91-773: Elmer Bernstein ( / ˈ b ɜːr n s t iː n / BURN -steen ; April 4, 1922 – August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 original film scores , as well as scores for nearly 80 television productions. For his work, he received an Academy Award for Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) and Primetime Emmy Award . He also received seven Golden Globe Awards , five Grammy Awards , and two Tony Award nominations. He composed and arranged scores for over 100 film scores, including Sudden Fear (1952), The Man with
182-457: A symphony orchestra ) or band, instrumental soloists, and choir or vocalists – known as playback singers – and recorded by a sound engineer . The term is less frequently applied to music written for media such as live theatre , television and radio programs, and video games , and said music is typically referred to as either the soundtrack or incidental music . Film scores encompass an enormous variety of styles of music, depending on
273-532: A "source cue") comes from an on screen source that can actually be seen or that can be inferred (in academic film theory such music is called " diegetic " music, as it emanates from the " diegesis " or "story world"). An example of "source music" is the use of the Frankie Valli song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" in Michael Cimino 's The Deer Hunter . Alfred Hitchcock 's 1963 thriller The Birds
364-728: A Nation (a sequel to The Birth of a Nation ) and Camille Saint-Saëns ' music for The Assassination of the Duke of Guise in 1908. It was preceded by Nathaniel D. Mann 's score for The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays by four months, but that was a mixture of interrelated stage and film performance in the tradition of old magic lantern shows. Most accompaniments at this time, these examples notwithstanding, comprised pieces by famous composers, also including studies. These were often used to form catalogues of photoplay music , which had different subsections broken down by 'mood' and genre: dark, sad, suspense, action, chase, etc. German cinema , which
455-484: A background chord. Though "the scoring of narrative features during the 1940s lagged decades behind technical innovations in the field of concert music," the 1950s saw the rise of the modernist film score. Director Elia Kazan was open to the idea of jazz influences and dissonant scoring and worked with Alex North, whose score for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) combined dissonance with elements of blues and jazz. Kazan also approached Leonard Bernstein to score On
546-458: A character's car radio), are not considered part of the score, although the score's composer will occasionally write an original pop song based on their themes, such as James Horner 's " My Heart Will Go On " from Titanic , written for Celine Dion . A film score may also be called a background score , background music , film soundtrack , film music , screen composition , screen music , or incidental music . The composer usually enters
637-452: A companion documentary on the DVD, Spielberg gave Williams complete freedom with the music and asked him to record the cue without pictures; Spielberg then re-edited the scene later to match the music. In some circumstances, a composer will be asked to write music based on their impressions of the script or storyboards without seeing the film itself and has more freedom to create music without
728-501: A concert pianist between 1939 and 1950 and wrote numerous classical compositions, including three orchestral suites, two song cycles, various compositions for viola and piano and for solo piano, and a string quartet. As president of the Young Musicians Foundation, Bernstein became acquainted with classical guitarist Christopher Parkening and wrote a Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, which Parkening recorded with
819-531: A dancer and an actor, in the latter case playing the part of Caliban in The Tempest on Broadway , and he also won several prizes for his painting. He attended Manhattan's progressive Walden School and gravitated toward music. At the age of 12 he was awarded a piano scholarship by Henriette Michelson, a Juilliard teacher who guided him throughout his entire career as a pianist. She took him to play some of his improvisations for composer Aaron Copland , who
910-413: A defining genre of classical music in the late 20th century, if only because it is the brand of classical music heard more often than any other. In some cases, film themes have become accepted into the canon of classical music . These are mostly works from already noted composers who have done scores; for instance, Sergei Prokofiev 's score to Alexander Nevsky , or Vaughan Williams ' score to Scott of
1001-404: A fee. Sometimes called library music, the music is owned by production music libraries and licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media. Examples of firms include Warner Chappell Production Music, Jingle Punks, Associated Production Music, FirstCom Music, VideoHelper and Extreme Music. Unlike popular and classical music publishers, who typically own less than 50 percent of
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#17327796446651092-406: A film score been released on CD. The origins of film music are disputed, although they are generally considered to have aesthetic roots in various media forms associated with nineteenth-century Romanticism . According to Kurt London , film music "began not as a result of any artistic urge, but from a dire need of something which would drown the noise made by the projector. For in those times there
1183-470: A hybrid of orchestral and electronic instruments. Since the invention of digital technology and audio sampling , many modern films have been able to rely on digital samples to imitate the sound of acoustic instruments, and many scores are created and performed wholly by the composers themselves, by using music composition software , synthesizers, samplers, and MIDI controllers . Songs such as pop songs and rock songs are usually not considered part of
1274-629: A lasting place in U.S. college sports culture. In 1968, University of South Carolina football head coach Paul Dietzel wrote new lyrics to "Step to the Rear", from How Now, Dow Jones . The South Carolina version of the tune, " The Fighting Gamecocks Lead the Way ", has been the school's fight song ever since. Along with many other artists in Hollywood , Bernstein faced censure during the McCarthy era of
1365-417: A leeway of 3–4 frames late or early allows the composer to be extremely accurate. Using a technique called Free Timing, a conductor will use either ( a ) a stopwatch or studio size stop clock, or ( b ) watch the film on a screen or video monitor while conducting the musicians to predetermined timings. These are represented visually by vertical lines (streamers) and bursts of light called punches. These are put on
1456-412: A major influence on their own forays into film scoring. When sound came to movies, director Fritz Lang barely used music in his movies anymore. Apart from Peter Lorre whistling a short piece from Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt , Lang's movie M – Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder was lacking musical accompaniment completely and Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse only included one original piece written for
1547-449: A metronome value (e.g. 88 Bpm). A composer would use a written click if he or she planned to conduct live performers. When using other methods such as a metronome, the conductor has a perfectly spaced audible click playing. This can yield stiff and lifeless performances in slower more expressive cues. A standard BPM value can be converted to a written click where X represents the number of beats per bar and W represents time in seconds by using
1638-525: A mixing of original compositions (in this case by Giuseppe Becce ) and library music / folk tunes, which were artistically included into the score by the composer. Much of this influence can be traced further back to German Romantic forms of music. Richard Wagner 's ideas on Gesamtkunstwerk and leitmotif in his operas were later picked up on by prominent film composer Max Steiner . Steiner and his contemporary Erich Korngold both immigrated from Vienna, bringing with them musical structures and ideologies of
1729-476: A number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues , which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to enhance the dramatic narrative and the emotional impact of the scene in question. Scores are written by one or more composers under the guidance of or in collaboration with the film's director or producer and are then most often performed by an ensemble of musicians – usually including an orchestra (most likely
1820-415: A same director. John Williams ' professional relationship with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas is one of the most prominent in film history, with Williams scoring all but five of Spielberg's films, and all the installments of both of Lucas' blockbuster franchises ( Star Wars and Indiana Jones ); Williams won all five of his Oscars in his collaborations with the two. Additionally, Danny Elfman did
1911-545: A score that plays almost continuously throughout. In some instances, film composers have been asked by the director to imitate a specific composer or style present in the temp track. On other occasions, directors have become so attached to the temp score that they decide to use it and reject the original score written by the film composer. One of the most famous cases is Stanley Kubrick 's 2001: A Space Odyssey , where Kubrick opted for existing recordings of classical works, including pieces by composer György Ligeti rather than
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#17327796446652002-857: A suburb of Santa Barbara, California . Later, they moved to a home in Ojai, California , where Bernstein died of cancer on August 18, 2004. His publicist Cathy Mouton simply stated at the time that Bernstein had died following a lengthy illness. He was survived by his wife Eve and their two daughters, Emilie and Elizabeth; by his two sons, Peter and Gregory Bernstein, from his earlier marriage to Pearl Glusman; and by five grandchildren. Bernstein considered these artists as influences on his work: Benny Goodman , Count Basie , Dimitri Tiomkin , Duke Ellington , Erich Wolfgang Korngold , Franz Waxman , Miklós Rózsa , Jimmie Lunceford , Max Steiner , Victor Young , Aaron Copland , Bernard Herrmann , Nino Rota , Roger Sessions , Stefan Wolpe . Composers who have acknowledged
2093-532: A teenager, Citkowitz studied composition with Aaron Copland and Roger Sessions . He traveled to Paris to study counterpoint with Nadia Boulanger . From 1927 to 1929, Citkowitz was a member of Shakespeare and Company . During the 1930s, Citkowitz published music criticism in Modern Music and Musical Mercury . Among his pieces was the first English-language introduction to Schenker's ideas, The Role of Heinrich Schenker . In 1939, Citkowitz
2184-505: A unique and grabbing sound that create a memorable scene. One example of this is in the "Lord of The Rings" score where Howard Shore used specific melodic idea to refer to The Shire using a tin flute to evoke a Celtic feel. He does this many times through all three films in the trilogy to refer back when a character is feeling nostalgic or reminiscent ( Lawson, Macdonald ,2018). In other scores you'll find not only original orchestration but also an incorporation of popular music, that represents
2275-672: Is John Williams ' score for the Star Wars saga, and the numerous themes in Star Wars music associated with individual characters such as Darth Vader , Luke Skywalker , and Princess Leia . Similarly, the music of the Lord of the Rings film series featured recurring themes for many main characters and places. Another notable example is Jerry Goldsmith 's Klingon theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), which later composers in
2366-509: Is an example of a Hollywood film with no non-diegetic music whatsoever. Dogme 95 is a filmmaking movement, started in Denmark in 1995, with a manifesto that prohibits any use of non-diegetic music in its films. The artistic merits of film music are frequently debated. Some critics value it highly, pointing to music such as that written by Erich Wolfgang Korngold , Aaron Copland , Bernard Herrmann , and others. Some consider film music to be
2457-450: Is capable of performing the music as written, and even allowing them to introduce performance techniques and flourishes to enhance the score. In many cases, time constraints determined by the film's post-production schedule dictate whether composers orchestrate their own scores, as it is often impossible for the composer to complete all the required tasks within the time frame allowed. Over the years several orchestrators have become linked to
2548-401: Is known as "spotting". Occasionally, a filmmaker will actually edit their film to fit the flow of music, rather than have the composer edit their score to the final cut. Director Godfrey Reggio edited his films Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi based on composer Philip Glass 's music. Similarly, the relationship between director Sergio Leone and composer Ennio Morricone was such that
2639-578: Is known for his work on the comedic films Animal House (1978), Meatballs (1979), Airplane! (1980), The Blues Brothers (1980), Stripes (1981), Trading Places (1983), Ghostbusters (1984), Spies Like Us (1985), and Three Amigos (1986). He also worked on frequent collaborations with directors Martin Scorsese , Robert Mulligan , John Landis , Ivan Reitman , John Sturges , Bill Duke , George Roy Hill , Richard Fleischer , John Frankenheimer , and Henry Hathaway . Bernstein
2730-418: Is required for the film in terms of style and tone. The director and composer will watch the entire film, taking note of which scenes require original music. During this process, composers will take precise timing notes so that they know how long each cue needs to last, where it begins, where it ends, and of particular moments during a scene with which the music may need to coincide in a specific way. This process
2821-605: The Star Trek film series quoted in their Klingon motifs, and which was included on numerous occasions as a theme for Worf , the franchise's most prominent Klingon character. Michael Giacchino employed character themes in the soundtrack for the 2009 animated film Up , for which he received the Academy Award for Best Score. His orchestral soundtrack for the television series Lost also depended heavily on character and situation-specific themes. " Source music " (or
Elmer Bernstein - Misplaced Pages Continue
2912-506: The American Film Institute as the eighth and seventeenth greatest American film scores of all time, respectively, on the list of AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores . Bernstein, Bernard Herrmann , Max Steiner , and Jerry Goldsmith are the only composers to have two scores listed, and are therefore in second place for the most scores on the list, behind John Williams , who has three. Other Bernstein film scores nominated for
3003-716: The London Symphony Orchestra (performing film music since 1935) the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (an orchestra dedicated mostly to recording), the BBC Philharmonic , and the Northwest Sinfonia . The orchestra performs in front of a large screen depicting the film, The conductor and musicians habitually wear headphones that sound a series of clicks called a "click-track" that changes with meter and tempo, assisting to synchronize
3094-740: The London Symphony Orchestra under Bernstein's baton for the Angel label in 1999. In addition, Bernstein was a professor at the University of Southern California 's Thornton School of Music and conductor of the San Fernando Valley Symphony in the early 1970s. Bernstein was married three times, first to Rhoda Federgreen. Their marriage lasted from 1942 to 1946. Bernstein's second wife was Pearl Glusman, whom he wed in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, on December 21, 1946. After
3185-578: The Primetime Emmy Award for his score of The Making of The President 1960 . He is the recipient of Western Heritage Awards for The Magnificent Seven (1960) and The Hallelujah Trail (1965). Additional honors included lifetime achievement awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Society for
3276-645: The 1958 film adaptation of Erskine Caldwell 's novel God's Little Acre . He had a lifelong enthusiasm for an even wider spectrum of the arts than his childhood interests would imply and, in 1959, when he was scoring The Story on Page One , he considered becoming a novelist and asked the film's screenwriter, Clifford Odets , to give him lessons in writing fiction. Bernstein wrote the theme songs or other music for more than 200 films and TV shows, including The Magnificent Seven , The Great Escape , The Ten Commandments (1956), Johnny Staccato (1959 TV Theme and Capitol Records album) received little attention in
3367-456: The Antarctic . Others see the great bulk of film music as meritless. They consider that much film music is derivative, borrowing heavily from previous works. Composers of film scores typically can produce about three or four per year. The most popular works by composers such as John Williams are still far from entering the accepted classical canon, although there is a growing appreciation for
3458-615: The English writer and heir to the Guinness beer fortune, Lady Caroline Blackwood , 22 years his junior. They had three daughters: Natalya, Eugenia , and Ivana, born after they separated. The couple divorced in 1972. A deathbed admission by Blackwood revealed that their daughter Ivana Lowell, was not Citkowitz's child, but was fathered by her lover, screenwriter Ivan Moffat . On 22 June 1978, Natalya, Citkowitz's eldest daughter with Blackwood, died at age 17 from postural asphyxia due to
3549-489: The Golden Arm (1955), The Ten Commandments (1956), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), The Magnificent Seven (1960), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), The World of Henry Orient (1964), The Great Escape (1963), Hud (1963), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), True Grit (1969), My Left Foot (1989), The Grifters (1990), Cape Fear (1991), Twilight (1998), and Far from Heaven (2002). He
3640-689: The Preservation of Film Music , the US, Woodstock, Santa Barbara, Newport Beach and Flanders International Film Festivals and the Foundation for a Creative America. In 1996, Bernstein was honored with a star on Hollywood Boulevard . In 1999, he received an honorary Doctorate of Music from Five Towns College in New York and was honored by the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Bernstein again
3731-613: The US but the single went to #4 in Britain, True Grit , The Man with the Golden Arm , To Kill a Mockingbird , Robot Monster , Ghostbusters , Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965), and the fanfare used in the National Geographic television specials. His theme for The Magnificent Seven is also familiar to television viewers, as it was used in commercials for Marlboro cigarettes. Bernstein also provided
Elmer Bernstein - Misplaced Pages Continue
3822-635: The Waterfront (1954) and the result was reminiscent of earlier works by Aaron Copland and Igor Stravinsky with its "jazz-based harmonies and exciting additive rhythms." A year later, Leonard Rosenman , inspired by Arnold Schoenberg , experimented with atonality in his scores for East of Eden (1955) and Rebel Without a Cause (1955). In his ten-year collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock , Bernard Herrmann experimented with ideas in Vertigo (1958) and Psycho (1960). The use of non-diegetic jazz
3913-465: The broader contribution of composers such as Williams among some classical composers and critics; for example, the Norwegian contemporary classical composer Marcus Paus has said that he considers Williams to be "one of the great composers of any century" who has "found a very satisfying way of embodying dissonance and avant-garde techniques within a larger tonal framework" and who "might also have come
4004-430: The capacity that they had no need to mask the sounds of a projector mechanism. As these early films began to move out of exhibition spaces and into vaudeville theaters, the role of film began to shift as well. Given that vaudeville theaters typically employed musicians, it is likely that this is the point when it became commonplace for film to be accompanied by music. Audiences at the time would have come to expect music in
4095-427: The closest of any composer to realizing the old Schoenbergian utopia that children of the future would be whistling 12-tone rows." Even so, considering they are often the most popular modern compositions of classical music known to the general public, major orchestras sometimes perform concerts of such music , as do pops orchestras . In 1983, a non-profit organization, the Society for the Preservation of Film Music ,
4186-493: The copyright in a composition, music production libraries own all of the copyrights of their music, meaning that it can be licensed without seeking the composer's permission, as is necessary in licensing music from normal publishers. This is because virtually all music created for music libraries is done on a work for hire basis. Production music is therefore a very convenient medium for media producers – they can be assured that they will be able to license any piece of music in
4277-597: The couple's divorce in 1965, Bernstein married Eve Adamson. They remained together for 39 years, until his death. In the 1960s, Bernstein was an owner in the Triad Stable Thoroughbred racing partnership, named for a music term . His partners included his assistant, Robert Helfer, and the wife of the Triad Stable's trainer Morton Lipton. The Bernsteins in the 1990s resided in Hope Ranch ,
4368-432: The creative process towards the end of filming at around the same time as the film is being edited , although on some occasions the composer is on hand during the entire film shoot, especially when actors are required to perform with or be aware of original diegetic music. The composer is shown an unpolished "rough cut" of the film before the editing is completed and talks to the director or producer about what sort of music
4459-720: The early 1950s. Bernstein was called by the House Un-American Activities Committee when it was discovered that he had written some music reviews for a Communist newspaper. After he refused to name names, pointing out that he had never attended a Communist Party meeting, he found himself composing music for movies such as Robot Monster and Cat-Women of the Moon , a step down from his earlier Sudden Fear and Saturday's Hero . John Landis grew up near Bernstein, and befriended him through his children. Years later, he requested that Bernstein compose
4550-726: The era and or the character being portrayed. Many films do this like " Guardians of the galaxy", or the " Back to the Future". In the Robert Zemeckis, Alan Silvestri orchestrates a composition that is accompanied by tracks such as; "The power of love", and "Back in Time" both by Huey Lewis and The News. This creates a sense of lightness that deviates from the fanfare-like main theme.( Lawson, Macdonald ,2018). Many scores often try to draw from worldly influence to create sound that cements itself into popular culture. An example of this would be
4641-462: The film by the Music Editor at points specified by the composer. In both instances, the timings on the clock or lines scribed on the film have corresponding timings which are also at specific points (beats) in the composer/conductor score. A written click track is a method of writing bars of music in consistent time values (e.g. 4 beats in :02⅔ seconds) to establish a constant tempo in lieu of
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#17327796446654732-470: The film or on the album and are contracted individually (and if so, the orchestra contractor is credited in the film or the soundtrack album ). However, some films have recently begun crediting the contracted musicians on the albums under the name Hollywood Studio Symphony after an agreement with the American Federation of Musicians . Other performing ensembles that are often employed include
4823-414: The film's score, although songs do also form part of the film's soundtrack. Although some songs, especially in musicals , are based on thematic ideas from the score (or vice versa), scores usually do not have lyrics, except for when sung by choirs or soloists as part of a cue. Similarly, pop songs that are dropped into a specific scene in a film for emphasis or as diegetic music (e.g., a song playing on
4914-405: The filmmaker prior to the final orchestral recording. The length of time a composer has to write the score varies from project to project; depending on the post-production schedule, a composer may have as little as two weeks or as much as three months to write the score. In normal circumstances, the actual writing process usually lasts around six weeks from beginning to end. The actual material of
5005-695: The finale of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and the films Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America were edited to Morricone's score as the composer had prepared it months before the film's production ended. In another example, the finale of Steven Spielberg 's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was edited to match the music of his long-time collaborator John Williams : as recounted in
5096-465: The following equation: 60 b p m ( x ) = W {\displaystyle {\frac {60}{bpm}}(x)=W} Written clicks are expressed using 1/3 second increments, so the next step is to round the decimal to either 0, 1/3, or 2/3 of a second. The following is an example for 88 BPM: 60 88 ( 4 ) = 2.72 {\displaystyle {\frac {60}{88}}(4)=2.72} 2.72 rounds to 2.66, so
5187-507: The influence of Bernstein's work on their own include James Newton Howard , Alan Silvestri , Georges Delerue , Howard Shore , John Barry , Lalo Schifrin , Dick Hyman , Hans Zimmer , James Horner , Jerry Goldsmith , John Williams , Trevor Jones , Mark Isham , Bear McCreary , Ennio Morricone , Danny Elfman , Alan Menken , Randy Newman , and Randy Edelman . Over the course of his career, Bernstein won an Academy Award , an Emmy Award , and two Golden Globe Awards . In addition, he
5278-544: The job, and it sparked a second wave in his career, where he continued to compose music for high-profile comedies such as Ghostbusters , Stripes , Airplane! and The Blues Brothers , as well as most of Landis's films for the next 15 years, including An American Werewolf in London , Trading Places , and the music video to the Michael Jackson song " Thriller ". When Martin Scorsese announced that he
5369-608: The late Romantic period. In France, before the advent of talkies, Erik Satie composed what many consider the first "frame by frame" synchronous film score for director René Clair 's avant-garde short Entr'acte (1924). Anticipating "spotting" techniques and the inconsistencies of projection speeds in screenings of silent films, Satie took precise timings for each sequence and created a flexible, aleatoric score of brief, evocative motifs which could be repeated and varied in tempo as required. American composers Virgil Thomson and Aaron Copland cited Satie's music for Entr'acte as
5460-547: The library at a reasonable rate. Israel Citkowitz Israel Citkowitz (6 February 1909 – 4 May 1974) was a Polish-born American pianist, composer, teacher, and critic. Israel Citkowitz was born on 6 February 1909 in Skierniewice , Poland , the first of two children to Ida Frankon and Abraham Citkowitz. He was brought to the United States when he was three. Citkowitz had a sister called Rebecca. As
5551-485: The list are as follows: The Age of Innocence (1993), Far from Heaven (2002), The Great Escape (1963), Hawaii (1966), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Summer and Smoke (1961), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), The Ten Commandments (1956), and Walk on the Wild Side (1962). Film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film . The score comprises
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#17327796446655642-428: The movie by Hans Erdmann played at the very beginning and end of the movie. One of the rare occasions on which music occurs in the movie is a song one of the characters sings, that Lang uses to put emphasis on the man's insanity, similar to the use of the whistling in M . Early attempts at the synchronization of sound and image were failures, in large part due to mechanical and technological limitations. Phonographs ,
5733-415: The music for National Lampoon's Animal House , over the studio's objections. He explained to Bernstein that he thought that Bernstein's score, playing it straight as if the comedic Delta frat characters were actual heroes, would emphasize the comedy further. The opening theme of the film is based upon a slight inversion of a secondary theme from Brahms 's Academic Festival Overture . Bernstein accepted
5824-552: The music with the film. More rarely, the director will talk to the composer before shooting has started, so as to give more time to the composer or because the director needs to shoot scenes (namely song or dance scenes) according to the final score. Sometimes the director will have edited the film using "temp (temporary) music": already published pieces with a character that the director believes to fit specific scenes. Most films have between 45 and 120 minutes of music. However, some films have very little or no music; others may feature
5915-476: The nature of the films they accompany. While the majority of scores are orchestral works rooted in Western classical music , many scores are also influenced by jazz , rock , pop , blues , new-age and ambient music , and a wide range of ethnic and world music styles. Since the 1950s, a growing number of scores have also included electronic elements as part of the score, and many scores written today feature
6006-513: The need to adhere to specific cue lengths or mirror the emotional arc of a particular scene. This approach is usually taken by a director who does not wish to have the music comment specifically on a particular scene or nuance of a film and which can instead be inserted into the film at any point the director wishes during the post-production process. Composer Hans Zimmer was asked to write music in this way in 2010 for director Christopher Nolan 's film Inception ; composer Gustavo Santaolalla did
6097-410: The only medium available for recorded sound in the early twentieth century, were difficult if not impossible to synchronize with the rotation of film projectors. In the cases where an attempt was made, sound was further limited by an inability to properly amplify it. However, in the 1920s improvements in radio technology allowed for the amplification of sound, and the invention of sound on film allowed for
6188-430: The orchestrator with copious notes outlining which instruments are being asked to perform which notes, giving the orchestrator no personal creative input whatsoever beyond re-notating the music on different sheets of paper as appropriate. Other composers are less detailed, and will often ask orchestrators to "fill in the blanks", providing their own creative input into the makeup of the ensemble, ensuring that each instrument
6279-404: The orchestrator's job is to take the single-line music written by the composer and "flesh it out" into instrument-specific sheet music for each member of the orchestra to perform. Some composers like Ennio Morricone orchestrate their own scores themselves, without using an additional orchestrator. Some composers provide intricate details in how they want this to be accomplished and will provide
6370-497: The same thing when he wrote his Oscar-winning score for Brokeback Mountain . When writing music for film, one goal is to sync dramatic events happening on screen with musical events in the score. There are many different methods for syncing music to picture. These include using sequencing software to calculate timings, using mathematic formulas and free timing with reference timings. Composers work using SMPTE timecode for syncing purposes. When syncing music to picture, generally
6461-721: The score by Alex North , although Kubrick had also hired Frank Cordell to do a score. Other examples include Torn Curtain (Bernard Herrmann), Troy (Gabriel Yared), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Alan Silvestri), Peter Jackson's King Kong (Howard Shore), Air Force One (Randy Newman) and The Bourne Identity (Carter Burwell). Films often have different themes for important characters, events, ideas or objects, an idea often associated with Wagner 's use of leitmotif . These may be played in different variations depending on
6552-459: The score depends on several different variables that factor into how a composer may write. Things like; the emotion the composer is trying to convey, the character on screen, the scenery and geography of the set, along with multiple more different variables. A composition could consist of different instrumentation, varying genres, and different influential styles. Each composer has their own Inspirations and their own pragmatic impressions that create
6643-3799: The score for all the movies directed by Tim Burton , with the exception of Ed Wood (score by Howard Shore ) and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (score by Stephen Sondheim ). Other documented instance of director-composer relationships includes: Bernard Herrmann with Alfred Hitchcock ; Jerry Goldsmith with Joe Dante and Franklin Schaffner ; Ennio Morricone with Sergio Leone , Mauro Bolognini , and Giuseppe Tornatore ; Henry Mancini with Blake Edwards ; Georges Delerue with François Truffaut ; Alan Silvestri with Robert Zemeckis ; Angelo Badalamenti with David Lynch ; James Newton Howard with M. Night Shyamalan ; Éric Serra with Luc Besson ; Patrick Doyle with Kenneth Branagh ; Dave Grusin with Sydney Pollack ; Howard Shore with David Cronenberg , Peter Jackson , and Martin Scorsese ; Carter Burwell with Joel & Ethan Coen ; Bill Conti with John G. Avildsen ; Lalo Schifrin with Don Siegel , Stuart Rosenberg , and Brett Ratner ; Hans Zimmer with Ridley Scott and Christopher Nolan ; Harry Gregson-Williams with Tony Scott and Andrew Adamson ; Clint Mansell with Darren Aronofsky ; Dario Marianelli with Joe Wright ; Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross with David Fincher ; Steve Jablonsky with Michael Bay , Mychael Danna with Ang Lee and Atom Egoyan , Terence Blanchard with Spike Lee , Randy Newman with John Lasseter ; Thomas Newman with Sam Mendes ; David Newman with Danny Devito , Brian Levant , and Stephen Herek ; John Debney with Jon Favreau and Garry Marshall ; Gabriel Yared with Anthony Minghella ; Joe Kraemer with Christopher McQuarrie ; Michael Giacchino with J. J. Abrams and Brad Bird ; James Horner with James Cameron and Ron Howard ; John Barry with Bryan Forbes , Anthony Harvey , Terence Young , and Guy Hamilton ; Elmer Bernstein with John Landis , John Sturges , and Robert Mulligan ; Maurice Jarre with David Lean , Peter Weir , and Georges Franju ; Philip Glass with Godfrey Reggio ; Cliff Martinez and David Holmes with Steven Soderbergh ; Akira Ifukube with Ishirō Honda ; A. R. Rahman with Mani Ratnam ; George Fenton with Richard Attenborough , Nicholas Hynter , Ken Loach , and Stephen Frears ; Klaus Badelt and Ernst Reijseger with Werner Herzog ; Randy Edelman with Ivan Reitman and Rob Cohen ; Marc Shaiman with Rob Reiner ; Elliot Goldenthal with Julie Taymor and Neil Jordan ; Rachel Portman with Beeban Kidron , Lasse Hallström , and Jonathan Demme ; Christophe Beck with Shawn Levy ; Arthur B. Rubinstein and David Shire with John Badham ; John Powell with Doug Liman and Paul Greengrass ; Trevor Rabin with Renny Harlin and Jon Turteltaub ; Harald Kloser with Roland Emmerich ; David Arnold with Michael Apted and John Singleton ; Michael Kamen with Richard Donner , John McTiernan , and Terry Gilliam ; Jorge Arriagada with Raúl Ruiz ; Zbigniew Preisner with Krzysztof Kieślowski ; Mark Isham with Alan Rudolph and Robert Redford ; Basil Poledouris with John Millius ; Joseph Trapanese with Joseph Kosinski ; Jonny Greenwood and Jon Brion with Paul Thomas Anderson ; Brian Tyler with Justin Lin and Sylvester Stallone ; John Ottman with Bryan Singer ; Marco Beltrami with Wes Craven and Guillermo del Toro ; Tyler Bates with James Gunn , Zack Snyder , and Rob Zombie ; Pino Donaggio with Brian De Palma ; and Alexandre Desplat with Wes Anderson , Roman Polanski , and George Clooney . Many companies provide music to various film, TV and commercial projects for
6734-541: The score from " The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly". In this score by Ennio Morricone he uses a culmination of post-tonal music theory, celtic song, gregorian chant, and mariachi trumpets to create the sound of the spaghetti western, that is often associated with the wild west ( Kalinak 2010 ). Once the music has been written, it must then be arranged or orchestrated in order for the ensemble to be able to perform it. The nature and level of orchestration varies from project to project and composer to composer, but in its basic form
6825-461: The score to many of the short films of Ray and Charles Eames . In 1961 Bernstein co-founded Äva Records , an American record label based in Los Angeles together with Fred Astaire , Jackie Mills and Tommy Wolf. In addition to his film music, Bernstein wrote the scores for two Broadway musicals , How Now, Dow Jones , with lyricist Carolyn Leigh, in 1967 and Merlin , with lyricist Don Black , in 1983. One of Bernstein's tunes has since gained
6916-401: The situation they represent, scattered amongst incidental music. The themes for specific characters or locations are known as a motif where the rest of the track is usually centered around the particular motif and the track develops in line with the motif. This common technique may often pass unnoticed by casual moviegoers, but has become well known among genre enthusiasts. One prominent example
7007-647: The spotting session has been completed and the precise timings of each cue determined, the composer will then work on writing the score. The methods of writing the score vary from composer to composer; some composers prefer to work with a traditional pencil and paper, writing notes by hand on a staff and performing works-in-progress for the director on a piano, while other composers write on computers using sophisticated music composition software such as Digital Performer , Logic Pro , Finale , Cubase , or Pro Tools . Working with software allows composers to create MIDI-based demos of cues, called MIDI mockups , for review by
7098-405: The synchronization thereof. A landmark event in music synchronization with the action in film was achieved in the score composed by Max Steiner for David O. Selznick 's 1933 King Kong. A fine example of this is when the aborigine chief slowly approaches the unwanted visitors to Skull Island who are filming the natives' sacred rites. As he strides closer and closer, each footfall is reinforced by
7189-684: The vaudeville space, and as such live musical accompaniment to films grew out naturally. Before the age of recorded sound in motion pictures, efforts were taken to provide suitable music for films, usually through the services of an in-house pianist or organist, and, in some cases, entire orchestras, typically given cue sheets as a guide. A pianist was present to perform at the Lumière brothers' first film screening in 1895. In 1914, The Oz Film Manufacturing Company sent full-length scores by Louis F. Gottschalk for their films. Other examples of this include Victor Herbert 's score in 1915 to The Fall of
7280-451: The work of one particular composer, often to the point where one will not work without the other. Once the orchestration process has been completed, the sheet music is physically printed onto paper by one or more music copyists and is ready for performance. When the music has been composed and orchestrated , the orchestra or ensemble then performs it, often with the composer conducting. Musicians for these ensembles are often uncredited in
7371-543: The written click is 4 beats in :02⅔ seconds. Once the composer has identified the location in the film with which to sync musically, he or she must determine the musical beat this event occurs on. To find this, conductors use the following equation, where bpm is beats per minute, sp is the sync point in real-time (i.e. 33.7 seconds), and B is the beat number in 1/3 increments (i.e. 49⅔). b p m ( s p ) 60 + 1 = B {\displaystyle {\frac {bpm(sp)}{60}}+1=B} Once
7462-416: Was another modernist innovation, such as jazz star Duke Ellington 's score for Otto Preminger 's Anatomy of a Murder (1959). The following list includes all composers who have scored one of the 100 highest-grossing films of all time but have never been nominated for a major award (Oscar, Golden Globe etc.). Sometimes, a composer may unite with a director by composing the score for many films of
7553-1004: Was appointed teacher of counterpoint and composition , which included Song Cycle to Words of Joyce , String Quartet and the choral music, The Lamb , at the Dalcroze School of Music in New York City . Among his students were the English composer Leo Smith , and later, the American conductor Richard Kapp . Citkowitz wrote poetry including Autumn and The Prodigals of Summer . Source: On 15 September 1935, Citkowitz married Helen Margaret Simon in Manhattan , New York . They had two children. The couple divorced in 1948. On 25 June 2013, Citkowitz's daughter with Simon, Dr. Elena Citkowitz, died from cancer , aged 73. After his 1948 divorce, Citkowitz lived in his Carnegie Hall studio. On 15 August 1959, Citkowitz married
7644-465: Was as yet no sound-absorbent walls between the projection machine and the auditorium. This painful noise disturbed visual enjoyment to no small extent. Instinctively cinema proprietors had recourse to music, and it was the right way, using an agreeable sound to neutralize one less agreeable." On the contrary, film historian James Wierzbicki asserts that early film showings (such as the Lumière brothers ' first film screening) would have been social events to
7735-825: Was born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Selma (née Feinstein, 1901–1991), from Ukraine , and Edward Bernstein (1896–1968), from Austria-Hungary . He was not related to the celebrated composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein , though they were friends. Within the world of professional music, they were distinguished from each other by the use of the nicknames Bernstein West (Elmer) and Bernstein East (Leonard), based on their bases of operation: East for New York City, West for Hollywood/Los Angeles. They also pronounced their surnames differently; Elmer pronounced his name "BERN-steen", and Leonard used "BERN-styne". During his childhood, Bernstein performed professionally as
7826-731: Was encouraging and selected Israel Citkowitz as a teacher for the young boy. Elmer was drafted into the United States Army Air Forces during the World War II era where he wrote music for the Armed Forces Radio . Elmer Bernstein's music has some stylistic similarities to Copland's music, most notably in his western scores, particularly sections of Big Jake , in the Gregory Peck film Amazing Grace and Chuck , and in his spirited score for
7917-445: Was formed to preserve the "byproducts" of creating a film score, including the music manuscripts (written music) and other documents and studio recordings generated in the process of composing and recording scores which, in some instances, have been discarded by movie studios . The written music must be kept to perform the music on concert programs and to make new recordings of it. Sometimes only after decades has an archival recording of
8008-616: Was highly influential in the era of silent movies, provided some original scores such as Fritz Lang 's movies Die Nibelungen (1924) and Metropolis (1927) which were accompanied by original full scale orchestral and leitmotific scores written by Gottfried Huppertz , who also wrote piano-versions of his music, for playing in smaller cinemas. Friedrich W. Murnau's movies Nosferatu (1922 – music by Hans Erdmann ) and Faust – Eine deutsche Volkssage (1926 – music by Werner Richard Heymann ) also had original scores written for them. Other films like Murnau's Der letzte Mann contained
8099-623: Was honored by ASCAP with its marquee Founders Award in 2001 and with the NARAS Governors Award in June 2004. Bernstein was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2003 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at London's Royal Albert Hall , after conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as part of his 80th year celebrations. His scores for The Magnificent Seven and To Kill a Mockingbird were ranked by
8190-595: Was nominated for the Tony Award three times and a Grammy Award five times. He received 14 Academy Award nominations and was nominated at least once per decade from the 1950s until the 2000s, but his only win was for Thoroughly Modern Millie for Best Original Music Score. Bernstein was recognized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association with Golden Globes for his scores for To Kill a Mockingbird and Hawaii . In 1963, he won
8281-623: Was re-making Cape Fear , Bernstein adapted Bernard Herrmann 's original score to the new film . Bernstein leapt at the opportunity to work with Scorsese, as well as to pay homage to Herrmann. Scorsese and Bernstein subsequently worked together on two more films, The Age of Innocence (1993) and Bringing Out the Dead (1999). Bernstein had previously conducted Herrmann's original unused score for Alfred Hitchcock 's 1966 Torn Curtain . Having studied composition under Aaron Copland , Roger Sessions , and Stefan Wolpe , Bernstein also performed as
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