From the Studio
by Tony Diana
I have
written music for over 25 years and I love film music. It has such a quiet and
long history most people don’t know about. So when I get a chance to go back in
time and play with these forgotten concepts of film music, I really enjoy it.
In 2011 we
made a film called “Attack of the Atomic Zombies” A retro 1950’s Sci-Fi spoof. I wanted the music to sound like that period of film making.
Back in the
day the “Independent studios” outside the big three (Fox, Warner Brothers and
Paramount) could not afford a full orchestra so they would resort to “canned”
music (Pre-recorded music you could license the rights to for use in your film). It was a record you would get from the publishing house and then record the
parts you wanted onto your final film reel. This practice still goes on today.
The reason I
mention this is that often the music would not match in theme or structure, since they were using different composers from the publishing house. This is what
I wanted to accomplish with Zombies, not that anyone would notice, but it was
important to me to hear that nuance.
Once
production started I listened to soundtracks of the era, Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Robot Monster and so on. I soaked in the
orchestrations and moods then went to work. For the main
theme I knew I wanted a Theremin in the mix. Nothing said 1950’s Sci-Fi like
this instrument.
Next I
focused on the character themes and wanted to make it light and plucky, so I
went for 50’s commercials and used this for my inspiration. Already I
had two different tracks that sounded like they were from the 50’s, but did not
match scoring wise.
This is why
I love film and film music. It has such a rich history of style and story all its
own. If you want to discover more I suggest you check out these links.
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