Composing : Music in Cinematography by Thomas Dison

I agree. One of my big theta inspirations for writing is music. I’ve heard songs from my favorite bands that have given me inspiration for entire projects.

I get most of my inspiration from indie rock bands

I feel like often the score is like another character in the film.

Brian: true dat. Martin Scorsese says the same thing, in his interview on TCM when Mean Streets airs.

Everybody on the crew is a team member, important and there for a reason. However, the two most critical factors/participants are the script and the actors. Everything else imho is there to support those two. Everything else should be as transparent as possible. From a music standpoint you want the audience to remember they liked it, perhaps even hum the films theme if there is one, but forget about it just like they do the foley and sound effects during the action. I don't actually feel complimented when someone tells me that the music is better than everything else in the film. There have been many wonderful films with no or almost no music at all. A great example would be "Cast Away (2000)". As I recollect until tom hanks returns there is only one very short cue. Music wasn't necessary to make this film great - the script and the acting did.

Some of my fave composers (copied from another topic, and in no particular order.)

2. Nino Rota (fave scores include the Fellini films, and The Godfather trilogy)

3. Bernard Herrmann (fave scores include Citizen Kane, Psycho, Taxi Driver)

4. Vangelis (fave scores include Blade Runner, 1492, Missing)

5. Dimitri Tiomkin (fave scores include High Noon, the Frank Capra fiilms)

6. Clint Mansell (fave scores include Pi, Requiem for a Dream, Loving Vincent, Black Swan)

7. Max Steiner (fave scores include Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, King Kong)

8. Miklos Rozsa (fave scores include Spellbound, Madame Bovary, El Cid)

9. John Barry (fave scores include the James Bond films, Born Free, Dances with Wolves)

10. James Horner (fave scores include Titanic, Avatar, Aliens, Braveheart)

11. Danny Elfman (fave scores include the Tim Burton films)

12. Hans Zimmer (fave scores include The Lion King, Gladiator, the Dark Knight Trilogy)

13. Elmer Bernstein (fave scores include The Man with the Golden Arm, Walk on the Wild Side, The Magnificent Seven, To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal House, Ghostbusters, Airplane)

14. John Williams (fave scores include Jaws, ET, Star Wars, Schindler's List)

15 Howard Shore (fave scores include Gangs of New York, High Fidelity, Crash, Silence of the Lambs)

16. Terence Blanchard (fave scores include Inside Man, 25th Hour, Love and Basketball, Clockers, Gia)

Those sure are/were some great composers, and my list doesn't include musicals or soundtracks that are collections of pop songs. Great topic, Thomas!

Check 'Under the Skin' for a score by Mica Levi that serves as one of the cast. Maybe even as 2nd lead.

What do you think about bands doing original soundtracks?

Excellent list Bill. Thomas, when I think of bands creating original soundtracks, I think of Queen with "Flash Gordon" and "Highlander" - epic rock opera. Quadrophenia by The Who too!

I do love Queen, they’re in my top 5. Lately though I’ve been leaving he rock scene and looking more at indie bands.

Consider listening to Julee Cruise... her music provided the eerie, lilting, supernatural soundtrack to David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" - back in da day.

To me, the best "band doing an original soundtrack" was Goblin doing Suspiria. It just adds so much to the overall vibe of the original. It would have been a completely different movie without it.

My personal favorite was Huey Lewis and the News I’m Back to the Future.

I'd rank Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" as the best composed soundtrack by a pop musician. I'd also put Isaac Hayes' "Shaft" up there, and Neil Young's "Dead Man", Richard Thompson's "Grizzly Man"...aw man, that one kills me...the Radiohead guitarist did "There Will Be Blood"....Curtis again for "Superfly, cuz he deserves it twice....RZA from Wu Tang did "Kill Bill", "Ghost Dog" and many more....Karen O from the Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's did Where the Wild Things Are.....Devotchka did "Little Miss Sunshine".....One of the fathers of punk...Jonathan Richman's work in "There's Something about Mary"....Ry Cooder's "Paris, Texas"..that's a great one....Nick Cave and Warren did "The Assassination of Jesse James"....The Dust Brothers did "Fight Club"....so many more.....the Devo dude...Peter Gabriel....Danny Elfman....Clint Manzell from Pop Will Eat Itself....Trent Reznor....etc...etc....

As I'm new to STAGE32 don't take me too seriously but recently as I watch a movie I find that the less popular the score I tend to soul search a little more. Pete

OK - I went to see Mary Poppins Returns tonight (score was golden globe nominated). Mark Shaiman has been my favorite composer for years (Alan Silvestri is a close second). This is a composer who is one of the tops in the game for orchestral scores but he has written award winning music for Broadway Theater (e.g., Hairspray) and TV (e.g., Smash). And in Mary Poppins Returns I believe he raised his own bar and outdid himself. He masterfully combines elegant film cue scoring with fast moving choreographed theatrical music played and heard the same way as you would hear if sitting watching live in a Broadway theater. It all sounds so seamless along with encore repetitions of the thematic and song melodies. He also composed the music for all the songs in the film - I can't decide which one I like the most :)

Even if you are not a fan of a Disney film or think the screenplay is weak, if you want to hear great composing - especially for a musical film, check out this film - even if you go just for the music.

Brian, as Italian I know perfectly Goblin and its amazing scores. Innovative for the period and an impressive added quality to the entire movie production from Dario Argento that probably would not have the actual number of fans without that score.