# Degree thesis about Trailer Music



## Manuel Federici (Apr 7, 2018)

I hope this is the right place for my question since is related to music industry.

I'm preparing my degree thesis that will talk about trailer music. I would like to talk about its creation process and the main structure that is used today (intro, climax I, II, outro). My teachers advised me to give a brief historical mention of the music used in the trailers of the past. But music often did not follow the structure that is used today. 

How can I connect the historical point with the current way of composing? Can we set a year 0 for this structure used? What is the first publisher of the story that provided the first music library? I would be very happy to get help from all of you, especially from experienced composers (it would be awesome if I could interview you and add that in the references).

A big thank you and have a good day all!


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## d.healey (Apr 7, 2018)

Go on YouTube and watch trailers year by year going back in time. Compare remakes, for example Godzilla 1998 trailer to Godzilla 2014 trailer.


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## jononotbono (Apr 7, 2018)

I would say Two Steps From Hell are worth you looking at. I think they are massively responsible for Trailer music as we know it today. Things have changed massively since TSFH but I think they were pivotal in the history of trailer Music.

This isn't about TSFH, but, as an example, go and watch the trailer for The Shawshank Redemption and then compare it to something released today. Shawshank is arguably one the greatest films ever made but if you were to judge it purely from the original trailer, some might think very differently. Things have changed dramatically since then (and it’s just one of many examples - Close Encounter (for example) - a masterpiece but the trailer is like a Blu Ray extra. It wouldn’t work in today’s world).

I would say it’s wise to look at the structure of how a trailer is structured, how a film is made and comparing to how both are made in today’s world before even looking at the music. For better or worse, things have changed but there is definitely a “structure” used, essentially for getting “bums on seats” at the cinema... or someone making a maximum effort in life and clicking on a Netflix button to enjoy the spoils from the comfort of one's sofa/couch.

Just watch every trailer and analyse them. It’s actually very interesting to see how things have become!


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## Desire Inspires (Apr 7, 2018)

Are you able to pick another thesis topic?


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## Manuel Federici (Apr 7, 2018)

Desire Inspires said:


> Are you able to pick another thesis topic?



I could, why?


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## Desire Inspires (Apr 7, 2018)

Manuel Federici said:


> I could, why?



The topic is boring. At least what you are describing is. I thought a thesis was supposed to be super specific, to the point where the knowledge would only matter to 0.00001% of the people on Earth. The topic you are describing is niche, but is very broad to people into music for film. 

What exactly are you trying to prove or disprove? Also, what university do you attend and what degree are you working to attain?


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## NoamL (Apr 7, 2018)

Manuel Federici said:


> How can I connect the historical point with the current way of composing? Can we set a year 0 for this structure used? What is the first publisher of the story that provided the first music library? I would be very happy to get help from all of you, especially from experienced composers (it would be awesome if I could interview you and add that in the references).



These are some of the big historical milestones -

E.S. Posthumous - Unearthed
Clint Mansell - Lux Aeterna (Requiem For A Dream - see also "Requiem For A Tower")
Two Steps From Hell - various public releases
John Murphy - Adagio in D (Sunshine)
John Murphy - In The House, In A Heartbeat

Zack Hemsey - Mind Heist
Hans Zimmer - Time (Inception)
leading up to the total explosion of the trailer/epic/music library thing in around 2011. I name these tracks specifically because a lot of times it seems like trailer music fits into different 'archetypes' that trace back to one or more of these tracks. 

Before the establishment of the big "trailer music" companies, trailers were often scored with music from other movies. "Requiem for a Dream" was used over and over for instance, even in a Lord Of The Rings trailer.

In your thesis, you should definitely research Don LaFontaine. If you don't know who Mr. LaFontaine was, he was THE trailer voice guy. He VO'd for more than 5,000 film trailers and was an absolute icon of 80s and 90s Hollywood. His passing in 2008 helps to mark the transition between an older style of trailers that was mostly paced by VO, to a new style of trailer that is mostly paced by music and where VO work is much more rare. Music assumed a much larger role in selling the film and that's why it has become more bombastic and huge.


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## Manuel Federici (Apr 8, 2018)

Desire Inspires said:


> The topic is boring. At least what you are describing is. I thought a thesis was supposed to be super specific, to the point where the knowledge would only matter to 0.00001% of the people on Earth. The topic you are describing is niche, but is very broad to people into music for film.
> 
> What exactly are you trying to prove or disprove? Also, what university do you attend and what degree are you working to attain?



maybe is it boring for you, why you say so? My teacher said it's a good topic and involved me to do research. I'm graduating in music composition and with this thesis I want to show how to compose for modern trailers.


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## Manuel Federici (Apr 8, 2018)

NoamL said:


> These are some of the big historical milestones -
> 
> E.S. Posthumous - Unearthed
> Clint Mansell - Lux Aeterna (Requiem For A Dream - see also "Requiem For A Tower")
> ...





I thought that all started with big companies like Position Music and others. The issue was to explain why we arrived to have publishers that provide specific kind of music. I think it would be more correct if I specify that those publishers sell only a few type of genre: hybrid,orchestral etc..and dont fits for comedy movies. (Thank you, your comment was helpful


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## Richard Wilkinson (Apr 8, 2018)

I think it would be interesting from a cultural/marketing pov, but there's not much in the way of heavyweight musical analysis to be gleamed from looking at trailer music/epic music.
I'd rather study Brahms than Braaaaams.
Having said that, one of the past dissertations in my university was ''Oasis Vs Blur'. I kid you not...


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## Saxer (Apr 8, 2018)

Richard Wilkinson said:


> I'd rather study Brahms than Braaaaams.


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## sluggo (Apr 8, 2018)

Manuel Federici said:


> I could, why?


I Agree. Unless your thesis is allowed to be 1 page long, this topic does not merit a thesis. Here's an idea...how about talking about "re-use" of music in film. You could discuss temp scores and how they get out of control. You can get a lot of mileage just talking about how the music from Vertigo was re-used in the movie The Artist. Discuss why directors might make such a choice. Or how about Paul Thomas Anderson shooting his composer, Jonny Greenwood, in the foot by re-using his orchestral piece so much in There Will Be Blood, that JG was disqualified from an otherwise Oscar winning score. Far more meat to discuss there than Trailer Music. 
Just wanted to give you a springboard of ideas...you take it from here.


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## will_m (Apr 8, 2018)

I'm not sure who here is qualified to judge on what subjects will work for your thesis but if you've discussed it with a tutor and they see it as a good subject to tackle and your passionate about it, I say go for it.

I might be able to help with some questions though so feel free to get in touch, I have tracks with Position music and have started getting into that area.


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## SillyMidOn (Apr 9, 2018)

You've probably come to the wrong place, as:

1) Not to be rude, but there are an awful lot of trailer composer wannabes on this site (@will_m being an exception), who will be all too happy to give their limited opinion, which for a dissertation (been there, done that) is rather useless.

2) I'm not sure if you are aware, but is exceedingly rare for the music to be scored to a trailer, so rare that you can discount it for the purpose of your dissertation. Generally music for trailers is written for albums which are organised by a general theme, and music supervisors then do searches based on the notes from the music editors (the people who actually cut the trailers) for music that would fit "the brief". The music supervisors then send off 100 odd tracks that fit the brief to the editor, who then picks some, or if there is nothing that he likes, another search is done. Yes, absolutely, there are custom cues written as well, sometimes for a search, sometimes for a whole trailer

3) It is rare for an entire piece to be used for the length of a trailer. Usually several different pieces can be used

4) It is certainly true that there is a "classic" three part trailer structure, vaguely:
Act One/Intro: setting the scene: who/where/when
Act Two: we get to see more about the characters and what this story is actually about
Act Three: climax - we get to see where the actual tension in the drama lies, and this should create enough of a buzz/tension for viewers to want to go and see the film​... so you often get pieces in trailer libraries tagged as "Act One" pieces etc, so when doing searches people can easier find a piece.

BUT - this layout is not universal, you can find many examples where a different structure is used, often when people are deliberately looking for a different feel to a trailer. I did a short lecture on this a few years back, but unfortunately the hand-out is on an old spinning hard-drive which I cannot get to right now. I remember referencing the trailers for North By Northwest and Strangers On A Train, as they are such a long way from what we are used to today.

5) Because it is the trailer editors that cut, and therefore decide the overall arch/layout of a trailer, you should actually talk to them about how this 3 part structure came about. Also talk to some trailer music publishers, but knowing a few from both those two groups, I hazard a guess they don't have the time to help, or are disinclined to get involved with academia, but you never know. That is the joy of doing a dissertation, finding people willing to be interviewed (if it's any consolation I had to find players for the oud for my Masters - not easy). Go to Golden Trailer Awards website, where you can find a list of trailer houses, I don't want to publish the link here.

6) Unfortunately I now cannot remember who it was, but there is definitely a guy who runs one of the trailer music publishers (or has since sold it), who somewhere online tells the story of how he came up with the idea of the first ever riser, and how that got THAT particular ball rolling, and it seemed certainly part of the ingredients that started the trailer music industry. Have a good search online, you will probably find it online.

Hope that helps - you can private message me if you need any further info.


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## dannymc (Apr 10, 2018)

Manuel Federici said:


> maybe is it boring for you, why you say so? My teacher said it's a good topic and involved me to do research. I'm graduating in music composition and with this thesis I want to show how to compose for modern trailers.



good to see university academic's are giving trailer music some respect these days as a legitimate music genre. 

Danny


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## Richard Wilkinson (Apr 10, 2018)

dannymc said:


> good to see university academic's are giving trailer music some respect these days as a legitimate music genre.
> 
> Danny


I'd argue it's an application rather than a genre. *Most* trailer music is incredibly reductive and simple from a musical point of view. I know because I'm writing some of it! Sure, there's some great stuff out there and a lot of the production is very impressive. But listen to the latest trailer for 'Solo' - the way the star wars themes are used in that is painfully simplistic and it's so disappointing to hear. I'd like to think the next evolution of trailer music might allow for a bit of musicianship...


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## SillyMidOn (Apr 10, 2018)

Richard Wilkinson said:


> *Most* trailer music is incredibly reductive and simple from a musical point of view.


 Welcome to being a media composer...


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## Andrajas (Apr 10, 2018)

Here we go again....just hate When people talking about things being to simple and such like trailer music is and it undervalues music somehow. For those people i say:i bet you cant write good simple stuff and therefore trying to write complex stuff which No one Will understand and take to heart.

I wrote a thesis on trailer music. Was very fun and i Hope you do it as well


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## Dr Belasco (Apr 10, 2018)

Trailer music starts off small and then goes big.

The end.


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## dannymc (Apr 10, 2018)

Richard Wilkinson said:


> I'd argue it's an application rather than a genre. *Most* trailer music is incredibly reductive and simple from a musical point of view. I know because I'm writing some of it! Sure, there's some great stuff out there and a lot of the production is very impressive. But listen to the latest trailer for 'Solo' - the way the star wars themes are used in that is painfully simplistic and it's so disappointing to hear. I'd like to think the next evolution of trailer music might allow for a bit of musicianship...



i find Drakes music incredibly reductive and simple from a musical point of view. doesn't stop 60 million people streaming his music every month. imo trailer music is like the pop music of orchestral/film music. hence the simple motifs and devices. but one thing it certainly is not and thats easy to produce. 

Danny


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## will_m (Apr 10, 2018)

Dr Belasco said:


> Trailer music starts off small and then goes big.
> 
> The end.



I've started off big before. It was wild.


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## Ethos (May 17, 2018)

sluggo said:


> I Or how about Paul Thomas Anderson shooting his composer, Jonny Greenwood, in the foot by re-using his orchestral piece so much in There Will Be Blood, that JG was disqualified from an otherwise Oscar winning score.



Can you elaborate on that one? Sounds like a fascinating story/lesson!


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## sluggo (May 18, 2018)

Ethos said:


> Can you elaborate on that one? Sounds like a fascinating story/lesson!


PTA loved this piece by JG (I don't remember the title. It was a work for small orchestra I believe. It had been written and performed before TWBB was shot.) I guess it really inspired him because he used it all over the place. The job for JG became filling in the blanks more than composing a complete score. Apparently the 'original' portion of the score wasn't enough music for the academy to consider it an 'Original Score'. They disqualified it. A shame because I personally believe he would've won. Pretty sure JG will get it sooner or later anyway. 

Now...if you're really wondering about Oscar politics and favoritism...take a look at Hateful 8. Same situation. QT wants Morricone to score the film but bungles the job by not giving the octogenarian enough time to compose the full score. No problem! Just pepper Morricone's unused score from The Thing all over the place. Easily, this could've met the same guidelines for disqualification. But instead...Morricone won. (Personally I hated hearing one of my favorite scores, which was released on CD but not in the film, slugged into hateful 8. It rips my concentration during an otherwise engaging scene. We had a thread here about that and many people think QT was a 'genius' for using The Thing all over the place. I HATE that.)

One more GOOD example. Ken Russell goes to a concert and hears a piece by a modern composer named John Corigliano. He loves the piece and asks Corigliano to score Altered States. No re-use of the piece Russell loved. Just trust that Corigiliano would deliver a great score. 

He did. 

He won the Oscar.


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