Showing posts with label James Horner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Horner. Show all posts

A Major Contribution To Horror And Science Fiction Movies: The Soundtrack

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] James Horner composing music for a soundtrack to a movie.[/caption]

You know I will be honest with you and say that one of the biggest contributions that the music industry has given to the world of film, rather it be on the big screen or on the small screen is the, 'Soundtrack'!

You might be asking yourself though... Well what about, 'Musicals'? Well the truth is, is that there are some great musicals out there, I am going to have to say though that Soundtracks really take the cake when it comes to the more important of contributions... There are a couple of reasons for this:

1. Universally, rather it be on the big screen or on the small screen Soundtracks compliment the movies or TV series that they are supposed to go to pretty nicely!

2. Now this is just my opinion, but almost every musical TV episode, or music based TV show that I have ever scene has always and so far from what I can tell, will always universally suck!

And this is pretty universally true for the horror & science fiction genre as well!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Believe it or not, a truly fun soundtrack![/caption]

What I mean by this is that rather it be on the small screen or on the big screen, Soundtracks tend to play an extremely important role in the production they are connected to. A couple of great examples of this:

A: Psycho (1960): Universally, the arrangement that music composer, 'Bernard Hermann' put together for this classic horror/thriller by: Alfred Hitchcock (Vertigo) was so well made that in a lot of respects, I think with out this maestro's work, this movie would never have become the insane cultural icon that it is today!

B: Star Trek... I know, I know, I do tend to use this example an awful lot, but it is true! I mean no matter who the composer or musicians are, who are associated with the latest movie or TV series, generally speaking truly help make the movie the historic epic that we all see on the big screen!

Now those are a couple of great examples of some soundtracks that have totally helped make these Horror or Science Fiction movies the true masterpieces that they were when they first came out, and the cultural icons they are today!

And there is another side of soundtracks that I thought that I would mention here that are really important... That is the talent they bring in to work on these movies!

Rather they be composers like, 'John Williams' (Jaws), or heavy metal super stars like, 'Rob Zombie' (Halloween), producers generally bring in some truly amazing talent! A couple of examples are as follows:

John Williams' score from, Star Wars - Episode 3: A New Hope (1977):

http://youtu.be/2Mo0dSHFGPg

Rob Zombie's 'House Of 1,000 Corpses' from the movie he directed with the same title:

http://youtu.be/WT_f2UFNj3U

Charles Bernstein's famous score from, A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984):

http://youtu.be/tn_DjzN8410

Top 5 Sci-Fi Film Composers

I never really thought about it to much, but I was recently listening to a remix version of some of the classic, Star Wars music, and I got to thinking about some of the truly great compositions that some of these world famous Composers have done that have made science fiction cinema history... And you know what? I realized that there was quite a few of them!

In the end this was real tough for me to narrow down, but I thought that I would list out those that I would consider to be the top 5 movie Composers who did some truly great science fiction movie scores!

so here we got...

At number 5: David Arnold (Stargate).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] David Arnold who composed the classic music for, 'Stargate' (1994).[/caption]

Now besides working on the sound track for the classic original, 'Stargate' movie, he has also worked on the music for such movies as, Quantum Of Solace (2008), Grindhouse (2007), and Independence Day (1996).

At number 4: Brad Fiedel (The Terminator).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320"] Brad Fieldel - Film Composer.[/caption]

This guy has been a power house musician, having worked on both Horror and Science Fiction films as, Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1994), Fright Night (1985), Johnny Mnemonic (1995) to name a few!

At number 3: James Horner (Avatar).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Legendary film composer, 'James Horner.'[/caption]

What can I say about this guy, he is pretty bad ass, I mean he scored some of Hollywood's most recently history making films, including: Titanic (1997) & Avatar (2009), so of course I had to include him in this list!

At number 2: Jerry Goldsmith (Star Trek: Nemesis).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Legendary Film Composer, 'Jerry Goldsmith.'[/caption]

For me this guy is a true legend, I mean I love the work that this guy has done in both Science Fiction and Horror! Including such films as: Poltergeist (1982), The Omen (1976), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and Outland (1981) and that is to name just a few!

At number 1: John Williams (Raiders Of The Lost Ark).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="576"] Legendary film composer, 'John Williams.'[/caption]

I know it sounds pretty cheesy and kind of the most obvious choice to pick for a science fiction movie composer, but some times the most obvious picks are the best, and in truth, in my opinion John Williams is by far the best most influential Science Fiction movie composer of all time, having composed some of the best music that has transcended time, such classic as the, 'Star Wars' score, the, 'Indiana Jones', score, the score for the first 2, 'Jaws' movies, 'Close Encounters Of the Third Kind', and that is a very small cross section of this guys prolific career!

Now there is a lot of other worthy composers out there that have done some truly amazing work on some truly amazing films, but in truth, these are the one's that I believe to be the best because they have helped compose music for some of the most influential Science Fiction films to come out of Hollywood!

http://youtu.be/A1OfX-0Q0tY

http://youtu.be/5WeO5ZxdCYM

http://youtu.be/xtVyu-A3vkY

http://youtu.be/s_F09jwNJtk

http://youtu.be/Jm8A9bHAaJs