Re: [microsound] sci-fi cinema and music

["rob" <rob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Let me show some serious geek here, in one star trek next generation episode
the captain gets a sort of son he has to take care of for a while, the kid
is human but raised by aliens, typical plot.  But in one scene the captain
walks in and hears the kid listening to some loud music from his culture.
He says turn off that racket, etc.  They found some seriously strange music
for that scene, it was while ago so I don't really remember.  Also, techno
club in Virtuosity.  There must have been something in AI, but I'll never
watch it again without a gun to my head.  Futuristic pop godess thingy from
the Macross movie, or one of them.  Like many anime characters, interesting
idea but just short of being really great.  It's wierd, but it seems the
only music most sci-fi characters listen to is from the classical/romatic
era.  I'm sure Johnny Neumonic had something as well.  There are many club
scenes in Strange Days, it's hard to say the music isn't appropriate since
it was supposed to take place a few years ago...  Predator 2 is worth
looking at.  What's up with sci-fi and rastafarianism?  That's all my brain
can make up right now...
Rob

> hey all
>
> i'm doing some very preliminary field research for my thesis work and i
> was wondering if i could probe the techno people for some info...
>
> i'm trying to draw up a list of all the science-fiction films that have
> diagetic music within them, that is, music that can be heard by the
> characters in the film.  the classic example would be the star wars
> cantina scene, where luke meets han solo for the first time - that benny
> goodman dixielandish john williams alien band...
>
> even if the film doesn't take place in the future, i'm still interested,
> such as the club 'tech noir' in terminator or that industrial metal club
> in the first part of the matrix where neo meets trinity... if you guys
> can think of any other good ones please let me know - i do have a small
> list but i'm sure there are plenty that i've missed, especially smaller
> more obscure stuff...
>
> i'm interested in the fact that although many sci-fi films place a great
> deal of emphasis in imagining what these alternate worlds/realities
> might look like (industrial design, costumes, architecture...) very
> little though is put into the way the music of these worlds might
> actually  s o u n d. as in the case with star wars, the music is almost
> always rooted in the present, or even the past (vangelis echoing film
> noir musical clichés for blade runner, substituting sax for synth,
> ect).  there is very little attempt to imagine the way musicians might
> perform or the way music might sound, say, a hundred years from now.
>
> with the exception of the now-shelved aphex twin/chris cunningham film
> version of neuromancer (and possibly the dust brother's fight club
> soundtrack), there has been a startling lack of 'progressive' popular
> electronic music in any sci-fi cinema - diagetic or non-diagetic (as in
> the score, or the music the characters can't hear...) john williams, et
> al, are very nice and all, but not particularly progressive when it
> comes to the overall Future of music, i.e. even most hollywood composers
> are writing in archaic styles.
>
> anyway, that's just an inkling of where i'm going with this, but i'm
> curious to hear your thoughts. my main argument is that the sound design
> of these films may have had a greater impact on the aesthetics of
> popular electronic dance music (i.e. techno) than their actual scores...
>
> thanks!
>
> graham

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