Assignment 2
How Hans Zimmer’s music impacted story telling of Modern Cinema
Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s The Dark Knight: A Film Score Guide (Film Score Guides Book 18) by Vasco Hexel
Hans Zimmer is known for composing in blockbuster films such as ‘Dark Knight’, ‘Gladiator’, ‘Interstellar’ and many more. Hans Zimmer has changed the style of the Hollywood music for modern blockbuster films. The contrast in music design between Hans Zimmer and another composer of the previous century for example; John Williams is very high due to many reasons. The main reason is many of the great composers of the past are traditional composers whereas Hans Zimmer can also be referred to as a Music Producer. In today’s industry a draft of the film score is a necessity which means the composer is required to make a score digitally before even being considered working for the film. This environment makes the style of music more Sound Design based than orchestral.
The ‘Dark Knight’ film has a heist scene where the villain (Joker) is introduced to the audience. The film takes on a subtle requirement of music to carry the villain’s psycho-like character. ‘The Joker theme was perhaps the most ingenious inventions in the score’, the film scene consists of a string being struck for descending soundtrack which effectively makes the audience feel the tension the film conveys. This segment of a music is repeated throughout film where it has the power to replace visuals, in this case it replaces the main villain, we know that the villain is present or a trigger point in film is occurring where a ‘grittier, heavier, and darker‘ emotion will take place when we hear this one subtle sound which is highly impactful and commendable as the film uses less differentiation in style to attract the audience’s attention and provides a solid viewing experience.
Hans Zimmer’s TDK soundtrack takes a similar theme throughout the trilogy depicting the protagonist’s adventure through life. Similarly, in 2010 the film ‘Inception’ by same director Christopher Nolan was released.
Hans Zimmer’s ‘Time’ we have to go deeper by Michal Zak
This film was another blockbuster about dreams and time. Both the director of film and director of music have worked closely to maintain the ultimate theme ‘Time’ in their music and films. Inception film takes on a soundtrack called ‘Time’ which depicts the protagonist’s journey of regrets and misery to the relief and change as a character and as a progression in film. The film takes on a mind-bending heist through multiple layers of dreams with the dilemma being about returning to reality without being stuck in limbo.
The soundtrack progresses gradually from a very soft harmonious sad track to a minimal guitar melody that echoes over the composition depicting change and positivity, almost a motivation for the protagonist or the film or us the viewers. The article’s author believed ‘The goose-bumpy chord progression, the perfectly minimalistic guitar lick courtesy of Johnny Mar, and the intertwining melodies that make you feel like both the I’m the king of the world and Drowning cause Kate Winslet doesn’t share versions of Leo from Titanic — this song has it all’.
In contrast I personally believe the soundtrack is like the feeling of regretting something from the past yet also the feeling of wanting to move on from it. The soundtrack has a sense of hope for every verse, but it drops making the audience heart pound for that second to catch the following verse. The protagonist’s wife suicided because she could not differentiate between dreams and reality and believed that the dream world is the reality which is ideally a question of subject. The protagonist has a journey of regrets in losing the love of his life and yet another guilt of planting a dangerous idea in her that to escape limbo killing yourself is the option. In contrast to various other films scored by many other composers, Hans Zimmer does not just focus on a theme-like film score but a score that’s heart whelming and relatable to the audience just as much as the protagonist’s character.
In addition, I will explore what made Hans Zimmer’s style of film story telling much well developed in this century. As far as we know Hans Zimmer can compose some of most emotional, impactful and most relatable soundtracks to audience. But when it comes to film, the protagonist is not the only subject, there is a world development. In 2014, Nolan and Zimmer collaborated on a masterpiece called ’Interstellar’ this film takes the themes time and science complexity to an outstanding subject for storytelling where a noob in science can still show interest for film due to the magnum opus score and screenplay.
Interstellar The Sound of Time & Space – Sam , Lead Editor The SoundArchitect
In contrast to many other films where character development or plot-based theme in soundtrack are developed as highlight, Interstellar has the change of feel where Hans Zimmer decides to take on a religious theme of showing world or a being that’s huge and unreachable by us. His music depicts the destiny in which the character follows; ‘A time endpoint, Also known as a ticking clock, is a technique in which you tell the audience up front that the action must be completed by a specific time’. This is done through the magic of his digital production of sound and the genius changes in pace to take control over our emotions.
The sound world is created through organs which give a holy atmospheric feeling of something so powerful yet it also shows the terrifying journey taken by the protagonist to finally see his loving daughter.
Having discussed 3 different reviews on the progression of Hans Zimmer and his ways of storytelling, I would like to take this as an inspiration to produce my own sample of music with its own source of story and emotional build. I really love the way Zimmer played with rhythm which truly attracts the audience’s attention span and is very memorable as it has a unique creative style of its own to fulfil a movies definition.
References
Beyl, C., 2020. Christopher Nolan: The Ultimate Guide To His Films & Directing Techniques. [online] Indie Film Hustle®. Available at: <https://indiefilmhustle.com/christopher-nolan/> [Accessed 7 October 2020].
Detailed study of character and story design development I would like to use this as a reference to work from when expanding on my characters representations
Price, A., 2020. Hans Zimmer Interview – The Art Of Film Scoring | Musictech. [online] MusicTech. Available at: <https://www.musictech.net/features/hans-zimmer-interview/> [Accessed 7 October 2020]
A descriptive analysis on film scoring and the details of Han Zimmer’s sound engineering techniques I would like to use this as reference when thinking about ways to enhance my animation through sound
Rossi, M., 2020. Christopher Nolan – The Aesthetics Of Present. [online] Academia.edu. Available at: <https://www.academia.edu/8593852/Christopher_Nolan_The_Aesthetics_of_Present> [Accessed 7 October 2020].
Illustrates large agenda of aesthetics in cinematic techniques I would like to recreate this in numerous ways when working on style of animation
Assignment 3
Aalavandhan (2001) Tamil movie by Suresh Krissna (https://youtu.be/9PbThWnl8RE)
Aalavandhan (He came to Rule) is a psychological thriller film made in 2001 which is not the most popular genre of film within Kollywood (South Indian Tamil Cinema) at that period run by commercial masala-musical films. This film by far is Kamal Hassan’s most ambitious and mind bending film to take place in Kollywood. Kamal Hassan experimented with the theme contrast in his previous films such as Nayakan, a film about doing good for people by taking actions that may be subjective to moral, that’s a contrast in Good and Bad.
In Aalavandhan, Kamal depicts the contrast between Nandhu and Vijay, two brothers with totally different viewpoints of life. Nandhu is a paranoid man with a mental disorder called Schizophrenic. He has paranoia about Vijay’s fiancé being another form of his step-mother. This film takes on a theme in God and Beast. The brothers share both themes in them, the difference is the balance of it and their circumstances in life took them to different understandings of life.
From having watched the film twice thoroughly, I will be discussing the ways in which the film takes on the story and the theme of contrast. The introduction of both characters present contrast. Vijay is shown skiing in snow showing a ‘white’ and ‘pure’ atmosphere whereas Nadhu’s entry shows some shots of monkeys climbing and playing whilst Nandhu walks towards prison bar, this can suggest Nandhu’s character. Vijay’s motive in the film is about fighting for India and Nandhu’s motive is about killing his brother’s wife who reminds him of his step-mother. There is a close up shot 18 minutes into the film in the prison where three of the most important characters meet (again), Nandhu, Vijay and Vijay’s fiancé. This key scene in film already foreshadows that the film will evolve around these three characters essentially. There is a prison bar infront of Nandhu splitting him away from Vijay and his fiancé which suggests and foreshadows that he is / he will be a ‘barrier’ to them. The close shots taken allow us as audiences to understand and get closer to the main characters in the film.
Furthermore there is a shot of nude Nandhu sleeping like a child in prison and the jail cast were dressing him, this scene is highly effective as it suggests that Nandhu is still like a child and does not like to wear clothes. The film takes on many hidden details allowing the film to carry such deeper meanings for the audience to interpret. This is an element I would like to carry in my film where I can plant hidden meanings that make the story carry more emotion and context without being a complex short film.
Mind My Mind (2019) by Floor Adams (https://youtu.be/gY0iO_nOFZs)
Mind My Mind handles the manual social scripting in the mind of an autistic man clearly.
We are treated with creative pleasure throughout the film, Chris has a mouthless lizard character inside his head, this character likes to keep everything organised to plan and cannot handle too much stress or anxiety. We get shown many occasions in simple and in an effective manner. There are templates stored in his head which he uses to survive social skills.
The film carries a relatable and universal feel, one being the fact that it uses English language even though being set in Netherlands as we can see from the familiar architectural art which also provides an international element.
The film carries an aesthetically pleasing visual where the colours are not too bright to the eye and harmonious and an act of mood. The film also carries a sketchy look rather than sharp, this is highly effective as the film gives an artsy feel almost a nostalgic childhood atmosphere allowing audience to perhaps read the protagonist’s childlike life in the sense of having obsession for plane toys and innocence of not knowing reality as much as other characters within the world.
The sound design is quite simple and soft throughout film, the director intended to allow the voices of characters and noise of atmosphere subject than background music composited which I feel worked very well for this film and set the mood of the character to us.
The film uses various angles and wide shots to establish the character’s life and world he fears to go through. Every time the character comes out of his house, we get a bird eye view of him and the street, this is effective as we get landscape of his daily life established which is a build up to character development as well as world building. Another form of technique used constantly throughout film is eye-level shots this is effective as we get personal with characters especially Chris as he is a lonely man in his room and these shots really give us as audience to understand the mood swings and overall characteristics of this man with many difficulties.
In terms of script and dialogues used in film, the main characters are limited (excluding party mates) and they spoke less. Throughout entire film there is less talking and conversations use very less lines, this is effective as it focuses on emotions in the space of silence and also it allows light jokes to be emphasised well in the whole film which feels more calm and enjoyable.
The elements I would like to carry from this film are having sketchy and artisanal look this allows the film to carry a visually conducted emotion strongly. In addition, the film will feel more personal and original to either director, film character or audience and that is highly subjective but very poetic pleasure and has no limitations in subject’s emotional drive.
Chosin: Baptized by Fire! (2014) by HOPR (https://youtu.be/aJDX2_ZISj0)
This animated short film takes on an abstract form to depict a true event based on Chosin Reservoir Campaign of the Korean War. The film focusses on showing an epic battlefield scenario in the perspective of a quite scared soldier. The film has a comic / graphic novel look where it uses dramatic action, pop-ups and explosions with high contrast colours. The film looks like ‘Spider-man: into the Spider-Verse’ in terms of visual appearance expect for the fact that the base animation is not 3D animated sequences. The film incorporates a mix of After Effects and hand drawn animation which makes it very stylised due to the artistic approach and dynamism.
The film portrays the opponents in battlefield as monsters, visually they look terrifying and evil. This had led many to think that the film is an American propaganda film. However, the film is trying to show another meaning which many appreciated. Essentially the film is in the perspective of the protagonist. The protagonist is a scared young man fighting for survival in this case. We see the Chinese portrayed as monsters this is effective as it suggests that the protagonist in the pressure sees the opponents as monsters due to the fact that they will kill him and his allies. There is a sequence in the film near climax where there’s a huge explosion further away which shed light on the protagonist and the antagonist which reveals the human behind the monster look who is just same as him young and terrified, this is a moment for the audience to understand the reason behind the monster-look is to portray the opposition in the eye of a feared man.
The colours of the film are mainly dark blue to show the dark environment they are fighting in, the colour can be a personal preference for dark theme in an aesthetic manner or it can represent ‘faith’ and ‘loyalty’.
Majority of the battlefield sequences had light fading to dark and flickered portraying the wild journey towards survival. In addition, many shapes and colours popped across the film which enhanced the pace and epic feel.
I would like to make my film in an original stylised abstract theme and focus on making my battle sequences very intriguing and most certainly epic. I will do this by looking into techniques that allow me to focus on light verse dark to create contrasting sequences that engage well with the audience.
References
Baubekova, A., 2020. The Language Of Film. [online] Academia.edu. Available at: <https://www.academia.edu/39128606/the_language_of_film> [Accessed 20 October 2020].
Bowman, C., 2020. Animated Film Shows Terror Of The Korean War: Battle Of Chosin Reservoir. [online] WAR HISTORY ONLINE. Available at: <https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/animated-film-illustrates-the-terror-of-the-korean-war-battle-of-chosin.html> [Accessed 20 October 2020].
Grobar, M. and Grobar, M., 2020. ‘Mind My Mind’ Director Offers Window Into Mind Of Man With Autism – Deadline. [online] Deadline.com. Available at: <https://deadline.com/2019/11/mind-my-mind-director-floor-adams-animated-shorts-interview-news-1202778018/> [Accessed 14 October 2020].
Lawton, E., 2020. ‘Mind My Mind’ Review: The Oscar Nominated Animation On Autism. [online] Ambitious about Autism. Available at: <https://www.ambitiousaboutautism.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/blog/mind-my-mind-review-oscar-nominated-animation-autism> [Accessed 14 October 2020].
Price, S., 2020. Getting War Right: “Chosin: Baptized By Fire”. [online] Motion design – STASH. Available at: <https://www.stashmedia.tv/war-right-chosin-baptized-fire/> [Accessed 14 October 2020].
Youtube.com. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE20b-rIWJg&ab_channel=MovingImages> [Accessed 20 October 2020].
Youtube.com. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSyRZifc25c&t=352s&ab_channel=MovingImages> [Accessed 14 October 2020].
Book 1
This book helped me understand film language and camera angles better, the book was supportive towards beginners by showing diagrams that explain better.
Book 2
This book definitely had supported me in understanding Nolan’s perception of Time’s influence on film and vice versa. Below are some interesting explorations:
haranworks 