By Tommy Pearson
The leading film music writer and historian, Jon Burlingame, wrote a fascinating and revealing article in Variety last week about how much the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has messed around with the Music categories over the years.
It's got to be the most tinkered-with category of all, a confusing mess of definitions, compromises and, frankly, fixes. For example, in 1938 the music category was split into 'scoring' (music from various sources) and 'original score' (music originally written for the film) so that the following year, Copland's 'Of Mice and Men' is actually nominated in both scoring and original score. Songs from Pinocchio then beat dramatic scores by Newman, Rozsa and Waxman. In 1944 there are an astounding fourteen nominations in scoring for a musical picture, limited to 5 the following year, presumably because of voter exhaustion! There were six changes to the music category name between 1970 and 1980; and many more times in the 80s and 90s. Note the dividing of the award again in 1995, to 'original dramatic score' and 'original musical or comedy score' - only because everyone thought Alan Menken (composer of songs/scores to Disney's Aladdin, Little Mermaid etc) had won too many Oscars and had to be stopped from hogging things.
BAFTA's music category has had it's own controversies and I served on a committee last year which had the task of reviewing the process and the actual name of the award - whether, like the Oscars, the award should be split or perhaps better reflect the skill of putting together music scores that use pre-existing music (the music supervisor's job). It was a very passionate and articulate committee - I'm told the music branch is always like that, above all others.
I have always argued in favour of the original score; the composer starts with only a blank piece of manuscript and creates something new. That's what should be rewarded and encouraged, particularly these days when every other teenager is writing derivative crap on his computer in the bedroom. There IS great skill in using songs in movies (Scorsese is a master, as is Tarantino) but I'm not sure there should be an award for relying on someone else's originality. However brilliant Scorsese's use of, say, 'Layla' is in Goodfellas, he's only using it because Eric Clapton's genius came up with it first. If Clapton had written a song especially for the film, and it had been used brilliantly, that would be another matter and could be reflected in the song award category.
Burlingame doesn't mention the Golden Globes but as far as I can tell it's just been a simple 'Best Original Score' and 'Best Original Song' split for years. If the awards even go ahead in 10 days' time (the WGA strike continues to affect everything) the music category is hard to predict. The nominated composers are Clint Eastwood for 'Grace Is Gone', Howard Shore for 'Eastern Promises', Dario Marianelli for 'Atonement', Brook/King/Vedder for 'Into the Wild' and Alberto Iglesias for 'The Kite Runner'.
Eastwood is one of my favourite directors in recent years (Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, the Iwo Jima films) but he's not a composer and his dull tinklings on the piano have threatened to derail a number of his movies, especially Mystic River and now Grace is Gone. There are so many composers out there that could enhance Eastwood's tremendous film-making; he needs to delegate. Shore's Eastern Promises score has to go down as a major disappointment; fairly conventional and derivative, although right up the Academy voters' street, I bet. I saw 'The Game' again recently and was reminded of how original and creative Howard Shore can be when encouraged to use a less ordinary palate, away from the traditional orchestra set-up. I hope Lord of the Rings hasn't sent him in another direction (and let's not forget, Eastern Promises is a Cronenberg movie, so even more disappointing). The songs/music for 'Into The Wild' seem a little out of place in this category although they are extremely effective in the movie, which is the point of course. But my money is on either Dario Marianelli or Alberto Iglesias, who both contributed superb scores. Marianelli is a good bet for the Oscar this year and his Atonement score seemed to touch people who might not have noticed him before. Iglesias is my favourite though, if I had to chose. His music to The Kite Runner is the best thing in the movie; moving, original and skilful and surely another Oscar contender. The category is, after all, 'Best Original Score' - I think Iglesias's music fits that ample category title perfectly. Presumably they'll change it next year...
What's your favourite score from the Golden Globe nominations? Vote now on our new poll, on the right of this page.
The leading film music writer and historian, Jon Burlingame, wrote a fascinating and revealing article in Variety last week about how much the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has messed around with the Music categories over the years.
It's got to be the most tinkered-with category of all, a confusing mess of definitions, compromises and, frankly, fixes. For example, in 1938 the music category was split into 'scoring' (music from various sources) and 'original score' (music originally written for the film) so that the following year, Copland's 'Of Mice and Men' is actually nominated in both scoring and original score. Songs from Pinocchio then beat dramatic scores by Newman, Rozsa and Waxman. In 1944 there are an astounding fourteen nominations in scoring for a musical picture, limited to 5 the following year, presumably because of voter exhaustion! There were six changes to the music category name between 1970 and 1980; and many more times in the 80s and 90s. Note the dividing of the award again in 1995, to 'original dramatic score' and 'original musical or comedy score' - only because everyone thought Alan Menken (composer of songs/scores to Disney's Aladdin, Little Mermaid etc) had won too many Oscars and had to be stopped from hogging things.
BAFTA's music category has had it's own controversies and I served on a committee last year which had the task of reviewing the process and the actual name of the award - whether, like the Oscars, the award should be split or perhaps better reflect the skill of putting together music scores that use pre-existing music (the music supervisor's job). It was a very passionate and articulate committee - I'm told the music branch is always like that, above all others.
I have always argued in favour of the original score; the composer starts with only a blank piece of manuscript and creates something new. That's what should be rewarded and encouraged, particularly these days when every other teenager is writing derivative crap on his computer in the bedroom. There IS great skill in using songs in movies (Scorsese is a master, as is Tarantino) but I'm not sure there should be an award for relying on someone else's originality. However brilliant Scorsese's use of, say, 'Layla' is in Goodfellas, he's only using it because Eric Clapton's genius came up with it first. If Clapton had written a song especially for the film, and it had been used brilliantly, that would be another matter and could be reflected in the song award category.
Burlingame doesn't mention the Golden Globes but as far as I can tell it's just been a simple 'Best Original Score' and 'Best Original Song' split for years. If the awards even go ahead in 10 days' time (the WGA strike continues to affect everything) the music category is hard to predict. The nominated composers are Clint Eastwood for 'Grace Is Gone', Howard Shore for 'Eastern Promises', Dario Marianelli for 'Atonement', Brook/King/Vedder for 'Into the Wild' and Alberto Iglesias for 'The Kite Runner'.
Eastwood is one of my favourite directors in recent years (Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, the Iwo Jima films) but he's not a composer and his dull tinklings on the piano have threatened to derail a number of his movies, especially Mystic River and now Grace is Gone. There are so many composers out there that could enhance Eastwood's tremendous film-making; he needs to delegate. Shore's Eastern Promises score has to go down as a major disappointment; fairly conventional and derivative, although right up the Academy voters' street, I bet. I saw 'The Game' again recently and was reminded of how original and creative Howard Shore can be when encouraged to use a less ordinary palate, away from the traditional orchestra set-up. I hope Lord of the Rings hasn't sent him in another direction (and let's not forget, Eastern Promises is a Cronenberg movie, so even more disappointing). The songs/music for 'Into The Wild' seem a little out of place in this category although they are extremely effective in the movie, which is the point of course. But my money is on either Dario Marianelli or Alberto Iglesias, who both contributed superb scores. Marianelli is a good bet for the Oscar this year and his Atonement score seemed to touch people who might not have noticed him before. Iglesias is my favourite though, if I had to chose. His music to The Kite Runner is the best thing in the movie; moving, original and skilful and surely another Oscar contender. The category is, after all, 'Best Original Score' - I think Iglesias's music fits that ample category title perfectly. Presumably they'll change it next year...
What's your favourite score from the Golden Globe nominations? Vote now on our new poll, on the right of this page.