Hero - Short Film Score - Walkthrough Pt.5 - M1 (Part 3)

Welcome to the next part of this series.

All previous parts are available HERE.

As usual, the audio file and score sheet are attached at the bottom of the page.

We're still in the first cue of the score, right after the tension build-up entering into the action sequence. The sequence without music is available here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGX-aUMquBA 

Here are the spotting notes that I had for the sequence we're looking at today: 

• 01:04:00 action
• 01:07:00 tone down
• 01:11:05 reaction
• 01:16:19 same again
• 01:24:07 shots

Bar 36-46

https://soundcloud.com/robin-hoffmann/hero-m1-bars-36-46/s-LFlJ3IBsusX

We're coming into this sequence from a E+/A chord which we could see as a dominant for that roughly D minor tonality that we enter in b 36. The beginning of this action sequenced was telegraphed by the images that strongly that I felt I could also telegraph its approach with the music by building a rather clear V-I. The woodwind runs into bar 36 use the locrian scale setting a rather dark tonality.

Bar 36 itself is rhythmically based on a continous 16th pulse played in the strings alternating between staccato and legato figures which I personally find more musical than just using one articulation for a longer period of time. In bar 36 and 37 these 16th figures outline a raising scale which starts off as D locrian but later on establishes Gb, A and C# which are not part of D locrian. It's more of a diminished half-whole scale with a leading tone of C#. So the scale material itself already contains quite a bit of "action sound" which of course is very helpful in a sequence like this.

Bar 36 also includes a little stabby figure by trumpets and Horns chromatically moving over Cm, C#m to Dm and an rhythmicised A in octaves in the the trumpets in bar 37. The low instruments provide rather "off beatish" stabs enclosing the fundamental of D with neighbouring notes of C# and Eb.

As I had already the strings with their consequent 16th notes providing a clear rhythmical grid, a rhythmic counterpoint in other registers works very well and provides a bit more unpredictability in an action sequence than just filling the low register up with pounding eighths or quarter notes.

In bar 38 we already enter the first dialogue between the two brothers so it was necessary to tone down a bit here to leave some space for the lines that were exchanged.

As this whole film sequence is so campy, I felt I could go and dig very deep in the box of clichéd chord progressions and decided to go from Dm to Abm in bar 38. This tritone progression in a minor personally for me always feels like 30s-60s monster B movies which is probably a more personal thing but I felt it was exactly the right "tool" to use here.

Starting in bar 38, I employ a technique that is one of the most standard techniques in action/adventure film scoring which is called "Planing". Effectively it means that you use a constant chordal structure (as seen here in the horns with minor triads) and move it parallel "in a plane" disregarding the underlaying tonality. 

If you follow the horns in 38-39 but also 41-42 you can see that they move over Abm, Gm, Bbm, Am, Cm and Bm in the first section and do an analogue sequence in the second section. This of course also works with other chord types but the effect is most impactful with minor and major triads. You can find this technique being used in almost every film score, for instance the Rebel Fanfare from Star Wars is a clear example of planing in major triads.

This technique works very effectively as the clear understandable chord structures have a stabilizing function for our ear and we perceive them as an individual element that in spite of potentially clashing heavily against the harmonic backdrop are quite easily digestible.

The rhythmic backdrop changes slightly in bar 38, with violins switching to a medium register measured tremolo outlining Ab harmonic (or melodic) minor. This registral drop together with the dynamic drop to mf was needed to actually create space for that horn planing passage which I needed to bring up to a forte during the recording session as the players were playing this quite "politely".

Notice how besides some slight implication of an Abm in the orchestra, there is not much harmonic material to actually create enough space for that horn passage. The lower register instruments switch to a more predictable pattern here which I found to be adequate as the sequence on screen here is not as chaotic anymore as the few seconds before that.

Bar 40 shifts tonality up a semitone to A with the basic configuration of the orchestral distribution remaining intact except for the first violins taking over the high register by playing a rather long note ascending melody and high woodwinds and xylophone adding a rhythmic side figure that revolves around a and g# solidifying this harmonic/melodic minor impression.

As mentioned above,  in bar 41/42 the horns again provide a "planing" figure in minor chords that answers the first statement from before.

Bar 43 again moves a tritone away from the previous tonality of A to a root note of Eb, however in this case, it feels more like moving to the dominant of the A rather than the tritone switch that we had between Dm and Abm before as the tonality of E is so strong in these chords that it still feels "dominanty" in spite of the bass being on Eb.

The chord that I use here is again this chord type that opened the cue which is a minor chord with a bass note a semitone below its root. In this case it is an Em triad over an Eb bass. Again, I like creating links not only over thematic ideas but also over chord types.

However, there are a few more things to say about the harmony here in 43/44. As you can see, the chords for instance in horns or trombones move to Em, E+ and G+. The bass notes follow along on some of the chords in 44. However as augmented chords are symmetrical (consisting of similar intervals) they are just as interchangeable as diminished chords and therefore a C+ = E+ = G#+. So in spite of the bass notes moving we could perceive 43 and 44 as one harmony.

With Eb being the bass note, above this we have an alternation between Em and E+ with G+ joining in at count 4 of bar 44. I personally understand all this not as chord changes but the intent was this to be one harmonic field. If you combine the pich material of Em, E+ and G+ you end up with Eb, E, G, G#, B, C and Eb again. This is a pitch collection known as the 1-3 scale or also the augmented scale as it alternates between one and 3 semitone steps. Of course it also exists like the diminished scale in the alternative configuration of 3-1. There is also an extended version of this scale which works in the configuration of repeating "half-whole-half" steps, e.g. here: Eb, E ,F#, G, G#, A#, B, C, D, Eb. This is one of Messiaen's Modes of Limited Transposition, which I will cover in a dedicated tutorial in the future. You will find the pitch of F#or Gb in the strings which imply the use of this scale.

As you can see, I left the downbeat of bar 43 free in the bass registers providing the Eb bass note on count two. This is something that I really like as it easens up the rhythmic grid a bit but also makes "adventurous" chord switches easier digestible by staggering the "new informations" in sequences. With 43 going to an Em on the downbeat it feels like a very clear cadential harmonic movement coming from the Am before. There of course is already  a hint of Eb in the downbeat with the strings and clarinet which hover could still be a rather easy harmoic/melodic minor of the E chord. Only with the advent of the Eb in the bass register on beat 2 as and the subsequent augmented chords in the brass, the intended tonality is revealed which makes the transition easier on the ear.

Bar 45 "resolves" to the earlier already anticipated E minor with a F#m/E in the second half of the bar.

In bar 46, the buildup feels rather "elaborate", however is only inversions of Em and Dm with the bass note descending while the top note ascends. However, the change of rhyhmic configuration from a 16th note pulse to a homophonic quarter note "fanfare" has a quite dramatic impact and helped me to transition quickly into what was going to follow there.

As you can see, the hit point density was again very high in these just 10 bars and of course the biggest challenge in such sequences is to hit as much as possible while still being musically plausible and coherent.