It’s that time of year again for the gang here at Through the Shattered Lens. October has become a sort of official month for the site with much of the posts and articles being related in some manner to all things horror (or close enough to it).
To start off 2014’s Horror Month here at Through the Shattered Lens I’ve chosen a wonderful and creepy piece of horror film music courtesy of the Master himself, John Carpenter.
It’s a great piece of atmospheric music that more than adds to the encroaching horror that is the film’s title. John Carpenter has done most of the soundtracks to his films and his use of electronic keyboards and synthesizers have become such a unique signature in all his films. The last couple years have seen a sort of revival for Carpenter’s type of electronic/synthesizer compositions. One recent film which made great use of this particular style was Jim Mickle’s Cold In July.
The theme to The Fog remains a favorite of horror fans and its influence on filmmakers today is a nice testament to well-earned classic status.
John Addison’s film score for Sir Richard Attenborough’s military epic, A Bridge Too Far, has become as recognizable and as iconic as the film itself. One particular piece of music from the film that anyone who has watched in full and/or passing this great film is today’s “Song of the Day”.
The title track is “A Bridge Too Far Overture” and it’s ever present melody becomes the leitmotif for the entire film. It starts off quite celebratory in the beginning then gradually becomes melancholy and defeating as it helps set the tone and gives a sense of the tragedy to come from a very victorious beginning.
As someone who has enjoyed and studied films which depict important military events in history this song remains as one of my favorite and I can catch myself humming or whistling the tune whenever I hear it play as the film plays on the TV.
So, just got back from watching the latest incarnation of the King of Monsters and while I gather my thoughts on what I liked and didn’t like about Godzilla (2014) I thought to share one of the best themes to come out of the 30 different films to come out of this six decade-long franchise.
It comes courtesy of the original film composer for the very first Godzilla which came out in 1954. Akira Ifukubi has become synonymous with the franchise’s musical score. While the score he composed for the very first film was a classic in it’s own right, the one he composed for 1991’s Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah continues to be my favorite of the bunch.
The funny thing is that many people who follow hip-hop of the last 20 years probably like the Godzilla theme from this film not because they’ve heard it play during the film, but because one particular rapper decided to sample a particular bass-line sequence from the theme (it’s the blast of horns early on that signalled the arrival of the Big Guy).
I think it would be safe to assume that the last week or so has been all about Captain America.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier has been tearing up the box-office both here in the US and overseas. I have seen it twice already and most likely would be thrice if the issue of bills wasn’t coming up so soon. I’m still working on writing up a quick review about my thoughts on this latest Marvel Studios offering. Until then just enjoy one of the best pieces of film score ever created for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Alan Silvestri’s “Captain America March” from Captain America: The First Avenger definitely makes one feel the decency and righteousness of the good man that is Steve Rogers. It’s so earnestly patriotic (not jingoistic at all as some were afraid this score would be) that it echoes past classic John Williams scores for the Indiana Jones film franchise. It’s also one of the few film tracks where it makes great use of the brass and percussion section of the orchestra. This song wouldn’t feel out of place in a big band orchestra playing to help celebrate the soldiers coming home after VE-Day.
I’ve been waiting for quite a long time for the release of Darren Aronofsky’s biblical disaster epic. Now that it’s finally here it also means a new film score from Aronofsky’s collaborator Clint Mansell.
The soundtrack to Noah is definitely on par with past Mansell scored Aronofsky films going all the way back to Pi. It’s a soundtrack that’s both epic, majestic and more than just a tad apocalyptic. One of my favorite tracks from the soundtrack comes at a moment of triumph early on in the film which creates a sense of hope in the face of the approaching divine apocalypse.
“Make Thee An Ark” starts off slowly. Layers on layers build within the string work by the Kronos Quartet who have worked with two Mansell on past Aronofsky films. The track actually has a nice musical throwback to Mansell’s work on The Fountain. It’s probably the influence of that past film which made the Noah soundtrack appeal to me more than the previous ones for Black Swan and The Wrestler.
The latest “Song of the Day” is dedicated to a great film composer who passed away today. Riz Ortolani is well-known in the virtual and brick-and-mortar halls of Through the Shattered Lens. In fact, I would say that his work would be a perfect soundtrack for the site if it ever decided to have one.
Ortolani was born in March 25, 1926. Music seemed to be in his blood as his musical career first began as part of an Italian jazz band before he eventually move to composing scores for Italian films. While many grindhouse and exploitation film fans got to know Ortolani through his work on Ruggero Deodato’s famous (infamous in some circles) cannibal exploitation film Cannibal Holocaust ( especially for it’s serene-like opening theme) his film scores ranged through several genres from mondo films, spaghetti westerns, eurospy flicks and Italian giallos.
For someone in elite circles would considered as beneath their notice for doing work in the so-called video nasty genre, ORtoani’s work has been hailed as genius and one of his compositions even won him an Academy Award in 1964. It’s this award-winning song that I’ve chosen to focus on.
“More” from the shockumentary Mondo Cane won Ortolani an Oscar in 1964 and even had an admirer in the Chairman of the Board himself that he would cover the song the very same year.
With each passing year the film and entertainment community loses one more of the earlier generation who were instrumental in making many at this site in falling in love with film and music. Time to appreciate what they’ve contributed to film and music and remind ourselves that sometimes just because something is old and dated doesn’t mean it’s still not better than something newer and more advanced.
R.I.P. Riz Ortolani and thanks for the music and memories.
Even the Ol’ Blue Eyes covered the song…
More (Theme From Mondo Cane)
More than the greatest love the world has known, This is the love I give to you alone, More than the simple words I try to say, I only live to love you more each day. More than you’ll ever know, my arms long to hold you so, My life will be in your keeping, waking, sleeping, laughing, weeping, Longer than always is a long long time, but far beyond forever you’re gonna be mine. I know I’ve never lived before and my heart is very sure, No one else could love you more.
[musical interlude]
More than you’ll ever know , my arms they long to hold you so, My life will be in your keeping, waking, sleeping, laughing, weeping, Longer than always is a long long time, but far beyond forever you’ll be mine, I know that I’ve never lived before and my heart is very sure, No one else could love you more, no one else could love you more.
In continuing the horror detox from this past month we bring to you one of the more fun film music from this past summer’s slew of blockbusters. The latest “Song of the Day” comes courtesy of Brian Tyler’s score for Shane Black’s Iron Man 3.
The first two Iron Man films had their score composed by Ramin Djawadi and John Debney, respectively. The first score was considered one of the finer efforts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film scores. Djawadi brought a much needed fun tone to set-up the wise-ass persona of billionaire, playboy genius Tony Stark. It also had a very metal and hard rock component to it’s sound that put into the forefront that this was Iron Man.
The second film’s score by John Debney wasn’t as well-received by fans and critics alike. Which just goes to show just how much of a misfire the middle film in the trilogy was. It tried to build on what Djawadi did in the first score, but ended up becoming just a derivative version that brought nothing new to the Tony Stark series.
Now this third film brings a new film composer in Brian Tyler who has had some experience in scoring big-budget spectacles and he doesn’t disappoint with his new take on the Iron Man score. While this third score doesn’t bring back any recognizable leitmotifs from Djawadi’s score it does bring in a new sound that’s more reminiscent of 60’s action spy thrillers like the Connery and Moore Bond films. It actually evokes quite a heavy, fun 60’s psychedelic tone. This is best heard in the film’s main end titles credit sequence which brings an animated look back at the trilogy and it’s many characters.
“Can You Dig It” is just a very fun song and it brings much hope that Brian Tyler being assigned to do the film score for Thor: The Dark World will do for that series what he did to finish off the Iron Man trilogy.
For the first horror “Song of the Day” I couldn’t decide on which theme from Clive Barker’s Hellraiser I should use.
Fans of the film should know well the original theme composed by Christopher Young for the film. It’s a more orchestral theme that gives the film a sort of grand guignol grandeur. It’s an epic piece that would get used time and time again for each successive sequel. There might be some minute changes to the theme with each new film, but the basic composition remains. It’s a theme that helps one visualize forbidden texts and grimoires laying in wait for the ones brave or foolish enough to turn the page.
Then there’s the unreleased and unused theme that Barker had originally wanted to use from the industrial band Coil. This theme for the film was more about discordant melodies that harkens back to the more disturbing musical composition used for The Exorcist. It’s a theme that brings up images of the sublime and exquisite pain that Pinhead promises to those solve the Lament Configuration.
Some fans prefer the original Christopher Young suite while others have grown to love and prefer the more disturbing piece from Coil. I, for one, think both could’ve been used in the film though if I had to pick one to use as the main theme then I would go with Christopher Young’s composition.
Here we have another “AMV of the Day” installment starring those cast of characters from the anime series Nichijou.
The previous AMV showed that the series Nichijou can pretty much fit any type of music. Want to make a video of the series using a heavy metal song? Not a problem. Classical music? Doable and perfect, really. Now we have a classic of Hollywood film score being used to make a Nichijou video and despite the video not really making any sense whatsoever it does fall in line with the series’ and it’s irreverent and over-the-top nature.
The moment I watched “Life Is Fantastic” by Iren S.S. I couldn’t stop whistling to the video and it took me a shake of a lamb’s tail before I figured out that the song used was from The Sting. The video itself is a prime example of how one can sync up the images in the video with specific musical cues to make it come off spectacular. Special effects are not the only tools that makes an AMV great to watch. Sometimes an editor with a keen eye for visuals and an ear for music can combine the two skills to make a near-perfect AMV.
Now, I must return to whistling this tune that I can’t get out of my head.
Anime:Nichijou
Song:“Easy Winners” by Scott Joplin and Marvin Hamlisch
This latest “Song of the Day” will be the second of what will be a trifecta of my favorite tracks from the Pacific Rim soundtrack by composer Ramin Djawadi. The first one was the main theme from the film and featured Rage Against the Machine lead guitarist Tom Morello providing lead guitar work. This second track I’ve chosen is siply titled “Gipsy Danger”.
Where the main theme has been everyone’s favorite in the entire soundtrack it’s difficult not to enjoy the motif for the main character of the film. Let’s be honest and just admit to ourselves that the main character in Pacific Rim is the jaeger christened Gipsy Danger. The track which introduces her theme in the film actually precedes the main theme. We actually hear the “Gipsy Danger” theme right from the start of the film. It combines some of the hard rock melodies and chords from the film’s main theme, but also expanding on the deep bass tone (sounding like a fog horn blowing) that punctuates throughout this theme more than it did in the main theme. This deep sound I always thought of as the “monster arriving” musical cue. It appears not just when Gipsy Danger makes her initial appearance but also whenever a kaiju emerges from the ocean and makes landfall to cause destruction. It’s a sound cue similar to classic giant monster flicks from Japan that announces either Godzilla or one of his kaiju brethren which was followed-up by the iconic monster scream.
We get both the rock and roll and heroic sound from the main theme combined with the more ominous musical cue in this chosen track. It pretty much focuses on one of the film’s taglines about creating monsters to fight monsters. The Gipsy Danger jaeger is a monster in her own right. But then she’s our monster and we always have a fondness for monsters as long as it’s our own.
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