'Sound of Cinema' Documentary

BBC4 Documentary 'Sound of cinema: the music that made the movies' assessment. 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b03b45h4/

In this Documentary, Composer Neil Brand explores the effects of an Orchestral Film Score in Cinema from its early beginnings through to its use in today's modern Cinema. This program gave me a wide range of information about the power of movie soundtracks and the evolution of Film Music.

Martin Scorsese describes the music as being 'Interwoven' with most elements of a film such as the Drama, Dialogue, sound effects and even the moving camera.

The program starts to explore the beginnings of Orchestral sound in the 1920's when it was introduced in silents films, for example 'The Phantom of the Opera' - 1925. The music accompanied silent films to give effect. The accompanists had full control over the music they played, which meant that the same film could sound different in each different Cinema.

A year later in 1926, the first full-length feature film with pre-recorded sound was created. 'Don Juan' directed by Alan Crosland did not have any Dialogue only music and sounds effects on a disc that was synchronised with a projector. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYgu5Fsp_Nc

The documentary continues by exploring 'King Kong', a breakthrough film for stop-motion and sound as it features both music and dialogue. This also introduces an important Composer, Max Steiner. Viewers are then taken through the journey of Steiner's career including the analysis of his work in films. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmixe-Dii0Y
I found the information about him interesting and understandable, I enjoyed how Neil analysed his pieces of music and explained his technique and what the effect was in a very detailed manor. It broadened my knowledge on film music and how much it influences a film.

Another influential composer introduced is 'Bernard Herrmann', who made scores for Citizen Kane, Vertigo, Torn Curtain whilst collaborating with Director Alfred Hitchcock. Herrmann was also the man responsible for one of cinemas most famous soundtrack, the 'Pycho' murder scene. The documentary takes Neil to the Warner Brothers studio where he looks at Herrmann's original scores for this iconic piece of film music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WtDmbr9xyY The program gives a detailed review of Herrmann's life, including an interview with his Wife Norma Shepherd.

Lastly, Neil explores the work of a modern composer, Han Zimmer, including an interview with him where he explains his thought process behind his ten minute soundtrack for the battle scene in Gladiator. This part was interesting for me as Zimmer has composed music for films that I had seen and enjoyed which made the clips and interview relatable.

In conclusion I found this Documentary enjoyable and factual, it explained the history and development of orchestral soundtracks well and I was able to learn a lot from the program. I would recommend this program to someone who was interested in the general growth of Film and especially music in films.