Following on from last week’s article about the future of film scoring for 2014, I wanted to explore the exciting and growing trend of using pop and contemporary artists as composers for Hollywood scores. This, to me, is a simple but effective unconventional film scoring technique that always has the potential to produce magnificent results. One of these artists that have most recently been on my mind is M83’s score for Hollywood blockbuster Oblivion.
On the surface, employing M83 to provide the score for oblivion is a perfect decision. There is no doubt that the spacey, huge reverb laden, electronic infused soundscapes would match the epic sweeping landscapes of the beautifully shot film. However, whilst the score fits the film like a glove, the instantly recognisable sound of M83 is almost nowhere to be found. Instead, in its place are the all-to-familiar tension-building string riffs and ostinatos married with Inception style gut busting brass blasts. There are some synth infused moments and hints of electronica, but the M83 signature has been thoroughly rubbed out.
The reason for this is potentially quite simple. Huge film companies aren’t renowned for taking huge risks and, let’s face it, asking a rock or an electronic dance act to score a feature length film when they have little or no experience in such a thing is a risky business. What happens of course is that stringent guidelines are imposed and the score is created under the watchful eye and close guidance of an orchestrator and/or composer. This was indeed the case with oblivion and M83, working closely with orchestrator Joseph Trapanese. The same is true of Tron Legacy’s score, with the exception perhaps of Derezzed. I understand that it is a sensible and perhaps necessary move to employ orchestrators such as Trapenese to help guide artists through a work criterion largely alien to them.
So, getting back to last weeks article, there has to be some individuality present or the point will be lost. That’s what makes Nigel Godrich’s score for Scott Pilgrim so great. Because of the nature of the film, there was no doubt some room allowed for ‘pushing it’ a little in terms of stylistic choices, but it really paid off. Throughout the original music composed by Godrich (although also with a little assistance from Stephen Price), you can really hear the musical personality of the man they call the 6th member of Radiohead. Also, although they were under the guidance of Price as well, the signature sounds of Bassment Jaxx seem to be have been allowed to flourish a little more in Attack The Block.
It can’t be ignored that these films were not produced on such a large budget as Oblivion and probably had a far more relaxed approach to the scoring process and outcome. However, I think this most definitely pays off and above all it brings an element of relevance to the use of particular contemporary artists in scoring the film.
Overall, it feels a little misleading to advertise popular acts such as M83 as the composer of a film if their sound is so disguised by the Hollywood scoring traditions. There was plenty of potential in the sounds of M83’s ‘Hurry up We’re Dreaming’ album that are nowhere to be found in Oblivion.
Let’s hope we see more artists signature sounds coming through in future scores to come and as a result, enter a brave new world in contemporary film scoring.
