at ion wit h t he com poser’s
One of t he b iggest v ictim s of this was Jo hn Wi lli ams’s Th e Pha ntom Men-ace i n 19 99. As h int ed at i n Chapt er 5 , i n com bin at ion wit h t he com poser’s