I was originally going to do a Random Corner post on the Olympics, but because there was a tiny corner of that that would have turned into a rant (don't get me wrong -- I love the Olympics, but the French and the Americans both did things that annoyed me with their channels and I don't want to annoy anybody with that... yet, at any rate), I didn't. Then I didn't have my computer for most of the Olympics, and then I went on a family holiday without my laptop, then my laptop died, and now I finally have a new one. And the Olympics are over. I might do the Paralympics next week. If I do Random Corner next week. Or I might do the ten most brilliant generals of all time. Or something else. I don't know yet.
Anyway, this one is on totally awesome film composers.
As a writer, and, in particular, a fantasy writer, I listen to a lot of film music. And when I say "a lot", I mean that most of my iTunes is taken up by film music. When I'm writing something that's not fantasy-based, I'll usually listen to pop or alternative music. But I just find film music that much more emotive to write to than anything else (okay, I grant you, some music from the Romantic and Classical era is extremely emotive too). Come on, I mean, what's more inspiring to write a battle scene to than The Battle theme from Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for Gladiator? Is there anything that puts you in more of a mushy romantic frame of mind than the sweeping string theme for the romance in Raiders of the Lost Ark?
Seriously, soundtrack composers are amazing. They make or break films with their music. Not just that, but often, they don't get that much time to write a soundtrack, and then a director will come along when it's all perfected and say, "oh, we've cut five seconds out of this scene here; could you alter the score?" Apparently John Williams -- though others must be like him -- will just stand there at the conductor's podium for a few seconds, then say something like, "Okay, trumpets: take out bar thirty-five and make bar thirty-four a three-two time bar. Repeat the long note. Flutes, double the strings. Percussion, let's have something more like this *demonstrates*, and oboes, why don't we change that particular bit to *whistles what he wants it to change to*?" And it's all back on track. Literally within seconds.
So now I'm going to single out my five favourite film composers, because their stuff is well worth listening to, even if you don't watch the films.
5. Ron Goodwin. This guy can't fail to be on the list. Composer of the soundtracks of many of the best war films, such as 633 Squadron, Battle of Britain and Where Eagles Dare (by far my favourite -- watch the opening part with the fight on the cable car and just listen to that music), alongside other films (e.g. Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines and the Miss Marple movies), I don't think there's anybody that beats this guy for his soundtracks for war films. Many of those films themselves are fantastic. Apparently he was also unfailingly nice. He died aged 77 in 2003. But he's still the best of the war film generation composers. We were fortunate enough to play some of his stuff in the school orchestra. Did I mention how awesome Where Eagles Dare is? That raises the hairs on the back of your neck when you're playing it.
4. Howard Shore. This man is probably most famous for his Lord of the Rings scores. I know he's scored other things (...like the third Twilight movie...), and I have to admit I haven't really listened to those, but his Lord of the Rings scores are just so fabulous it's hardly true. I remember watching the first twenty minutes of the first film in silence because the speakers were malfunctioning, and boy, was it so different without the music. (For those of you who don't know me, I'm an absolute Lord of the Rings boffin and know the soundtrack backwards.) We used to listen to the CDs of the soundtracks during the school runs. Even my mother didn't get bored of hearing them on repeat. He's still going strong, and I want to see him scoring for another fantasy movie, because that would be awesome.
3. Hans Zimmer, what can I say about Hans Zimmer? His compositions are often very percussive for strings, which can be hell to play (and yes, I've played some of his stuff), but sounds amazing. He's most famous for the Pirates of the Caribbean scores and the Gladiator soundtrack, although he also did the soundtrack for The Da Vinci Code, which was so different from the other two I thought my CD was lying to me. I love, love, love the Gladiator soundtrack. Particularly the number entitled "The Battle". We wanted to play it at school, but it was vetoed by our conductor and we did Pirates of the Caribbean instead. (Life's not all bad.) Seriously, if any of my books were published and subsequently turned into films, I would most definitely not be complaining if this guy composed the soundtracks (although the likelihood of all this happening is sadly very slim). He just nails music for adventure and battle scenes. In my opinion, he'll probably be the one who takes over as the next-generation (if you get what I mean by that) film composer. And by that, I mean, the main composer for the next generation of films.
2. Ennio Morricone. Wow, now, this guy was just a film-composer genius. Probably the original amazing film composer that everybody knew about, although we're now a generation on. Even if you think you haven't heard of this guy, you are bound to know some of his music, whether it's the theme from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly or something from one of the Westerns he did. My favourite track of his is the theme from For a Few Dollars More. (Go youtube it.)
1. And last, but most certainly not least, because he's my favourite of the lot, John Williams. If film music is recognisable for its triplets and perfect fifths, then this guy's music is the epitome of that. Just listen to the opening of the Star Wars theme, Superman, Raiders March... and those are his most famous. This guy has been going strong since the sixties(well, technically, 1959) -- and wow, what amazing music. He's just turned eighty, and apparently he intends to keep going with his amazing music rather than retiring. (Go JW! Go JW!) One of his most recent famous compositions has got to be the soundtrack for the first three Harry Potter movies, but he's done so many films it's hardly true. He has a good working relationship with Stephen Spielberg and has scored almost every single one of the guy's films (I think there are only two he hasn't done, actually). But boy, are those scores beautiful. He would be my dream composer for a film score if my books ever got published and turned into films, but sadly, I don't think that dream would come true. He recently did the score for War Horse and the new Tintin movie, but my favourite score of his is from The Witches of Eastwick. The film is little known, but the soundtrack... words cannot describe its awesomeness. (I just wish we'd had a chance to play more of his stuff at school.)
