10 Facts About Today

#21 - Film Scores | April 3, 2020

Episode Summary

How many people are responsible for the most famous film scores? Can a composer dream up a score? Where were film scores invented? Let’s find out because today is National Film Score Day.

Episode Notes

10 Facts About Today - Podcast

April 03, 2020 - 10 Facts About Film Scores.

Today is National Film Score day. 

Here are 10 intense facts about film scores that you didn’t know, that you didn’t need to know:

1. It’s said that film scores weren’t originally artistic, they were needed to drown the noise made by the projector.
   1. In those times,  there were no sound-absorbent walls between the projection machine and the auditorium.
2. Up until 1929, many film scores were performed live by real musicians
   1. either a pianist improvises to the film or a small ensemble of musicians performs a classical piece
   2. During silent film
3. Many scores are reused.
   1. Nino Rota was eliminated from Oscar competition, because he had used the "Theme from THE GODFATHER" in a previous score.
4. Hans Zimmer claimed to have heard an important musical segment from The Dark Knight Rises (2012) in a dream.
   1. “I dreamt that whole sort of insane Bane opus. And, so I wrote it out, and went to Warner Brothers and said 'You know, I had this idea, and I don’t know if it’s going to work,'”
5. Max Steiner, “The Father of Film Music” Steiner made first use of leitmotif (late motif) in 1933 score for King Kong.
   1. A Late Motif is a recurrent piece of music associated with a particular person, idea, or situation.
   2. Probably the best known leitmotif in film is John Williams' shark leitmotif in Jaws.
6. JAWS, Star Wars, and Harry Potter were all composed by the same composer:
   1. John Williams
   2. He also composed E.T., Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, and Superman (81)
7. The Imperial March wasn’t originally in Star Wars
   1. Darth Vader's Theme
   2. wasn't actually written until the second film
   3. You won’t hear it in a New Hope
8. The soundtrack to the Exorcist contains the sounds of angry bees
   1. It was an attempt to make the sound track scarier
   2. The buzzing of bees triggers an innate fear response in most people
   3. They also included ominous industrial sounds
9. The famous murder scene for Psycho was originally planned to be without music
   1. Made by Bernard Herrmann
   2. Is now known as the definitive sound of horror music
10. The score for Braveheart did not have any bagpi pes
    1. They are actually Irish Uillean Pipes (ill in)
    2. The main player of these pipes was also featured in the titanic soundtrack