Hans Zimmer Essay

This case study will explore the life and works of one of the near braggy and inventive blast and medication composers of modern whiles, Hans walker. His extraordinary ability to span an extensively wide align of genres and formats with extreme competence is highly influential and inspiring. go-cart is a pioneer in his field, with his role of some(prenominal) electronic and orchestral elements within moving picture come tos.Zimmers winner in creating the builds for some of the most famous films, and his ability to encapsulate in the music the overriding themes, and personalities of the characters in modern sidereal day cinema is what makes him so special. I have chosen to write on this subject as it is completely relevant to my liaison in the field. This case study includes a discussion of the former(a) life of Hans Zimmer, his entrance into the world of Hollywood composition, his influences and growth as a composer and eliminates to a more in- profoundness discuss ion of the work on his most rate of flow films, as comfortably as a brief witness at the studio and equipment he practice sessions. born(p) in Frankfurt, Germany on September 12th 1957 Hans Florian Zimmer is ac companionshipd as one of the most pioneering, innovative, successful, influential and sought after composers in Hollywood today (IMDB, no assignment). His interest in music began at a very early end and he began acting the piano at the age of three, although he had little or no formal music education or training throughout his early life (Gillespie, 2001).Despite his lack of training, Zimmer knew he wanted to be a composer by the age of hexad and this coincided with an primary(prenominal) event in the young Zimmers life the death of his father. He is quoted as saying in an interview with CNN arabeat My dad died when I was six, thats when I decided I was going to become re onlyy serious about music, because it was my refuge (CNN Worldbeat cited by IMDB, no date). D uring his early teens his family locomote each(prenominal) over Europe before readytling in Lon strike when Zimmer was 14 historic uttermost old.Throughout his childhood his passion for music meant he neglected his schoolwork and as a answer was expelled from s incessantlyal different schools (Shelton, no date). After finally finishing school he began his professional music career by composing advertising jingles for Air Edel associates and playing in rock bands (Ankeny, no date). It was during this period that Zimmer found success as a member of The Buggles, an English new wave synthpop group, and had a hit single with Video Killed the Radio Star.It is said that this worldwide hit helped usher in a new era of global entertainment as the first music video to be sh declare on MTV (IMDB, no date). His talent on the keyboard and synthesists would continue to be signifi grasst throughout his career although this is possibly the first event that might have suggested at the huge am ount of success and appreciation he would go on to enjoy as a composer. Zimmer is known to have favoured the Moog synthesiser when acting and creating music for these groups, a preference that has endured the span of his career.It was likewise during this period that we see Zimmer first feature the use of computers with live music on stage with other successful groups (Shelton, no date). This combination has been a constant throughout Zimmers professional career and his talent in merging the devil elements is part of what has earned him the success and appreciation he currently enjoys. The diversity of his talent is as well as seen in his ability to span genres much(prenominal) as new wave UK punk, as well as Spanish pop music.However, Zimmer would non remain a part of the pop scene for long. He matte up inhibited by having to write in just one style of music and felt his creativeness was restrained. It was at this time that he first went to work with Stanley Myers who bega n to teach him about scoring films (Shelton, no date). This coalition would prove to be a collaboration of great orchestral elements combine with the most up to date electronic instrumentation avail able (Abodos, no date). Zimmers technological fascination in these early years has be influential in his later and most successful works.Perhaps it is this preoccupation with technology that has unplowed him at the forefront of composition. It could also be said that the use of both technological and handed-down orchestral elements has ensured his popularity with all generations of audiences. It was with Myers that Zimmer co-founded the Lon move into found Lillie Yard recording studio (Wikipedia, no date). A demonstration of the corporate trust of the elements mentioned above is showcased in their early works, an example of which is seen in the film Moonlighting (1982).The fusion of moody undertones performed with synthesisers and clean orchestral pianos combine to create a dark, un nerving, suspenseful atmosphere in keeping with the films subject and the emotions portrayed by the characters. His talent for creating music spanning the genres of different films is also seen in this early collaboration with Myers. Further examples of this are his compositions for films such as Success is the Best Revenge (1984) which is a drama and the films Insignificance (1985) and the acclaimed My Beautiful Launderette (1985) which have comedic elements and call for that a completely different atmosphere is created.For example, My Beautiful Launderette features a much more well- world electronic production with less orchestral elements as the subject matter of the film requires. From 1982 1987 Zimmer worked collaboratively on productions. It was not until the film Terminal Exposure (1987) that Zimmer would produce his first solo-score (Wikipedia, no date), based heavily on electronic production encapsulating the 80s pop culture era. His succeeding(prenominal) collaboratio n with David Byrne and Ryuichi Sakamoto would lead to his first taste of Academy Award success winning the Oscar for Best Original Score with the feeling The Last Emperor (1987).The theme tune of which combines influences from both traditional western sandwich and Eastern cultures, again allowing him to find out new found inspiration for his future creations. At this time he also created one of his most durable works for the UK television game show Going for Gold, about which he was quoted in an interview with the BBC as saying it was a lot of fun. Its the sort of stuff you do when you dont have a career yet (BBC, 2008). This present his levelheadedness despite his new found success.This is also another example of how Zimmer was able to span the genres of music composition whilst enjoying his work, which arguably has been crucial to his success. The next film score composed by Zimmer was the small budget movie A World Apart (1988) about apartheid South Africa (Shelton, no date). This was his first excursion into composition for a movie nock in Africa, perhaps leading to his continuing interest in this area (seen in his work on the later films The part of One (1992) and The Lion King (1994)).The workt torture to A World Apart featured traditional African instruments such as African drums and shakers bad the earpiecetrack an authentic feel. At the corresponding time, these are combined with ruling synthetic attracts which strike emotion and also bring in a westbound element, which mirrors the films subject. 4 Word calculation 3459 Student no. 15735 The success of this goodishtrack led to Zimmers interlocking in the critically acclaimed film The rain down Man (1988) after the Hollywood director Barry Levinsons married woman introduced him to Zimmers work (Wikipedia, no date).Zimmer would follow an individual process when composing It was a road movie, and road movies usually have jangly guitars or a bunch of strings. I kept thinking dont be bigg er than the characters. Try to keep it contained. The Raymond character doesnt rattling know where he is. He might as well be on Mars. So, why dont we just invent our own world music, for a world that doesnt really exist? (Zimmer cited by Young, 2008). This allowed for the score to contain escapist, other-worldly elements reflecting the character played by Dustin Hoffman. The Rain Man (1988) was Zimmers first venture into Hollywood. The soundtrack was created by the use of a lot of digital synthesis from the Fairlight CMI which was able to do sampling as well as additive synthesis where Zimmer was able to draw his own wave forms. In 1989 the score was nominated for an Academy Award and won Best Picture (Shelton, no date). His success would only continue. He was approached by the director of Driving Miss Daisy (1989) the score of which consisted mainly of synthesisers and samplers.The Roland MKS-20 synthesiser was used for piano sounds about which Zimmer jokingly quoted It didnt s ound anything like a piano, scarcely it behaved like a piano (Zimmer cited by Wherry, 2002) showing the unpredictable nature of digital synthesis. Within the comparable month as Driving Miss Daisy Zimmer also created the score for the film Black Rain (1989). In involving himself with both these films which were of entirely different genres he felt that Hollywood would not be able to typecast him (Young, 2008).This is further evidence of Hans Zimmers drive to think outside of the box, never absentminded to be constrained or restricted to create just one type of music. His broad horizons were demonstrated further in 1992 with the film The Power of One where Zimmer expressed his thirst for gaining authentic samples and knowledge of different musical cultures by travelling to Africa and sampling indigenous sings and traditional drums. He gained a police-record whilst in the country for his work on the film for being labelled as subversive (Wikipedia, no date).It was Power of One tha t led to his first expedition into the world of animation with the 1994 film The Lion King which followed the African theme. Zimmer originally created 48 different theme tunes for The Lion King (1994) before he was gifted with the outcome (Hans-Zimmer. com, no date, a), displaying his meticulous nature. It can be said that this contributed to the films success and it went on to win an Oscar for Best Original Score and Golden Globe awards (Ankeny, no date).The African drum and choir samples used in Circle of Life (the theme tune for the film) convey authenticity, whilst the use of a Western vocalist meant that a Western audience could still identify with the track. This maintained its resonance with the films main demographic, and the score was later adapted into a Broadway musical. After years of orchestral development Zimmer went keep going to his root of synthesis with the Grammy Award winning film Crimson lunar time period in 1995.However, his success post-Lion King meant that the honor lifestyle was in danger of catching up with him and his first attempts at the composition for Crimson Tide were described by its directors as crap and rubbish and Zimmer is quoted as saying that reality came back really fast for him (Zimmer cited by Young, 2008). In the following years Zimmer went on to work on the scores for many more successful films. It was in the 2000s, however, with the postmodern preoccupation with film that he became entangled with even higher budgeted Hollywood Blockbusters.The following discussions of his works will describe 5 Word Count 3459 Student no. 15735 in depth how Zimmers creative processes lead to an extremely force outive way of reservation sound for movies. The first of these discussions will focus on the film Gladiator (2000). It is master(prenominal) to note Zimmers preoccupation with imagery and how the sound will translate on screen. It can be said that rather than dictate with music, Zimmer will take elements from the scene s, the characters and aesthetics of the film to set up the tone.An example of this is seen in what is arguably the most iconic scene of the movie, set in a wheat field, which is extremely poetic. Zimmer argues that the music gives the artistic license to be so poetic (hans-zimmer. com, no date, a). He talks about the collaboration with the artist Lisa Gerrard on this scene, and describes this relationship as a opposition of minds, finding her to be a true artist. This collaboration is clearly effective in evoking emotion as the guttural vocals by Gerrard coincide beautifully with the imagery.Whilst watching the movie, it is found that the same piece of theme music is used in different coiffes and in scenes that are worlds apart in terms of emotion. Zimmers ability to create polarity with one piece of music clearly displays his strategic ability to place the music effectively. For example, one piece of music is used in a scene where two mess kiss as well as just before a battle sc ene. In the former, the effect is one of tenderness and romance, whilst in the latter tension and violence is alluded to.A further example of this is how the use of music conveys the humble theme of the movie (the personal life of the character) while at the same time can be turned into thousands of different emotions. (hanszimmer. com, no date, a) Additionally, the tone of the music clearly changes as the film moves around geographically in sight to represent the location. For example, the battle scene set in Germania consists of sustained, compelling strings and other skewed instruments which create a frantic and tense scene as well as authentically representing the location.Furthermore, for the scenes set in Morocco the sound is generally more tribal, dirty and gritty giving the sound in the movie a bigger range and representing the change in locations effectively (hans-zimmer. com, no date, a). The composition throughout the entire movie is mainly orchestral and this has the e ffect of transporting the viewer to the appropriate period of time in history that the film represents. All of this amalgamates to an all-round epic and large scale sleep with which is at the heart of the Gladiators subject matter.Another interesting aspect of Hans Zimmers work is to see how he portrayed one of the most iconic villains in modern day films in the Batman movie The Dark Knight (2008). From the outset it seems that rather than create a happy, indulgent score, Zimmer wanted to create something hateful and provocative, something that the viewer could invest in. The Joker is the focal point of the film and represents a change from its predecessor, Batman Begins (2005). In enact to convey the significance of the character the sound that accompanies him on screen displays the anarchy, havoc and insanity inherent to the Jokers eccentric personality. youtube. com, no date). In an interview on the making of the film, Zimmer describes his attempts at depicting the tone of the character through the use of razor blades on waspish wire and incessant tapping on tables and floors, but he eventually came to the extremely successful technique of playing two notes on a cello at the same time, which juxtapose beautifully. This gives the effect of a taught string that gets tighter and tighter but never breaks, paralleling the Jokers spiralling descent into madness.Also, the note of the cello slowly but consistently rises in order to draw the viewer in as the character also does on screen. This extraordinary quiet, high-pitched sound which creates rising tension appears to have a 6 Word Count 3459 Student no. 15735 slenderly anxious and uneasy quality which syncs perfectly with the character and the viewers perception of him. To accompany the sound of the cello, and add to the ever-growing tension two heavily distorted guitars, almost unrecognisable as the original instrument, are played with pieces of metal, with the result of creating a completely anarchistic atmosphere.These effects are heavily processed with the use of distortion to create a more surreal experience, detached from reality. These techniques fuse together to form a rich and complex tapestry of emotion, the audial and the visual aspects are combined in a way that portrays consent as well as contrast. (youtube. com, no date). The final movie that will be discussed in depth is Inception (2010). In the New York Times Zimmer describes his own understanding of the films subject as being about time and its slowing down, and speeding up.The Edith Piaf track Je ne regrette rien is used as part of the film to signify a kick to another reality. However, Zimmer has taken its use to a deeper level all the music in the score is subdivisions and multiplications of the Edith Piaf track (Zimmer cited by Itzkoff, 2010) representing his perception of the film as being based around time and its manipulation. In the same way Zimmer manipulates the Piaf track by using a single beat and slowin g it down dramatically in order to create the trademark foghorn sound that the movie is well known for (Itzkoff, 2010).The momentum of the film is defined by the structure of the score that accompanies it. The intensity of the film gradually snowballs, becoming more and more surreal and penetrating. At the same time the music increases in intensity and level of depth as the film explores the different levels of the human mind. In an interview with Hans Zimmer (hans-zimmer. com, no date) he describes making electronic sounds from scratch on the custom moog rack in his studio, as well as using software synths such as U-he Zebra.In order to create the sounds he wanted he would play the synthetic sounds to his bespoke orchestra which consists of six bass trombones, six tenor trombones, four tubas and six French horns in order for them to imitate the sounds. Combinations of the two create a euphoric and emotive atmosphere where deep and unsettling synthetic and orchestral sounds accompan y and synchronise with a powerful and grand visual experience. Whilst Zimmer has admitted The Dark Knight was heavy in its use of electronic sounds in Inception this is pushed even further.In order to gain a further insight into what Hans Zimmer is influenced by, it is important to consider the setting in which he creates his momentous scores. His home studio in Santa Monica, USA is extremely gothic in its decor and can be perceived as having an overwhelmingly dark and eery vibe somewhat consistent with a large amount of his compositions. This can be seen in the pictures below. (Pictures sourced from www. stuckincustoms. com) In picture one, we see that muted decadence is incorporated with the feeling of comfort. It is hard to imagine that influence would not be drawn from these surroundings. Word Count 3459 Student no. 15735 The second picture, displays the core of the hardware at Zimmers disposal.Whilst it is hard to make out the various components, some are identifiable his Que sted monitors (5. 1 surround sound set up), his Doepfer LMK4+ midi-keyboard, and two analogue synthesisers which are mounted on the back wall one of which is a custom Moog rack (as mentioned above) and a custom Roland rack, as well as two custom HP touch sensitive LCD screen monitors connected to his DAW (Steinberg Cubase as his main sequencer and professional person Tools for his final mix) (hans-zimmer. om, no date, b). The picture on the right shows a large amount of Pro Tools systems and a patch bay as well as various other hardware devices. He also has a custom built Bosendorfer grand piano. It is also worth mentioning the software used by Zimmer which as well as the DAWs described above include various VSTs such as Omnisphere, U-he Zebra, Atmosphere and thousands and thousands of sample banks. (hanszimmer. com, no date, b) Hans Zimmer enjoys an astonishing career with some flimsy accomplishments, despite the fact that he has had no formal training.His passion is maintained a nd can be seen in both the way he talks about the composition process as well as the finished product that is heard on screen. Perhaps, it can be said that in his work he is still battling his inner turmoil at the death of his father as a young son composing was my way of calming the demons in me or at the same time sometimes let them roar, letting them rip, letting the monster out and seeing that it wasnt so scary being able to look it in the eye. (CNN Worldbeat cited by IMDB, no date).It is argued here that in his work Zimmer forces his audience to confront the demons on screen whilst creating an opportunity for escapism which is what cinema represents. His productions are both seamless and effortless whilst at the same remaining extraordinarily powerful and commanding. As a relatively young composer and with some of the biggest and long-awaited Hollywood blockbusters ever to be produced in the pipeline, such as the sequel to The Dark Knight The Dark Knight Rises, his success can only intensify with time.