The Kite Runner

I had been wanting to watch The Kite Runner since it came out in theaters and I'm glad this class gave me the opportunity to do so! The music in The Kite Runner functioned to establish the setting of the movie as it was distinctly Middle-Eastern sounding. It did not have wall-to-wall underscoring and the music featured sounded exactly like one would expect it to sound (ie. reflected the mood).
During scenes of Amar and Hazan's early life in Afghanistan, a lively mix of traditional sounding Middle Eastern music is played. During the kite flying competition the music gets quicker and intensifies reflecting the growing anticipation and nerves of the characters as the competition narrows down to the final two kites. During the scenes in America, the music loses a little bit of its middle-eastern sound as violins take the place of more traditional instruments. The music takes on a sad note during scenes where Amar's father is ailing and in reflecting the desolation and ruin of the Afghanistan that Amar returns to. No longer are there children flying kites or people in the market place, but reminders of the Russian invasion and the rule of the Taliban. At one point when they are first entering Afghanistan, an electric guitar takes over, and while it didn't not fit in with mood, I though it was a little weird to include it.

Big Fish

Danny Elfman's score for Big Fish is unique in the variety of musical genres it contains that complement its main classic Hollywood fantasy movie theme.
The movie contains complete underscoring only during the fantasy scenes or when someone in "real life" starts to tell a story. The music enhances the imaginary world created by the stories and adds a feeling of whimsy to the scenes. The absence of music in the scenes of real life distinguishes the two realms and emphasizes the reality of the main character's current situation.
In addition to the main fantasy theme, the movie also contains a sampling of music from other genres. The typical circus and banjo themes make an appearance as well as some rock n roll during his parachute jump. These minor song insertions help to characterize the places that he describes in his tales.

Titanic

James Horner utilized four main themes in the scoring of Titanic. The Titanic theme, played by French horns, and the Southampton theme, a vocal yet wordless melody, express the majesty of the “ship of dreams.” The Rose theme is also a sung melody without words that has an Irish/Enya-esque quality to it. The Love theme is more orchestral, and at the end of the movie becomes “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion and is firmly rooted in everyone’s mind as the theme song of the movie.

The third class/steerage on the Titanic was made up of mostly poor Irish looking for opportunity in America. Horner stays true to history when creating the musical contrast between the first class and the third class. The music in the first class is all classical music played by a string orchestra and a piano lending a very formal air. The party scene in the third class is vastly different. The music (played by one of my favorite bands, Gaelic Storm) is made up of a reel followed by the tune “Hills of Connemara” (which is also a reel) and is played by traditional Irish instruments such as the bodhran and uilleann pipes. Lively dancing accompanies the music further contrasting the reserved manner of the first class.

The Color Purple

There is a wide variety of music featured in The Color Purple. The movie started off silently during the opening credits and then very lyrical music played while scenes of a meadow were shown. This lyrical music was mostly strings and woodwinds and sounded very airy. Most of the first part of the movie was underscored with this music and some playful/mischevious sounding tunes that played when Celie's step children were shown. Different places had thier own music. During farmhouse scenes the music displayed a Southern influence with some banjos and harmonicas. Church scenes featured southern gospel music while the jukebox club played jazzy, caberet-ish blues. Scenes of Africa were accompanied by tribal music. In one montage of scenes showing Celie about to shave Albert but contemplating killing him, and two children in Africa about to be cut with a knife, the tribal music spills over into both locations enabling it to build tension in both scenes.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

The music in E.T is reflective of the Postmodern Era in film music during which film composers went back to the Classic Hollywood roots of film music. John Williams created a score that utilizes a full orchestra and underscores the emotion of the film. The majority of the music is composed of one main theme (or variations of the theme) that grows in strength from being played by a single flute at the beginning of Elliot and E.T.'s relationship to a full orchestra during the second flying bike scene. Though there is one dominating theme, it mirrors/complements the emotions the characters on screen. For instance a derivation of theme plays while Elliot is at school and E.T. is left home alone. He does a lot of messy exploration of the house and the music complements his humorous antics. The music does not always follow the theme however. When the alien investigative agents from the government are shown, the music becomes dark and dissonant, utlizing a lot more brass than strings.

The Sting

Martin Hamlisch utilized pre-existing music by Scott Joplin for the 1973 film The Sting. While the movie takes place in the 1930s, the ragtime piano music dates back to the 1890s era. Today I think that almost anyone will recognize the music as it has been exploited as a popular cell phone ringtone. The film doesn’t have a lot of music in it and when it is played it is mainly during transitions. At times the music will fade out when transitioning to another scene, but during others the transitions are cut off. Hamlisch also sped up or slow down the tempo of the music to fit during title scenes and to match the drama of a scene. I only found 2 instances of diagetic music: a barely audible tune played while the men were playing poker, and a suggestive tune during the burlesque scene. The music didn’t seem to fit dramatically with the film though it did help to lighten its mood.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Elmer Bernstein’s music for To Kill a Mockingbird both reflects the 1960s time period in film music and yet has the modern sound of the films we have watched thus far. The movie doesn’t contain wall to wall underscoring, in fact a great portion of the movie occurs in a courtroom with no music. The times when there is music it is used to emphasize a certain emotion such as fear or childhood mischief.

During the children's portion of the story there is a distinct theme, the text labels it the innocence theme, that is reffered to. This theme sounds very lighthearted and Bernstein was really able to capture "childhood" in it using strings, a flute, and a piano. Berenstein assigns a theme to the character of Boo Radley that is more of a waltzy sounding tune. When the children approach Boo's house at the beginning of the film, this theme mixes with an clarinet adding a mysterious air to the film.

During violent scenes, the music reflects the heightened tension with a quickening of pace and added dramatic effects like a repeating sound. This is reminiscent of both classic Hollywood's underscoring of fight scenes and Herrmann's repetition in Psycho.