Films and their Music
Films and their Music#1
Posted: 3/9/08 at 9:14pm
Does nobody else get a bit upset when a cherished melody from one film suddenly comes up in another?
Example: The music in the film of Little Women with Winona Ryder is one of my favorites. My parents got me the CD a LONG time ago and I listen to it all the time. It soothes me and makes me cry and..well I love it. And then I was watching a trailer for the Jane Austen film starring Anne Hathaway, and that music came on...
When that sort of thing happens I can't get attatched to that particular moment in the movie. Because that was a certain moment from another film. The music really can affect a lot.
If I heard Out of Africa's music in another film..there would be no appreciating it, I think.
re: Films and their Music#2
Posted: 3/9/08 at 9:21pm
They don't do it as much anymore, but back in the Golden Age of Hollywood, they used to do it a LOT.
Probably the most re-used film score was Max Steiner's iconic melody for "Now, Voyager." It showed up in a half-dozen films throughout the '40s!
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
re: Films and their Music#2
Posted: 3/9/08 at 10:04pm
I have heard that, yes.
Do composers and whoever sells their music get a lot of money from selling to films?
re: Films and their Music#3
Posted: 3/9/08 at 10:06pm
there are like 3 or 4 themes that always pop up in trailers.
It doesn't make me mad, i just wish I k ew the source b/c I want to find them on cd.
re: Films and their Music#4
Posted: 3/9/08 at 10:11pmWell, upset isn't really mad in my case. Just disappointed, because I can't appreciate that particular moment the way I would be able to if the melody didn't remind me of something I loved (or maybe hated).
re: Films and their Music#5
Posted: 3/9/08 at 10:34pm
I think it was Enchanted that was using the "Hocus Pocus" music.
Sometimes in early trailers, the film score hasn't been recorded/finalized yet, and they have to use something...so they borrow.
re: Films and their Music#6
Posted: 3/9/08 at 11:38pmAre you talking about trailers or the actual films. I'm not aware of films using the same score (at least not in the last 50 years or more), but reusing a film's score for another's trailer is very commonplace. Generally, because the new film's score hasn't been completed yet.
re: Films and their Music#7
Posted: 3/9/08 at 11:41pm"To The Stars," the theme from DRAGONHEART, has been used in countless trailers, such as MULAN and SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET, to name a few.
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
re: Films and their Music#8
Posted: 3/10/08 at 12:00amMany trailers get their music from the album Unearthed, by E.S. Posthumus. The latest one I've heard is for The Other Boleyn Girl, which uses music from the track Nara, from that album. That same track is also used as the theme to the CBS show, Cold Case.
re: Films and their Music#9
Posted: 3/10/08 at 12:37am
"Becoming Jane" was not using the "Little Women" score in the film, it was just for the trailer.
Many, many, many trailers use other film scores. Among the most popular that I have heard and recognized lately are MONA LISA SMILE, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, and SYRIANA.
Off the top of my head, the SYRIANA theme was used in DARFUR NOW.
The CIDER HOUSE/MONA LISA (essentially interchangeable) themes are used at least once a year.
re: Films and their Music#10
Posted: 3/10/08 at 4:19amLately, I've noticed that The Fountain theme has been used a lot. Most notably in the I AM LEGEND trailer and the trailer to THE MIST.
re: Films and their Music#11
Posted: 3/10/08 at 9:00am
Trailers today do it all the time! For the reason stated... the actual score isn't finished yet.
I thought you were talking about the actual MOVIES. And, as I said, that doesn't happen much, if at all, anymore.
It did, back in the '30s and '40s. Not regularly, but it happened. Those were "movie factories" in the Golden Age, and they recycled costumes, sets, music scores and everything else to turn out (as many as) 50 movies at a single studio.
Since The Wizard of Oz is my favorite film of all time, I'm particularly aware of its recycled elements:
Jeanette MacDonald sings an operatic aria in the movie "San Francisco" wearing the dress that would become Glinda's gown by adding puffy sleeves and a few more sparkles.
The tornado footage was used again in Cabin In the Sky.
The music from the witch's castle played while the foursome tries to escape is the same music played in "Marie Antoinette" while the royal family tries to flee Versailles.
Some of the score from the Kansas scenes, particularly the music leading up to "Over the Rainbow" was used many times, including under a short Christmas film featuring Joan Crawford and her children.
Toto (the dog) shows up in the first shot of "The Women."
Dorothy's basket that she carried with her in Oz was used in many movies, but you can see it in "Little Women" with June Alyson.
The bridge crossing over into the ravine where Professer Marvel's wagon is set up was used in "Gone With the Wind" when Scarlett is fleeing Atlanta with Prissy, Melanie and her baby.
It was a different era.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
re: Films and their Music#12
Posted: 3/10/08 at 9:17am
besty-
I assume you've read Wizardry of Oz...there's a list in the back of a lot of the resurfances.
In fact, there's a short film that features an actress playing a witch wearing Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West costume.
re: Films and their Music#13
Posted: 3/10/08 at 9:25am
There was a short that used to pop up on TCM, I think, that tracked the assorted uses of favorite props.
The hourglass in the Witch's castle popped up in THE CIRCUS OF DR. LAO, I seem to remember.
There's an odd little bit of music that is used in the opening credits of both TWENTIETH CENTURY and IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT.
re: Films and their Music#14
Posted: 3/10/08 at 9:27amThat's one of my friend, Bill Stillman's books. Although, I never read it.
re: Films and their Music#15
Posted: 3/10/08 at 9:36amFor a while there it was the theme from EDWARD SCISSORHANDS that was everywhere, and some music from BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA used to pop up a lot too.
re: Films and their Music#16
Posted: 3/10/08 at 9:36amI like Stillman's books. They are usually better than anything John Fricke touches. (The Pictoral Anniversary aside, but I always got the feeling that it was more Stillman and less Fricke)
re: Films and their Music#17
Posted: 3/10/08 at 10:37am
In the late 80s, several movie trailers used music from St. Elmo's Fire. It was stupid to use that music because that music was so recognizable. But I don't think the music showed up in the films, just the trailers.
re: Films and their Music#18
Posted: 3/10/08 at 10:40amWoody does it quite a lot in his films--EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW...and BULLETS both use "Let's Misbehave" during the credits--I guess there's only so much vintage jazz recordings out there.
re: Films and their Music#19
Posted: 3/11/08 at 9:33am
All the recent ads for Disneyland theme park use the score from the live action "Peter Pan" from 2003... and it's not even a Disney film.
They must have paid Universal and Columbia a nice price for it.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
re: Films and their Music#20
Posted: 3/11/08 at 9:39am
The score from that PETER PAN is great.
I also hear a lot of A BEAUTIFUL MIND.
re: Films and their Music#21
Posted: 3/11/08 at 6:12pmYeah, I noticed that too. It confuses me even now. (in response to the Pete Pan thing)
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