What's up with re-used soundtrack scores?

[wabio]

New movies, old scores. It seems to happen all the time now.....as if we won't notice. The movies I usually hear copied are: Braveheart, Glory, Legends of the Fall, Forrest Gump. Anyone else find this cheesy?

[devilshalo]

Originally posted by wabio
New movies, old scores. It seems to happen all the time now.....as if we won't notice. The movies I usually hear copied are: Braveheart, Glory, Legends of the Fall, Forrest Gump. Anyone else find this cheesy?

Please give an example of a new movie using one of the above mentioned scores. Thanks.

[Jackskeleton]

Perhaps he means the whole Requiem in a dream/ Two towers trailer?

I don't notice unless it's a total knock off and I really can't think of any right now.

[Giles]

the theme music for 'Dragonheart' is used a lot for movie trailers, the most recent one: "Two Brothers"

[SunMonkey]

Yeah, I notice the use of the score from other movies in many trailers of new movies over the last few years, but they never have transfered into the movie itself as far as I know.

Some movies sampled:

Bram Stokers Dracula
Gladiator
The Mummy

[Chrisedge]

The Music from The Rocketeer is used in many trailers...

[dfinney]

Yes, if it's just trailers using the scores from other movies we're talking about, that's very common. In most cases, the score is among the last details added to a movie, along with digital effects and other post-production details.

The actual score can't be used if it hasn't been written yet, so the farther in the future the release date is, the more likely the music you're hearing with a trailer is recycled.

[Dr. DVD]

Another popular one is "Come See the Paradise" by Randy Edelman. Almost always used in trailers for suspense/thrillers.

[Joe Molotov]

I think the Thunderbird's trailer swiped some music from Pirates of the Carribean.

[Giles]

the music score from the film Rudy is also used alot in trailers.

[Fok]

Isn't trailer music cool, quite catchy if you ask me :)

[Abranut]

Originally posted by dfinney

The actual score can't be used if it hasn't been written yet, so the farther in the future the release date is, the more likely the music you're hearing with a trailer is recycled.

Yup. This happens all the time. I hear the music from Beetlejuice in a bunch of trailers.

[TheMadMonk]

The music from Conan the Barbarian is used in tons of movie trailers. (Even the new Zelda game teaser trailer used a slightly modified version of it).

[NitroJMS]

The score for Tommy Boy sounds very similar to that of Dave.

[Michael Corvin]

Yep, the op has to be referring to trailers. I have never heard an entire score recycled. I catch them all the time, although I am drawing a blank right now, the only two I can think of are Prince of Thieves & back to the future themes that I hear used multiple times.

[jaeufraser]

You'll be hard pressed to find a single movie that has a reused score from another film. Oh, I'm sure there's one out there, and many films have used the same source song (hell Smash Mouth's all star is in way too many movies) but for some reason people think just cause the music is in the trailer, it'll be in the movie.

It never works that way. I know reading on AICN talkbacks (yeah I know, not the smartest bunch) but anyway they were going on and on about Sky Captain using the Stargate music. Seriously, it's just for the trailer, the real score isn't done, simple as that.

Now, with regards to films sounding like Braveheart or Aliens or whatever, it's probably because James Horner did the music. And yes, he has a problem of copying himself at least partially. Go watch Patriot Games and Aliens...both films have the exact same theme in it. Worse, that theme was also used in another film, some movie with monkeys, matthew broderick and helen hunt i think.

[scott shelton]

Originally posted by jaeufraser
You'll be hard pressed to find a single movie that has a reused score from another film. Oh, I'm sure there's one out there, and many films have used the same source song (hell Smash Mouth's all star is in way too many movies) but for some reason people think just cause the music is in the trailer, it'll be in the movie.

All that comes to mind is SCREAM 2, which used music from BROKEN ARROW...

As for ALL-STAR, it appears in the upcoming documentary/"America rules!" commercial, AMERICA'S HEART AND SOUL...

I wanted to punch the screen. I can't believe the studios still use that fu**ing song.

[devilshalo]

Originally posted by jaeufraser
It never works that way. I know reading on AICN talkbacks (yeah I know, not the smartest bunch) but anyway they were going on and on about Sky Captain using the Stargate music. Seriously, it's just for the trailer, the real score isn't done, simple as that.

Having seen the movie, I'm going to be buying the score for Sky Captain. And I rarely purchase CDs let alone a movie score. It is absolutely amazing!

[Michael Corvin]

Stargate. That is another one that gets used a lot. I think there was a thread a while back of people posting about trailers that use music from other films.

[Giles]

well....... Re-Animator's score was a blatant reworked version of Psycho's music.

Originally posted by scott shelton
All that comes to mind is SCREAM 2, which used music from BROKEN ARROW...

which felt derived from the music of 'Twin Peaks'

[shill66]

Marco Beltrami has certainly re-used cues and those cues are properly credited, whereas James Horner re-uses everything and tries to pass it off as original. :)

The Truman Show uses music from Powaqqatsi (and some non-film Wojciech Kilar music), and Burkhard Dallwitz (who composed the rest of the brief score) received all the accolades.

The only other thing that immediately comes to mind (besides scores "quoting" other film score motifs) is the film The Book of Life which uses music from The Incredible Shrinking Man.

[shill66]

Originally posted by Giles
well....... Re-Animator's score was a blatant reworked version of Psycho's music.
Definitely - and almost as annoying as V's reworking of Herrmann's North by Northwest.

[Giles]

Even Leonard Rosenman's score for the Bakshi version of 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'Star Trek V' practically mirror each other in reoccuring music themes

[cultshock]

You'll be hard pressed to find a single movie that has a reused score from another film

True, no films that I know of have used another film's entire score, but some films reuse certain songs or cues from an older film's soundtrack (for example, the theme from ACROSS 110th ST. used in JACKIE BROWN, and the KILL BILL films have a bunch). There are also some HK films that have used (without permission) some music from Hollywood films (the music of FORREST GUMP is a popular choice).

[gmal2003]

I dont like re used scores.In fact, I was fooled into thinking a sequel of one of my favorite movies (Unbreakable) was being shown. Instead it was Bloodwork which pissed me off!

[FinkPish]

The reason you are hearing a lot of these scores reworked is that the editors or music editors will temp in score from another film, usually just as a temporary placeholder. Then a condition occurs called "temp love," where the director will fall in love with the temp score, so it is usually left to the composer to recreate as best he can what the director wants (the temp score), hopefully putting enough of his own flavor into the score. Also, if the director already knows what composer he is working with, he will temp in as much music from that composer's past scores as he can, just to make it easier for everyone.

I work as a music editor, and I've seen this on almost everything I've ever worked on.

[Drexl]

I guess Thomas Newman does the reworking of temp scores a lot. Erin Brockovich and Road to Perdition have some music in the scores that sounds a lot like the score to American Beauty, which is no surprise since Newman did the scores for all of those films. There's also a scene in Finding Nemo which has music that sounds like it was lifted out of The Shawshank Redemption (both of those were Newman scores too). In the case of FN, it could have been a deliberate homage, though, since in the scene the fish were escaping from a net

I just saw a TV spot for A Cinderella Story with music lifted from Dave.

[karnblack]

Originally posted by FinkPish
The reason you are hearing a lot of these scores reworked is that the editors or music editors will temp in score from another film, usually just as a temporary placeholder. Then a condition occurs called "temp love," where the director will fall in love with the temp score, so it is usually left to the composer to recreate as best he can what the director wants (the temp score), hopefully putting enough of his own flavor into the score. Also, if the director already knows what composer he is working with, he will temp in as much music from that composer's past scores as he can, just to make it easier for everyone.

I work as a music editor, and I've seen this on almost everything I've ever worked on.

Yep. You've hit the nail on the head. When I was taking Film Scoring in college that subject was brought up. Most composers dread the temp score and would rather see the picture without sound, but when the director falls in love with a temp score what's a composer to do? If you don't copy the score someone else will, and you'll be out of a job. And yes, it seems like James Horner has a knack for copying himself. Also, the score to Cobb uses a cue from Alien 3 both composed by Elliot Goldenthal. I can only presume that the director fell in love with the cue and the composer said just use it instead of trying to write something to sound like it.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

The most glaring re-use of a score for me has to be the end of Die Hard:

Spoilers!!!!!

After the blonde guy gets gunned down by Al, the music cue is clearly lifted from ALIENS. Specifically the piece played soon after the colony is destroyed.

Spoilers!!!!!

Horner, Goldsmith, Williams, Silvestri....these guys have many similar sounding scores, I guess you could call it a trademark. Horner is especially bad for butchering his old themes and pasting them back together for "a New Sound".

Ian