End Discussion
Contents
1. Evaluation
Travelling through time and experimenting with ethnic instruments and compositions in film music was indeed a very intriguing and multicoloured experience. Going through a number of different cases, observing and taking notes on several case scenarios and filtering results by their connection, diversity or originality shaped a new breath of inspiration as well as several stages of scepticism considering the overall perception and approach of the Hollywood film industry and Middle Eastern music traditions.
Having always in mind the initial angle of Eastern-ethnic instrumentation, this research is believed to have reached a certain point where it is justified to state that the presentation and experimentation in silent and science fiction films, within the area of Eastern ethnic music, is at minimal levels throughout the entire history of Hollywood’s cinema. This, in turn, makes a valid point for the creation and contribution of the new original scores that have been composed for each research’s example.
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Starting with the silent era and the film Intolerance, it was indeed an example of contradicting audiovisual material if someone is to look at it from a music-locational perspective. Through researching and studying other examples of the era, and having in scope the original Intolerance score by Carl Davis, one could form an even stronger opinion on ethnic music absenteeism, even when in a film as such the scenic location and overall visual strongly suggest the use of it.
I am not stating here in any case that Carl Davis’ score is inadequate and of lesser importance, quite the opposite, but looking at the score in terms of ethnic relationship and audio-visual connection it is quite apparent that the composer has used a particular Western harmonic philosophy which does not differentiate itself much from the music written for the silent era in general.
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Examining other films throughout the century also left a strong sense of the same aesthetic absence adding at the same time more variables into the equation of new scores’ development that would manage to present at least something different in terms of Eastern-ethnic music association and originality. Composing experimentation remained mostly on the realistic/acoustic side of the fence, trying to keep a clear and understandable character so that the music experience focuses on the performance and the sounding qualities of the instruments.
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The Babylonian story in Intolerance has been approached with analogous detail to the geographical location and music culture philosophy. Reaching for a new angle of scoring such a film, although moving backwards in time for researching instruments/scales etc., was a procedure purely created by connecting the Middle Eastern and Western worlds together. That was also one of the main perspectives when this study’s flow reached the scoring experimentation of the classical orchestra reacting with ethnic instruments. In this attempt, the Western symphonic orchestra tried to embody Eastern music aspects, not to act as a tool or extra layer.
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Like Goldsmith’s dominant twelve-note approach in The planet of the Apes (1968), this music experiment of Intolerance moves in a similar way in terms of focus and dedication, predominantly by using Eastern harmonies and having the symphonic orchestra’s instruments perform the closest possible to the philosophy of according articulations. In all cases the end result, whether it is effective or not as this is quite idiosyncratic and understandable, is thought to be at least contributing in terms of originality, diversity and authenticity in view of location-related traditional music idioms.
Moving to the next part, which is the first chapter of the science fiction genre, the research turned into a diverse perspective in view of constructing the score. Always bearing in mind the initial angle of Eastern music traditions, the scope due to the genre’s nature turned to the construction of abstract scores consisting of Eastern ethnic instruments. Considering the science fiction films, the research’s result through time revealed a greater scope of composing experimentation with films like Forbidden Planet (1956), The Planet of the Apes (1968), The Fifth Element (1997) et. al. moving out of the ordinary norm of their time.
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Additionally, one can detect the propensity of other science fiction films to follow the trend of their time period or try to explore and stretch the potential of existing sound technology. A few examples of the previously discussed films would be the dystopian Blade Runner (1982) with Papathanasiou’s grand synthesised score, Toto’s rock band popular approach in Dune (1984) and Ludwig Goransson’s Tenet (2020).
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Last but not least, the research identified and presented the tribal-influenced ethnic elements used as a foundation in creating the score in James Horner’s Avatar (2009) and Ludwig Goransson’s Black Panther (2018).
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The musical diversity which was discovered embodying the science fiction genre together with the wide range of imaginative plots and scenic environments demonstrated in these films led to the decision of opening the initial angle’s spectrum and trying something different by creating synthesised sounds and compositions of Eastern ethnic instruments.
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The two films that were chosen to experiment with, The Phantom Planet (1961) and Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965) had the same perspective of bending Eastern-ethnic instruments by using sound design techniques, creating in this way a highly atmospheric cloud of music that could accompany the sense of the otherness. Although both scores were distinctively time-consuming, due to the studio recording sessions, computer sound design and heavy multichannel mixing, the end result is an interesting and original-sounding hybrid blend of synthesised and acoustic ethnic instruments.
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As a personal opinion, the score for Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet was found to be more particularly agreeable with the visual due to the term ‘prehistoric’ and the scenic environment which sets on an alien planet inhabited by dinosaur-like creatures. On the other hand, the second attempt of The Phantom Planet, which had a more vivid Eastern-sounding character than the first one, was not always found to construct a strong connection with the visual, at least not in every scene and not in the same level as the first attempt. Nevertheless, and as being part of the experiment, it certainly offered an original perspective when dealing with space-related sci-fi films and also helped sculpting the next scoring step which was the Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet.
In other words, one could not be apart from the other as they were part of the same process. Overall it is thought that both films contribute in providing a different perspective considering the composing angles and scoring procedures in sci-fi films as well as demonstrating the potential of ethnic instruments when thinking out of the box.
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The last, and supplementary, chapter to the science fiction exploration had been created by the need to categorise this cinematic diversity and focus on alien species and the approaches that composers are following depending on the science fiction subgenre (action, horror, mystery etc.). This next setup had been realised by the need of setting a musical soundstage between the regular use of synthesised instruments, closely related to implied advanced alien technology, and acoustic instruments, e.g. symphonic instruments, and its connection with more emotional scenes and character’s connotations.
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Through the supplementary exploration and presentation of new as well as already discussed sci-fi films, always in view of the new focusing angle of music related to alien forms, there were four cases that have been found rather interesting in the way that they implement music which reflects the scenic environments that have mostly a direct relationship with Eastern morphology. The one in common aspect for all of them was the lack of an ethnic scoring character, both in terms of instrumentation and/or tonal progression. All four new scores provide an unconventional, more closely related to traditional Eastern music idiosyncrasies, path to constructing scores that combines Eastern-ethnic and Western symphonic instruments in order to enrich the audience's sense of grandeur and realism.
During this experimentation, procedures led to creating multiple versions of each video segment. This was a process followed in order to demonstrate how colourful a score consisting exclusively of ethnic instruments can be, how the same score would sound if the ethnic performances were replaced by symphonic instruments, and how a combined version of the two could sound. Which one is more suitable for each film and each occasion is, of course, a matter of personal opinion.
The core objective of this effort was to demonstrate, through research and examples, the absence of ethnic material in scenes that do imply and justify its potential use, and to provide these scenes with scores that have a tighter audiovisual connection in terms of location and Eastern ethnic music aesthetics. In cases where the films did not directly point or implied such an audiovisual connection, experimenting and creation of ethnic sounds’ amalgam and harmonic context utterly resulted in a diverse sonic personality differentiating from the norm.
2. Practical issues / Problematics
During the entire procedure of this research, there were a number of technical issues that occurred. Perhaps one of the most significant and practical problems was the inability to completely isolate the film score from the rest of the mixed sound. There was a significantly time-consuming effort to find video segments of films that could be used as examples that fall into the same category of scoring approaches, demonstrating the discovered points and at the same time have an as clear as possible music representation without being overly clouded by sound effects and dialogues.
The above problem was even more complicated in older films such as The Phantom Planet, Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, The Day the Earth Stood Still et. al. This occurred due to lower overall sound quality as well as narrower, sometimes mono, sound stereo field.
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Concerning problems about films’ audio mixing, there was a key feature that helped in creating better quality video clips making for audibly clearer music examples. That was the case in science fiction films that had a 5.1 multichannel embedded audio. In these situations, I was able to extract all channels and then remix the final result into a new video clip. Therefore, the centre/dialogue channel’s volume, as well as all the surround channels, were lowered down in volume so that the main left and right channels, carrying the stereo recording of the score as well as some of the sound effects, could be clearly audible. As a result, there are several cases inside the science fiction chapters that followed this procedure.
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Another problem concerning the sound was the opposite; the inability to completely isolate the centre/dialogue channel, cleaning all the rest sounds mixed in the centre, so I could proceed with versions of the scores that had been mixed with the implemented dialogues. There was only one case, which has been discussed earlier, in which I had the ability to keep part of the dialogue due to the absence of the centre channel’s music and effects. This was a part of scoring for The Fifth Element.
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This problem was of major importance, principally due to the following reason. All of the personal scores provided in this research have been composed bearing in mind not only the visual of each scene but also what is happening in the dialogues. This aspect does not only concern the exact script that the actor is performing but also all the individual vocal chromaticisms that may imply connotations not easily detectable when for example the dialogues appear in the form of subtitles.
An enhanced option would be of course subtitles for the hearing impaired but again this is not always accessible and entirely successful.
Moreover, this was an even more problematic situation in films with lesser sound quality; as it was quite the opposite case in silent films, in particular Intolerance, because of the absence of any diegetic sounds.
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As a result, even if the music has been composed with all the above in mind there were a few cases in which this could not be efficiently demonstrated in its full potential.
3. Complementary discussion
It is true that each time period in film music has been found to present its own musical character, not in every case but at least in a considerable amount which can be thought as a leading trend. Starting from the silent era’s romantic period and stretching through the 1960s, Hollywood’s pragmatism and appreciation of film scoring went most of the times through the filter of classic romanticism and neoclassical chromaticism methodologies. This together with the use of certain instruments that gained their attractiveness and popularity due to their bizarre-sounding personality, e.g. the Theremin, created certain stylistic trends that were followed in a considerable amount of film music scores.
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Experimentation with music and sound techniques has indeed existed but only in a few rare cases such as The forbidden Planet (1956) and the later on The Planet of the Apes (1968). Popular trends were obviously digested easier by the audience as it would also pose an easier and perhaps quicker procedure of completing a film score in a possibly tighter budget and/or deadline.
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The rise of computer technology and industrial production of synthesisers and personal computers had a huge impact, marking a new era in scoring realisation and composers’ approach to science fiction film music. Except for entirely new and innovative sounds that had entered the cinema, such as Papathanasiou’s entirely synthesised Blade Runner score (1982), composers were equipped now with new palettes of sound colours that led them into new inspirational paths in view of their film scoring style.
As a result, we observe the immaculate propensity beginning in the late 70s, early 80s, in which composers like Jerry Goldsmith, which was known for his previous radical music ideas such as the twelve-note system in The Planet of the Apes (1968), create film scores such as the original Alien (1979) with a combination of synthesised and symphonic instruments leaning away from traditional harmonic approaches, mostly apparent in aggressively horrific and mysterious scenes. The atonal blend of new and old instruments’ sounds has at this stage a new place in cinematic music, getting gradually synonymous with the sense of mystery and horror.
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This is an aspect in film music that has also been observed through today’s current year of 2022. Gradual technological evolution together with consumer’s affordability in music computer products played a major role in the sculpting of film music and especially in popular Hollywood box-office films. Research film examples such as Moon (2009), Gravity (2013), Tenet (2020), Underwater (2020) as well as many others, revealed and confirmed this parallel path between music and technology. This is an aspect that did not only affect the overall scoring sound type and quality, but also the constructive and creative path of music composition itself.
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This last statement is connected with the changes in the type of music that the composers choose to write for science fiction films. As mentioned before, until the mid-60s, classic romanticism together with the neoclassic approaches created busy and continuously moving soundscapes which was more or less the norm in science fiction films’ scores.
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Going through the technological changes in the 70s-80s, we can observe a reduction in music complexity, at least from a harmonic point of view. As time passes, and as we enter the 21st century, we observe the transformation of composition techniques and the introduction to music building structures relying in vertical systems. The term vertical refers to scoring structures by adding blocks of music, usually sound designed instruments, creating a more harmonically minimal, or static, composition, not in terms of dynamics but in terms of music tone complexity. Though static and minimal in that respect, usually these scores exceed pitch and dynamic variations as well as rhythmic structures.
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As an overall statement and taking a step back in order to see the bigger picture, the music seems to rely more upon the technical metamorphosis of sound, with its frequency and dynamic characteristics affecting the connected scene. In a number of modern science fiction film cases, this has been found to match the corresponding visual. We observe more camera close-ups in characters, slow motion dramatic scenes, filmic environments that connote despair, pessimism, loneliness, malfunction, dizziness, emptiness, a tendency towards grey chroma screen filters, absence of vivid colours etc.
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Representative examples supporting this argument can be found in previously discussed films such as Gravity (2013) Arrival (2016), Underwater (2020) et. al. Inevitably, repetition is another feature that is the quite apparent and logical result of vertical composition. Repetition relies not only on the overall cue, but also on individual elements that construct it.
4. Philosophical insights
This research inevitably gave birth to personal skepticism and raised questions in a variety of issues encountered during its development; both in terms of focusing on Eastern-ethnic approach and in a general development wider context. The above, indeed, formed in conjunction with the first and foremost leading question considering ethnic authenticity and percentage of creative use of it, as the study presented in a number of different films’ cases.
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Beginning from the last chapter’s end in view of the technological evolution and its influence in science fiction films’ scoring, a two-part question arose considering the state that we are now in the year 2022. Does indeed music experimentation rely today, or through recent years, on sound design and technological advancements that relate to that, and if that is true up to a certain extent, does convenience and accessibility in such technology is responsible for this monopoly?
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To answer this question one must again look back in the history of film music, and in particular in the science fiction genre, and once again remember the undeniable connection between film scoring and technological development. Yes, indeed we live in a time where we are surrounded by high technology items that are highly accessible and easily consumable and that is also the fact generally in music production. This can indeed explain the reasoning behind the concentration and high usage of sound design in film music. The problem here is that this cannot entirely answer the question of harmonic simplicity, sense of randomness, abstract atmosphere and absence of profound themes and leitmotifs; perhaps not looking at it directly.
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One possible answer that could also relate to technology is by taking an even further step back and with a wider perspective have a look over societal structure and especially interpersonal relationships. Maybe a part of answering the initial question is the fact that interpersonal communication and everyday communal interactions are being greatly realised through technology, and in particular through mobile devices and social applications, web-cameras and text messages. Perhaps this has created a sentimental gap, especially in younger groups of people, and expresses this absence of harmony and overall structure in todays’ science fiction films’ music as well.
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Popularity and high consumption, being the prototype direction of social mass products, could have also created a highly consumable model in film music, especially when taking into consideration the level of economic and social success that an upcoming film might have. Adding to that, film production companies that target highly consumable sci-fi films could also have a strict and contained timetable which may, or may not, leave proper space for a composer to develop and express his full potential. This could also be another reason behind the repetition of modern scoring techniques and approaches in the science fiction genre.
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This scepticism of course can be the part of an entirely different research subject concentrating on music psychology of modern societies in conjunction with the film music industry, but in this case, it could serve as a potential explanation of the loud absenteeism of harmonically memorable sci-fi scores as observed in earlier film composers such as John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Alan Silvestri, James Horner, et al. This can be also supported by the previously mentioned historical fact that every art and its according movement, has been created and filtered throughout human history by the social circumstances occurring at any given time period.
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On the other hand, there are certain examples, as discovered and presented in the research, in which there is an apparent attempt to reach for the exotic by implementing ethnic instruments and rhythmic structures. Two of these cases were found in the films Avatar (2009) and Black Panther (2018). Nevertheless, this also raises a question considering the location each film is referring to or draw inspiration from and generates scepticism in view of the Middle Eastern angle of the research. Both mentioned films are focusing on tribal traditions; either this is evolving on an alien planet which is the Avatar plot’s location, or more straightforward presenting the African continent which is the case in Black Panther.
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As a result, in both these cases, the music follows the visual and it is indeed closer to music traditions than other science fiction films that are located or have implications of other geographic locations. So the basic question is why have the African continent and/or the more generic tribal characteristics of a given society and its relative music traditions have been translated and transported into sci-fi film music in a more traditionally realistic way when compared to other Middle Eastern cultural societies? In addition, why have films and scene examples such as the previously discussed and scored Stargate (1994), The Fifth Element (1997), Alien vs. Predator (2004), and John Carter (2012) have been musically dealt with a decreased level of sound and instruments’ geolocation realism?
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One possible answer to this problem would be the familiarisation and appreciation of Western cultures in view of certain music traditions and the misleading disorientation in others. It is a historic and commonplace pragmatic fact that Western culture, especially American as this discussion concentrates in Hollywood, is strongly influenced by African culture tracking back to its very societal formation. African music and its traditions have been an undoubtedly important element in the history of the American continent’s cultural evolution.
Even if traditional African musical aspects have transformed and been embodied with other kinds of music traditions through time, nevertheless. the cultural connection exists and there is still music information tracing back to the roots. A simple example would be the acquaintance of sound and its translation when an American citizen listens to African tribal drums/percussion. Additionally, the entire American continent is also rich in tribal societal history (American Indians, Cherokee, Apache, Inca, Moche et. al.) and carries rich music traditions that share lot of similarities with the African ones.
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On the other hand, Middle Eastern music idioms may pose a problem in view of Western cultures’ interpretation, especially in film music. This is where the moving picture and its political angle come into the foreground. Terms such as ‘Western orientalism’, ‘exoticism’ and ‘fetishism’ have been thoroughly discussed considering their meaning and the influence they can have in today’s cinema. Hollywood productions due to their massively global impact are beyond doubt helping with shaping and even establish cultural portraits and their physiognomies. In his discussion considering the Hollywood cinema and stereotyping of Muslims, especially after the 9/11 incident, Senanayake (2021) states that "Hollywood which has become a flagbearer of Western cinema, plays an important role in constructing identity and images including the stereotyping of Muslims" (p. 64).
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By combining the above with this research’s findings one could argue that Western orientalism in the music of the science fiction genre is accomplished by the non-existence of Eastern-related music itself. This has been demonstrated and discussed in a number of cited films, including examples of scenes where, once more, the Middle Eastern location is either fairly straightforward or in some situations strongly implied. Nonetheless, there is one core issue at this point that is worth mentioning. Taking into account this resulted absence and the previous point of stereotypes’ creation, they both contradict the discovered visual and their conceivable connotations. Science fiction, being perhaps one of the most open-minded cinematic genres, did not appear throughout the research to present a certain stereotype in view of Eastern societies and cultures.
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Subsequently, there is the hypothetical/rhetorical question of music scoring itself that focuses on music as a human expression of feelings and emotions, and not necessarily as a political statement. If we suppositionally accept as a fact that Western superiority and stereotyping antipathy towards Eastern cultures do exist inside the science fiction genre would we then, if we could magically reverse this outcome, end up with different approaches in film scoring itself? In other words, and as a more straightforward example to that, would Michael Giacchino have constructed a different version of his score to John Carter (2012) if there was a better appreciation of Middle Eastern cultures and not false created stereotypes? Or on a different situation considering political beliefs, influences, and controlling of the masses, would Bernand Hermann have presented us with a diverse scoring character in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) if the United States of America were not in the middle of the Cold War era with the Soviet Union and the film did not "reflect the fears and anxiety of the Cold War era and nascent atomic age" (Pfeiffer, 2019)?
If we then focus exclusively on the outcomes of music composition, always in relation to the studied sci-fi genre and not the entire scope of Hollywood’s film music, would it be a rather large difference in the final outcome considering each case?
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As a personal opinion, I would argue that this would not be the case, at least in the majority of composers and in view of their stylistic scoring approach. In the opposite direction, if that was true and composers are indeed helping in creating political stereotypes through their music, we would then possibly expect a more vivid diversity between composers’ scores and between films belonging in the same genre. Moreover we could well observe new trends in film music depending on the geographic location and/or cultural idioms a film is based on. On the contrary, and in view of its Middle Eastern angle, this research revealed the exact opposite results, meaning the absence of music elements that could reflect Eastern music cultures and traditions, at least in the cinematic areas in which the study focused on.
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On the other hand, perhaps the truth might be somewhere in the middle and film composers reacted, react and will keep reacting based on their human beliefs and influences of the time period in which they have been called to express their own creativity. This can lead to a certain translation/opinion that "the moment we recognize to what degree film music shapes our perception of a narrative, we can no longer consider it incidental or "innocent" (Gorbman, 1980, pp. 183).
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A different thought is how ready might the vast majority of Western population be in order to comprehend and accept a more Eastern-related tone in Hollywood productions? Of course, this communicates with the previously mentioned political issues of cinema creating false stereotypes and social behaviours. If this is true to a greater extent, it might negatively reflect social opinion and openness in music as well as being responsible for the level of appreciation and implementation of music authenticity in film scoring. As Wingstedt et al. (2010) in their discussion considering the meaning of music in films and connections within the social environments state that "The context may be more or less clear, but from a social semiotic point of view it is impossible to think about music without a social, cultural and situational setting including also the 5 multimodal interplay involved in any musical performance – be it live or recorded" (pp. 4-5).
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The last could also connect to the ultimate goal of the Hollywood film industry; the financial and social success of a film. What are the criteria and how might these be firstly shaped by the industry itself? How does this reflect the composer’s autonomy and to what extent this can affect his/her work? If we accept the fact that Hollywood’s film industry practically or theoretically promotes the superiority of Western civilization creating distorted images of Eastern cultures and traditions, how much space is really available for ethnic music experimentation and what would be the compromises in authenticity in a hypothetical film scoring situation?
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It is quite important following these rhetorical questions to not forget the impact of Hollywood film productions and the number and diversity of people they can reach. As Greenspan (2013) in his discussion in view of various musical styles and connections with wide audiences states "despite differences in stated or inherent aims, and despite differences in financial structure, the effect that Hollywood studios have on the American public with regard to music is surprisingly similar to the effect the great museums have with regard to art" (p. 73).
5. Epilogue
Music as an art form is shaped by, and follows meticulously, the social-cultural time period of its time. It is undoubtedly an encircling relationship of genesis and obsolescence, sculpting and deformation, limbo and rejuvenation. Film music is no exception to that rule.
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Perhaps it is the time to proceed with experimentation and break boundaries that may have kept ethnic music traditions around the world in westernised music designs. At least, and resulting from this research’s perspective, add a small stone to new construction of thoughts that may give birth to inspiration and generate new angles that had previously explored with reluctance and/or minimal gravitas in terms of Eastern ethnic-related music and sound authenticity.
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This research experience was a chained reaction of exploration and expression in film scoring, which led to a path of self-exploration as well as theoretical and empirical knowledge that gained through time. The initial angle of Middle Eastern ethnic music had been tried to keep intact at all times, acting as a filtering engine of all the investigation and discoveries that had been presented. The same applies to all the original scores that were composed with this perspective in mind.
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Hopefully, the contribution other than being the presentation of an alternative way of thinking in film music, sometimes vividly authentic and other times strongly experimental, would also be the existence of audiovisual material that can be used as a tool for inspiration and further development.