The soundtrack is an important part of a story. Because what it tells us, what it makes us feel, for the emotion that provokes in us. These are the reasons why we have chosen some famous cinema composers that makes soundtracks special and what they are today, and who dress the films to thrill the spectator.
We start by John William. One of the most famous and well-known composers of the cinema History. He has composed melodies that stay on the collective memories and that will stays for decades. Superman, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Jaws, Jurassic Park… are some of them. He has five Oscars, with 51 nominations, four Golden Globes, seven BAFTAs and twenty-three Grammys. His collaborations with Steven Spielberg have result on master pieces of music and cinema, and he has made the soundtrack of more than one hundred movies, besides the television music.
Besides John Williams, Hans Zimmer is another composer that has made history on cinema’s music. He won the Oscar for The Lion King, and after that, it comes Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean, the last movies of Superman, Batman and the nominations to the Oscars, Golden Globes and BAFTAs. The most recent nomination was for the movie Interstellar. The battle between Zimmer and John Williams has an example on Superman, where one takes the takeover of another, like Henry Cavill took the takeover of Christopher Reeve on the lead character. A composer who has been pioneer mixing electronic music and traditional orchestral arrangements.
James Horner will make a before and after on cinema’s history with the most seller soundtrack: Titanic. His collaboration with Celine Dion on My heart will go on left an imprint on music, coming back later to work with James Cameron on Avatar. He died three years ago, by he was nominated to Oscar on ten times and he achieved the award twice with Titanic, to Best Soundtrack and Best Song. But he also composed music for Alien, A beautiful mind, Braveheart, Jumanji or The perfect storm, among more than a hundred that carries on his music.
The Alexandre Desplat’s music is is another one that you hear often in the cinema. This French composer accumulates in his credit soundtracks like the Twilight Saga: New Moon, Godzilla, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows part 1 and 2, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Shape of the Water or The Darkest Night. With two Oscars, he has been nominated seven times to this award, also obtaining three Cesar awards, three BAFTAs, two Golden Globes and two Grammys.
Danny Elfman has become one of the most admired composers of the last years because his originality, freshness and surprising music. He often uses coral voices, and has made several collaborations with the director Tim Burton. However, his compositions for movies vary from Fifty Shades of Grey until superhero movies like Justice League or Avengers, Ultron Era. He has been nominated to Oscar for four times, one of them because Big Fish, directed by Tim Burton and starring by Ewan McGregor.
Howard Shore is another director with experience on cinematographic sagas. He is responsible for the soundtrack of the Lord of the Rings’ saga; he was also on the Twilight Saga with Eclipse, and in some movies starred by Leonardo DiCaprio, like Gangs of New York, The Departed, The Aviator. Three Oscars, four Golden Globes and four Grammys rest on his credit, all of them because the Lord of the Rings’ music.
And although there are many more composers on cinema able to compose music that it excites itself, the last one we name will be James Newton Howard. He is the creator of the music that accompanies the Hunger Games ‘saga. He also created the Pretty Woman’s music, The Sixth Sense and, besides Hans Zimmer, he created the Batman Begins’ and the Dark Knight’s soundtrack. After seven nominations to the Oscars, he is still composing to any type movies.
A list that doesn’t end here, because there is a lot of composer and soundtracks that stays in our mind. Music for all tastes and any type, that has made the cinematographic experience more than only images.
