Big Fish

The music in Big Fish is a great example of some of the contemporary elements of film scores. First, the film score for the movie is an eclectic score, mixing symphonic underscoring with popular music, such as songs by Elvis and other rock and roll hits. Second, the main use of underscoring was in the development of the film's overall theme, which varies and transformed throughout the movie. The use of the film's theme at the very beginning of the movie and closing out the final scenes helped to create a strong sense of unity for the story line and really finish out the movie in a complete way. Another contemporary feature of the music in this film, is the minimalistic approach to underscoring during the present-day scenes. Whenever the characters are interacting or talking in the current time period, there is almost never any musical underscoring. However, whenever a story is being told in a flashback, music is usually present at all times, whether diagetic or underscoring. Finally, the underscoring in the film featured an extensive use of piano. The use of piano as a primary instrument in film music is a fairly recent development. In this film, the piano is heard in almost every underscoring piece and plays a major role in the film's overall theme. If I had not taken this class and not had the knowledge of what to look for in film music, I might not have even noticed the music in this film because it is so similar to what we typically hear in present day films.

Malcom X

The music is almost wall to wall in Malcom X. There is a lot of cross-cutting between very different scenes. The music that accompanies these different scenes varies drastically and would only make sense in combination with the scenes in the film. A great example of this is at the beginning of the movie. There is a trumpet solo playing during Malcom's opening speech, which immediately changes to ragtime music underscoring at the train station. Then this underscoring immediately jumps to eerie, slow music when Malcom is talking about the Klan comes to his childhood house and when his father is preaching at his church. Then the music jumps again to upbeat jazz and swing music when they are dancing at the club. The music and the scenes in the film helps to make each other fit together even though there is constant changing of scenes and moods. If either element was eliminated, the movie would just be a mess of confusion.