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There is an episode of the cartoon comedy, Family Guy, in which a genie grants Peter Griffin’s wish for his own theme music. Hilarity ensues as we watch Peter going through his day accompanied by happy, uplifting music, until this annoys someone on the bus, at which point the music turns darker...
The cleverness of the joke is that we are laughing at a character on TV noticing what we, engrossed in the events of the story, often don’t consciously recognise - the score.
Among the last creative touches in the movie-making production chain, the score provides a critical ingredient - tone. A composer can elevate a romantic reunion to the iconic, etching it into the memories of millions (and unfortunately beyond the reach of most real-life relationships), or they can signal impending doom and seed the nightmares of pre-adolescents around the world for decades.
Imagine Darth Vader’s entrance in Star Wars without John Williams’ sinister trombones, or a gunfight in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly without Ennio Morricone’s famous ocarina-harmonica combination, or Tim Burton’s Batman driving off in his Batmobile minus Danny Elfman’s spine-tingling theme music. These films and the world of cinema would be a much different and poorer proposition without them.
In fact, the composer’s impact runs even deeper. TV and cinema has a huge influence on our attitudes, social and political* in which the composer is complicit. They cannot help but influence and shape our reaction to what we see by adding shades of sound - light or dark. They not only create beautiful art that can move people to tears, investing pictures with meaning, but they are moral and social educators by proxy. And, due to smartphones and online streaming, this influence is no longer restricted by location or time.
Who are these unseen influencers, the conductors of dreams and nightmares? What is it like to do what they do and how does the creative process work?
In this feature, we step into the world of award-winning Hollywood composer and owner of eSonic Productions, Greg Tripi, who boasts an intimidating CV of Academy and Emmy Award-winning movies and TV including: Drive, The Knick, Contagion, Drag Me To Hell and Dark Places and video games like Twisted Metal and Far Cry 4.
Ever wondered about the black magic that goes on behind the speakers? Now is your chance to find out.
Welcome to the Score.
*Goldberg & Gorn, 1974 ‘Children’s reactions to television advertising’ in Journal of Consumer Research, Paul Kellstedt, 2003 The Mass Media and the Dynamics of American Racial Attitudes, and Charles Atkin, 1980 Effects of the Mass Media.