Score In Films

This week I simply just listened to film score. Although I am interested in my chosen research area I still don't really know a lot about it; this week basically involved watching films from a critical point of view. I took note of several of the scores that interested me (see below) and after the first pitch session (and hopefully confirmation my research question is suitable) I plan on investigating their workings further to see how they effectively triggered my emotions.

As it was Thomas Newman who initially interested me in film score, I began with him. A simple Google search revealed that Newman has been nominated for a total of 12 academy awards. The second of these nominations in 1995 was for his work on "The Shawshank redemption". I felt I connected with several of the movies scenes largely due to the music, the music in the scene above particularly effected me.

By chance the next film I watched was Michael Bays sci-fi/drama "Armageddon". The film as a whole was relatively poor, however I felt Trevor Rabin's score really carried the film adding to drama of the film and making it feel like a real human interest story. Personally I feel the music in the scene above works incredibly well with the presidents speech, it highlights the intensity of the situation and the sacrifice the characters are making.

Although the music used in the above scene is incredibly simple it is my favourite of the three examples provided in this blog post. Even in this short clip the overall mood of the film to come is clearly established through the score. This piece of score - titled "Hand Covers Bruise", written by Trent Reznor - appears in several scenes of the movie and appears to be linked closely if not exclusively to the lead character Mark Zukerberg and is used to portray him emotions at key moments.

Although only having briefly examined film scores use within film I am beginning to develop some ideas on how score can be used to stress emotional high points.