Using Music to Develop a Film's Brand

Music serves a wide range of purposes in a film. Among many benefits, it help's with the pacing of the story. It adds emotional depth to the characters. And often overlooked, a great score can be a major factor in developing a film's brand.Many times I have been sitting in a movie theater watching the previews when the following occurs: A trailer will begin with dark clouds, and perhaps an ominous rumble. There will be some ambiguous text along the lines of "the adventure continues" or "in 2011 the next chapter arrives." No one in the theater knows what to expect or what this preview is for. Then all of a sudden you hear an instantly recognizable theme and people in the seats around you gasp or exclaim with excitement: it's the Harry Potter theme and everyone immediately knows it. An entire franchise has been successfully packaged into just seven notes.In most cases the score creates a unique identity for the film in this way, by using a specific theme. This is one of main strength's behind the majority of scores by John Williams. A big romantic orchestra is not particularly unique, but the main theme from Indiana Jones is one of a kind.A specific instrument or sound can contribute to a film's brand as well. Two of the identifying factors from Hans Zimmer's score to Gladiator are the duduk and Lisa Gerrard's sorrowful vocal. Both techniques have become scoring cliches in the last decade, but every use of the cliche still points back to Gladiator as the score associated with that sound.Developing a score's unique sound is an interesting challenge, but the benefits are immeasurably valuable. It's sad how many scores out there sound like "just another generic film score." This usually happens with genre films, like action/adventure movies. I don't know if it's because the executives weren't willing to take risks or the composer didn't invest the energy to create an identifiable brand within the music, but whatever the reason the result is unfortunate.Sometimes just bringing together different elements in a new way can develop a new sound. On my score to Fire City we combined many elements of a dark thriller score (driving string ostinatos, low brass swells, slamming percussion), with a cool and smokey Film Noir jazz flugelhorn. Neither element alone is particularly identifiable to Fire City, but the two ideas fused together have created a completely new sound for the film.Similarly on Project Arbiter we fused a dark sci-fi sound with a less common element, a solo cello. Director Michael Chance wanted to emphasize the fact that the Arbiter is "an army of one", and by using the solo element in the context of a larger orchestra we were able to give the character a unique voice while still delivering the size and power of a full blown score.Remember that when you are developing the score for a film you are not only adding emotional strength and energy to the picture. You are defining the story's legacy.