What Does Jurassic Park Represent
An analysis of Hedwig’s Theme and the Jurassic Park theme
By Liam Morrow
With pencil and paper, some of the greatest melodies ever crafted have been written for the big screen. Film music has been here since the 1930’s, and continues to influence the way we watch films today (T, Whitney, 2011). Two themes that have stood the test of time come from one man – John Williams. His brilliance in manipulating musical techniques have been part of the reason film culture has become what it has today. His use of melody and rhythmic techniques in two particular scores – ‘Hedwig’s theme’ (Harry Potter) and ‘Jurassic Park’ (from the film of the same name) have become influential even years after their composition. Manipulation of melody has an important …show more content…
ability to converse and share character emotions with the audience. John William’s melodic techniques can leave them lingering in our minds days or even weeks after viewing.
Written in 1993, Williams’s theme ‘Jurassic Park’ has become a beloved pop culture theme. Williams has used multiple techniques to coincide events of the film, effectively pulling in his audience. Starting with a 3 note motif in the key of Bb in the piece, Williams travels down neighbour notes of A before he returns back to Bb. By using the tonic as the starting and ending note, he creates a relieved feeling in the score, giving the impression that the score has not moved. It coincides with the film’s moments of the main characters at awe of a dinosaur, and can be related to the audiences’ fixated amazement at what is being seen. By using technically 2 notes, Williams has kept our ears fixated on the soothing tone of the Bb, keeping us content and relaxed at what is being heard and seen.
Williams has written many of his scores with the idea of a melody able to be sung or whistled. To demonstrate this, Williams has used small scale steps throughout key phrases in the score, once again creating a relaxed non-moving motion of the score; ensuring the music is able to be followed by the audience. Rhythmically, an alignment can be heard between accompaniments and the melody. By playing the notes of accompaniments allowed with the melody, it doubles into a chordal texture that sounds both pleasing and miracle-like. This evocative technique of doubling the texture represents what the characters and audience are witnessing, creating a sense of awe in the mind of the audience. Williams has then used dotted with the slow tempo to create a grand sense of power, particularly representing the large dinosaur seen on the screen at the present time.
Harmony plays a prominent roll in providing the score with its ‘feel’. Williams uses I, IV and I in a major key to create a grandeur sense of discovery from the characters, also representing how the audience should be feeling. He also creates strict emphasis on the IV chord before returning to the I (which should generally be a V). By doing this instead of the audience expecting an even greater chord he takes us back to the original one, adding a sense of resolution in the score, and representing our relaxed nature when watching the scene. Furthermore, Williams uses an out-of-major-key Ab in the chord progression in an unfamiliar way. By doing this, Williams imposes the fantastical dinosaur upon the characters and the audience in a jaw dropping way.
Dynamically, Williams manipulates the melody by forcing a particular array of instruments on the listener. He deliberately uses ‘low’ instruments like a French horn, strings and wind to build up to the main phrase. By using this technique he creates a sense of impending excitement in the scene, and grabs the audience on the edge of their seat before the important scene occurs. Specific inclusion of clarinet and bassoons playing while a discrete silence from oboes and flutes occurs means Williams keeps the pacing and dynamics relaxed, creating a soothing yet appropriately inspiring effect on the listener.
Structurally, Williams climactically raises octave every time the theme repeats over until he reaches the stunning climax. Along with this, more rhythmic and instrument versatility can be heard as the theme comes to an emotional end, representing the characters light-headedness at the situation. It presents its listener with a feeling of wonder as they too are witnessing something amazing.
Williams’s ability to coordinate musical parameters with emotional moments is unparalleled in the music world. ‘Jurassic Park’ as a theme uses melody, rhythm, dynamics and structure to grab its audience for the rest of the roller coaster that is Jurassic Park.
Hedwig’s theme
As the best selling book series in history, it would be a battle to bring the novels to life when the first film was released in 2001. To succeed in this, author J.K Rowling personally enlisted the help of John Williams to capture the magic and spirit of the Harry Potter novels. Heard most prominently in the movies, ‘Hedwig’s theme’ has become a pop culture icon of the 2000’s and beyond, and continues to be a driving force for film music alike.
Reminiscent of Tchaichovski’s ‘The Nutcracker’, the score opens off with a celeste playing a mysteriously dark melody throughout the 8 bar. In the key of E minor, Williams uses this manipulated celeste and various other synthesised sounds to add mystique into the opening bars. This can be representative of magic and manipulation in the wizardry world as he creates a melody around the chord of e minor, and by doing so he is capturing the attention of the audience with a uniquely manipulated minor melody.
Similar manipulation occurs in harmonization of chords; in bar 6, Williams comprises a chord similar to E Minor’s dominant seventh but instead swaps F# with an F and an A with an A#. By substituting these two notes, Williams has created an unworldly tone within the score, and this can be likened to a wizard’s magic. The audience’s ear is likely to hear this chord change and feel strangely discomforted; at the same time whimsical. In the 12th bar, Williams adds further mystique, brandishing 3 un-related minor chords to create an aura of magic to the ears of the listener, reminding them that magic is now in the mix.
This aforementioned A section’s melodies introduce a few unique moments during the score; for one, during the 6th bar, Williams introduces an F – foreign to the E minor scale.
This note is part of the previously mentioned harmony of the bar, and creates a strange interval in the music. Using the previous note of D#, Williams is able to meld these together with a followed note of B into a diminished 5th. With this so called ‘musical-wizardry’, Williams imparts this technique into the score at the ending of both phrases of the A section.
It should also be mentioned that the semi-tone motion of the lowered 4th scale degree of A# from the 5th (B) is a notion which induces associations of mystery, and can actually quite prominently be seen in many other William’s scores, namely the ‘Flying’ theme from E.T While most films marches are in a two or 4 beat metre, Williams imposes mystery on the audience when he uses a 3 beat metre for ‘Hedwig’s theme’. In a waltz-like tempo, the melody and rhythms come together to bring a fast paced and yet evasive feel to the music, reminding the audience once again that they are in a world of magic. This ‘floating’ feeling of the 3/8 metre can be likened to a wizard’s broomstick, capturing the quality of the magic
involved.
With an ethereal feeling, Williams is able to use these melodic techniques to create ‘Hedwig’s theme’ in a convincing and iconic way. With its sharp use chordal techniques, Williams brings forth the wizardry theme that is dominant in Harry Potter.
William’s prevalent ‘whistling melodies’ become more iconic when exposed in musical writings. Once again through ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘Hedwig’s theme’, Williams is a master of transporting us into the world of the film. Emotionally charged and drenched with mastery, Williams scores are seen by everyone for what they truly are – magic.
By Liam Morrow
With pencil and paper, some of the greatest melodies ever crafted have been written for the big screen. Film music has been here since the 1930’s, and continues to influence the way we watch films today (T, Whitney, 2011). Two themes that have stood the test of time come from one man – John Williams. His brilliance in manipulating musical techniques have been part of the reason film culture has become what it has today. His use of melody and rhythmic techniques in two particular scores – ‘Hedwig’s theme’ (Harry Potter) and ‘Jurassic Park’ (from the film of the same name) have become influential even years after their composition. Manipulation of melody has an important …show more content…
ability to converse and share character emotions with the audience. John William’s melodic techniques can leave them lingering in our minds days or even weeks after viewing.
Written in 1993, Williams’s theme ‘Jurassic Park’ has become a beloved pop culture theme. Williams has used multiple techniques to coincide events of the film, effectively pulling in his audience. Starting with a 3 note motif in the key of Bb in the piece, Williams travels down neighbour notes of A before he returns back to Bb. By using the tonic as the starting and ending note, he creates a relieved feeling in the score, giving the impression that the score has not moved. It coincides with the film’s moments of the main characters at awe of a dinosaur, and can be related to the audiences’ fixated amazement at what is being seen. By using technically 2 notes, Williams has kept our ears fixated on the soothing tone of the Bb, keeping us content and relaxed at what is being heard and seen.
Williams has written many of his scores with the idea of a melody able to be sung or whistled. To demonstrate this, Williams has used small scale steps throughout key phrases in the score, once again creating a relaxed non-moving motion of the score; ensuring the music is able to be followed by the audience. Rhythmically, an alignment can be heard between accompaniments and the melody. By playing the notes of accompaniments allowed with the melody, it doubles into a chordal texture that sounds both pleasing and miracle-like. This evocative technique of doubling the texture represents what the characters and audience are witnessing, creating a sense of awe in the mind of the audience. Williams has then used dotted with the slow tempo to create a grand sense of power, particularly representing the large dinosaur seen on the screen at the present time.
Harmony plays a prominent roll in providing the score with its ‘feel’. Williams uses I, IV and I in a major key to create a grandeur sense of discovery from the characters, also representing how the audience should be feeling. He also creates strict emphasis on the IV chord before returning to the I (which should generally be a V). By doing this instead of the audience expecting an even greater chord he takes us back to the original one, adding a sense of resolution in the score, and representing our relaxed nature when watching the scene. Furthermore, Williams uses an out-of-major-key Ab in the chord progression in an unfamiliar way. By doing this, Williams imposes the fantastical dinosaur upon the characters and the audience in a jaw dropping way.
Dynamically, Williams manipulates the melody by forcing a particular array of instruments on the listener. He deliberately uses ‘low’ instruments like a French horn, strings and wind to build up to the main phrase. By using this technique he creates a sense of impending excitement in the scene, and grabs the audience on the edge of their seat before the important scene occurs. Specific inclusion of clarinet and bassoons playing while a discrete silence from oboes and flutes occurs means Williams keeps the pacing and dynamics relaxed, creating a soothing yet appropriately inspiring effect on the listener.
Structurally, Williams climactically raises octave every time the theme repeats over until he reaches the stunning climax. Along with this, more rhythmic and instrument versatility can be heard as the theme comes to an emotional end, representing the characters light-headedness at the situation. It presents its listener with a feeling of wonder as they too are witnessing something amazing.
Williams’s ability to coordinate musical parameters with emotional moments is unparalleled in the music world. ‘Jurassic Park’ as a theme uses melody, rhythm, dynamics and structure to grab its audience for the rest of the roller coaster that is Jurassic Park.
Hedwig’s theme
As the best selling book series in history, it would be a battle to bring the novels to life when the first film was released in 2001. To succeed in this, author J.K Rowling personally enlisted the help of John Williams to capture the magic and spirit of the Harry Potter novels. Heard most prominently in the movies, ‘Hedwig’s theme’ has become a pop culture icon of the 2000’s and beyond, and continues to be a driving force for film music alike.
Reminiscent of Tchaichovski’s ‘The Nutcracker’, the score opens off with a celeste playing a mysteriously dark melody throughout the 8 bar. In the key of E minor, Williams uses this manipulated celeste and various other synthesised sounds to add mystique into the opening bars. This can be representative of magic and manipulation in the wizardry world as he creates a melody around the chord of e minor, and by doing so he is capturing the attention of the audience with a uniquely manipulated minor melody.
Similar manipulation occurs in harmonization of chords; in bar 6, Williams comprises a chord similar to E Minor’s dominant seventh but instead swaps F# with an F and an A with an A#. By substituting these two notes, Williams has created an unworldly tone within the score, and this can be likened to a wizard’s magic. The audience’s ear is likely to hear this chord change and feel strangely discomforted; at the same time whimsical. In the 12th bar, Williams adds further mystique, brandishing 3 un-related minor chords to create an aura of magic to the ears of the listener, reminding them that magic is now in the mix.
This aforementioned A section’s melodies introduce a few unique moments during the score; for one, during the 6th bar, Williams introduces an F – foreign to the E minor scale.
This note is part of the previously mentioned harmony of the bar, and creates a strange interval in the music. Using the previous note of D#, Williams is able to meld these together with a followed note of B into a diminished 5th. With this so called ‘musical-wizardry’, Williams imparts this technique into the score at the ending of both phrases of the A section.
It should also be mentioned that the semi-tone motion of the lowered 4th scale degree of A# from the 5th (B) is a notion which induces associations of mystery, and can actually quite prominently be seen in many other William’s scores, namely the ‘Flying’ theme from E.T While most films marches are in a two or 4 beat metre, Williams imposes mystery on the audience when he uses a 3 beat metre for ‘Hedwig’s theme’. In a waltz-like tempo, the melody and rhythms come together to bring a fast paced and yet evasive feel to the music, reminding the audience once again that they are in a world of magic. This ‘floating’ feeling of the 3/8 metre can be likened to a wizard’s broomstick, capturing the quality of the magic
involved.
With an ethereal feeling, Williams is able to use these melodic techniques to create ‘Hedwig’s theme’ in a convincing and iconic way. With its sharp use chordal techniques, Williams brings forth the wizardry theme that is dominant in Harry Potter.
William’s prevalent ‘whistling melodies’ become more iconic when exposed in musical writings. Once again through ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘Hedwig’s theme’, Williams is a master of transporting us into the world of the film. Emotionally charged and drenched with mastery, Williams scores are seen by everyone for what they truly are – magic.