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Why Over the Rainbow was Cut from The Wizard of Oz
'Over the Rainbow', written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, has become a cultural icon since its inclusion in MGM's 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. But despite its current fame, it very nearly didn’t see the light of the day.
How Radiohead Wrote the Perfect Bond Theme
For this 24th installment in the James Bond franchise, Sam Smith provided 'Writing's On The Wall' for the opening, but they were not the first choice to provide a new song for the film. Radiohead were initally approached to write a new theme song, and what they delivered was, in my opinion, one of the greatest Bond themes ever written.
Radiohead: Pyramid Song - Analysis
‘Pyramid Song’, written by Thom Yorke with contributions from Jonny Greenwood and Philip Selway, is one of Radiohead's most enduringly popular songs. In this essay, I analyse the harmony, rhythm and form of the song and suggest that the hypnotic feeling you get whilst listening to it comes about as a result of the music’s complex substructure.
The Music of the Monsters of Lord of the Rings
Howard Shore's music for The Lord of the Rings uses a vast set of clearly defined themes for the cultures, people and places of Middle-Earth, and it was no different for the monsters of this world. Let's find out what the music of the monsters of J.R.R. Tolkein and Peter Jackson's world sounds like.
The Lord of the Rings - How Howard Shore Makes Us Care
Howard Shore's scores for The Lord of the Rings contain, perhaps, some of the greatest music ever written for film. His music acts as a reflection of the cultures of Middle-earth, it outlines the emotional landscape of the story and also acts as a narrator in itself, commenting on and supporting the narrative over eleven hours of film. And at the centre of this, Shore had to write music to accompany the journey of two hobbits, taking them from the Shire, all the way to the fires of Mordor, and back again.
What's the Sound of Colour? Kandinsky and Music
In this video, I look at the work of Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky and how his paintings were influenced by music. Kandinsky had synesthesia, which meant that when he heard sounds, he saw colour and when he saw colour, he heard music.
Why Hannibal Lecter Murders to Bach
Hannibal Lecter's murders in the courthouse scene in second act of The Silence of the Lambs are some of the most violent things we will see in the film. But, for me, one of the most disturbing things about the scene isn't what Lecter is doing, but what he's listening to whilst he's doing it. He's listening to two movements from J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations. Let's find out why Lecter murders to Bach.
The Music of George Orwell's 1984
George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 is best known for its most famous ideas - Newspeak, Big Brother and Room 101 to name a few. But little has been written about the musical imagery and metaphor that permeates the novel. In this essay, I explore how IngSoc, the ruling party in Oceania, uses music to control and oppress the people and, as a result, how freedom of expression in music, and singing in particular, becomes the embodiment of an idealistic future for Winston. ‘The birds sang, the proles sang. The Party did not sing.’
How Music Makes E.T. Fly
The score for 'E.T. the Extra Terrestrial' represents the pinnacle of John William's art, but also the pinnacle of a decades-old artistic collaboration between John Williams and Steven Spielberg. In this essay for the first month of the brand new Director Project, I look at the glorious music behind E.T. and consider how it lifts the the narrative, both metaphorically and literally.
Interstellar - How Hans Zimmer Creates the Sound of Space
Hans Zimmer’s score for Interstellar dispensed of a lot of the musical language that had been so commonplace in his scores before this film. Driven by the desire to create a sound-world that he, and director Christopher Nolan, hadn't yet explored, Zimmer created music full of soft, introspective sounds: sustained organ melodies and chords, hushed orchestral textures and transparent, widely-spaced harmony. In this essay, I look at how this sound-world perfectly captures the isolation and loneliness of space, but I also consider, more significantly, how Hans Zimmer’s music realises the emotional message that is at the heart of the film.
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