Film Music

Duke Ellington

(Anatomy of a Murder, Paris Blues) Huge figure in Jazz Only wrote four film scores First black composer to get credit oncreen Paris Blues - oscar nominated

Victor Young

(Around the World in 80 Days) VERY famous in the 30s, 40s, 50s Known as one of the best tunesmiths Great violinist - concert master of Chinese Theatre Signed contract with Paramount and stayed there.

Henry Mancini

(Breakfast at Tiffany's, Pink Panther) Came out of big band After he was fired from Universal, worked on TV show "Peter Gunn" theme was #1 on charts, got a grammy for album Signs contract with RCA Director: Blake Edwards (longest running composer/director relationship) "Breakfast at Tiffany's" - Moon River song Started writing song after song for films Made him richest composer in Hollywood FIRST composer to become a household name

Bernard Herrman

(Citizen Kane, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Psycho) 1950s & beyond: more of a modern sensibility Got his training in radio Worked for Orson Welles - was his go-to guy Welles gets a contract from RKO & brings Herrman with him Citizen Kane- Herrman's FIRST movie. Low, dark chords, giving musical clues for what Rosebud means. "The Day The Earth Stood Still" - uses theremin 1955 - meets Hitchcock (10 years of partnership) He got fired from "Tom Curtain" which ended relationship with Hitchcock

Alex North

(Cleopatra, Spartacus) Brought jazz in dramatic music Studied at Julliard Elia Kazan brought North to Hollywood\ After Spartacus, Alex became go-to guy for epics Nominated 15 times, never won Academy created lifetime award for Alex

Lalo Schifrin

(Dirty Harry) Theme from Mission Impossible Noted for work with Clint Eastwood in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, particularly the Dirty Harry films. Re-arranged the theme for the popular NBC-TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., altering original composer Jerry Goldsmith's theme, which wound up winning the Emmy award for Best TV Theme.

Dimitri Tiomkin

(High Noon, It's a Wonderful Life) Only major film composer who came from Russia Ten year relationship with Frank Capra Freelance (never signed a contract with a studio) FAMOUS for Westerns. Started writing songs for films.

Alfred Newman

(How the West Was Won, Captain from Castile, All About Eve) In Hollywood from 1930 - 1970. 250 films during that time. Hottest conductor of broadway in the 30s Brought out to be music director at United Artists 1939 - 1960: Worked at Fox as head of music department. Greatest conductor & most honored composer in the history of Hollywood Patriarch of Newman dynasty doing music in Hollywood. 45 academy awards, 9 oscar wins

Johnny Mandel

(I Want to Live!) Comes out of jazz "I Want to Live!" jazz combo. Music played onscreen. MASH theme - most famous piece "The Shadow of Your Smile" -first oscar winning song

Terence Blanchard

(Inside Man) Leading artist in Jazz (trumpet) Lionel Hampton Orchestra

Max Steiner

(King Kong, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca) RKO hired Max and brought him to Hollywood 1929 - Served as music director for musicals 1930 - Started experimenting with underscore in movies 1933 - King Kong changed the industry. This is when studios began to add underscore to films Famous for Mickey Mousing Themes for characters and situations 1937 - Left RKO to go to Warner Bros Max wrote three hours of music for Gone With the Wind. - Score of his life. Over 35 years he scored 200+ movies. 1965 - Max let go from composing, he was outdated.

John Barry

(Out of Africa) First composer to come out of rock and roll Arranged and performed theme for James Bond

Jerry Goldsmith

(Planet of the Apes, Patton, Star Trek) Young composer from big band era Patton (echoing trumpets) Contract at Fox "Chinatown" - hired Jerry to rescore in ten days "Star Trek" - used synths Known for science fiction & fantasy movies

Leonard Rosenman

(Rebel Without a Cause) Tonality and dissonance and serialism - hard to listen to James Dean asked him for piano lessons Went on to war pictures

Miklos Rozsa

(Spellbound) Wrote partly in classical and partly in film. Wrote an autobiography based on him doubling between genres, "Double Life" Two genres attracted his interest. One was the crime thriller and the other was the psychological drama. Loved doing musical research

Franz Waxman

(Sunset Boulevard) Left Berlin and came to America bc of Nazis "Bride of Frankenstein" - his first piece Worked with Hitchcock Founded LA Music Festival - All the income he made from film, he used to create the festival

Erich Wolfgang Korngold

(The Adventures of Robin Hood, A Mid-summer Night's Dream) Only composed 16 complete film scores Already an established major composer of opera Greatest contract of all time: Own room, projectionist, use any themes for films in later concerts Very valued at Warner Bros Favored fanfares

David Raksin

(The Bad and the Beautiful) 100 film scores and 300 television scores to his credit, he became known as the "Grandfather of Film Music Hit haunting theme song for Laura - one of the most recorded songs in history Worked as an arranger for Harms/Chappell.

Hugo Friedhofer

(The Best Years of Our Lives) Was Erich Korngold's orchestrator

Jerome Moross

(The Big Country) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Talented piano player and composed music for the theater. In the 1940s he began to work in Hollywood, where he would compose music for 16 films. He also orchestrated for other composers, including such films as Our Town for Aaron Copland and The Best Years of Our Lives for Hugo Friedhofer.

Dave Grusin

(The Firm) Formed GRP records and began to create some of the first commercial digital recordings. At the forefront of soundtrack albums.

Quincy Jones

(The Pawnbroker, In Cold Blood, In the Heat of the Night) His arrival in 1964 actually shook up status quo and allowed black composers to enter Hollywood Trumpet player First black president of a record label "Pawnbroker" is Quincy's first film in NY "Mirage" - Mancini helps him get the role "In the Heat of the Night" -first blues based score "In Cold Blood" nominated for best dramatic score 32 film scores "The Wiz" - met Michael Jackson there "The Color Purple" final film score, oscar nominated

Herbert Stothart

(The Wizard of Oz, Romeo and Juliet) Oz - wrote witches theme MGM all his life

Elmer Bernstein

(To Kill a Mockingbird) Scored documentary films during the war Started in radio Longest career in film (50 years, 150 scores) After "Magnificent Seven" typecasted as western composer. After "Animal House" he became the go-to guy for comedies in the 70s He met Scorscese and worked with him in from 90s until he died in 2002

Hans J. Salter

(Universal Horror films) Worked for Universal for 30 years

Silent Films

1895-1927 1895 - Lumiere Brother 1926 - Warner Bros "Don Juan" - first move to sync sound using vitaphone 1927 - Warner Bros "Jazz Singer"

King Kong

1933. Max Steiner. Changed the industry. This is when studios began to add underscore to films.

Cue

A single piece of music in a score

Captain From Castile

Conquest USC song (Al Newman)

Function of Music in Film

Create a rhythm or pace Heightens/intensifies drama/comedy Identify characters/situations Elicit an emotional response Form of subtext

Spotting

Director and composer sit down and pick out scenes which needed music

Three Pioneers of Film Composing

Max Steiner Alfred Newman Erich Wolfgang Korngold

High Noon

Most important score of the 1950s. It was a turning point in film marketing practices. Main title is a song which was UNUSUAL for 1950s. Opening song is NOT symphonic which was radical for this time as well. Record comes out before the film comes out and song is a big hit, so film becomes big hit. High Noon started marketing music before film came out. High Noon cemented his reputation for westerns.

Mickey Mousing

Music goes with action (cartoons)

Dubbing

Process when music, dialog and sound effects are all mixed together