# Would a Jurassic Park type score even happen in today's world?



## erica-grace (Sep 1, 2021)

I was listening to the JP OST today. Man, it is marvelous. And then I started thinking, could we even have a score like that today? Of course, the movie would have to call for it - you wouldn't have a JP type score in "Tenet".

But if a composer other than JW (who is retired, I think?) was hired on a film where that type of score would work - would that even be allowed? Or would the director and/or film studio say, no - has to be more "modern"?

Thoughts?


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## d.healey (Sep 2, 2021)

JW isn't retired, I doubt he ever will unless his health prevents him writing. He's working on the next Indiana Jones score at the moment I believe.

Not sure about your question. There are lots of big traditional orchestral score still being written. Listen to some James Newton Howard, or Patrick Doyle.


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## Karl Feuerstake (Sep 2, 2021)

I think she means the kind of orchestral score that could almost belong in the 1950s, like something Erich Korngold might've done.

Erica-Grace, you may have more or less answered yourself. It would probably require a film and director to desire it in the first place, and then it would take the right composer to deliver that.


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## d.healey (Sep 2, 2021)

Karl Feuerstake said:


> I think she means the kind of orchestral score that could almost belong in the 1950s, like something Erich Korngold might've done.


Here's hoping for Indiana Jones 5


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## NoamL (Sep 2, 2021)

There are many composers out there who are sneaking some of that development back into music. John Powell, Henry Jackman, Daniel Pemberton, Joe Trapanese (I don't mean to leave anyone out! That's just who immediately comes to mind!)

IMO the biggest mistake you can make with being inspired by a successful artist is copying their work in every detail. That assumes that every factor is a necessary part of that artist's success, which isn't true. Some factors are irrelevant; other factors may be things that their work succeeds in _spite_ of.

This problem of "copy everything" happened in the late '10s to HZ's imitators. In my view only, the great advantage to Hans's approach is that it fearlessly follows the film. The sounds are invented for the singular world of that film, and the musical ideas seem to come from considering the movie at a very high level of abstraction and then generating ideas that are atomic, minimalist and unafraid to be obvious, because they have a sincere connection to the film's concept... (as such, HZ's scores work best when the film is an 'idea movie'!). There are loads of people who copy HZ's sonic approach but their scores are boring because the music doesn't have that connection to the film's idea. On the other hand there are some composers who seem to have genuinely got the magic of HZ's approach (the late JJ for instance).

Although I admire HZ's best work, I don't buy the argument that "movie music can't be made the old way anymore." Movies are diverse and 1 approach will never fit all films. Some films are conceptual and others are developmental. That's where JW's music can inspire us. There are loads of people who copy JW's approach but their music is just bombastic show off noise like an actor yelling every word. John's huge, hyper-literate vocabulary of orchestration and harmony is marshaled by a musical generalship that always thinks about each cue's proper place in the linear sequence. There is not one thing 'show off' about JW's music (as with the man!). People often call his music "symphonic" meaning 'grand', but actually his music is "symphonic" as in 'planned'. It is so telling that his favorite composer is Haydn, a very ordinary sounding composer (sorry, Haydn!) whose work is meticulously controlled. JW uses themes... a theme is not a theme until it repeats, and when it does it links two different parts of the movie. So his music is really: story editing! The insight to know what story beats to link up & the total control of how those callbacks are nuanced with harmony and orchestration - that is the magic behind JW's approach.

The most exciting thing in music right now is the composers who seem to have a foot in both worlds and have an understanding of what makes both approaches useful to call upon.


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## José Herring (Sep 2, 2021)

John Williams will always be great. Jurassic Park isn't even his greatest and it's still great. Great music will always find a place in film.


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## rudi (Sep 2, 2021)

d.healey said:


> Here's hoping for Indiana Jones 5


After he finishes his shopping at Waitrose 









Harrison Ford goes low-key on Waitrose food shop after Indiana Jones injury


Imagine bumping into Indy in the cheese aisle.




metro.co.uk


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## d.healey (Sep 2, 2021)

rudi said:


> After he finishes his shopping at Waitrose
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hope he didn't get any bad dates in that salad aisle!


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## Mike Fox (Sep 2, 2021)

It’s been a looooong time since I’ve heard a score as good as Jurassic Park (that damn main theme is always getting stuck in my head).

Sadly, i really don’t follow movie scores outside the horror realm these days, and even then, there’s so much to sift through.

The 90’s was such a great decade for film music.


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## confusedsheep (Sep 2, 2021)

Well not all soundtracks are ambient/hybrid in 2021... i mean wouldn´t Disnesys Jungle Cruise soundtrack from James Newton Howard qualify as a glorious example of traditional soundtrack writing (erm...apart from the metallica cover)?


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## robcs (Sep 2, 2021)

confusedsheep said:


> Well not all soundtracks are ambient/hybrid in 2021... i mean wouldn´t Disnesys Jungle Cruise soundtrack from James Newton Howard qualify as a glorious example of traditional soundtrack writing (erm...apart from the metallica cover)?



I've had the Jungle Cruise OST looping on Spotify since I watched the film last week lol.


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## José Herring (Sep 2, 2021)

If you took a careful survey of the top 10 grossing films in the last 10 years, it's very apparent that orchestral scores aren't going anywhere.

It's Avengers Alan Silvestri. Avatar 2009 James Horner. John Williams for Star Wars and Jurassic World ect... These aren't really cutting edge synth scores.


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## JohnG (Sep 2, 2021)

I think that movies get the scores they invite. If it's a corporate, group-think movie in which everyone wants things to be at "11" and stay there, then...

...you get a non-stop shouty soundtrack that goes with it, with endless, empty "big music moments" that crash all around, bludgeoning the audience along with the dumb movies.


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## Fab (Sep 2, 2021)

d.healey said:


> Hope he didn't get any bad dates in that salad aisle!


Also why is he not wearing a mask, surely that's the best way to stay hidden.


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## d.healey (Sep 2, 2021)

Fab said:


> Also why is he not wearing a mask,


Did you consider the possibility that it's Tom Cruise in a Harrison Ford mask? He's also in the UK shooting a picture...


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## JDK88 (Sep 2, 2021)

A good score can elevate a bad movie. A good movie can elevate a bad score. Now, a good movie with a good score. Those are legendary.


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## Consona (Sep 2, 2021)

José Herring said:


> If you took a careful survey of the top 10 grossing films in the last 10 years, it's very apparent that orchestral scores aren't going anywhere.
> 
> It's Avengers Alan Silvestri. Avatar 2009 James Horner. John Williams for Star Wars and Jurassic World ect... These aren't really cutting edge synth scores.


But not because of any demand for orchestral scores. Only because of the composers involved. You can bet your sample libraries collection if those films had been scored by Zimmer/Junkie XL, they would have all sounded very different.


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## José Herring (Sep 2, 2021)

Consona said:


> But not because of any demand for orchestral scores. Only because of the composers involved. You can bet your sample libraries collection if those films had been scored by Zimmer/Junkie XL, they would have all sounded very different.


Hmmm...You really have a lot backwards that it's hard to reply. 

Composers are cast in films just like actors. Certain composers get chosen for certain reasons. Nobody is expecting that John Williams is going to crank out Mad Max. So they go in a different direction. James Camron had his pick of many composers. He chose James Horner. Nobody is going to do Dune better than HZ. 

The composer is in demand because he brings something to the table that the filmmakers want. In the case of Alan Silverstri believe me they could have chosen any composer to do Avengers. He got chosen over the rest. Orchestral scores and composers are in demand in film. To think otherwise is kind of silly. Film is a wide and varied art form capable of supporting many styles of music not just hybrid.


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## rudi (Sep 3, 2021)

A great interview with JW:


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