Keeping the score: the innovation of sound in modern filmmaking

By Catriona Martin

 My personal obsession with scoring began not with film, but with a fateful click on a YouTube video recommendation back in 2009. I was introduced to ‘Kara Remembers’, an original composition by Bear McCreary (based on Jimi Hendrix’s ‘All Along the Watchtower’) from the critically acclaimed TV show, Battlestar Galactica. The track resonated with me so deeply that it became a sort of sacred ritual to listen to it on repeat. Although the Battlestar Galactica soundtrack was McCreary’s big break, he went on to be the solo composer for The Walking Dead for the show’s entire run, as well as working on other high-profile projects. Although McCreary’s work is undeniably good, I want to focus on film specifically. And, although TV scoring can be equally iconic (eg. Game of Thrones composer Ramin Djawadi), the medium of film lends itself to a more complete analysis of thematic musical progression. 

Before the advent of the talkie with 1927’s Jazz Singer, silent films were accompanied with a score. This was provided by a group of live musicians, or a phonograph, at each theatre.  The performed pieces were existing classical works or, although less common, original compositions. Writing an original score only became popular from about the Golden Age onwards, with songs specifically (as opposed to classical instrumental pieces) being introduced into mainstream film in the early 50’s.

As technology has improved over the years, so have recording, producing, and editing techniques evolved in kind. However, these advancements have not always been used in ways  that improve the cinematic experience. In a strange act of egoism, director Tom Hooper recorded the actors’ vocals live on set of the 2012 film Les Misérables with an army of mics and earpieces to produce…mixed results. As it turns out, making a 70-piece orchestra rework the rhythm of every piece of music in order to keep in time with the actors’ tempo choices leads to an inconsistent and confusing final product.

However, there are times when auditory innovation forms the core of a film’s thematic message. Denis Villeneuve and Hans Zimmer have already been heavily praised for their work with the score of 2021’s Dune, which won the Oscar for Best Sound and for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) as well as several BAFTAs and other awards for score and sound design. One of my favourite things that I’ve learned from watching  interviews with both Zimmer and Villeneuve is just how much joy they found in the making of Dune, having both been fans of the books in their youth. There are few things that will ruin a film faster than a team making creative choices on a whim, and Dune’s score and sound design is more precise than a prop team working on a Wes Anderson set.

One of the boldest musical motifs of the film is a short, melodically simple female vocal that has a throaty, growling quality; Zimmer aimed to create a musical landscape which felt futuristic and organic, part of that vision including an emphasis on the human voice. He also wanted to focus on the women in the film, as they are the true driving force behind the story. Lady Jessica, the protagonist Paul’s mother, is part of a religious order of women called the Bene Gesserit, who are represented in the score by layers and layers of whispered, asynchronous chanting over a low eerie drone.

In a video interview with Vanity Fair, Zimmer describes how he perceives the human voice to be the one element which would carry across the ages in the film; instruments (and the materials we used to build them) may change, but use of the human voice remains constant. This sort of  pragmatic thinking forms the backbone of Dune’s sublime, and unnerving, score. Although Zimmer went so far as to create entirely new instruments for this score, voice plays a critical role upon which the rest of the sound design and score are constructed. 

For instance, the use of double harmonic scales evokes Arabic influence (although this may be less or more authentic depending on the instruments used). The sound cuts out then reappears right in your face like a ghost in the bathroom mirror. Zimmer’s love for short bursts of organic, militaristic drum beats merges with these choices to create an effect both as expansive as the deserts of Arrakis and as intimately uncomfortable as a knife on the back of your neck.

Other films in recent years also experiment with sound design and score in order to support and enhance the story. Sound supervisors for The Batman, Will Files and Doug Murray, discussed meticulously choosing props with audio engineer blog A Sound Effect to create the perfect foley sounds for the film (adding sounds in post-production such as footsteps or rustling of clothes) in order to accentuate Robert Pattinson’s performance as a slower, more deliberate Batman. 

Ralph Tae-Young Choi, who worked with director Bong Joon Ho on Parasite, describes using the claustrophobic sounds of air moving in a room to heighten the anxiety of certain scenes. The sounds of the film differentiate to create two distinct auditory environments: one for the wealthy Park family and another for the poverty-stricken Kim family. Innovation for the sake of itself won’t give you the lushness of Dune, the intimacy of The Batman, or the creeping dread of Parasite – but innovation in the service of the story? That’s how the best art is made.