Film Music Central

Danny Elfman talks Batman (1989)

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

You can become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Danny Elfman talks Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)

7 Replies

Let me just start by saying that I am not a fan of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy; not the books or the movies. I don’t like the concept behind the story (did you know this started as Twilight fanfiction?) and it just…*shudders* it doesn’t sit well with me.

That being said…my ears perked up with interest when I discovered that Danny Elfman wrote the score for Fifty Shades of Grey (and he has also scored Fifty Shades Darker). I have been a fan of Elfman’s work ever since I first heard the music for Batman (1989) and I was surprised to hear that he is working on this film trilogy. Elfman isn’t the first composer I would think of when it comes to dark romantic films, but to each his own.

I can’t recommend this film, but it was interesting to briefly hear Elfman’s thoughts on how he put the important musical themes together for this story.

Now I have to ask, for those of you who may have seen Fifty Shades of Grey, did you like it at all? Was it worth seeing? I would love to hear your comments on this film, so let me know in the comments below 🙂

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

You can become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

See also:

Danny Elfman talks Batman Returns (1992)

Danny Elfman “Planet of the Apes” scoring session (2001)

Danny Elfman talks Spider-Man (2002)

Danny Elfman talks Meet the Robinsons (2007)

Danny Elfman talks Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Danny Elfman talks Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)

Main Theme from Now You See Me 2 (2016)

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Brian Tyler conducting and scoring Now You See Me 2 (2016)

13 Replies

I have not seen Now You See Me (2013) or its sequel Now You See Me 2, though I have heard plenty about both films. Both films feature a group of stage magicians who use their talents to pull off huge and daring heists. The scores for both films were composed by Brian Tyler, and what I have here is two clips relating to the sequel, Now You See Me 2, which came out last year. The top link takes you to a concert performance of the film’s main theme, which I found very beautiful. I will never stop loving the experience of hearing movie music in a concert environment.

The bottom link comes from a scoring session led by Tyler at the famous Abbey Road studio in London. There is something enthralling about watching Brian Tyler at work; when he is on the podium, you can tell he is 100% into the music.

I know Now You See Me 2 got mixed reviews upon its release, but surely the music was not a part of any problems the film had. I hope you enjoy the recording session and the performance.

You can become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

See also:

Brian Tyler “Alien vs. Predator: Requiem” scoring session (2007)

Brian Tyler talks War (2007)

Brian Tyler “Law Abiding Citizen” scoring sessions (2009)

Brian Tyler “Dragonball Evolution” scoring session (2009)

Brian Tyler “Battle: Los Angeles” (2011) scoring session

Brian Tyler scoring session for Iron Man 3 (2013)

Brian Tyler “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (2014) scoring session

Brian Tyler “Power Rangers” scoring session (2017)

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Brian Tyler talks War (2007)

13 Replies

War is a film that I have not seen but I’m sure I would like, given that it stars Jet Li and Jason Statham. The film is the directorial debut of Philip G. Atwell and tells the story of FBI agent John Crawford (Statham) who becomes obsessed with hunting down an assassin named Rogue (Li) after he brutally murders his partner. But, as it turns out, the story isn’t nearly as straightforward as it seems, there are some mind-blowing twists involved.

Unbelievably, it comes out that the assassin Crawford has been hunting down is none other than his supposed-to-be-dead partner! It turns out that after being supposedly killed, he tracked down and murdered the real Rogue in order to work his way into the Yakuza to find out who ordered the assassin to take out his family. But there’s another twist: it comes out that Crawford is the one responsible for giving out his partner’s address to Rogue (albeit under heavy duress) because he’s been in the Yakuza’s pocket for quite some time. Talk about twists upon twists!

The film was produced under the working title of Rogue (named for Jet Li’s character) but it was changed to avoid conflicting with an Australian horror film of the same name that was released the same year.

In the interview (which can be accessed in the link above), Tyler explains that he was approached to work on War after the premiere of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), and after watching some footage from the film-in-progress, he begged for the chance to score the film. Additional music for the film was provided by RZA, Mark Batson and Machines of Loving Grace.

A major element of the story involves the Chinese Triad going to war with the Japanese Yakuza. As a result, Tyler created a musical blend using Chinese and Japanese instruments against one another to symbolize the growing conflict between the two groups.

I have to say, looking at Brian Tyler’s work has given me a completely new appreciation for action films and their music. A lot of people write off action films as being “mindless” or somehow “less than” bigger dramatic films, but I think action films can be just as good as any other film genre if they’re done properly.

It was really exciting learning how Brian Tyler created the score for War and I hope you enjoy the interview too.

You can become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

See also:

Brian Tyler “Alien vs. Predator: Requiem” scoring session (2007)

Brian Tyler “Law Abiding Citizen” scoring sessions (2009)

Brian Tyler “Dragonball Evolution” scoring session (2009)

Brian Tyler “Battle: Los Angeles” (2011) scoring session

Brian Tyler scoring session for Iron Man 3 (2013)

Brian Tyler “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (2014) scoring session

Brian Tyler conducting and scoring Now You See Me 2 (2016)

Brian Tyler “Power Rangers” scoring session (2017)

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Brian Tyler “Law Abiding Citizen” scoring sessions (2009)

13 Replies

I actually remember seeing trailers for Law Abiding Citizen (2009), it caught my attention as it had Gerard Butler in it. For the life of me, I could not tell you what the movie was actually about until I looked the summary up. Law Abiding Citizen tells the story of the lengths Clyde Shelton (Butler), a hitherto ordinary citizen, will go to avenge his murdered wife and daughter when the justice system fails to dispense an appropriate punishment to their killer.

After subsequently murdering the killer himself (ten years after the fact) and being locked up in prison, it turns out that Clyde formerly worked for the CIA and created highly imaginative assassination devices which make him capable of killing anyone, anywhere, at any time (even while locked up in prison). He proceeds to kill the judge, district attorney and several other people associated with the case, but the prosecuter Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) proves to be his undoing.

I have found two scoring sessions for this particular film. The first (above) is entitled “Methodology” while the second piece(below) is entitled “Mechanical Mind.” I actually like the second piece better because you can see more of the set-up in the recording studio. Tyler is surrounded by a bank of monitors that show the musical beat, the score and also a working print of the film (watch the monitors on the conductor’s right). There is also a large screen playing footage from the film which is occasionally reflected in the glass behind the conductor.

The 52-piece ensemble that Brian Tyler is conducting comes from the Hollywood Studio Symphony, an orchestra that has worked in the production of many film soundtracks (including Jurassic Park 3, The Last Samurai, Sucker Punch and The Bourne Supremacy.)

I really think you will enjoy listening to these two pieces; they are both prime examples of the fact that an average film can still contain fantastic music. Let me know what you think of the music in the comments below 🙂

You can become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

See also:

Brian Tyler “Alien vs. Predator: Requiem” scoring session (2007)

Brian Tyler talks War (2007)

Brian Tyler “Dragonball Evolution” scoring session (2009)

Brian Tyler “Battle: Los Angeles” (2011) scoring session

Brian Tyler scoring session for Iron Man 3 (2013)

Brian Tyler “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (2014) scoring session

Brian Tyler conducting and scoring Now You See Me 2 (2016)

Brian Tyler “Power Rangers” scoring session (2017)

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Brian Tyler “Power Rangers” scoring session (2017)

13 Replies

This may be the fastest I’ve ever released a scoring session of a film relative to the film’s premiere (the film came out five days ago). In the hype leading up to the release of Power Rangers, and the endless debate of “will this be any good?”, I somehow missed that Brian Tyler would be composing the score for this film. Tyler has been a rising force in the world of film music for the last decade and I was immediately curious to hear what his work for this film sounded like.

Lo and behold….I found a scoring session for the film. It’s tantalizingly short, only sixty seconds in length, but what I can hear is beautiful! I have no idea where in the film this music comes from, but it is very well-crafted and it is clear that Tyler is in his element as a composer and conductor.

Despite this, I still don’t think I will see Power Rangers anytime soon. Of course, I grew up watching Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers way back in the 90s, and I saw a few of the later series on occasion (Mystic Force is still my favorite), but my tastes have greatly changed since then and the film simply holds no interest for me (though I AM pleased that one of the rangers is on the autistic spectrum). However, I may have to get my hands on the soundtrack to hear the rest of this gorgeous music.

I hope you enjoy watching Brian Tyler score a section of Power Rangers, and get ready: this is only the first of many Brian Tyler sessions that I’ve found (I really think you’re going to like them too).

You can become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

See also:

Brian Tyler “Alien vs. Predator: Requiem” scoring session (2007)

Brian Tyler talks War (2007)

Brian Tyler “Law Abiding Citizen” scoring sessions (2009)

Brian Tyler “Dragonball Evolution” scoring session (2009)

Brian Tyler “Battle: Los Angeles” (2011) scoring session

Brian Tyler scoring session for Iron Man 3 (2013)

Brian Tyler “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (2014) scoring session

Brian Tyler conducting and scoring Now You See Me 2 (2016)

Michael Giacchino talks Super 8 (2011)

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Michael Giacchino talks Super 8 (2011)

12 Replies

What do you get when J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg collaborate together on a film? In the case of Super 8, we got a science-fiction thriller film about a strange alien invading a town in Ohio while a group of kids are shooting a movie on Super 8 film. The film did well (despite some comparisons to E.T.), though I didn’t watch it myself (I was distracted by graduating from college at the time). As with all J.J. Abrams films (except for The Force Awakens), the score was composed by Michael Giacchino, who talks with us in the behind-the-scenes clip for the making of the score of Super 8.

What’s cool about this clip is that we get to hear Giacchino talking about his memories of shooting home movies on Super 8 film back in the day, and we even get to see a few clips from said films.

It’s always great to listen to Michael Giacchino discussing his work, and I hope you enjoy his talk about Super 8.

I know this is shorter than what I usually do, but I’m still recovering from a really busy weekend and I really wanted to give you something to enjoy until tomorrow 🙂

And speaking of…Disturbing Disney returns tomorrow with my first entry from Bambi (1942), a film that pioneered the “horrifying death of a parent” decades before The Lion King ripped our hearts out with the death of Mufasa.

Also, I wanted to share that Film Music Central has gained 2,000+ hits in a month for the first time ever and I wanted to say thank you to everyone who comes to visit the blog, this is a milestone I’ve been hoping to hit for a long time 🙂

Michael Giacchino talks Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)

Michael Giacchino talks Ratatouille (2007)

Michael Giacchino talks Up (2009)

Michael Giacchino talks Star Trek (2009)

Michael Giacchino talks John Carter (2012)

Michael Giacchino talks Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)

Michael Giacchino talks Jupiter Ascending (2015)

Michael Giacchino talks Jurassic World (2015)

Michael Giacchino scoring Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Michael Giacchino talks Zootopia (2016)

Michael Giacchino talks Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

You can become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Hans Zimmer talks Hannibal (2001)

5 Replies

Sequels are always a risky business; no matter how successful the original, there’s always the chance that a follow-up story will fall totally flat and ruin the story forever. Thankfully, such was not the case with Hannibal (2001), the follow-up to The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Set ten years after the original story, Clarice Starling (now played by Julianne Moore) must locate Hannibal Lecter before a surviving victim (played brilliantly by Gary Oldman) tracks down the serial killer to exact his gruesome revenge. While it’s true that this film was met with mixed reviews by the critics, I found Hannibal to be a very thrilling story, especially the last third. Anthony Hopkins is such a compelling presence when he’s onscreen, and he plays the role with so many layers that you can watch the film multiple times and see a new interpretation each time.

Of course the film wouldn’t be nearly as good without its musical score, which was composed by Hans Zimmer. In this wonderful interview, both Zimmer and director Ridley Scott talk about the music and how it came together. Scott believes that the music is just as important as the dialogue and so the score is crafted accordingly. Hannibal marked the fourth time that the director and composer collaborated on the same project, and you can tell that they’ve developed a good working relationship with each other.

Zimmer describes Hannibal as a “haunting story” and that the music must be haunting as well to match it, and I believe he totally succeeded in accomplishing this. One thing about Hannibal (the character) that always fascinated me is his love of the classical, be it art, poetry or music. The score reflects this to a large degree, as Hans Zimmer wrote several choral pieces in an early classical style for certain scenes involving the titular character. It was amazing to learn about the score for this haunting film, and I hope you enjoy it as well.

You can become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

See also:

Hans Zimmer talks The Road to El Dorado (2000)

Hans Zimmer talks The Dark Knight (2008)

Hans Zimmer talks Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

Hans Zimmer talks Inception (2010)

Hans Zimmer (and Richard King) talk The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Hans Zimmer talks Man of Steel (2013)

Hans Zimmer talks Interstellar (2014)

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Michael Giacchino talks Zootopia (2016)

12 Replies

Michael Giacchino talks Zootopia (2016)

While I am still profoundly irked that Zootopia beat out Kubo and the Two Strings for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, I cannot deny that the film has a pretty good musical score. Composed by the talented Michael Giacchino, the music of Zootopia features a world-music vibe to cover the vast array of species (and ways of life) highlighted in the story.

If you haven’t seen Zootopia, the film follows bunny Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) as she becomes the first rabbit on the Zootopia police force, in a city where (in theory) any animal can become anything they want to be, regardless of whether they are considered “hunter” or “prey” species. This notion is tested when Judy is put on a (seemingly hopeless) case that she must solve in a very short time or lose her job, and to complicate matters, she must work with Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), a fox with a history of being a con-artist.

In this behind the scenes clip, Giacchino takes us to the recording studio and introduces five percussionists who helped create Zootopia’s unique sound.

While the main orchestra is best recognized in any film score, often the percussion is overlooked (or worse, lost in the sound mix), so it’s great to see not only how they used percussion instruments in the score, but also how the percussion ties everything together at key moments.

My thanks to Michael Giacchino for giving us this inside look into part of the scoring process for Zootopia, which really is a great film despite my grumblings. I hope you enjoy the video and if you haven’t tried Zootopia before, please take a chance and check it out 🙂

Michael Giacchino talks Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)

Michael Giacchino talks Ratatouille (2007)

Michael Giacchino talks Up (2009)

Michael Giacchino talks Star Trek (2009)

Michael Giacchino talks Super 8 (2011)

Michael Giacchino talks John Carter (2012)

Michael Giacchino talks Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)

Michael Giacchino talks Jupiter Ascending (2015)

Michael Giacchino talks Jurassic World (2015)

Michael Giacchino scoring Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Michael Giacchino talks Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)