James Newton Howard scoring King Kong (2005)

One movie and film score that I am slowly growing to appreciate is the 2005 remake of King Kong, which was scored by James Newton Howard. As much as I love the original King Kong (which everyone should see at least once), I have to admit this remake is better than most.

I found, some time ago, a wonderful video that gives some insight into how the score was put together, and it’s available here below.

Unlike some of the videos I’ve found, this video isn’t just a look into the recording studio, it also gives a brief overview of what has to be done to get the score made. James Newton Howard and those of his team essentially lay out the process from composing and blocking out the themes to getting it recorded, to having the sound mixed into a final arrangement.

I wish this video talked more about the score’s themes, but I did learn one cool thing from this video. At one point, during the recording process, the orchestra reached 100 decibels, that’s how loud they were playing. You also get a clear look at “the board” that most, if not all film composers, use during the recording process. This is a board that lists every single cue that appears in the score, and the marks next to it indicate where the cue is in the recording process, up until the cue has been finalized and approved. This is an easy way to look and see how much of the score remains to be worked on.

I hope you like watching this behind the scenes look at James Newton Howard working on King Kong. Let me know your thoughts on the film and its score in the comments below and have a great day!