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Nominations for Best Original Score at the Academy Awards
10 years ago
This weekend we go through another round of the Academy Awards, which always begins with a wonderful superficial discussion about the dresses women are wearing as if that's what the show is about. Then we get to the actual awards. The only one that tends to matter to me is naturally the one for Best Original Score. I used to follow it for years, and sometimes I'd be with family who would say to me "Someday we'll see you there!" as a form of encouragement.
With that in mind, I want to talk about the nominations for Best Original Score. I am going to make some people angry with some of my comments but ehh, I don't care lol. My overall/general comment about the nominations is "ehh". For the award being called "Original Score", a lot of these composers are not original at all. It is becoming more and more of a rarity to see composers write stuff that isn't in tertial (major/minor) chords and that is in a simple meter (4/4 and 3/4). I find myself talking about orchestration less and less because quite frankly, the orchestration on these is nowhere near where it could be and should be. I still stand very firmly (no pun intended) by comments I have made in the past that the good days of movie music scores are long gone and I will be very surprised if we ever get back to the quality of music produced by Jarre, Hermann, Goldsmith, Rosza etc. All that aside, I actually do have a favorite in this year's nominations, a score I thought was gorgeous and really imaginative. So let's get started. I want to note that I am not basing my comments on the main theme alone but that I listened to several cues of the score to get a really good idea of them. I also have not seen any of the movies, again, my criticisms are strictly on the music and how it stands on its own. I get that the award is not for best music but rather for how well it accompanies the film, but that said, I really think that that doesn't mean we can do better than what is being done. In any case, to get a preview of the scores here are clips from the nominees:
Interstellar - Hans Zimmer
So, yes, those of you who have known me for a while, know that I have a special place in my heart for Hans Zimmer [/sarcasm]. I have multiple times said I LOVE his earlier stuff, but I really can't stand his more recent works which seem to rely more and more on gimmicks than actual creativity. Here is what Hans Zimmer is really good at: knowing how movie theater sound systems work. I likes using the grumbling cinematic basses and his strings mega-saturated with reverb. This is no different here. Another unfortunate trend he seems to have started is the "everything's an eighth note" trend which a lot of composers have fallen into. This is where a cue has a seemingly never-ending eighth note pattern, often with the strings in octaves but sometimes used with other instruments. This is also true of this score. The main theme has this long section that uses the same three chords over and over. No offense but, not only do I say "I can do that too" but I think this is true of a lot of far less experienced composers as well. To not go much further than this, I slam it, I am not a fan of this anymore than I am any of his recent work. I don't understand how he has such a big following. To each his own I guess but I once again have to restate that Zimmer fans, film composers, aspiring film composers, and aspiring composers in general need to learn about the history of film composing and listen to early film composers. Many don't seem to know how deeply creative movie music used to be, back before sound editing and reverb were things.
Mr. Turner - Gary Yershon
This score is a PERFECT demonstration of what amazing things you can accomplish with a small ensemble of instruments. The score stands out in that it does not rely on a massive orchestra to make a statement but instead with a small group of instruments and harmonic structures that go beyond tertian chords. The score is a very small ensemble of string quartet, sax quartet, a pair of woodwinds, harp, and timpani. It is perfect in that it demonstrates that you CAN do something more modern and take more artistic liberties with a movie score than what we are made to believe. The score, from what I've read, uses a lot of glissandi on strings which is a really neat effect as a whole, and the use of saxophone quartet with strings is a really smooth combination that I'm surprised more composers haven't tried to utilize. We are made to believe that we have to follow this rigid rubric to make it. Gary Yershon is the only composer on this list who isn't a film composer by trade but rather a theatre composer.
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Alexandre Desplat
With the first of two nominations that Desplat has received this year, I'd like to briefly give my thoughts on him. I think his score a few years ago for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was one of his best scores and one of the most haunting scores I've heard. He also recently was nominated for "Fantastic Mr. Fox" He seems to have two principal modes: haunting and folksy. In this score he seems to combine the two very well and create the whimsical, witty, humorous, yet exotic atmosphere that the movie seems to go for (at least from what I've seen of the trailer). It is by no means "mind blowing" but it has a really nice character of its own. The cue theme Mr Moustafa which is played in the above video is a perfect demonstration of that combination in which I talk about and I think it is very effective. At times I do admit I feel he overdoes the folksy element and I felt it a few times through parts of the score, but I appreciate that it is different, and not your typical, over the top, trying to prove something score.
The Imitation Game - Alexandre Desplat
So here is a perfect example of another "everything's an eighth note" piece and it's so unfortunate that Desplat fell for it here too. The main theme has this four note pattern that is repeated in a pretty irritating manner. Once you get over that however, it by contrast has other sections which are characteristically CHILLING Alexandre Desplat and it's wonderful. This score is really hit and miss.
The Theory of Everything - Johann Johannsonn
People are raving about this score. Once again I think this one has some really good elements to it and other elements that make me want to listen to nails on a chalkboard. The main theme has this (once again) never-ending eighth note pattern that people for some reason think is so original but it just grates on me to be honest. The other sections of the score have some nice rhythms and orchestrations that remind me of old Halloween movies. This score perhaps has the best orchestration out of all the selections, even though in reality that is not saying much. While the atmosphere the music creates is nice, it very often falls into being generic and does not have too much originality, which is ironic considering the category is "original" score.
Who I Think Should Win
By far, and this is an easy selection for me, I think "Mr Turner" by Gary Yershon deserves the award for best original score. Not only was it the most imaginative, it was ORIGINAL, which as I stated before is in the name of the award. It achieved wonderful things and didn't rely on any clichés or gimmicks or sound editing in order to make it sound good, which, almost every score now seems to rely on these gimmicks. Yershon relied only on his own creative use of the raw instruments to create this, and this is way underrated nowadays with the way film composers abuse their machinery. I think if Yershon was to win the award, it would do the industry a world of good as it would encourage composers to break out of the norms they've been boxed into, to know they can win awards with original sounding work, and we could see a positive trend that could see film music flourish again like it used to.
Who I Think Will Win
Unfortunately I don't think they will give the award to Yershon ironically because of it being "unconventional" (again, I call it being original). I think the award will go to "The Imitation Game" by Alexandre Desplat. It is a safe option to go with since he has been nominated several times before and has become a staple in the A list of Hollywood's film composers.
With that in mind, I want to talk about the nominations for Best Original Score. I am going to make some people angry with some of my comments but ehh, I don't care lol. My overall/general comment about the nominations is "ehh". For the award being called "Original Score", a lot of these composers are not original at all. It is becoming more and more of a rarity to see composers write stuff that isn't in tertial (major/minor) chords and that is in a simple meter (4/4 and 3/4). I find myself talking about orchestration less and less because quite frankly, the orchestration on these is nowhere near where it could be and should be. I still stand very firmly (no pun intended) by comments I have made in the past that the good days of movie music scores are long gone and I will be very surprised if we ever get back to the quality of music produced by Jarre, Hermann, Goldsmith, Rosza etc. All that aside, I actually do have a favorite in this year's nominations, a score I thought was gorgeous and really imaginative. So let's get started. I want to note that I am not basing my comments on the main theme alone but that I listened to several cues of the score to get a really good idea of them. I also have not seen any of the movies, again, my criticisms are strictly on the music and how it stands on its own. I get that the award is not for best music but rather for how well it accompanies the film, but that said, I really think that that doesn't mean we can do better than what is being done. In any case, to get a preview of the scores here are clips from the nominees:
Interstellar - Hans Zimmer
So, yes, those of you who have known me for a while, know that I have a special place in my heart for Hans Zimmer [/sarcasm]. I have multiple times said I LOVE his earlier stuff, but I really can't stand his more recent works which seem to rely more and more on gimmicks than actual creativity. Here is what Hans Zimmer is really good at: knowing how movie theater sound systems work. I likes using the grumbling cinematic basses and his strings mega-saturated with reverb. This is no different here. Another unfortunate trend he seems to have started is the "everything's an eighth note" trend which a lot of composers have fallen into. This is where a cue has a seemingly never-ending eighth note pattern, often with the strings in octaves but sometimes used with other instruments. This is also true of this score. The main theme has this long section that uses the same three chords over and over. No offense but, not only do I say "I can do that too" but I think this is true of a lot of far less experienced composers as well. To not go much further than this, I slam it, I am not a fan of this anymore than I am any of his recent work. I don't understand how he has such a big following. To each his own I guess but I once again have to restate that Zimmer fans, film composers, aspiring film composers, and aspiring composers in general need to learn about the history of film composing and listen to early film composers. Many don't seem to know how deeply creative movie music used to be, back before sound editing and reverb were things.
Mr. Turner - Gary Yershon
This score is a PERFECT demonstration of what amazing things you can accomplish with a small ensemble of instruments. The score stands out in that it does not rely on a massive orchestra to make a statement but instead with a small group of instruments and harmonic structures that go beyond tertian chords. The score is a very small ensemble of string quartet, sax quartet, a pair of woodwinds, harp, and timpani. It is perfect in that it demonstrates that you CAN do something more modern and take more artistic liberties with a movie score than what we are made to believe. The score, from what I've read, uses a lot of glissandi on strings which is a really neat effect as a whole, and the use of saxophone quartet with strings is a really smooth combination that I'm surprised more composers haven't tried to utilize. We are made to believe that we have to follow this rigid rubric to make it. Gary Yershon is the only composer on this list who isn't a film composer by trade but rather a theatre composer.
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Alexandre Desplat
With the first of two nominations that Desplat has received this year, I'd like to briefly give my thoughts on him. I think his score a few years ago for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was one of his best scores and one of the most haunting scores I've heard. He also recently was nominated for "Fantastic Mr. Fox" He seems to have two principal modes: haunting and folksy. In this score he seems to combine the two very well and create the whimsical, witty, humorous, yet exotic atmosphere that the movie seems to go for (at least from what I've seen of the trailer). It is by no means "mind blowing" but it has a really nice character of its own. The cue theme Mr Moustafa which is played in the above video is a perfect demonstration of that combination in which I talk about and I think it is very effective. At times I do admit I feel he overdoes the folksy element and I felt it a few times through parts of the score, but I appreciate that it is different, and not your typical, over the top, trying to prove something score.
The Imitation Game - Alexandre Desplat
So here is a perfect example of another "everything's an eighth note" piece and it's so unfortunate that Desplat fell for it here too. The main theme has this four note pattern that is repeated in a pretty irritating manner. Once you get over that however, it by contrast has other sections which are characteristically CHILLING Alexandre Desplat and it's wonderful. This score is really hit and miss.
The Theory of Everything - Johann Johannsonn
People are raving about this score. Once again I think this one has some really good elements to it and other elements that make me want to listen to nails on a chalkboard. The main theme has this (once again) never-ending eighth note pattern that people for some reason think is so original but it just grates on me to be honest. The other sections of the score have some nice rhythms and orchestrations that remind me of old Halloween movies. This score perhaps has the best orchestration out of all the selections, even though in reality that is not saying much. While the atmosphere the music creates is nice, it very often falls into being generic and does not have too much originality, which is ironic considering the category is "original" score.
Who I Think Should Win
By far, and this is an easy selection for me, I think "Mr Turner" by Gary Yershon deserves the award for best original score. Not only was it the most imaginative, it was ORIGINAL, which as I stated before is in the name of the award. It achieved wonderful things and didn't rely on any clichés or gimmicks or sound editing in order to make it sound good, which, almost every score now seems to rely on these gimmicks. Yershon relied only on his own creative use of the raw instruments to create this, and this is way underrated nowadays with the way film composers abuse their machinery. I think if Yershon was to win the award, it would do the industry a world of good as it would encourage composers to break out of the norms they've been boxed into, to know they can win awards with original sounding work, and we could see a positive trend that could see film music flourish again like it used to.
Who I Think Will Win
Unfortunately I don't think they will give the award to Yershon ironically because of it being "unconventional" (again, I call it being original). I think the award will go to "The Imitation Game" by Alexandre Desplat. It is a safe option to go with since he has been nominated several times before and has become a staple in the A list of Hollywood's film composers.
Alexandre Desplat is interesting, I've really liked some of his music. It seems like he's become the new hot composer and everyone is trying to get him, and he may not always be able to put the same care into the work that he used to.
I listened to more of the Mr. Turner soundtrack and I really liked what I heard. It's a great choice of ensemble and he's not pinning himself down to typical Hollywood sounds.
The Johannsonn one seems like it might work well in the movie (which I haven't seen). It has a nice emotional arc. But on its own, it doesn't do much for me. Too many Hollywood cliches and not enough to latch onto (like a melody) beyond those 8th-notes.
I hope you get into the business yourself, I'd love to see your name on that list.
The others are masterfully written, but I agree...i hope Yershon wins
Dominus tecum