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.