The Early Years to Today

1. The Early Years to Today

2. Before the invention of the "talking picture," all movies were completely silent. The infusion of music into the film venue is speculated to have happened for many reasons. Music was already a commonplace element in the theatres and it was brought over to films not only because of tradition, but to add a depth to the two-dimensional image that appeared upon the screen. An added benefit was that it covered up the cacophony of noise that spewed from the projector. Early Years

3. The majority of silent films were accompanied by anything from full orchestras to organists and pianists. Books of music were published to provide the accompanists with ideas for scene music, categorized by mood, event, or element. Many of the films came with a "suggestion list" of what music to play in which scene.

4. It was Birth of a Nation that was the first to have a score compiled specifically for it. First Musical Score

5. With the advent of the talking pictures, music once again established itself as a vital element in the film industry. At first, sound films followed the precedent set by their ancestors, using compiled "western music" (Classical music, usually from the 19th century.) This practice soon gave way, however, to the creating of original scores. Max Steiner wrote the first completely original score for King Kong in 1933. The 1930s

6. Though at first, music was used primarily as simple reinforcement, towards the latter half of the decade, the composers began to experiment and to develop their own style of unobtrusively supporting the film’s plot and characters. 1930’s

7. In the 1940s, composers refined their expertise even more. One of the most important and influential composers was Bernard Herrmann, who broke many barriers and traditions to create music that greatly enhanced the films for which he wrote. 1940’s

8. Up until the 1950s, film music had been entirely symphonic. In the 1950s, however, Jazz opened the industry up to a vast and new world of possibilities. Although it had been used for musicals and animated films, it had never been used in mainstream genre films of the 1930s and 1940s. The use of Jazz not only "contemporized" the sounds and theme of movies, but fewer musicians were needed, thus making orchestration less expensive. The 1950s

9. The use of jazz and other experiments continued on into the 1960s. It was in this decade that acceptance of new music led to the scoring of INSERT TITLE HERE, the first movie to use a rock soundtrack. The 1960s

10. The 1970s passed with very little new innovation. The decade was spent perfecting things learned in the previous decade. People such as John Williams created scores using these techniques that are highly memorable, even today. The 1970s

11. The first widespread use of synthesized sounds in films occurred in the 1980s and film scoring once again underwent a major revolution. For the first time, it became theoretically possible to score an entire film with only one performer – using the synthesizer to produce the sounds of many instrumentalists. This advent (echoed in the general music world) caused popular songs (specifically contemporary rock music) to become the basis for entire scores. The 1980s and the 1990s

12. Today, with the daily development of new technology and the general knowledge gained from a century of experiences, film composers have the ability to create the perfect score – accenting the movie’s plot and characters in such a way that it enhances the film and turns it into an experience. 80’s and 90’s

13. Silent • Westerns • Musicals • Dramas • Science Fiction • Monster/Horror Movies • Comedy • Action/Adventure • Animation Genres

14. Elmer Bernstein • Danny Elfman • Jerry Goldsmith • Bernard Herrmann • James Horner • Maurice Jarre • Henry Mancini • Alan Mencken • Alfred Newman • Randy Newman • Max Steiner • John Williams Influential Film Composers

15. Jaws (1975) • Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) • Star Wars (1977) • Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) • E.T. (1982) • Home Alone (1990) • Jurassic Park (1993) • Schindler's List (1993) • Nixon (1995) • Amistad (1997) • Saving Private Ryan (1998) • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone(2001) John Williams

16. Twilight Zone: The Movie • Planet of The Apes • Basic Instinct • Hollow Man • Rudy • Total Recall • Star Trek Movies • Rambo II • First Knight • The Omen Jerry Goldsmith

17. Former member of OingoBoingo • Pee Wee’s Big Adventure • Beetlejuice • Batman • Edward Scissorhands • Nightmare Before Christmas • Simpsons • Men in Black • Good Will Hunting Danny Elfman

18. Charlie Chaplin composed his own music for City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936) and Limelight (1952). That was the exception, and few film-makers would imitate him. He wasn't clear at all whose job was to score the soundtracks Brief History

19. A master in the grand lush orchestral style, and a veteran vaudeville pianist and conductor of Broadway musicals, Alfred Newman scored jazz-tinged and classical-tinged soundtracks for King Vidor's Street Scene (1931) and William Wyler's Wuthering Heights (1939). His frequently colorful and exuberant scores taught a whole generation how to write music for films. The success of his score for Henry King's The Song Of Bernadette (1943) convinced the record labels that soundtracks were a viable product (until then, very few scores had been released on record). He then scored some classics such as Joseph Mankiewicz'sAll About Eve (1950), Henry Koster'sThe Robe (1953), the first Cinemascope film, Jean Negulesco'sHow To Marry A Millionaire (1953), Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch (1955), and went on to compose Love Is a Many Splendored Thing (1955), More History

20. Among the most popular scores of the 1930s were the soundtracks for Walt Disney's series of Silly Symphonies, shown between 1929 and 1939. These included Frank Churchill's Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?, off Three Little Pigs (1933), Lullaby Land of Nowhere (1933) and Somebody Rubbed Out My Robin (1935), as well as Leigh Harline's Help Me Plant My Corn (1934) and The Penguin Is a Very Funny Creature (1934). Walt Disney's Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (1937), whose best numbers (I'm Wishing, Whistle While You Work, Heigh Ho, Some Day My Prince Will Come) were composed by Frank Churchill, Disney

21. was even more important, both because the songs were an organic whole and because, for the first time, a label (Victor) released original soundtrack music (not the same songs interpreted by other musicians) as a an "album" of three 78 RPM records (of which at least two, Whistle While you Work and Heigh Ho, became extremely popular). By the same token, Pinocchio (1939) featured one of the era's most famous songs, When You Wish Upon A Star, again by Leigh Harline. Walt Disney's films turned the animated cartoon into a musical. They also legitimized the soundtrack as a commercial product. In fact the expression "original sound track" was coined by the Disney studios for the release of music from Pinocchio as a three-record album in 1940. Disney

22. But the first truly original composer of cartoon music was Carl Stalling, who, after scoring Walt Disney's The Skeleton Dance (1929), composed soundtracks for the cartoons of "Bugs Bunny", "Daffy Duck", "Tweety", "Sylvester" and many more from 1930 till 1958. He was given access to a vast library of recorded music and took fully advantage of it. He was, in fact, the first composer to rely on the recorded works of other composers. His scores were frenetic collages of jazz (especially Raymond Scott's instrumentals), folk, pop, classical music and commercial jingles, as well as his own music. They indulged in fractured rhythms, truncated melodies, dissonant orchestration, demented timbres, hysterical tempos and distorted instruments. Disney

23. Even more than most live action movies, successful animation depends as much on music and sound effects as the visuals on the screen. Where would PepeLePew be without quasi-French accordian music in the background? Would the seven dwarfs be half as charming if they couldn't sing? From the most basic Saturday morning cartoon to big budget studio epics, music brings drawn images to life a way unlike any other form of film scoring. Music of Animation

24. Walt Disney brought feature-length animation to prominence at the dawn of sound; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) featured as many memorable songs and an underscore as evocative as its contemporary, The Wizard of Oz. Disney's films were always unusually sensitive to the function of music, most notably in the controversial Fantasia. Say what you will about the liberties taken with the music, but that movie did more for bringing classical composers into the mainstream than the efforts of hundreds of music appreciation courses (though it's hard to imagine Tchaikovsky thinking about dancing toadstools and pixies when he wrote "The Nutcracker Suite").. Music in Animation

25. Tchaikovsky appeared again in Disney's magnificent widescreen treatment of Sleeping Beauty, this time with song adaptations, and Disney began using regular modern composers and songwriters for his films. Most notably, the Sherman Brothers took pen to paper for such animation/live action hybrids as Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks , not to mention the popular Jungle Book. While the scores never really lived up to the huge impact of the songs themselves, at least the music was well above average Music in Animation

26. Around the same time at rival studio Warner Brothers, Carl Stalling was making music of a very different kind of the classic series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon shorts featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and the rest of the gang. Stalling's revolutionary combination of musical sound effects (slide whistles, bizarre percussion, and twanging strings) as an integral part of his score created an entirely new kind of sound. Music in Animation

27. Also, while Disney was attempting to unite highbrow and lowbrow with his fusion of classical and popular new pieces, Stalling managed to work old popular songs into his scores for comic effect. Just watch Chuck Jones' classic "Feed the Kitty" and note Stalling's perfect use of the standard "Ain't She Sweet" as a commentary on the kitten protagonist. And as for the singing, dancing frog of Jones' "One Froggy Evening," well, no more needs to be said. Music in Animation

28. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0niwn2pOEno&feature=player_detailpagehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0niwn2pOEno&feature=player_detailpage • From Snow White Music in Animation

29. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKFiR8GvUY4&feature=player_detailpagehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKFiR8GvUY4&feature=player_detailpage Music in Animation

30. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=BX1ljYx3g3khttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=BX1ljYx3g3k • Bugs Bunny Music in Animation

31. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHFy3YWpRx8&feature=player_detailpagehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHFy3YWpRx8&feature=player_detailpage • You’ve Got a Friend in Me Music in Animation