re: sci-fi cinema and music

[ndk <ndkent@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> > 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, 

It may sound as impressive in a written paper but the film industry term
for this is "source music" with of course a practacal differentiation of
on screen and off screen. (i.e. you see who's playing it or it's pumped
in) 

> > i'm interested in the fact that although many sci-fi films place a grea=
> t
> > 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 clich=E9s 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.

Hard to say about "Blade Runner". One can easily come up with memes that
look good on paper "substituting sax for synth" for instance, and of
course thats not an example for source music but for score. 

I had these thoughts too, while studying film in college 15 years ago.

I guess there is a situation at cross purposes. The music in films is
supposed to communicate.  Even if you could create a new dialect would
it still function or discommunicate?

If techno music exists now then how can scoring with it be really
futuristic? 

What I can say is that contemporary music in film taking place at
another time only sounds worse and worse as real time goes on if it
didn't already start out sounding bad (unless you merely want camp
value). It does make sense to use suitably "classic" music and I do
think it suceeds when and only its thought provokingly anachronistic.
There is a "test of time" theory many bring up about this subject. We
still create many melodies similar to long ago, we use many of the same
instruments today. When a cleverly anachronistic approach is taken, some
sort of "otherness" is felt and it doesn't have to deal with the paradox
of the yesterday's now beyond its shelf life modernism.  So what I'm
saying pretty much is the only way to acheive some kind of non-comic
future world is to find the naturally anachronistic of today (and never
either the popular or "cutting edge").

Of course thats not going to happen often with entertainment attorneys
deciding what remakes and sequels to produce.

> > 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.

Well come to think of it, the very first film with an all electronic
score bucked the above trends.
Bebe and Lois Barron's 1956 music to "Forbidden Planet". It had souce
music too. At one point the characters listen to the music of the long
dead seemingly vastly superior Krell.

To tell you the truth, when I think 'progressive' I think something like
that score to "Ladyhawke". As with anything its a gamble, but I don't
think its a worthwhile one with 'progressive' in any of the ways its
defined these days. It might bring back warm memories in a year or 2 but
it doesn't tend to have a shelf life that satys in sync with a film's content.

Just off the top of my head something amusing I caught recently was the
Luc Besson written but not directed "Wasabi" taking place in modern
Japan. I was very amused where the teenaged japanese girl co-star
listens to music seemingly unfathomable to Jean Reno. To me it sounded
like some kind of european made microsound which I think it was, I think
it was supposed to be what Japanese kids arew supposed to be listening
to?? though in real life I don't think anyone besides some electronic
designer types would be into that. Conversely that opera singer's music
in "The 5th Element" seems a knock off of the Sony signed Japanese act
(Eccentric) Opera who were around in the mid 90s.

> > 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.

Fair enough. For a while there was even more dialog soundbytes from
science fiction films too. I'm unconvinced there is more than a slight
impact though beyond the superficial. Dance music does pilfer some fx
sounds from sci-fi films from time to time. Sometimes sci-fi films
pilfer musical ideas from dance music though results tend to be feeble.

nicholas d. kent

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