There’s no better criterion to judge the film score other than its capacity to augment the film’s artistic value. The main objective for a cinema professional is that the film score does a good service to the movie. Within the past couple of years, film directors working outside the mainstream cinema world have been more willing to raise the stakes by including unpredictable and unorthodox sounds to their film scores.
The new generation of independent film directors have ignited a revolution in traditional film scoring as they enter the cinema industry with a fresh approach in all respects, especially in scoring. They’re more creative, innovative and eager to try new things. Since the budget for indie films is usually rather scarce, the directors have no other option but to make the most out of limited available music resources which often means collaborating closely with music bands and producers to create something unique and unheard.
Mica Levi, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Geoff Barrow, Jonny Greenwood, and Bobby Krlic are just a few names that have contributed considerably to the audacious change in the film industry with their unconventional and diligently crafted film scores. By deconstructing the outdated film scoring traditions and opting for experimental sounds and techniques, these composers have established new trends in film music, the most evident of them being as follows:
Experimental soundtracks are taking the lead
In recent years, we’ve been hearing more and more “odd” music in the movies. Dissonant traditional instruments combined with electronics, bizarre soundscapes produced with complex modular synthesizers, with a hint of heavily-processed strange vocals on top of it? This is the type of music that seems to work best in indie films nowadays. But how exactly does experimental music manage to take movies to the next level? Essentially, it often has to do with the subtleties of the film. Perhaps there’s something very unsettling about the characters or the story behind it. Film directors and score composers have finally unearthed the storytelling capacity and the sense-provoking power of obscure, eccentric music in complex psychological dramas, thrillers, and other film genres. From eerie sci-fi pictures, such as ‘Under the Skin’, to biographical dramas like ‘The Social Network’ – experimental, unorthodox musical background in such movies has gained significance as an autonomous entity able to take full control over the senses of the audience.
Minimalism over pompous orchestras
Minimalist film music is the kind of music that’s understated both in melody and in movement. Although this is not a new concept as minimalistic sounds have already been applied decades ago in the classics such as ‘Blade Runner’ (1982), ‘Forbidden Planet’ (1956) or ‘Dune’ (1984) and more recently, it’s found a new purpose in contemporary cinema. Minimalist scores are usually comprised of three, two or, sometimes, just one instrument, droning their way into your consciousness or spinning uneasily in repetitive patterns. By its nature, this type of music is known to stimulate the listener in ways that excessive orchestral music is not capable of, and thus offers a means of storytelling. For instance, repetition conveys the sensation of being trapped in some situation, meanwhile atmospheric ambient sounds invoke the feeling of altered states of mind.
Fusion between organic sound sources and artificial sounds
Continuing with the rise of experimental scores, it’s essential to discuss another film music trend that explores the new, unorthodox methods of producing unique sounds for movie scores. Let’s take horror films as an example: while traditional horror film scores rely largely on strings or ominous synths, some of the latest horror pictures have taken a different approach to sounds aimed to heighten the audience’s senses and emotions. This new approach involves utilizing traditional instruments in completely new ways by distorting their sound with the help of cutting edge sound processing software. For instance, Colin Stetson, the score composer of ‘Hereditary’ (2018), processed his own voice to make it sound like a peculiar type of synth, and tampered with the clarinet recordings to achieve the sound that resembles strings.
What makes these eccentric experimental film scores so relevant in today’s cinema, you may ask? The surprise, perhaps: an unsettling sensation of the unknown, conveyed by the sounds you’ve never heard before.
