Month: March 2009

Diegetic vs. Non-Diegetic and Comedy vs. Drama

Posted on by filmscore80

I know I’ve mentioned in an older post (funny, I’ve only been at this around 3 months but I’m already forgetting exactly what I wrote at the beginning), but it bears repeating.  We can divide music in visual media into the diegetic and non-diegetc sphere: diegetic being music that has an identifiable source in film world (a record playing, a radio, band, etc.) and non-diegetic is the musical score that the characters in the movie cannot hear.  But what’s interesting is that, as rigid as those definitions are, there can be rather fluid movement between the spaces.

As I discussed in my recent Watchmen review, in the opening scene the song ‘Unforgettable’ begins in the diegetic space, but, as the sound mix indicates, moves into the non-diegetic.  This is clearly used for dramatic effect and is one example of this movement between the two aural spaces.  As a guideline (but not a hard and fast rule), it seems that movement from diegetic to non-diegetic is used for dramatic effect and non-diegetic to diegetic is used for comedic effect.  Some examples should illustrate this nicely.

First is from what is possibly my favorite moment in an episode of Family Guy.  In the recent Star Wars parody episode (entitled ‘Blue Harvest’), we have the classic scene on Tatooine where Luke (played by Chris) is standing dramatically as the binary suns of the planet set and we hear the Force theme being played for (what I think) is the first time in the series.  The mournful french horn solo as Luke expresses his desire to leave his desert planet home.  What happens next in ‘Blue Harvest’ (as the music swells), is that Chris/Luke turns to the camera and says “John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra, everybody!” and the camera sweeps left and reveals John Williams and the orchestra there, in the middle of the desert, playing.  Chris then asks them to play the theme to the People’s Court, which they kindly oblige.

The comedy of the moment is obviously derived from the sheer absurdity of the orchestra playing in the desert.  But it is also a commentary on orchestral scores in general.  One of the functions of a musical score, as pointed out by Royals S. Brown in Overtones and Undertones (probably also said elsewhere, but that’s the one I’ve read) is that the music “mythologizes” the images.  This is exactly the function of the music in this scene.  We have Luke, the loner, fighting against the simple life of his parents, but also fighting against his, then, unknown history as the child of Anakin Skywalker, and it is accompanied by the music that becomes “The Force Theme,” the very birthright he has but doesn’t know about.  And all this complex symbolism is undone by a simple comedic turn of a musical shift from the non-deigetic to the diegetic.

Second is a scene from the pilot episode of a show we (the royal we) all love here at ‘The Temp Track’…Chuck.  At the end of the pilot episode, Chuck turns in his applicator for the Assistant Manager position to Big Mike, and as he walking to the office, we have a dramatic slow walk set to a Morricone Once Upon a Time in the West sounding cue (it could in fact be Morricone, but I didn’t recognize it off-hand, maybe one of you loyal readers recognized it.  As he is walking, he passes his friend Morgan who is standing next to a home stereo display.  Chuck looks at him and he turns down the stereo and the music fades, implying that Morgan had been playing the music all along as added dramatic effect within the store.  Much the same effect as before, the music was mythologizing the image, making Chuck like the hero of the Old West about to stare down the gunslinger in single combat (in this case, rival for the Asst. Manager job Harry Tang).  But it was also meant to be comedic to begin with because Chuck is not Clint Eastwood and the Buy More is not the Old West.  By having the music slide between the non-diegetic and diegetic adds one more layer to the comedic effect.

The last nD-D shift I want to discuss is one that starts out as absurd and moves to a whole new level of absurdity, and who else is the sublime master of the absurd by the man himself…Mel Brooks.  In the seminal comedy film, Blazing Saddles, we are greeted with our first image of Bart as the sheriff and he is dressed in runway fashion clothes complete with Gucci saddle bags and accompanied by the Count Basie Orchestra’s “April in Paris.”  The sheer absurdity of the entire scene (frontier lawman in fancy clothes) is heightened by the anachronistic song.  This effect is taken to a higher level as the camera pans left, as Bart rides by on his horse, and reveals…Count Basie and his Orchestra.  It is annoying that the music and musicians are not perfectly synced, but the implication that they are supposed to be playing live is clear.

The D-nD move for dramatic effect is, in my mind at least, the more common of the two shifts, and as such I am having a hard time recollecting good examples of it.  It is so common that the instances don’t stand out in my mind.  Besides the Watchmen example, the next best one I can think of is Pippin’s song in The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.  He starts out just singing to Denethor solo, but the song then begin to be accompanied by orchestra as the scene starts to cut back and forth between Pippin/Denethor and Faramir leading a fruitless change against the orcs at Osgiliath.  While it’s not a true complete shift from one space to another-since the scene always returns to Pippin singing-the song is used as a dramatic lament to underscore to Faramir’s assault.

I’m sure there are numerous other examples of both aural shifts, and even some that go against the general trend that I laid out (nD-D as comedy, D-nD as drama).  But the usage as I laid out here do tend to be the general rule of thumb in visual media.

Orson Scott Card, The Ender Novels, and the author’s voice?

Posted on by filmscore80

Among my many projects over the past year has been reading through a few book series.  Last semester—yes, semester, I am still a graduate student so I think in semesters—it was Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, all seven books.  This semester is reading Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game novels.  First, if you don’t know the books, there around, as of right now, nine books and a short novella plus assorted short stories (some of which have been worked into the latest novel and novella).  The original four books (Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind) make up so-called ‘Ender Quartet’ because they focus on the main character of Ender Wiggin.  In the late 1990s Card wrote Ender’s Shadow as a parallel novel to Ender’s Game, and basically tells the story of the original book from the perspective of the character of Bean.  From there he wrote Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, and Shadow of the Giant.  These four books are called the ‘Bean/Shadow Quartet’ and actually take place in between the first two books of the Ender Quartet.  Card’s latest novel of the series, Ender in Exile, takes place during the last three books of the Shadow Quartet, and even largely between the last two chapters of Ender’s Game, and the novella, A War of Gifts, also takes place during Game.

 

Yes, it’s all very confusing if you don’t know the books and how relativistic space travel accounts for so much of the lost time.  I won’t go into too much of the details because you can read all about them on Wikipedia and what not.  There is even a handy flow chart of how all the books and stories relate.

 

For my reading, I decided to ready the books in the chronological order of events as best I can.  So that order was:

 

Ender’s Game

Ender’s Shadow

A War of Gifts

Shadow of the Hegemon

Shadow Puppets

Shadow of the Giant

Ender in Exile

Speaker for the Dead

Xenocide

Children of the Mind

 

Part of the reason I did that is that I have, in large part, already read the Ender Quartet, though it was long ago and I never finished Children of the Mind.  As of right now, I have finished Ender in Exile.  What I want to talk about now, though, it how I almost stopped reading the books about half-way through Shadow Puppets and how it relates to some modern fiction.

 

In Shadow Puppets two of our main characters are Julian ‘Bean’ Delphiki and Petra Arkanian, both friends of Ender’s from his days in Battle School.  Bean suffers from a condition that allows his brain to continue growing, hence his amazing intellect, but has the side effect of his continuing growth past puberty and his early death due to his body not being able to sustain his increasing growth.  Petra was always a possible love interest for many characters, being one of the few female characters, but her tough, no-nonsense, acerbic wit and attitude always made her somewhat of a tough nut to crack emotionally.  She obviously had feelings for Ender, but most of it was more paternal and looking after the youngest kid there.

 

What almost stopped my reading dead in its tracks, though, was a drastic shift in Petra’s character.  She went from the tough girl who takes shit from no one to a whiny teenager who wants nothing more than to marry Bean and have his babies.  For the first half of the book, any scene between the two of them were either long internal narratives of how she wanted to have his babies (and yes, Card almost always used the word ‘babies’) despite the risk that they would inherit Bean’s condition, or dialogue of her pestering him to marry her so that his legacy can live on.  It got to be maddening, but I suffered through it and luckily the book got back on track to the larger geo-political story that had made the pervious book so compelling.  There were also long dialogues between Petra/Bean and other characters on how a life is not fulfilled until one is married and has children, how it gives one life meaning.  Those obvious moments where an author’s personal views are very thinly veiled.

 

When I was reading this, though, I was struck by how this reminded me of what a friend had described to me about the first Twilight novel (she stopped after the first one because of how annoying she found the characters in the first). She described how Bella had also essentially badgered the male lead (whose name escapes me) in his relationship with her, how he didn’t want to pursue one due to the complications that may arise.  But both female leads wanted their relationships with their respective male counterpoints (reluctant due to their respective conditions) and hounded them until they gave in.

 

In the back of my mind, the thought arose of the authors religious affiliations and how they have seemingly impacted their writing.  Both Card and Stephanie Meyer are members of the Latter Day Saints (aka the Mormons), and while I have no problems with religion or Mormons in the particular, I wonder if the views of the church has influenced their view.  A hallmark of the Mormon family is it to be large (much like the Catholics), and that meaning can be found in future generations.  Not to mention the fact that Meyer cites Card as a writer who has influenced her.

 

But despite what I realized was Card’s own religion seeping into his writing, I wouldn’t not have been so clearly annoyed, I think , if it hadn’t been for the complete reversal in what I had found to be the very compelling character of Petra.  Apologists could say that she was being just as head strong as she previously had been, that her pursuit of Bean was driven by the same impulses that had led her to be so determined and her wit so biting previously.  But I text, as I read it, does not bear this apology out.

 

Petra became whiney, her constant pleading with Bean to marry her, not to mention her constant doubting about how she had been the first of Ender’s commanders to break under stress during the final battle with the Formics (the alien enemy that they had been fighting).  She had gone from a strong female lead to one that seemed to depend on Bean’s approval and acceptance of her as his wife.  Not to mention the other characters whose views pushed Bean into the marriage and subsequent children.

 

I’m not sure if this same theme will be present in the rest of the Ender Quartet (I don’t seem to remember it being), but its presence in the Shadow Quartet does echo what I’ve read about his writing having taken a turn that is more in line with his religious views in the latter part of the 90s.  Like I’ve said, I’m not trying to say anything about his religion per se, just how his views came to dominant so completely the first half Shadow Puppets.  I did finish the book, and have continued reading the series and enjoyed them immensely, and I’m looking forward to finishing the series. Not to mention looking forward to his final novel of the entire Ender series that is supposedly in the planning stages.  I’m just reporting my reactions to this and how they seem to line up with similar criticism reported to me by others.

Three Reviews for your Weekend

Posted on by filmscore80

Borders is having this 30% off DVD/CD clearance sale, and me being the savvy shopper I am couldn’t resist when I was there last Saturday.  After quickly scooping up the 3-Disc Criterion Collection set of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil for under $40 I went over to the “Soundtracks” section and looked for the magical red stickers that indicated instant savings.

I ended up buying three scores for around $10 a pop, two films and one video game: Michael Giacchino’s Speed Racer, James Newton Howard’s Oscar-nominated Michael Clayton, and the score for the XBox360 game Mass Effect.  Disclaimer right now, of the three scores, I’ve actually only ever seen Michael Clayton, and I don’t even own a XBox360 (or a PS3 for that matter…or a Blu-Ray player, being a poor grad student sucks some days).   So here are some impressions after listening to these scores off and on this past week.

Speed Racer

So I’ll just say this, I think Michael Giacchino is one of the best young composers working in Hollywood today.  Between his work on The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and Lost, the man has shown a wide range of skills and ability.  And if there is a knock against his Speed Racer score its that it sounds like all three of those scores thrown into a blender set to puree.  I hear bits and pieces of his previous work, but really, I don’t care!  As long as I’m hearing Michael Giacchino and not Danny Elfman or John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith, I’m pretty content with a composer stealing from himself.  Hell, Beethoven did it, Mozart did it, Mahler did without even hiding it! And if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for Hollywood.

A lot of Giacchino’s work is hallmarked by his use of percussion, especially drumkit and mallets, giving his work a jazz/rock infused style, which is showcased in many cues on Speed Racer.  I can only assume that these cuts (given the titles and what I figure is the film’s plot) are mostly used for the racing sequences.  But he also shows his more tender side (which can be heard in many of Lost‘s death/reflection scenes) with cues like “Racing’s in Our Blood,” which almost rips off the “Life and Death” theme and music from Lost.

The last thing about the score is that, yes, he does incorporate the classic “Go Speed Racer Go!” theme song from the old cartoon.  Somewhat akin to Michael Kamen’s usage of Beethoven Nine, Finlandia, and ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again’ for the Die Hard films, or even the usage of ‘Brazil’ in Brazil (see how I tied that in!), he weaves it into a few of the cues.   But Giacchino makes much more sparring use of the theme as opposed to Kamen’s more complete incorporation.  All in all, if I had to give a rating, I would give it about a 8/10.  Not ground breaking, but very enjoyable and listenable.

Michael Clayton

James Newton Howard’s Michael Clayton score is a harder nut for me to crack.  I’m not really as that familiar with his work as I should be, outside of his collaboration with Hans Zimmer on the new Batman scores.  Though after listening to Clayton (which comes in between the two Christopher Nolan helmed Batman films), I am starting to hear where the two composers start and stop on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. 

As with many composers these days, Howard makes great use out of studio/computer effects, blending them with more traditional orchestral elements.  Unlike Giacchino’s almost completely in-studio approach, but with a fresh take on the orchestra, Howard blends a sparse string section (with a few winds, I believe…I’m working from memory mostly) with electronic effects that creates a surreal audio accompaniment to a film whose promotional poster was an out-of-focus head shot of star George Clooney with the text “The Truth Can Be Adjusted” covering most of his face.

When I first saw this film, I must admit I wasn’t very struck by the score, in fact I remember thinking “Where is the music?”  Which is why I was surprised when it was nominated for an Oscar (though, I must admit my ears, in the past year, have become much more acute than they were a year ago).  But, after listening to the score, I finally get it.  Watching the movie, I had an almost constant sense of unease, almost, to overuse a word, surreal feeling.  I couldn’t quite pin down what was causing it, but I now realize it was the score.  Bravo, Mr. Howard.

Listening, though, it reminded me at times of a score which, to my knowledge, has yet to have a proper CD release: Marco Beltrami and Marilyn Manson’s Resident Evil score.  Say what you will about the film or the games, Beltrami and Manson crafted a hell of an eerie score for the film that far surpassed the film in quality.  Final score: 9/10, great atmospheric score that sets the tone for this surreal film.

Mass Effect

Outside of the Final Fantasy games, I haven’t payed much attention video game music, largely due to the fact that I’ve haven’t been a huge gamer, console or PC, since high school.  Mass Effect is a game I would like to play, though, given what I’ve read about its plot (I love sci-fi).  The score is credited to four people: Jack Wall (Lead Composer), Sam Hulick (co-composer), and additional music by Richard Jacques and David Kates.  Jack Wall I’ve actually heard of due to a NPR interview/story on video game music concerts.  What I can hear of his and his team’s efforts on Mass Effect, he should have a bright future (lest we forget that many VG composers have crossed over into film and tv, and many continue to work in the industry, Michael Giacchino being a prime example).

By Wall’s own admission, he was trying to tap into classic sci-fi scores like Blade Runner (Vangelis) and Dune (Toto???).  Without actually having played the game, I feel very ill-equipped to discuss it at length, but I found the music very effective in portraying mood and setting, very key for video game scores.  While I can point to similarities in some cues (‘Battle at Eden Prime’ to the Blade Runner end credits and “The Normandy’ to the aforementioned Resident Evil film score) I found the overall work to be quite good.  I can only hope to one day play the game.  Final score: 6.5/10.

Well, there you have it, my listening for the week.  And yes, I would consider all three scores superior to Tyler Bates’ Watchmen.

The Last Frakkin’ Word on the BSG Finale

Posted on by filmscore80

Over the past few days, I’ve read a lot positive and negative comments about the finale of Battlestar Galactica.  As one of the few who were seemingly completely satisfied with the ending, I feel the need to discuss my thoughts in an open forum, and it doesn’t get much more open than the internets (use the Google to find me…God, I hope bashing Bush never gets old)

Anyway, as I’ve said many times over the past year (to anyone who would listen), Ron Moore and David Eick seemed to be following a plan with BSG that took the major plot points of the one season of the classic Battlestar as a template for the new show.  Those major points, and their analogous new episodes I shall list here:

-Fall of the Twelve Colonies: Classic ‘Saga of a Star World,’ New ‘Miniseries’
-Finding Kobol: Classic ‘Lost Planet of the Gods,’ New ‘Kobol’s Last Gleaming, Part I’ through ‘Home, Part II’
-Discovery by Pegasus and Adm. Cain: Classic ‘The Living Legend,’ New ‘Pegasus’ through ‘Resurrection Ship, Part II’
-Ship of Lights/Count Iblis: Classic ‘War of the Gods,’ New…the entire series?

It is the last one that is most closely tied in with the finale of ‘Daybreak’ (both parts).  As it is revealed that the Six that Baltar would talk to that only he could see and hear (like Al from Quantum Leap), and that the Baltar vision both he and Caprica Six would have, are actually some sort of beings who have been helping them and the fleet along, hoping to guide them towards a better future.  And also that Starbuck, after she seemingly died, was brought back for a specific purpose.  I’ll come back to these points in just a moment, because first I want to address what seems to be one of the biggest sticking points:  the decision of the Colonials to renounce their technologies and settle down on our Earth and blend in with the natives.

I think this was a perfectly logical way to end the Colonial’s journey for a few reasons.  I think it does make sense from a pure storytelling perspective and from a practical one.  In context of the story, the entire point of the series has been “All this has happened before, and will happen again” and trying to break out of the cycle.  The final five were revealed to be people from the original 13th colony who had traveled to the 12 Colonies in hopes that they could prevent the terrible destruction that had visited their world (the original Earth), but they were too late.  And in trying to prevent a future war, accidently set in motion the events that would destroy the Colonies.  As Lee Adama makes clear in his little speech on why they should give up the technology, if they were to keep the technology and take over the planet, it would most likely just continue the cycle.  If they were to give it all up, they would give everyone the chance to start again, and hopefully when the civilization once again reached the point of the “Singularity,” the point when true Artificial Intelligence is reached and the systems can learn and evolve on their own (look it up), we will all be in a better position to avert the apocalypse (this anxiety is present in much of our science fiction, look no further than The Matrix and The Terminator films).

So in the context of the story, it makes perfect sense.  From a practical standpoint, let’s play what if.  What if instead of reaching Earth in the distant past, they reach Earth (our Earth) and it’s more recent, or even present day or even near future?  Essentially you would leave open the door for future series in some alternate reality in which the Galactica reaches Earth…then you just have the disaster that was Galactica 1980 all over again.  Instead, the way Moore and Eick ended it, you have a morality tale that squares with our own human history (but what about wreckage of the Raptor that Adama had, etc…I’ll get to that).  As for people who ask the question I just parentheticalled, well, I just say you’re over thinking it, and if you really want an answer, well Adama set the autopilot and crashed it into the Sun like the rest of the fleet.  But again, I think you’re missing the forest for the trees if you get that nitpicky.

 

So with that now settled, I would like to turn my attention to the previously mentioned point, that of the revelation of the true natures of, what had been referred to as, “Head Six” and “Head Baltar.”  Call them angels, spirits, or whatever, it becomes clear that they were operating for some source, power, whatever that had instructed them to do what they did.  And playing against them in this game was the original Cavil cylon, who we had learned earlier, was behind the mind wipes of the final five, planting them in the fleet and many other devious things.  He wanted to wipe out humanity so the Cylons could be ascendant.

 

This does mesh well with the general tone of the original series’ “War of the Gods” two part episode.  On the one hand there is Count Iblis who is our devil/Cavil figure (originally there had been a scene of him with cloven hoofs, but it was pulled from the aired episode), and he is warring against the beings of the ‘Ship of Lights,’ who are beings who have ascended to a higher plane of existence (if you are familiar with Stargate SG-1 think of the Ancients).  They hope to guide humanity to a better existence.

 

Also like the episode “War of the Gods,” is the obtaining of the location of Earth.  The return of Starbuck at the end of Season 3 leads to this…twice.  First the original Earth, destroyed by conflict of man against machine, and then to the new Earth, our Earth.  Also of similarity is that Starbuck returns in a pristine, shiny viper.  When, in the original series, the pilots who had been taken by the “Beings of Light” return to Galactica, their vipers are in similar condition.

 

From this, it can be seen that Ron Moore, when writing out this ending, had these episodes in mind.  And that all along, he was following the large plot structure of the one season of the original series.  But rather than the rather obvious, in your face, religious angels that we had in the original, we have the rather enigmatic, obtuse, and not always ‘good’ angles of “Head Six” and “Head Baltar.”  In the payoff of the Opera House visions, we do see that all along it was to protect the future of humanity, Hera, who would lay the seeds of our modern humanity (as seen in the tag of the near future and the discovery of our most recent ancestor).

 

But an ending with such religious overtones?  That seems to be a sticking point for some.  In a science fiction show that prided itself on realism, a metaphysical ending?  I didn’t have any problems because the entire show had religious themes.  From the Colonial’s pantheon of Gods, to Roslin’s faith and Moses-like figure, to the Cylon’s one true God, the series is littered with the religious.  The only lingering question for me is: with all of the strong allegory of religious conflict, and parallels to 9/11 and Arab/Judeo-Christian conflict, what, if anything, can we read into this ending?  My initial thoughts are that by the refutation of the name “God” at the end, it is a message of pantheism (if I’m using that term correctly).  That religion is putting a specific name on something which doesn’t want or need to be named (though anthropomorphizing it in such a way contradicts such pantheistic readings seemingly).

 

I’m not an expert in such matters, but a reading of the ending that encourages unity rather than division seems to be perfectly in line with the shows message as a whole.  In the end, in order to survive, didn’t humanity and cylon have to come together?  Wasn’t that the whole point of Hera?  Exactly.

 

So, those are my thoughts.  Yours?

Micro-Post: Announcements

Posted on by filmscore80

A few long overdue announcements.  First, a few weeks back I added two blogs to the blog roll over there on the right hand side of your screen.  Herr Vogler is a good friend of mine and also a sometimes film composer and full time listener.  His blog covers not only film music, but also just about any topic (politics being a favorite).  Check it out.  Also ‘Music: The Universal Sandwich’ is done by a friend of mine here in school, and while he needs to update more often, he offers many unique thoughts.

Finally, I am in the process of re-tooling my old Livejoural account to make it into an entertainment based review/critique blog.  While I talk only of music here at The Temp Track, the Livejournal account will be where I can talk about the books, movies, tv shows, non-film music, etc. without having the musicologists glasses on (though I’m sure it will seep in).  I will be adding that link to the blog roll soon.

Anyway, just a few quick notes.  Go about your day as usual now.

Update 3/24: I’ve completed overhauling my old Livejournal account and have added it to the blogroll.

The Music of Battlestar Galactica, Part I – Passacaglia

Posted on by filmscore80

So now that the proclaimed “best show on television” is over (except for a tv movie prequel and the new prequel show Caprica), I feel it appropriate to start talking about some of the music of Battlestar Galactica.  It ironic in a way that a science fiction show that set out to create a ‘naturalistic’ sci-fi and take the ‘opera’ out of space opera ended up creating a show that can now be said to define “space opera” in a way.  We have gritty, real characters acting out a grand, mythical story among the backdrop of the universe, plot fit for Wagner in a way.

And for a musical score that started out not wanting to have “themes” or, dear one say, “leitmotifs,” that very thing has become a defining aspect of the the score.  In the finale, these were used to great effect as all the major thematic ideas come to their end.  Payoff for all the major musical ideas.  It was so satisfying.  Even if you didn’t like the finale (which I won’t discuss here…at least without some warnings), from a musical standpoint I doubt few would argue the satisfaction of the musical conclusions.

Anyway, for what might be the first of several posts dealing with a specific theme or themes, I want to discuss what was the first cue that really made my ears perk up and notice what was going on aurally.  There have been four major iterations of this theme, all unique.  On the Season 1 score disc the tracks are called ‘Passacaglia’ and ‘The Shape of things to Come.’  The two cues bookend the two-part Season 1 finale of “Kobol’s Last Gleaming.”  In Season 2 it is ‘Allegro’ from “Home, Part II.”  And in Season 3 it is ‘Violence and Variations’ from “Unfinished Business.”  What is interesting, I think, about how these cues are used in the show is that, unlike the majority of the themes, this one seems to not have a specific character association.  It is even difficult to make a clear conceptual association, though I will discuss my thoughts on this.

The first scene, our first introduction to this music, isthe very opening sequence of “Kobol’s Last Gleaming, Part I,” it is a montage if you will.  It is also one of the early examples of a BSG opening teaser that is a montage given almost completely over to music.  (Other good examples are the Season 2 episodes “Pegasus” and “Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I.”  Both of these episodes are major structural episodes in the BSG canon, if were we to apply Schenker to them, they would definitely be part of the ‘ursatz.’)  The scenes that the music backs up are of Lee and then Cmdr. Adama sparring, Starbuck and Baltar (wow, this was long ago!) making love, Helo and Sharon/Athena on Caprica and Helo shooting her eventually, and Boomer on Galactica contemplating suicide.  All these scenes are inter-cut with some dialogue, but really, it is a slice of life, setting up the chess board.

What was most remarkable about this cue is that it was the first real usage of a more traditional orchestral sound in the show.  It immediately set aapart this music and this sequence.  It is a very calming theme, but is set against images of the life of our players, and some rather dark moments.  Here is a YouTube video of just the music (I was hoping to upload short clips I made of the themes, but I can’t seem to get that to work, oh well, that’s why the gods invented YouTube):

‘Passacaglia’

The second time we hear the music is the penultimate scene of ‘Kobol’s Last Gleaming, Part II,’ in one of, I think, the shows best sequences.  Baltar and the Cylon Model Six that he can see and hear, but no one else can (which was finally explained in the Finale!), walk towards the ruins of the Kobol Opera House, and when they walk though the archway they are in a vision of the Opera House as it was.  It is here that Baltar learns of humanity’s future and the child that is to come.  But my favorite line is Six’s little musing on music and life: “Life has a melody, Gaius.  A rhythm of notes that become your existence once they’re played in harmony with God’s plan.”  This iteration of the theme is called “The Shape of Things to Come,”  coming from Six’s line that the child, the hybrid of human and cylon is the future.

“The Shape of Things to Come”

Two things to note: first the high held note that starts the cue, this will become a feature of later variations.  Second is the different meter:  “Passacaglia” is in 3/4 while “Shape” is in 6/8.  This is also a hallmark of this particular theme.  Not only is the original “Passacaglia” a variation form, but all the subsequent version are also variations on the original!  Also, the “Shape of Things to Come” variation is used in most of the subsequent visions of the Opera House that are see for the remainder of the series, and is the most common heard form.

Our next version of the theme, now in 4/4, comes in the concluding episode of the whole Kobol storyline in “Home, Part II” and the cue known as ‘Allegro.’  Once again, our theme is used to underlay an opening montage sequence.  We have the erstwhile President Roslin on the surface of Kobol struggling through the rain to reach the Tomb of Athena, all the while grieving the loss of her spiritual adviser, Elosha.  There are some loaded religious imagery here with Roslin being soaking in the rain (rebirth), and going through the Sacred Scrolls, a pilgrim and a leader.  On the other side, we have Adama (back in charge after begin shot by Boomer) planning a mission down to Kobol and hopefully reuniting the divided fleet.

‘Allegro’

It is important to note that all these cues are compelte musical ideas and pieces.  As they appear on the score albums, so they are in the show.

We next don’t get the theme until Season 3’s “Unfinished Business.”  Unlike the previous versions, it is not just used for one scene, but, as the album title “Violence and Variation” indicates, it is used in many different variations throughout the episode.  It even introduces a new overall theme for the very complex and volatile relationship between Lee Adama and Kara Thrace (Apollo and Starbuck).  This episode is set up as a series of flashbacks that fill in some of the time on New Caprica prior to the Cylon occupation, and sets up the love square between Dualla-Lee/Kara-Anders, not to mention the budding Adama/Roslin relationship.  The flashbacks take place within the framework of a Galactica boxing match in which anyone can challenge anyone, rank left at the door.  Here we have the obvious parallel to the original ‘Passacaglia’ with boxing, but there is a deeper level that I’ll discuss in a moment.  This version is in a 12/8 meter mostly, but with some detours.

‘Violence and Variation’

Now, what, if anything, can we say about this theme, if we can even call it a theme?  It is more truly a set of variations set up by the original ‘Passacaglia.’  My thought is that it is the melody of life, as Six indicated.  The music is heard over some of the most human moments of the show.  It accompanies the many complex character relationships, not to mention involving some of our most basic human actions (fighting, loving, crying), and it also points towards the future of humanity in its association with Hera and the Opera House (which was brilliantly culminated in the finale both visually and musically). It is also the penultimate BSG theme heard in the show (last true theme with the exception of the tag on the ending, but I will not say more for fear of spoilers).  So it is the theme that sends our characters on their journey into humanity’s future.  The sequences of notes that create the melody of life when played in harmony with God’s plan (I won’t espouse on the religion of BSG here, but it is an interesting aspect of what the finale brought full circle).

I also believe that the Kara/Anders theme ‘A Promise to Return’ (first heard in Season 2’s ‘The Farm’ as Kara is leaving Caprica to return to the fleet and has to leave Anders behind) is related to the ‘Passacaglia.’  Judge for yourself:

‘A Promise to Return’

It starts like many of the ‘Passacaglia’ variations with the lone high note, and the pulsating accompanying figure bears many similarities to the ‘Passacaglia.’  But without close theoretical analysis which I haven’t done yet, I can’t say anything with certainty except that my gut tells me it is related.  If it is, then it fits with the overall way in which the music is used.  It is an indicator of life and the future, the very human side of the show.

So, hopefully this will be the shape of things to come in this blog.  I’m not sure of which theme to do next or when the post will be, but I am open to suggestions.

Note:  Re-reading this, I realize that I neglected to name the composer.  Maybe since I’ve mentioned Bear McCreary’s name so many times in this blog already, I sub-consciously thought it wasn’t necessary to name him again.  Well, Mr. McCreary did the score and will also be scoring the upcoming prequel series Caprica.

Thoughts on ‘Watchmen’

Posted on by filmscore80

So I was going to post this Saturday afternoon after I got back from seeing Watchmen that morning, but a computer virus on my desktop prevented that post.  Luckily, my laptop remains unaffected, so now, after much craziness and frustration with said desktop, I’ve decided to beat a strategic retreat until I have more time and mental fortitude to take on the task of reinstalling many programs, possibly even Windows itself.  I won the battle in defeating the virus itself, but the after effects linger.  Think Iraq: I’ve toppled Hussein, but now I’m dealing with the insurgency.

Okay, enough political commentary.

So Watchmen, highly anticipated movie to geek-kind the world over.  Released to mixed reviews, and my own feelings on the film itself are mixed, but this is a music blog, so I’ll leave the movie reviewing to others.  I’ll divide my commentary up into two segments.  First the score itself, followed my the many song sequences.

Warning, some spoilers ahead.

The Score:

In a word: meh.  In another word: derivative.  Looking at Tyler Bates’ filmography, I have actually only seen one other film scored by him: 300.  And I haven’t seen or heard that score recently enough to make any comments on his style, but given this outing in Watchmen, I’m not encouraged.  I picked up the score album the night before I saw the film and got through it once before seeing the film, and in just that one pass I heard at least three other composer’s work easily: Elfman – Batman, Don Davis – The Matrix, and Bear McCreary’s Battlestar Galactica (and maybe even some of Richard Gibbs’ work for the original mini-series).  Now, a lot of these things were quite obvious, like the brass chords from The Matrix (you know, the ones Davis originally got from John Adams?), and who cannot help but hear Bates’ use of Taiko drums as reminiscent of McCreary’s Battlestar, the sound of those drums is so wrapped into the aural aesthetic of the show that a composer would have to do something very different to avoid the comparison.  As for Batman, it wasn’t anything as blatant, but on the opening cue on the album, “Rescue Mission,” in the first thirty seconds, there is a low brass bit that comes in after the chorus that is almost, note for note, Elfman’s original Batman theme.  Here though, it is secondary melody, so it might be easy to miss.

Another score that came to mind in some of the more noir-ish cues was Vangelis’ Blade Runner.  The same sort of synth sound is used, but in many ways I think that it was deliberate given the 1985 setting of the film (example: track 9 on the score album).  The score here is echoing an ’80s film that was set in the future, while the film its for is set in the past, though contemporary for the period in which the first film was made.  Does that sentence make any sense?  Easy version: Blade Runner released in 1982 and set in 2019, Watchmen released in 2009 and set in 1985.  So in a way, the usage of music reminiscent to Blade Runner is clever in and of itself, but when put in relation of the derivativness of much of the rest of the score, it seems to mean less.

In terms of music-visual relation, the true test of any score, I was underwhelmed.  No sequences really jumped out at me as good examples of music to image relations, and when the score was used in a scene with little dialogue, it felt clunky.  I would need to see the film again to give actual examples, but color me unimpressed.

The Songs:

But where I felt the movie really fell down with music was its use of songs.  If it was just the score, then I would say that it neither added, nor really subtracted from the film, but the songs!  Oh my.  There were a few good sequences, but for the most part the addition of song backed sequences really had the, hopefully, unintended effect of leaping of the screen and screaming, “LISTEN TO ME, IT’S TIME FOR A SONG MONTAGE.”  This also extends into the use of some classical works (which I’m including here because of their inclusion on the Soundtrack album).  Furthermore, there were just to many of them…way to many.

First, the good.  I though Nat King Cole’s ‘Unforgettable’ was used quite well to underscore the opening fight and murder of the Comedian.  I’m a big fan of using music that deliberately goes against the grain of the image (so here, a rather sweet, lovely song, to underscore a brutal fight), what Michel Chion calls the anempathetic effect.  Defined by him in his book Audio-Vision as when, “music…exhibit[s] conspicuous indifference to the situation by progressing in a steady, undaunted, and ineluctable manner: the scene takes place against this very backdrop of “indifference.””  In the case of the scene at hand, the song first appears in the diegetic space, being played during a television commercial.  As the fight starts and continues, the song moves into the non-diegetic space (though director Zack Snyder is careful to show us that even though the tv screen is broken during the fight, that the set continues to work).

The one other sequence that doesn’t offend me too much is the use of Hendrix’s ‘All Along the Watchtower’.  This song, like another Bob Dylan penned tune on the soundtrack album (‘Desolation Row’, though here covered in an 80s punk style by My Chemical Romance…for some reason), were chosen due to the inclusion of quotes that were used at the end of every issue of the original series.  ‘Watchtower’ is the only one that is actually used as it was in the original, as the Nite Owl and Rorschach are approaching the Antarctica compound of Adrian Veidt, and the line “two riders were approaching,” is synced up with a helicopter shot of them doing exactly that.  Maybe a little obvious, but hey, it works well.

Okay, two sequences that I thought did not work at all.  First, the Comedians funeral which is overlayed by Simon and Garfunkle’s ‘The Sound of Silence.’  On the surface, you think, “Okay, funeral, sound of silence, a person’s death is the silencing of their voice, yadda yadda yadda.”  But then, you think about the entire milieu of the world that is created by the film, what the character of the Comedian represents (which is everything that the ’60s hippie culture/Simon and Garfunkle were protesting against), and it becomes…well…really weird and then just poor song choice.

Secondly is a sequence that almost made me laugh out loud, and at least elicited chuckles from the audience I saw it with.  If you’ve seen it, you probably know where I’m going…yes it’s the scene of Doc Manhattan in Viet Nam, towering over the land, surrounded by helicopters as Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ plays.  Okay, we all get the obvious ‘Apoclypse Now’  imagery, but really?  By now it’s just cliche.  And if that was funny, I was just left scratching my head about the inclusion of the Philip Glass cues from Koyaanisqatsi, the same cues that were used in the second trailer for the film.  They work okay in the context of the film, for the most part, but just like the inclusion of Wagner, and later on a bit of Mozart’s Requiem, it serves to pull me out of any sort of cohesive aural space.

And if anything, that is the worst part about the entire aural track for Watchmen.  It is a jumble of styles that really doesn’t work well together.  With the classical and Glass tracks, it’s almost like those were on the temp track for the film and Snyder fell in love with them (a la 2001).  And even the songs did much the same thing.  Yes, some worked well in context (even ones as disparate as ‘Unforgettable’ and ‘Watchtower’), others just clashed with the images.  The inclusion of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ also strained the love-making scene for me, if only because the various covers of that song have been used entirely to often in film and television.  But that’s another blog post entirely.

So those are my thoughts on the film’s score and soundtrack.  Agree, disagree?