Hans Zimmer Essay

This flake study provide explore the liveness and consummations of one of the swell-nigh prominent and inventive claim and unison composers of new-fashioned meters, Hans baby-walker. His extraordinary efficiency to span an extensively wide cultivate of genres and attainats with extreme competence is extremely influential and inspiring. footer is a broach in his field, with his use of some(prenominal) electronic and orchestral elements within film pee-pees. go-carts mastery in creating the grads for some of the most celebrated films, and his ability to encapsulate in the euphony the overriding themes, and personalities of the characters in modern day cinema is what makes him so special. I have chosen to write on this study as it is completely relevant to my interest in the field. This case study includes a discourse of the archaean life of Hans walker, his entrance into the popularulation of Hollywood composition, his influences and growth as a composer and entrusts to a more in- judgment discussion of the work on his most current films, as well as a brief look at the studio and equipment he uses. natural in Frankfurt, Germany on September 12th 1957 Hans Florian walker is ack noneledged as one of the most pioneering, innovative, successful, influential and sought after composers in Hollywood today (IMDB, no date). His interest in melody began at a very early age and he began playing the piano at the age of three, although he had little or no formal practice of medicine education or training throughout his early life (Gillespie, 2001). notwithstanding his lack of training, go-cart k wise he wanted to be a composer by the age of six and this coincided with an important event in the young footers life the death of his stupefy. He is quoted as saying in an query with CNN populationbeat My dad died when I was six, thats when I decided I was going to become really serious nearly music, because it was my refuge (CNN Worldbeat cited by IMDB, no date). During his early teens his family moved all over Europe in the rigid-back place settling in London when footer was 14 years old. end-to-end his childhood his passion for music meant he neglected his schoolwork and as a result was expelled from several different schools (Shelton, no date). After at last finishing school he began his professional music c areer by composing advertising jingles for Air Edel associates and playing in rock bands (Ankeny, no date). It was during this period that footer found success as a fragment of The Buggles, an English new wave synthpop group, and had a hit single with delineation Killed the Radio Star.It is give tongue to that this arenawide hit helped usher in a new era of global entertainment as the stolon music video to be shown on MTV (IMDB, no date). His talent on the keyboard and tax deductioners would continue to be signifi kittyt throughout his career although this is perhaps the premier(prenominal) event that off ice have suggested at the huge amount of success and appreciation he would go on to enjoy as a composer. footer is known to have favoured the Moog synthesiser when performing and creating music for these groups, a preference that has endured the span of his career.It was also during this period that we represent pedestrian first combining the use of computers with live music on stage with opposite successful groups (Shelton, no date). This combination has been a constant throughout Zimmers professional career and his talent in merging the 2 elements is part of what has earned him the success and appreciation he currently enjoys. The revolution of his talent is also seen in his ability to span genres such as new wave UK punk, as well as Spanish pop music.However, Zimmer would not remain a part of the pop snap for long. He felt inhibited by having to write in skilful one style of music and felt his creativity was restrained. It was at this duration that he first went to work w ith Stanley Myers who began to teach him about scoring films (Shelton, no date). This partnership would prove to be a collaborationism of great orchestral elements combine with the most up to date electronic instrumentation purchas qualified (Abodos, no date). Zimmers technological fascination in these early years has proven influential in his by and by and most successful works.Perhaps it is this absorption with technology that has unploughed him at the forefront of composition. It could also be state that the use of both technological and traditional orchestral elements has ensured his popularity with all generations of auditions. It was with Myers that Zimmer co-founded the London based Lillie Yard recording studio (Wikipedia, no date). A demonstration of the combining of the elements mentioned higher up is showcased in their early works, an example of which is seen in the film Moonlighting (1982).The fusion of moody undertones performed with synthesisers and clean orches tral pianos combine to render a dark, unnerving, suspenseful atmospheric state in clasping with the films subject and the emotions portrayed by the characters. His talent for creating music spanning the genres of different films is also seen in this early collaboration with Myers. Further examples of this are his compositions for films such as Success is the outmatch Revenge (1984) which is a drama and the films Insignificance (1985) and the acclaimed My Beautiful Launderette (1985) which have comedic elements and film that a completely different atmosphither is executed.For example, My Beautiful Launderette features a much more upbeat electronic fruition with less orchestral elements as the subject matter of the film requires. From 1982 1987 Zimmer worked collaboratively on productions. It was not until the film Terminal Exposure (1987) that Zimmer would produce his first solo- tag (Wikipedia, no date), based heavily on electronic production encapsulating the 80s pop cultu re era. His next collaboration with David Byrne and Ryuichi Sakamoto would lead to his first druthers of Academy Award success winning the Oscar for Best genuine invoice with the picture The Last Emperor (1987).The theme tune of which combines influences from both traditional Western and Eastern cultures, again allowing him to experience new found fervor for his future creations. At this sequence he also created one of his most durable works for the UK television game show Going for flamboyant, about which he was quoted in an interview with the BBC as saying it was a lot of fun. Its the sort of stuff you do when you dont have a career yet (BBC, 2008). This present his takeheadedness despite his new found success.This is also another example of how Zimmer was able to span the genres of music composition whilst enjoying his work, which arguably has been crucial to his success. The next film score composed by Zimmer was the small budget moving-picture show A World Apart (1988 ) about apartheid South Africa (Shelton, no date). This was his first divagation into composition for a movie set in Africa, perhaps prima(p) to his continuing interest in this area (seen in his work on the later films The Power of One (1992) and The Lion King (1994)).The blendtrack to A World Apart featured traditional African instruments such as African drums and shakers cock-a-hoop the fulltrack an authentic feel. At the same time, these are combined with potent synthetic strings which strike emotion and also bring in a Western element, which mirrors the films subject. 4 intelligence deliberate 3459 scholarly person no. 15735 The success of this soundtrack led to Zimmers involvement in the critically acclaimed film The Rain Man (1988) after the Hollywood director Barry Levinsons wife introduced him to Zimmers work (Wikipedia, no date).Zimmer would descend an individual process when composing It was a road movie, and road movies ordinarily have jangly guitars or a bunc h of strings. I kept thinking dont be bigger than the characters. Try to keep it contained. The Raymond character doesnt actually know where he is. He might as well be on Mars. So, why dont we just invent our own world music, for a world that doesnt really exist? (Zimmer cited by Young, 2008). This allowed for the score to contain escapist, other-worldly elements reflecting the character play by Dustin Hoffman. The Rain Man (1988) was Zimmers first proceed into Hollywood. The soundtrack was created by the use of a lot of digital synthesis from the Fairlight CMI which was able to do sampling as well as adjoinitive synthesis where Zimmer was able to draw his own wave forms. In 1989 the score was nominated for an Academy Award and won Best Picture (Shelton, no date). His success would only continue. He was approached by the director of Driving discharge Daisy (1989) the score of which consisted mainly of synthesisers and typers.The Roland MKS-20 synthesiser was used for piano soun ds about which Zimmer jokingly quoted It didnt sound anything equal a piano, but it behaved like a piano (Zimmer cited by Wherry, 2002) showing the unpredictable nature of digital synthesis. Within the same month as Driving Miss Daisy Zimmer also created the score for the film Black Rain (1989). In involving himself with both these films which were of entirely different genres he felt that Hollywood would not be able to typecast him (Young, 2008).This is further evidence of Hans Zimmers suffer to think outside of the box, never wanting to be constrained or restricted to create just one type of music. His broad horizons were demonstrated further in 1992 with the film The Power of One where Zimmer denotative his thirst for gaining authentic samples and knowledge of different musical cultures by shift of location to Africa and sampling indigenous sings and traditional drums. He gained a police-record whilst in the state of matter for his work on the film for being labelled as su bverter (Wikipedia, no date).It was Power of One that led to his first expedition into the world of animation with the 1994 film The Lion King which followed the African theme. Zimmer earlier created 48 different theme tunes for The Lion King (1994) before he was happy with the outcome (Hans-Zimmer. com, no date, a), displaying his meticulous nature. It can be said that this contributed to the films success and it went on to win an Oscar for Best Original Score and Golden Globe awards (Ankeny, no date).The African drum and choir samples used in Circle of Life (the theme tune for the film) comport authenticity, whilst the use of a Western vocalist meant that a Western audience could still identify with the track. This maintained its resonance with the films main demographic, and the score was later adapted into a Broadway musical. After years of orchestral development Zimmer went back to his roots of synthesis with the Grammy Award winning film cerise Tide in 1995.However, his suc cess post-Lion King meant that the celebrity lifestyle was in danger of catching up with him and his first attempts at the composition for fierce Tide were described by its directors as crap and rubbish and Zimmer is quoted as saying that reality came back really fast for him (Zimmer cited by Young, 2008). In the following years Zimmer went on to work on the scores for many more successful films. It was in the 2000s, however, with the postmodern engrossment with film that he became involved with even higher budgeted Hollywood Blockbusters.The following discussions of his works will describe 5 Word Count 3459 Student no. 15735 in depth how Zimmers creative processes lead to an extremely effective way of making sound for movies. The first of these discussions will focus on the film Gladiator (2000). It is important to note Zimmers preoccupation with imagery and how the sound will translate on cover charge. It can be said that kind of than dictate with music, Zimmer will take eleme nts from the scenes, the characters and aesthetics of the film to set up the tone.An example of this is seen in what is arguably the most iconic scene of the movie, set in a wheat field, which is extremely poetic. Zimmer argues that the music gives the artistic license to be so poetic (hans-zimmer. com, no date, a). He talks about the collaboration with the artist Lisa Gerrard on this scene, and describes this relationship as a meeting of minds, conclusion her to be a true artist. This collaboration is clearly effective in evoking emotion as the guttural vocals by Gerrard coincide beautifully with the imagery.Whilst reflexion the movie, it is found that the same forgather of theme music is used in different places and in scenes that are worlds apart in terms of emotion. Zimmers ability to create polarity with one piece of music clearly displays his strategic ability to place the music effectively. For example, one piece of music is used in a scene where 2 populate kiss as well as just before a battle scene. In the former, the effect is one of tenderness and romance, whilst in the last mentioned tension and violence is alluded to.A further example of this is how the use of music conveys the humble theme of the movie (the personal life of the character) while at the same time can be turned into thousands of different emotions. (hanszimmer. com, no date, a) Additionally, the tone of the music clearly changes as the film moves around geographically in effectuate to represent the location. For example, the battle scene set in Germania consists of sustained, unchewable strings and other skewed instruments which create a insane and tense scene as well as authentically representing the location.Furthermore, for the scenes set in Morocco the sound is generally more tribal, dirty and gritty giving the sound in the movie a bigger range and representing the change in locations effectively (hans-zimmer. com, no date, a). The composition throughout the entire movie is mainly orchestral and this has the effect of transporting the viewer to the appropriate period of time in history that the film represents. All of this amalgamates to an all-round epic and self-aggrandizing scale experience which is at the heart of the Gladiators subject matter.Another interesting aspect of Hans Zimmers work is to see how he portrayed one of the most iconic villains in modern day films in the Batman movie The Dark sawhorse (2008). From the outset it seems that rather than create a happy, indulgent score, Zimmer wanted to create something offensive and provocative, something that the viewer could invest in. The Joker is the focal point of the film and represents a change from its predecessor, Batman Begins (2005). In ramble to convey the significance of the character the sound that accompanies him on screen displays the anarchy, mayhem and insanity inherent to the Jokers eccentric personality. youtube. com, no date). In an interview on the making of the film, Zimmer describes his attempts at depicting the tone of the character through the use of shave blades on barbed wire and incessant tapping on tables and floors, but he eventually came to the extremely successful technique of playing two notes on a cello at the same time, which juxtapose beautifully. This gives the effect of a taught string that gets tighter and tighter but never breaks, paralleling the Jokers spiralling descent into madness.Also, the note of the cello soft but consistently rises in order to draw the viewer in as the character also does on screen. This extraordinary quiet, high-pitched sound which creates rising tension appears to have a 6 Word Count 3459 Student no. 15735 slightly anxious and uneasy quality which syncs perfectly with the character and the viewers perception of him. To accompany the sound of the cello, and add to the ever-growing tension two heavily distorted guitars, almost unrecognisable as the original instrument, are played with pieces of met al, with the result of creating a completely anarchistic atmosphere.These effects are heavily processed with the use of distortion to create a more surreal experience, detached from reality. These techniques fuse together to form a rich and complex tapestry of emotion, the audial and the visual aspects are combined in a way that portrays harmony as well as contrast. (youtube. com, no date). The final movie that will be discussed in depth is Inception (2010). In the New York Times Zimmer describes his own taking into custody of the films subject as being about time and its slowing down, and swiftness up.The Edith Piaf track Je ne regrette rien is used as part of the film to correspond a kick to another reality. However, Zimmer has taken its use to a deeper level all the music in the score is subdivisions and multiplications of the Edith Piaf track (Zimmer cited by Itzkoff, 2010) representing his perception of the film as being based around time and its manipulation. In the same w ay Zimmer manipulates the Piaf track by utilise a single beat and slowing it down dramatically in order to create the trademark foghorn sound that the movie is well known for (Itzkoff, 2010).The momentum of the film is defined by the structure of the score that accompanies it. The intensity of the film gradually snowballs, becoming more and more surreal and penetrating. At the same time the music increases in intensity and level of depth as the film explores the different levels of the human mind. In an interview with Hans Zimmer (hans-zimmer. com, no date) he describes making electronic sounds from scratch on the fashion moog rack in his studio, as well as victimization software synths such as U-he Zebra.In order to create the sounds he wanted he would play the synthetic sounds to his bespoke orchestra which consists of six basso trombones, six tenor trombones, four tubas and six French horns in order for them to imitate the sounds. Combinations of the two create a euphoric and emotive atmosphere where deep and unsettling synthetic and orchestral sounds accompany and synchronise with a powerful and grand visual experience. Whilst Zimmer has admitted The Dark Knight was heavy in its use of electronic sounds in Inception this is pushed even further.In order to gain a further insight into what Hans Zimmer is influenced by, it is important to share the setting in which he creates his momentous scores. His home studio in Santa Monica, USA is extremely gothic in its decor and can be perceived as having an overwhelmingly dark and eerie vibe close to consistent with a large amount of his compositions. This can be seen in the pictures below. (Pictures sourced from www. stuckincustoms. com) In picture one, we see that muted decadence is incorporated with the spirit of comfort. It is hard to imagine that influence would not be drawn from these surroundings. Word Count 3459 Student no. 15735 The second picture, displays the core of the hardware at Zimmers disposa l.Whilst it is hard to make out the several(a) components, some are distinctive his Quested monitors (5. 1 surround sound set up), his Doepfer LMK4+ midi-keyboard, and two analogue synthesisers which are mounted on the back wall one of which is a custom Moog rack (as mentioned above) and a custom Roland rack, as well as two custom HP touch sensitive LCD screen monitors attached to his DAW (Steinberg Cubase as his main sequencer and master Tools for his final mix) (hans-zimmer. om, no date, b). The picture on the right shows a large amount of Pro Tools systems and a patch bay as well as various other hardware devices. He also has a custom build Bosendorfer grand piano. It is also worth mentioning the software used by Zimmer which as well as the DAWs described above include various VSTs such as Omnisphere, U-he Zebra, Atmosphere and thousands and thousands of sample banks. (hanszimmer. com, no date, b) Hans Zimmer enjoys an astonishing career with some incredible accomplishments , despite the fact that he has had no formal training.His passion is maintained and can be seen in both the way he talks about the composition process as well as the finished product that is heard on screen. Perhaps, it can be said that in his work he is still battling his inner turmoil at the death of his father as a young boy composing was my way of calming the demons in me or at the same time sometimes allow them roar, letting them rip, letting the monster out and seeing that it wasnt so shivery being able to look it in the eye. (CNN Worldbeat cited by IMDB, no date).It is argued here that in his work Zimmer forces his audience to confront the demons on screen whilst creating an opportunity for escapism which is what cinema represents. His productions are both seamless and casual whilst at the same remaining extraordinarily powerful and commanding. As a relatively young composer and with some of the biggest and long-awaited Hollywood blockbusters ever to be produced in the pip eline, such as the sequel to The Dark Knight The Dark Knight Rises, his success can only intensify with time.