History of Film Music

Terms/Composers/Cues

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Genre: Western
Composer: Ennio Moricone
“Theme” played on Guitar and Harmonies play 3rds

Mr Smith Goes To Washington ((1939)

Genre: Comedy
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Uses a Montage
“Best Score” NOMINEE

Stagecoach (1939)

Genre: Western

Director: John Ford

Composer: Richard Hageman

Made John Wayne Famous

WON “BEST SCORE” OSCAR

Indian War Music Sterotype

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Genre: Fantasy

“Best Original Score” nominee

Adaptations: Herbert Stothart

Songs: Howard Arlen

Functions: 11,5b,7,3a,9,3b,6,8

Both WON OSCARS FOR MUSIC.

Citizen Kane (1941)

Genre: drama/film noir
Director: Orson Welles
Composer: Bernard Herrmann
“The Skater’s Waltz”

Theme and Variations A,A’,A”,etc

Functions: 3a,5b,12,3b,5a,7

Superman: The Movie (1978)

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

Composer: John Williams

King’s Row (1942)

Genre: Drama/Film Noir

Composer: Korngold

Best Film by Sam Wood

Warner Bros couldn’t get script approved

Well-known Korngold theme

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Genre: Film Noir

Composer: Miklos Rozsa

Director:Billy Wilder

Made the Mob nervous

Rozsa lost the Oscar to himself for spellbound!

Theremin used.

The Killers (1946)

Composer: Miklos Rozsa

Functions:9,19a,3a,7,5b,12

The Shining (1980)

Genre: Horror

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Composer: Wendy Carlos

Compilation Score + synthesizer

End of Days (1999)

Genre: horror

Composer: John Debney

80 piece orchestra + non-western instruments (Shofar, Duduk)

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Composer: Bernard Herrmann
Experimental: electric instruments, recordings played backwards, theremin

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Bebe and Louis Barron recorded electrical circuits and thats the entire score (“Electronic Tonalities”)

Rare for MGM to do a SCI FI

Light-Hearted Motif for Robby the Robot

Tron (1982)

Composer: Wendy Carlos

Initial plan for music was to use synthesizers for the CGI and real instruments for live action

By release all the timbres were used

synth pad bend

mix sun th and orchestra and a wordless choir

Dune (1984)

Director: David Lynch

70+ sets, 4000 costumes, 20k extras

Toto’s first film score “Doom”

THX Deep Note effect

Mars Attacks (1996)

Director: Tim Burton

Composer: Danny Elfman

CGI for martian scenes

Spoof of movies and music

Theremins, Organs, choir, orchestra

The Big Country (1958)

Genre: Western

Directed by William Wyler

Composed by Jerome Meross

“Best Score” nominee

influenced by Aaron Copland

Functions: 3a, 8, 12a, 10, 3b

The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Composer: Elmer Bernstein

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (1966)

Composer: Ennio Morricone

Recorder: “Good” - Blondie

Voices: “Bad” - Tuco

Bass Ocarina: “Ugly” - Angel Eyes

High Noon (1952)

Composer = Dimitri Tiomken

Leitmotifs for Will and Amy, and Frank Miller
Functions: 3b,8,12a,10,7,3a,5b

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Song Composed by Burt Bacharach

Functions: 11, 6

E.T.

Composer: John Williams

“Main Title”

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Composed by John Williams

Ghostbusters

Genre: comedy

Composer: Elmer Bernstein

ondes martenot

Ray Parker Jr.`

Wuthering Heights (1939)

Genre: romance

Director: Wyler Williams

Composer: Alfred Newman

“Best Original Score” Nominee

Newman was paid $5000