Movie Themes - Why we have them.

[DJ-Daz]

Music in movies is totally different to listening to music for the sake of it. Music in movies is like smileys in text - it's there to steer the emotion of the observer. Whether you like the music or not is irrelevant. It still steers your emotional perception in the directors intended direction.


Yet both go hand in hand, in fact, try watching a movie without ANY musical accompaniment, it'll bore you senseless. So music is a major part of ANY movie. Yet my love of music is gone. But moves without it are pants. What gives?

Well music in movies is there to HELP convey a situation. Be it a horror movie or action film, it's all the same, only the tone of the music changes.

Take John Carpenters The Thing:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/11%20The%20Thing.mp3
It's unique in a couple of different ways to a traditional theme tune.
1. It's all electronic. This might be a sign of the times, both were made in the experimental early 80's.
2. Nothing is happening while you hear this music. This is simply to to put you on edge immediately. If you haven't seen the film, would you be creeped out by this music? Probably. Dum Dum, Dum Dum, this bassline is meant to be your heartbeat, but it's not racing you say, it's not scarey! So what, doesn't it still make you a little nervous? Thats because hearing a heartbeat does that. When was the last time you go so nervous or scared you heard your own heartbeat? That is exactly what the composer wanted, he wanted you to hear your own heartbeat.

Eventually though you move through this and into a new dimension with synths, again just to put you a little on edge, low frequency ramping up to a crescendo of high end sounds, now these do jangle the nerves. The sound of fingernails on a blackboard is supposed to be similar to a screech monkey make when there's danger about. Given our relation to apes high pitch noises do that to us... well thats the theory anyway.

Overall a very simple tune, nothing complex, there's probably no more than 6-8 different sounds yet it does exactly what it's meant to, to make us nervous, to let us know that we aren't the top of the food chain.

It's the same for another Carpenter film too: Halloween
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/02%20Halloween%20%28Main%20Theme%29.mp3
Except this time it's faster, but the piano is slow like a heartbeat, and everything else does the trick of making you shit your pants, and all this before the film really starts!

But what about non-horror?
Listen to this: My Heart Will Go On - James Cameron's Titanic
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/-%20My%20Heart%20Will%20Go%20On.mp3
A beautiful piece meant to convey loss, redemption, hope, love and peace. It's also surprising how just one song can propel a career, how many people had actually heard of Celine Dion before you saw this film? Not many I bet. Trust me though, she doesn't get any better than this, not that I'd know anything about that of course, I just read it on t'internet.

Now for a change in pace - Jurassic Park - Stephen Spielberg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/%2816%29%20Jurassic%20Park%20-%20End%20Credits.mp3
A brilliant classical theme to an amazing film. I personally went to see this 7 times at the cinema, VHS, DVD, and now Blu-Ray and it never fails to entertain or get my emotions going.
This by the way is the main end title theme. It's used once during the film, and that's the helicopter flight to the island.

So how's this for chalk and cheese - Terminator 2 - James Cameron
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/01%20-%20Main%20Title%20%28Terminator%202%20Theme%29.mp3
Very industrial sounds, but then again it's all about robots coming from the future to kill the future leader who kills the robots.
Now time travel is usually a very complex issue, and killing people in the past has consequences, but if everyone dies anyway, then there's no problem. But John Conner is a survivor, and you can probably tell by the music that it's going to be a tough time ahead. In my humble opinion, this is one of THE greatest movie themes ever made. It starts off with hammer blows to the head, then just stops and goes for the heart with the synthesizers and slightly Gregorian chant effects.
Now compare it to the original movie theme:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/02%20-%20-The%20Terminator-%20Main%20Title.mp3

But it's not all about classical music and synths. Sometimes great movie themes are about pop. Try this for size: Snake Blood - The Beach
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/01%20-%20Snakeblood%20-%20The%20Beach.mp3
You just know from the first minute this film isn't traditional, and it's not, it's an intricate story of love, hate, fear, drugs, good times and danger, all in all a great theme that seems to get this idea across perfectly.

But sometimes a film can be elevated to a higher rating just by a brilliant soundtrack, and this next film is just one of those: Tron Legacy - Daft Punk Overture
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/01%20-%20Tron%20Legacy%20-%20Daft%20Punk%20-%20Overture%20-%202010.mp3
Now I'm not slating the film, but in all honesty it's not one of the true greats, in fact its quite good, but the soundtrack is worth the admission fee alone, the entire album goes from melancholy, like this, to action packed, and back again. It's brilliant, and again IMHO one of the best soundtrack albums ever made. Now who doesn't want to see a film with a crescendo like that eh?

Has anyone seen Black Hawk Down? The opening sequence and music sets the theme for Mogadishu perfectly, bleak, dead and desolate.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/01.%20Hunger.mp3
I think everyone who posts on this forum has seen this film dozens of times, and will probably agree that this music REALLY matches the intro sequence of the film perfectly, and that's just what Hanz Zimmer was obviously aiming for, truly one of the greatest movie music composers of all time.

How about this for a strange one. The Exorcist - tubular bells by Mike Oldfield.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/1-20%20Tubular%20Bells.mp3
It's a strangely enchanting theme that wasn't made for the film, but yet it works for the film! It's chilling and eerie just like the movie is. Oh and if you like horror films and you haven't seen The Exorcist, then you don't like horror films period! It was categorised as a video nasty and banned almost worldwide after it's cinema release. Eventually it got a sell through release some years later. (The movie and not the music lolz).


That's it for now, come back for part two later.
disclaimer - NOT 1 music track is hosted on this server, NOT ONE!

[InfiniteStates]

Music in movies is totally different to listening to music for the sake of it. Music in movies is like smileys in text - it's there to steer the emotion of the observer. Whether you like the music or not is irrelevant. It still steers your emotional perception in the directors intended direction.

Music outside of movies doesn't have that macro-goal beyond your own intentions. And if you're feeling depressed, chances are you would choose music that would accentuate that.

Try going places where the listening music is chosen for you...?

[DJ-Daz]

Music in movies is totally different to listening to music for the sake of it. Music in movies is like smileys in text - it's there to steer the emotion of the observer. Whether you like the music or not is irrelevant. It still steers your emotional perception in the directors intended direction.

This is true in most cases, but rare soundtracks can be listened to on their own. The Animatrix is brilliant with the movie and even better as a stand alone soundtrack. Same goes for Tron Legacy by Daft Punk, and the Star Wars classical soundtrack.

Music outside of movies doesn't have that macro-goal beyond your own intentions. And if you're feeling depressed, chances are you would choose music that would accentuate that.

Try going places where the listening music is chosen for you...?

Probably a good idea. Maybe I should also scrub the first paragraph too.

[YorkshirePud]

tron legacy awesome mate

visual effects can take your breath away, but music, music can give a film soul.

pefect example


still get goosebumps because even the smallest person, can change the course of history

[DJ-Daz]

And another great example:

turn down the volume and they just become boring scenes.

[Dr. Solomon Graves]

I'm not afraid to admit it, but I shed mantears at the end of Black Hawk Down. Having had close friends die in Afghanistan, this song hits me right in the fucking chest every time I hear it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7i_EZO5Hzc

[DJ-Daz]

No shame in tears, its shows you have a heart.
Tissues ready dude:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/11.%20Gortoz%20A%20Ran%20-%20J%27Attends.mp3

[YorkshirePud]

the soundtrack to black hawk down is great, i actually find the minstrel boy part more moving though

[DJ-Daz]

Movie Themes Part 2:

Movie themes don't just make us feel, like the above themes, they also make us remember. Smell and sounds spark nostalgia like nothing else. Photo's do but not as big as smell or sounds and music.

So this time I'm dedicating this post to memorable music.

Even if you haven't seen these films I can guarantee you've heard the music.

First off:
The James Bond Main Theme - An obvious choice I suppose.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/1-25%20The%20Name%27s%20Bond...%20James%20Bond.mp3

Dr. Who - Again an obvious choice right? Well not for this version, it's a little different, but the key theme is there and clearly distinguishable.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/15%20Dr%20Who_%20%282004%29.mp3

How about the American Beauty theme?
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/american%20beauty%20-%20Soundtrack_Opening%20Theme.mp3

Enough, I'm not labelling the movies for you, that would be too easy.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/Gladiator%20-%2003%20-%20The%20Battle.mp3

Love or hate the song, it's obvious what movie it came from.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/Top%20Gun%20-%20D.E.%20-%2001%20-%20Kenny%20Loggins%20-%20Danger%20Zone.mp3

Amazing grace - from dozens of different movies, but I'm thinking of just the one.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/100%20Amazing%20Grace.mp3
Braveheart anyone?

Watch out this one's got a big bite. Used many times in black comedy, but it still conjures up the film every time.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/01%20Main%20Title%20and%20First%20Victim.mp3

How's this for a "Golden" oldie.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/20%20L%27estasi%20dell%27oro%20%28The%20Ecstasy%20of%20Gold%29.mp3
this one might be a bit too obscure, but it's still no doubt very familiar.

Guard this one closely
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74818017/Movies%20Themes/Alan%20Silvestri%20-%20Theme%20From%20The%20Bodyguard%20-%20Alan%20Silvestri.mp3