08. THRILLERS 8,670 - Brian Morrell · Rabin) The Fugitive (James Newton Howard) Catch Me If You Can (John Williams) The Firm (Dave Grusin) Shallow Grave (Simon Boswell) The Siege

How Film & Television Music Communicate – Vol.3 Text © 2015 Brian Morrell

THRILLERS This chapter examines the music from several films within the ‘thriller’ genre. I have tried to include an eclectic selection of films which feature interesting and varied music. As always the music featured is not highlighted because the film is neccasarily perceived as being ‘good’; as always we feature music either because it is representative of a style or approach worth examining, or because the music helps frame the film narrative in a particularly interesting way. Films and music analysed include Jack Reacher (Joe Kramer) Buried (Victor Reyes) Enemy of the State (Harry Gregson Williams & Trevor Rabin) The Fugitive (James Newton Howard) Catch Me If You Can (John Williams) The Firm (Dave Grusin) Shallow Grave (Simon Boswell) The Siege (Graham Revell) Unstoppable (Harry Gregson Williams) The Sweeney (Lorne Balfe) The DaVinci Code (Hans Zimmer) The Conspiracy (Darren Baker)

JACK REACHER (Joe Kramer) A man drives a van into a parking garage across from a river, pulls out a rifle and shoots dead five people. Clues lead the police to James Barr, a former army sniper. Thinking Barr will confess when realizes the weight of circumstantial evidence against him, he surprises detectives when he says simply, ‘get Jack Reacher’. Reacher investigates and begins to find inconsistencies in the police version of events. The music below is taken from the opening ‘Paramount Pictures’ graphics, leading into the ‘Skydance Productions’ logo and eventually into the opening scene. The opening music reaches a brief point of hesitation and tension (bars seventeen to nineteen) during a scene showing bullet being made, followed by a side-shot of a moving vehicle (bar twenty). Movie: 00.0010 - Audio: Main Title

Chapter 8

Strings Woodwind

Brass

Fig.1


This is a great example of how music can frame the way we perceive the movie before the story has even begun. Having the film’s rather dark, difficult and uncomfortable music playing over the Paramount / Skydance company credits works well because it creates a feeling of foreboding which the viewer associates with the movie. Bars seventeen to nineteen accompany the pictures well, culminating in the rhythmical phrase at bar twenty, to accompany the camera following the car. It is the sonic density and dislodged harmonies that create a sense of unease which frames how we rationalise the film intro. In a situation like this if the music is ‘normal’ it simply creates a carpet of sound which, in most situations, might as well not be there for all the good it does.

The initial opening chord, indistinct and slightly harmonically blurred (fig.2) sets the scene well; it does so thanks to the lack of a 3rd (a defining interval) but also the addition of the 2nd and 9th (the same note an octave apart). The interval between the Db and Eb is quite dense and a little lumpy sounding. Together with the 9th an octave higher and a bare 5th above the Ab this creates a subdued and uninviting sound, creating subtle suspense. If we observe the chord voicings on the lower stave in bars three, five, nine, eleven of fig.1 (the A/C# chord) we find the slightly lumpy harmony continues by virtue of the A and C# notes low down on the bass stave. This brief and subtle ambiguity creates a transitory and fleeting sense of tension. It prevents the chords becoming too clean; too tidy, too normal.

Strings Woodwind

Brass

Fig.2


There is an important harmonic convention used in this piece; the same bars I have just mentioned. When the chord changes from Db to A/C# we benefit from the consistency of the same bass note ‘sound’ whilst benefitting greatly from the note’s intervallic alteration. The Db becomes a sound which is treated intervallically as the major 3rd of an A chord. This is a well-known and well-worn harmonic filmic trick which takes the listener emphatically outside the key centre of the initial chord whilst retaining the sound/pitch the note makes. The gravity of this manouvre can perhaps best be emphasised by looking at the following bass line, which shows a Db ascending to an Ab via the F note. The easiest way to rationalise this intervallically, especially bearing in mind the key signature, is as a root, 3rd and 5th of Db. However, if we switch off from the tyranny of the key signature and refuse to be beholden to it when deciding the nature of subsequent chords, we could call the third note in the phrase a G#, not an Ab; same note, different meaning (as in fig.5). The note has loads more possibilities now that we see it as a G# and not an Ab. We could, for example, treat the G# as a maj3 of an E chord, as Debussy did in ‘Clair De Lune’. The point is that the ‘loads more possibilities’ were always there; we simply needed to think outside the box of the key centre to be aware of them. We are only hostages to the tyranny of the key centre if we allow ourselves to be.

Interval of root note

1 3 1

1 3 1 Fig.3

Fig.4

Fig.5

Fig.6

If we look at bar eleven of fig.1 (transcribed separately, left, fig.6), we can see the slight harmonic distortion created by the Eb note (middle stave, beats 2-3) which goes from being an add9 of the Db chord to the #11 of the A/C# chord. The #11 is passing and its effect is in some ways more subtle than would normally be the case because it is the interval change we perceive, after the note has begun.

1st

3rd

5th

8

#11

9

1 2

#4


Harmonic appropriation and iconic symbolism If we look once again at the simple horn motif which comes at the beginning of the main theme, we can see straight away the subtle appropriation of the Star Wars and Superman aesthetic, via the use of root-5th. I say subtle because texturally there is world of difference between a subtle, mellow horn rendition and the trumpets which articulated the phrase in the memorable Williams scores. Despite the textural differences which separate Williams’ motif and Joe Kramer’s use of the same interval in the intro to Jack Reacher, the harmonies still communicate a feeling of drama. The slightly slower, more subtle and gentle use of the interval, on horns, is suggestive of power, gallantry, courage and bravery. Also, the movie’s narrative bleeds over into how the music is perceived by its audience. This is clearly not Star Wars or Superman; it is a fundamentally different narrative. But despite this the harmony is clear and unambiguous and its message and meaning still delivers a subtle version of the more direct and emphatic version in Star Wars and Superman. As I said earlier the opening main title theme reaches a brief point of hesitation and tension in bars seventeen to nineteen of fig.1 (transcribed below separately, fig.8). Because of what precedes this section, we hear the top F note as 3rd of a Db chord. What makes this section so furtive and suspicious is, like many great film music moments, it completely confounds the expectation of the listener.

Fig.7

Fig.8 Along with the sudden textural softness created by strings, we suddenly hear the F differently, as a #5 of an A chord which then becomes and A(#5) over an E. The E clashes with the top F, which further disfigures the chord. As I have mentioned before the majority of listeners will be oblivious to how their sense of emotion is manipulated by the harmonic tensions composers make use of, but they are the beneficiaries of these effects. You only need to understand the reasons in order to comprehend how and why. You don’t need to understand in order to simply ‘appreciate’. People understand and appreciate music in a multitude of different and complex ways. Although there are similarities in our cognitive abilities which, for example, allow specific harmonies to cause similar emotional reactions in most people, one does not ordinarily need to comprehend the vastness of harmony in order to be the beneficiary of its effect.


BURIED Victor Reyes Buried is a 2010 Spanish/American psychological thriller. The film revolves around Iraq-based American civilian truck driver Paul Conroy who, after being attacked, finds himself buried alive in a wooden coffin, with only a lighter, flask, pencil and a mobile phone to help him before the oxygen in the coffin runs out. As time runs out a US government employee [Brenner] tells Conroy that they have found his location and are beginning to dig him out. Sand begins to fill the coffin to dangerous levels, giving him seconds to live. When the group digs up a coffin, it turns out to be that of a previous hostage and not that of Conroy. The last thing Paul Conroy hears as he suffocates while his coffin fills with sand is Brenner apologizing to him, saying “I’m so sorry Paul, I’m so sorry”.

Movie 01.28.10 - Audio ‘I’m so sorry Paul, I’m so sorry’

Movie 01.29.00 - Audio – 00.48

Fig.9


As always trying to figure out how and why a certain music approach works involves trying to figure out what emotions it conveys to the listener. Such emotions are not literally embedded in the music; they are embedded within our response and reaction to a specific musical approach. Frequency is a reality of science and nature but pitch represents the imposition of a classification we created to make sense of the world of sound and music. In the same vein emotion and meaning do not literally reside within notes or chords: they are a construct of our creation; a way which enables us to classify and enjoy the music we hear and put it in some kind of order. So, bearing all that in mind, the music fulfils two types of function within context of the film; firstly it signifies a sense of propulsion but also a feeling completion, resolution, conclusion and ‘end’. It contains a feeling of inevitability; an inexorable sense of certainty. What it also contains is a sense of anguish, torment, suffering, pain, anxiety and loss. All these emotions can be reasonably attributed to this music, especially used, as it is, in conjunction with the final scene. The question for us, then, as always, is how? A sense of certainty, completion, resolution, conclusion, ‘end’, is probably a mixture of fairly physically static and cumbersome accompanying harmony (the chords in most bars are semibreves) but also the sense of inevitability created by the downward bass movement, which has its own contour, its own narrative. The downward bass line is not just a product of the chords; it is a path it has carved out for itself by virtue of the inversions which enable it to happen. The sense of anguish, torment, suffering, pain and anxiety is even more subtly created by the effect certain harmonic devices have on us, due to their relative unconformity and oddity. Below the same piece (minus its intro) this time featuring annotations to highlight the tensions alluded to.


BAR 13: Two things: firstly the closeness of the middle two notes on the lower stave create a type of sonically ambiguous and ‘lumpy’ harmony; secondly a combination of the 2nd inversion and the maj7 (the low B and the D’# melody) almost superimpose a feeling of a B chord over the E inversion

BAR 14: We have the lumpy harmony again thanks to the A, C# and E on the lower stave but we have a slightly ambiguous chord in the second half of the bar insofar as the inverted C#m chord doesn’t sit wonderfully well with the added 4th (the F#).

BAR 15: The E melody note (the add4) clashes lightly with the D# (3rd) an octave lower

BAR 17: The add4 again

BAR 25: Not as severe but still a causer of tension is the interval between the G# (lower voicing of the top stave harmony) and the higher F# (a 7th) and between the same G# and the lower F# (a 9th)

BAR 27: The A melody note clashes mildly with the G# with the C#m chord. These kinds of clashes happen all over the place and are not fleeting, lasting two beats. This particular clash is made more pronounced due to the #4 interval between the top two notes

BAR 30: The lower chord of B/F# clashes mildly with the interval of a7th between the top B and the lower C# (the 9th).

BAR 30: The chord on the top stave, with its 2nd and 6th, sounds unilaterally almost like a C#7, which, when set against the lower B/F# chord, sounds polyharmonic

BAR 34: The bottom stave goes from an A chord to a C#m/G# but this clashes with the top ‘version of events’ where there is still a semblance of an A chord. This once again represents a subtle clash

Fig.10


The interesting thing about this analysis is not just that it shows where, why and how the tensions exist, but that it reveals consistencies; for example the use of the add4 and also the use of more than one extension at a time, creating internal dynamics and vivid colours within chords.

ENEMY OF THE STATE Harry Gregson Williams & Trevor Rabin

Enemy of the State is a 1998 American spy-thriller. NSA director Thomas Reynolds is angry that he can’t blackmail a congressman into supporting a law giving the NSA greater snooping powers, so he decides to kill him instead and make it look like a heart attack. Unfortunately for Reynolds the murder is accidentally taped; the tape ends up in the hands of a lawyer who is forced on the run to stay alive. The action is fast-paced and the narrative is exciting and pulsating throughout. In terms of the music we look at a theme which book-ends the movie, coming first after the opening scene at the introduction credit roll and again during the end titles sequence. It is interesting to see what works musically to distill the film, firstly in terms of how it delivers and frames the film, musically, and finally how it ties up the movie in its final credit roll. How films are delivered musically is a crucial aspect of how we perceive the story; similarly how movies are tied up at the end is important. How we remember the film affects how we choose to ‘frame’ the movie; end titles music can greatly enhance our perception of the movie experience we’ve just had. Movie: 00.04.28 & 02.06.00 – Audio: Main Title

Anticipated phrases

Anticipated phrases

Disrupted timings

Disrupted timings

Fig.11


Clearly the pushed, syncopated phrases in bars three/four and seven/eight add a palpable sense of momentum, motion and drive to the piece, adding to the excitement. Also the rough textures give the piece a rugged sound which makes the phrases stand out. But also worth mentioning are the serious ‘jolts’ we experience when there is a rapid and totally unforeseen change in pulse and timing. Just when we were getting to know the piece and feeling familiar with its delivery, the composer delivers a surprise which has the function of keeping excitement and nervous energy pumping. The chord which leads into bar eight has a real emotional intensity; there is a tiny nod to the James Bond vibe thanks to the Em6 chord.

THE FUGITIVE James Newton Howard The Fugitive is a 1993 American thriller film based on the 1960s television series of the same name. When Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) is wrongfully convicted for the murder of his wife and escapes from federal custody, he is declared a fugitive. He sets out to prove his innocence and bring those who were responsible to justice while being pursued relentlessly by a team of U.S. Marshals, led by Deputy Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones). The following music plays over the film’s intro title sequence which bleeds into shots of the night city skyline interspersed with black-and-white slow-motion footage of a violent struggle involving a woman and a perpetrator. Movie: intro – Audio: Main Title

Fig.12


If we listen to the opening cue we can definitely detect an anxious air; sinister even. Clearly the initial low strings create the potential for this to be dramatic music, but we need to look at the horn motif, which sounds bare and stark. This is primarily because the interval the horns state is a bare 5th, empty and devoid of character, sounding quite square. The feeling of harmony is delivered to us in small doses; the initial horn chord has no minor or major 3rd, but the following horn notes of Gb and Db effectively create almost an Ebm7. The music is not slow but the harmony is. The horn notes (in their second entry) go from Eb and Bb (5th) to F and C (also a 5th). This second chord is what, once again, delivers a sense of darkness and emptiness to the piece. The sense of key comes via the cello line beginning on bar nine, which sees an Ebm arpeggio create a bed of harmony. The maj6 interval (over a minor chord) plays a part too in bars thirteen and fifteen, creating a furtive air. This is the cue’s James Bond moment, where it becomes overtly stylistic. The piece really lights up and delivers its dissonant punch in bar twenty-one, where we see a cello quaver line based around Am but with the dissonant accompaniment of a high string melody beginning on the C#; thus we have simultaneous minor and major chords being implied. Bar twenty-six (transcribed again, separately below) contains an extremely colourful and emotionally provoking section in which there is a ‘bed of consonance’ on the lower stave by virtue (firstly) of the Eb/G chord with cellos fluctuating between root and 3rd, and (secondly) a B/F# chord featuring cellos moving between the root and 5th. In contrast to this normality the top line offers a quite searing, distinct and discolored line which ascends over a two-bar period. The interesting thing here is that the type of dissonant line is consistent if you look at the intervals and not the notes. The success of this passage is the colour of the intervals. The chords which support this line simply move to accommodate the need for the same melodic intervals to appear whilst maintaining a continued downward trajectory of pitch. I mention this because people often think that, simply because dissonance sounds ‘weird’, that in some way it is more ‘hit and miss’ or chaotic in structure, when in fact it is meticulously manicured to produce an almost forensically specific effect. Also people often think that something which sounds ‘weird’ or ‘dissonant’ is entirely made up of dissonance, when in fact in this case as with many passages we have looked at which sound dissonant, only one aspect of it is actually dissonant. The piece depends on the interplay between melodic dissonance and chordal consonance.


The ‘bottom half’ is entirely normal and consonant and the top half ‘sounds dissonant’ by comparison. Thus, dissonance sometimes sounds as it does due to a contrast between normal and ‘abnormal’. Often the best dissonance is to be found when it is bolted on to a piece of ‘normal’ harmony. It is the sense of dislocation which affects us. This is an entirely different concept to dissonance based on things which are random or deliberately chaotically oriented.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN John Williams Catch Me If You Can is a 2002 American film based on the life of legendary criminal and fraudster Frank Abagnale, who successfully performed cons worth millions of dollars by impersonating a Pan-Am pilot, a Georgia doctor and a Louisiana lawyer. His primary crime was check fraud; eventually he was caught but ultimately the FBI recruited him to help catch other check forgers. We covered one of the other main themes from this movie in a volume one of How Film & TV Music Communicate, which dealt with a specific harmonic approach. This time however, we look at a small section of the music which appears at the end of the movie, roughly 02.012.00, as we see Abagnale busy working for the FBI. As the camera moves away from him we see various facts about Abagnale’s life and career. The question therefore is, how do you distil the emotion of the film into one piece of music? What character would the piece have? How would it address the multitude of contexts and subtexts in this film?

Movie 02.12.00 – Audio: Reprise and end credits

Fig.13


The real charm of this piece is that it betrays emotions of comfort and consolation without becoming melodramatic or ‘too happy’. It conveys a sense of contentment and solace with just a hint of sadness and melancholy. John Williams manages all this and still retains a slight sense of cheekiness. From a timing and structural perspective, it fluctuates between 3/4 and 4/4. The time changes are less obvious because the quaver piano motif plays throughout and almost obliterates any sense of metre. This gives the piece a slightly mesmerising feel, which can make it seem a little distant, which in turn can cause a melancholy dreamy feel. The melody line sounds quite normal; playful even. Williams has done what he has done a thousand times before; he has made the complex sound effortless. Which begs the question, why bother making it so complex if it ends up being interpreted as ‘normal’. The truth of course is that if it seems normal then sometimes it only seems that way. There are tiny pockets of tension and squirts of colour which cause emotion. For example, there is his use of partial or incomplete harmony throughout. Most of the harmony is the result of horizontal movement, not vertical stacks of notes. Within this use of sparse, incomplete harmony delivered horizontally, there is the sense of a greater context; from bar eleven onwards (particularly in bar thirteen / fourteen) I have named the chord symbol ‘G13 feel’. This is because there is an overall suggestion of the 13th chord. There is a flavour of the 13th chord despite it not being there. This is primarily caused by the quaver fluctuation between the C and D on the top stave, together with the presence of the octave E to F movement crotchet movement (also on the top stave). Similarly in bar twenty seven there is the feeling of a greater context, which is why the chord symbol states ‘Cmaj9 feel’. One of the greatest harmonic devices is where a specific flavour is conveyed or implied, rather than absolutely and unequivocally stated.

THE FIRM Dave Grusin In this drama, based on the best-selling novel by John Grisham, Tom Cruise plays Mitchel McDeer, a young high flying law graduate. Memphis-based Bendini, Lambert, & Locke offer Mitch a lucrative contract and eventually he accepts. Before long Mitch discovers that the vast majority of BL&L’s business is tied to organized crime, with crime boss Joey Morolto using the firm to launder Mafia money. The FBI attempt to get Mitch to help them make a case against the firm while BL&L’s security director is blackmailing him to do as he’s told. Pretty soon Mitch is on the run from both the FBI and the Mob. In volume one of How Film & TV Music Communicate we looked at this film and its music, focusing on a track called ‘Mitch and Abby’ which comes around 00.12.33 as Abby (Mitch’s wife) is about to move to Memphis with husband Mitch. The music is happy, playful but the broken chords help articulate the scene; perhaps they help describe how Abby feels about the move; melancholic, apprehensive, nervous but happy. By contrast the piece we focus on now comes at the end of the movie, following a tumultuous few months Mitch and Abbey have had in Memphis. Due to a unique plan Mitch hatched to avoid being chased for the rest of his life by the Mafia, he and his wife now leave Memphis in the same beat-up car they arrived in months earlier. Grusin uses the same thematic idea in a track called ‘How could you lose me’ but this time the theme’s treatment is noticeably different. The entire film was scored just using piano, but because Grusin is such a master of colour and harmony, you never feel the need for more. Even the textural similarity caused by every cue being on piano never becomes too overpowering. This is because Grusin squeezes every inch of harmonic variety from the piano. The sheer intensity in the performance makes the piano alone sound like the perfect instrument to articulate the movie’s narrative. This time the ‘tune’ has a serenity and tranquility that the version at 00.12.33 didn’t possess. There is a peacefulness and composure to the piece.


Movie 02.23.23 – Audio: ‘How could you lose me?’

Leaving aside the melodic contour (highlighted in fig 14) which appears in different guises, there are also other harmonic devices in use. The cluster chords (highlighted with circles) are a big part of the sound, creating a real and palpable but blurred sense of subtle ‘fluffy’ harmonic ambiguity. There is also one moment (bar two) when Grusin uses a maj2ndharmony to illicit a subtle splash of colour. Over and above the cluster harmonies, is there a consistent type of chord which could be described as a harmonic identity? Harmonic identity is sometimes obvious to spot visually and aurally but sometimes it is so deeply absorbed into the fabric of the harmony that it is hard to hear. The point being that, even if we are unaware of the elements that give the piece its harmonic character, the elements are still there and they’re still doing their job. Below is the same transcription again, but this time highlighting a specific and reoccurring intervallic character (4th). The use of the 4th gives the piece a consistent flavour; it creates a consistent sense of disturbance and subtle mild disruption.

Fig.14


SHALLOW GRAVE Neil Barnes Paul Daley (aka Leftfield) & Simon Boswell

Shallow Grave was the feature film debut of Scottish director Danny Boyle and was a dark, black comedy about a trio of Edinburgh roommates whose greed fuels murder and betrayal. Seeking a fourth boarder to share the rent for their stylish flat, three professional flat-mates settle on Hugo. Hugo’s reserve masks criminal involvement, however, as the roommates discover when they find him dead in bed from a drug overdose, with a suitcase containing enormous amounts of cash. The intro music (by ‘Leftfield’) is extremely effective in framing the movie as a dark, urban, gritty thriller, which juxtaposes perfectly the black comedy influences which enter the narrative. The music paints a bleak but urban, energetic and ‘cool’ picture which belies the chaos and tragedy which befalls the main characters. The movie launched the careers of the then relatively unknown actors Ewan McGregor and Christopher Ecclestone, and it is Ecclestone’s character who narrates through this first piece.

4

4

4

4

4

4 Fig.15


Audio ‘Shallow Grave’ Neil Barnes & Paul Daley (aka Leftfield)

Fig 16


Shallow Grave has been compared to films like Pulp Fiction (both were released in 1994). The energetic visual style and black comedic approach to the crime-thriller genre has much in common with Tarrantino’s style but there are also significant nods to the Coen brothers and even Hitchcock. The into track works extremely well in highlighting those comparisons; it works well as the intro to this film largely due to the textural tone it instantly sets, but it’s important to note that the piece contains some important and fairly classic harmonic film music devices. Two important chords in the piece are the Ab/C to C(omit3). We hear the omit3 chord as a Cm because it is preceded by, and thus framed by, the Ab. Bars one and two of the sequence below feature Cm and Ab/C, virtually identical to the two Shallow Grave chords. Bars three and four contain the same two chords, this time with the beginning of a familiar motif of Danny Elfman’s from the Tim Burton Batman movie. Later on we see the same two chords form the basis of the iconic and instantly recognisable James Bond sequence.

Cm to Ab/ is a well-known and dramatic chord change to be found in countless dramatic situations (not all in Cm but using relative chords). The chords work well in reverse, too; Twin Peaks begins on Ab/C to Cm. One reason why the sequence works so well is that we react to the G note rising to the Ab (which we perceive as 5th to m6th).But the other reason is that whilst one note changes physically (the G to the Ab), what we react to is the intervallic change in the C (which goes from being a root of the Cm chord to being a 3rd of the Ab chord) and the Eb (which goes from a min3rd of the Cm to the 5th of the Ab). The point is that as listeners we react to the intervallic change of notes which remain static, which is a much more subtle and personal experience for a listener as it involves more interpretation on their part. The next piece we examine from Shallow Grave is written by Simon Boswell and comes several times during the movie, the first of which is at 00.12.03 as we see the new tenant move into the apartment with two suitcases. He enters his own room, closes the door and opens one of the suitcases, which we only see from the back. Throughout and beyond this sequence a memorable piece of music plays underneath, creating a feeling of mild anxiety, unease and apprehension. There is a meandering, mesmerising feeling to the piece emanating from a combination of the physical movement of the piano parts and the harmonies they create. The top line piano moves up and down and so does the left hand, albeit at a much slower pace (highlighted). Because the lines go up and down at different rates there is an occasional feeling of contrary motion between the parts; this is important because it ensure the piece never becomes mechanical or parallel sounding. Audio ‘Theme from Shallow Grave’- Simon Boswell – Movie 00.12.03

Cm6

Piano

Strings

Fig.17

Fig.18


The contrary motion and the movement in general create a sensation of expansion, of growth, of evolution, of momentum. If we examine vertically the harmonies that are implied horizontally by the lines, we are aware of two distinct chords (below).

The chords are contrasting; one being definite and the other (not on its own but by comparison) being sad, melancholic and wistful. The other interesting thing to mention is that the piece contains aspects which prevent it from descending into anything too normal; in other words it contains splashes of colour; moments of surprise. The first one is in the left hand of the piano, which keeps returning to the 7th (Db) but doesn’t contain the 3rd. Thus is has quite a stark, bare feel. The second lay in the right hand quaver motif, which, when examined, doesn’t follow exactly the path you imagine it would, particularly in the second four-bar sequence (bars five-eight in the figure below).

The first group of four bars is identical, creating an expectation that, if it changes at all, the change will be consistent and applied to bars five-eight. In fact this doesn’t happen. Consider the version below in which the second group of four bars contains the same phrase each bar. In all probability this is what we expected but didn’t get. It is these tiny, almost imperceptible and subtle changes which confound our expectation and tweak our excitement.

Definite, strong Sad, melancholic

Release Tension

One does not need to stack harmony in vertical piles to appreciate its colour. Horizontal harmony, where the emotion is gradual and continuing, can actually be more effective because the information we need to realise the colour of the music is delivered a different way. However, the chords being implied are just as effective. As we can see from the figure above, the chords are quite clear.

Fig.19

Fig.20

Fig.21


THE SIEGE Graham Revell Many people are killed when a Brooklyn bus explodes. An FBI agent joins a Middle East expert and NSA operative to investigate. An explosion in a Broadway theatre is followed by attacks on a school and FBI headquarters. When the President declares martial law tanks appear on the streets of Brooklyn. With the Army controlled by a power-crazed fanatic, the situation deteriorates. The music we examine succeeds in framing our perception of the film’s overriding narrative; suspicion, mistrust and paranoia. The music begins the moment the film starts and underscores archive scenes of the aftermath of a bomb blast, featuring carefully placed footage, along with news reports and even an appearance by President Clinton. Because the music is underscoring scenes of chaos at first we only catch the ‘feel’ of the music – the ‘taste’ of the harmony. We hear odd bits penetrating the sound design and at one point we hear an entire phrase. We do, however, get the message. Movie 00.00.25 – Audio: ‘The Sheik’s Abduction’

The message is the power of horizontal harmony, which unlike vertical harmony, is gradual and cumulative in its effect, which means it can sometimes sound vaguer, which can sometimes work better than absolute harmony. We can see by generating a chord from the notes in bar one (in the edited example below) that the chord implied by the first bar is technically a C#omit3 with an added m6 (which I have stated in the chord version in bar two). There is, however, more than a whiff of F#m9 when you listen to it, which means that an F#m9/C# might well be a more phonically accurate description. Over and above all the theorizing the point I make is that chords like this communicate two subtly different colours and realities, and this is the power of horizontal harmony. To merely state the chord I have written in bar two of the example below might be overkill. But to allude to it, to suggest, to intimate, is much more subtle.

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Fig.22

Fig.23


The second phrase, in which the example above starts in bar five, is quite revealing when you apply chord symbols that the harmonies suggest, i.e. C#omit3 and Domit3, which appear consecutively in bar five and simultaneously as a polychord in bar six.

UNSTOPPABLE Harry Gregson Williams Unstoppable is a drama about a runaway train carrying a cargo of toxic chemicals which puts an engineer and his conductor in a race against time. They’re chasing the runaway train in a separate locomotive and need to bring it under control before it derails on a curve in the track and causes a toxic spill that will cause death and destruction. The subtext is probably the tangled and complicated lives of the main characters and their own relationships with their families. Denzel Washington plays Frank, an aging train engineer forced to indoctrinate a young conductor named Will, played by Chris Pine. The two begin not liking one another but end up gaining respect for each other during the unfolding drama of the film. The introductory pictures show a grim industrial landscape and shows Will waking up, seemingly finding it difficult to face the day. The accompanying music creates a dual mood; firstly the electronic-sounding semiquaver chords, along with a distinctive synth line on the lower bass stave, creates a feeling of subtle momentum; of potential drama, rather than actual drama. The semiquaver riff focusses in and out of sonic clarity, which gives the piece a very contemporary feel. Some bars radiate a strong, rich min3 presence, creating warmth and emotion. Also, look at how many ‘omit’ and sus chords there are. These subtly block-out the absoluteness of the chords and prevent them from becoming too ‘normal’. Although the strings give the phrase some textural smoothness, the chords are deceptive. Sparse harmonies and incomplete chords are well-trodden harmonic devices for carving some emotion and colour into pieces, ironically by taking some harmonic elements out of the equation. This makes the music less ‘normal’ and allows it to fuse with the pictures.

Movie - 00.01.27 Audio – ‘Unstoppable Theme’

The semiquaver riff focusses in and out of sonic clarity

Some bars radiate a strong, rich min3 presence, creating

warmth and emotion.

The real colour starts here

Fig.24


THE DAVINCI CODE Hans Zimmer The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective novel written by Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon as he investigates a murder in Paris’s Louvre Museum and discovers a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to Mary Magdalene. The book has been consistently criticized for its supposed historical and scientific inaccuracies but this didn’t stop it becoming an international best-seller. In 2006, a film adaptation was released with music composed by Hans Zimmer. We have looked at this film before in volume 1 of How Film & TV Music Communicate. This time we look at a particularly masterful piece of scoring toward the end of the movie. After Langdon’s assistant Sophie is reunited with her grandmother and others who have vowed to protect her, Langdon returns to Paris. He suddenly gets an idea after cutting himself shaving in his hotel bathroom and seeing the blood in the sink make a trail. Following the ‘Rose Line’ markers on the streets of Paris leads him directly to the glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre. In the final scene of the movie, Langdon recites the poem aloud while the camera shows how each line of the poem fits with the pyramid's structure, ending with a shot of Mary Magdalene's sarcophagus lying below the stone, hidden from view. This scene is accompanied by a piece that is probably one of the finest, most enduring and emotionally communicative pieces of music in the history of film. Movie 02.41.54 - Audio ‘Chevaliers de Sangreal’

‘omit’ and sus chords

F7 omit3 F omit3

Fig.25


So, why is this so special?


The piece has dramatic, enthralling and transfixing qualities. It meanders and ambles around a sixteen-bar, four-chord sequence which draws listeners in. There is also a curious but endearing cumbersome awkwardness to the piece; a slight sense of ungainliness. People have put this down to the ‘dancing’ string triplets but the actual truth behind why the strings are so penetrating is deeper than the rhythmic nature of their delivery. I will come to that issue later, but first I want to address the chord sequence. Listeners have often said that Zimmer’s music contains alluring qualities which draw them in but that often the chords seem curiously ‘normal’. The perceived wisdom therefore is that his creative use of technology is what defines him; in other words, it’s the ‘sound’ textures and production people respond to more than the harmony. Most chords could be described as ‘normal’; what gives us the beauty of music is not just what the chords are but mostly the precise architecture and geography of their delivery. In other words, chord sequences are what give us the contextual beauty that people often talk about, especially with Zimmer’s music. If we assume that because the chords in this piece are unilaterally normal then so is the piece, we miss the greater issue, which is the way chords communicate together. If Hans Zimmer’s music seems harmonically normal then it just seems that way; it also calls into question what we perceive as normal in the first place. Often, because his music is delivered with cotton-wool orchestration and deep, dense mixes which swallow the listener into a beautiful wall of sound, we might miss the importance of the harmonies. The point is that some of his choices of harmony subtly take us places we didn’t expect to go. Because his methods of taking listeners places they didn’t expect to go are frequently so subtle as to be aurally virtually unrecognisable, we may presume they don’t exist. But they do exist, and they are a big part of what defines him as a true romantic. Listeners often conclude that the ‘melody’ is what draws them in when they listen to music. This is because melody, like texture, is easily digestible. We can, to a degree, understand it without any particular musical ability. Since understanding might be considered to be a part of enjoyment, we gravitate towards melody as the sole answer. But if melody alone was responsible for this piece communicating it would do so because of its strings and the later melody in the lower register. Melody without words (e.g. instrumental music) is more dependent on its harmonies because it lacks the distraction, narrative and context words bring. Some film score writers aren’t always as keen on melody as many might assume. Although on a surface level we tend to remember the soaring melodies, it is often what’s going on underneath that truly defines and contextualises film music. Melody is often a superficial device to attract us but harmonies are often what define the emotion of a sequence; melodies are frequently quite one-dimensional and using that same logic some composers have often referred to harmony as being the aural equivalent of 3D. The amount of colour we can derive from harmony is almost limitless. So let’s look at the chords for ‘Chevaliers de Sangreal’ (below, fig.26). These seemingly simple chords hide one fact; they are quite ordinary singularly but they are not ordinary collectively. Chords communicate singularly but their cumulative behaviour represents their true power to create emotion. Collectively Zimmer’s chords assume a separate parallel identity to the singular moment of one chord. For starters they begin on the hugely uplifting but comparatively rare ‘minor-to-relative-major’ sequence. Hundreds of thousands of pieces begin on major-to-relative-minor sequences; the sequence has been permanently grafted onto the collective consciousness of most listeners since the dawn of orchestral music and subsequently pop music. But the reverse is not as popular and yet is offers a sense of mild euphoria and freshness. Whereas F to Dm sounds as if it is a natural, predictable sequence, the Dm to F doesn’t. Also there is a slight feeling of the sequence having finished once the Csus4 to C has finished. Even though structurally it hasn’t finished because that would only amount to six bars, we feel like it ought to return to the Dm, e.g. ‘the beginning’ again. This means that when we actually hear the Am, it sounds mildly surprising and fresh, even though a C-Am sequence is the most predictable and over-used sequence in the world. The reason this C-Am sounds different is because it isn’t at the beginning of the phrase and it follows the Dm-F. Two-chord sequences have their emotional effects altered depending on how, when and where they are used and how they are delivered. Within context of this piece, the C-Am appears fresh because it seems like an add-on to the phrase that we didn’t expect. Also the sequence creates a consistent palpable physical contour (highlighted below).

Dm

F

C

Am

x4

x4

x4

x4

Fig.26


Another thing to recognise is Zimmer’s effective voicing of chords, which is low and lumpy, as seen in fig.25, particularly on the F and Am chords with the 3rd low down in the voicing. On top of all this we have the distinctive dancing ‘percussive’ quaver triplet strings (seen in the main transcription, fig.25) that Zimmer is so fond of using in his music. There is, however, something else about this cue which makes it so appealing, so transfixing, so mesmerising and so remarkable in the way it communicates to us. In order to explain it we need to return briefly to the concept of polyharmony.

Looking at the example below we can firstly see the whole chord, then we can see various elements of the three chords that help create what is, in effect, a brilliant use of polyharmony. It implies and suggests several harmonies simultaneously. Below is an example which displays all harmonic relations in this chord. The chord is turned horizontally on its side and displayed as singular notes in succession. There are ten separate harmonic events. When we look at harmony this way and examine each and every harmonic event rather than see each of the notes as an interval contextualised by the root note, we perhaps begin to see the gravity of polyharmony and why it is so colourful and confounding. Now we have to apply the same logic, the same mind-set, to the concept of polyrhythm. There are actually two possible rhythmic interpretations in the Zimmer piece. Both are correct. There are two ways of rhythmically rationalising what we listen to. One (the one we used in the main transcription) has a distinct 3 feel within a 4/4 framework, as below (fig.30).

The chord to the left is the distinctive ‘James Bond’ chord. It is instantly recognisable by most people who have seen the movies. Even to people who have never watched ‘James Bond’ films, the chord has a furtive air. Why is this chord so strange? Why does it create such distinctive and specific identity and emotion? The reason is that the chord is really several chords.

5th

Fig.27

Fig.28

Fig.29

Contributory chords


However, having studied the reactions of countless students (and myself, on initially hearing the track) there is a tendency to ‘feel’ it as follows: I am not trying to confuse the issue or simply apply theory to fit the music in order to make a vague theoretical point. The simple fact remains that there are two subtly different ways in which we can interpret this piece rhythmically, which gives the piece a dramatically heightened sense of pulse, almost as if it is dancing between the cracks of musical rhythmic structure. It is certainly easier to accommodate the 3/4 version in your head until the ‘bell’ sound makes its second entry on the pickup to bar nine, in the 4/4 version; bar five in the 3/4 version. In the 4/4 version it sits nicely on the 4th beat of the bar. On the 3/4 version it arrives on the fourth quaver of the bar, an off-beat. Because the rhythmic feel skirts the edges of two realities, it heightens our awareness significantly and sounds a little cumbersome but wholly more human.

THE CONSPIRACY Darren Baker The Conspiracy is a great film; it adds a new angle to the tired ‘conspiracy thriller’ genre and also finds new life in the increasingly lackluster ‘found-footage’ genre. Two documentarians (Aaron Poole and Jim Gilbert – the actors’ real names) are producing a film on a conspiracy theorist named Terrance, an old, unkempt, haggard old man who fits the classic conspiracy theorist profile marvelously. Terrance is building his own database of almost every conspiracy theory out there, by attaching newspaper clippings to his wall in order to prove his points and discover timelines between events. What makes this different is that the two documentarians are skeptical. To them Terrance is just another ‘lone nut’ proposing wildly speculative and unprovable theories. But when Terrance disappears, Aaron begins to suspect that Terrance may have been right about some of his ideas. He develops Terrance’s theories, which eventually leads the journalists to the Tarsus Group, which is presented almost as an amalgam of the Bilderberg group and the Illuminati. The film-makers’ obsession with Tarsus leads them to infiltrate, with concealed mini-cams, one of the group’s highly secret gatherings, with terrible consequences. At about seventeen minutes into the film, after Terrance has disappeared, we see the two documentarians looking over their own film of Terrance on the street ‘preaching’ his theories about world events, world history and his belief in conspiracies. Aaron Poole slowly says, “Terrance and guys like him….you know, if they’re wrong it’s really fucked up that they could be so delusional…[but] if they’re not…” During this statement the C note of the cue ‘Pattern Recognition’ begins. We see Aaron’s facial expression as he watches footage on the screen of 9/11, and then the arpegiated synth phrase begins.

Fig.30

Fig.31

If we’re listening to this and hearing triplet strings over four main beats per bar then we’re hearing a rough crotchet bmp in our head of 110.

This time we hear straight quavers over a 4/4 pulse. Perception has changed from triplet quavers to straight quavers so the crotchet beat underneath is now moving at roughly 165 bpm.


So, what could be so compelling about this cue to have such an effect on the film? Although the lone C note sounds a little eerie initially, there is something warm, entrancing and captivating about the textures and the octave arpeggios when the piece begins to move. The vertical harmony creates a chord of C, so, initially at least, there are no dissonances. I think the key to the success of the piece lay in the hypnotic natures of the music; the trance-like nature of the sound, with its Contagion-esque soft, muffled EQ, is inviting, pleasant. The hypnotic element is helped by the fact that for the first few bars there are no actual chords; the harmony is created horizontally by the rapid arpeggios. Also because the harmony is transitory there is no semblance of root-based harmony; the C move rapidly to E, G and C. The harmony doesn’t gravitate to a specific interval at the bottom of the chord because there is no chord, only notes which, when joined together by the listener, form a quasi-chord. The warmth is also aided by the apex of the octave arpeggio landing on the maj3rd. As we have established in many examples, the 3rd is the ultimate ‘warm’ interval; we have referred to it as the ‘defining interval’ because it literally colours the chord major or minor (or neither, if it is not there). There is almost a rush upwards to the 3rd, after which the arpeggio falls downward, only to begin the upward journey again.

Movie - 00.17.28 Audio – ‘Pattern Recognition’ Fig.32


A combination of these factors, alongside the anticipated nature of the rhythm is what gives the piece such a bewitching character. But how do the bewitching, entrancing, hypnotic and enchanting characteristics help the film? They help the film because they distil the scene where Aaron contemplates carrying on Terrance’s work. A mixture of Aaron staring into the TV in a distant, troubled and pensive way, together with the music’s characteristics and communicative qualities is what makes you believe. It makes you trust that Terrance might have been right. It makes you feel sorry for him and it makes you feel empathy for the two journalists. Rarely in film is there such a perfect consummation of film and music that utterly brings you under the spell of the story. As the piece progresses the high string chord joins the arpegiated section and the final icing on the cake is the transition from C chord to Em chord. This well-known chord trick exudes warmth but the arpegiated nature of the synth delivery is what makes it original and so, so effective. The cue comes again at 00.23.40 when Aaron, having studied Terrance’s data, reveals his theory of what Terrance was working on when he disappeared. As Aaron looks across at Jim Gilbert, we see Gilbert look and appear to be reasonably convinced. We then hear a voice-over from Gilbert, who is obviously speaking subsequent to the events portrayed in the film: “It was loose…assumptions…built upon other assumptions, but I’ll give it to him; he found a pattern; he connected the dots”. Then we cut to a filmed interview with Gilbert, again subsequent to the events that unfold in the film, where he says, poignantly, “Terrance would have been proud of him.”

08. THRILLERS 8,670 - Brian Morrell · Rabin) The Fugitive (James Newton Howard) Catch Me If You Can (John Williams) The Firm (Dave Grusin) Shallow Grave (Simon Boswell) The Siege

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