Kinotes Kinotes Podcast

In this two-part Kinotes series, we look at Bear McCreary’s work on the new “Lord of the Rings” TV show, THE RINGS OF POWER as it relates to Howard Shore’s expansive score for the LORD OF THE RINGS film trilogy. McCreary wasn’t allowed to use the music from the movies, but felt it was important to stay true to the musical tapestry Shore established for Middle-earth. 

In the second episode, we tackle the human realms: Gondor, Númenor, Rohan, and the Southlands, and some of the figures associated with them. We also look at star-crossed Elf and human relationships, Sauron and the various villainous figures of the show and movies, and try to use McCreary’s music to speculate about mysterious characters from the show. 

Show Notes:
00:00 - Introduction & Recap
03:11 - Music of the High Men: Gondor & Númenor
11:20 - Human Heroes: Elendil & Isildur / Aragorn
16:37 - Star-Crossed Love: Aragorn & Arwen / Bronwyn & Arondir
21:12 - Music of the Middle & Low Men: Rohan & The Southlands
27:57 - Halbrand
19:06 - The Dark Lord Sauron
28:42 - Challengers: Saruman & Adar
40:15 - Dark Servants: The Nazgûl
43:42 - Mystery Figures: The Stranger & The Mystics
49:06 - Gandalf the White
50:24 - Outro / Sources / Social Media / “White Leaves”

Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at kinotes.podcast@gmail.com. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle).

All episodes are written and produced by Nick Nylen.

Sources:





Books: THE MUSIC OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS FILMS by Doug Adams. Available used on Amazon. 
Podcasts: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING series of “The Soundtrack Show” by David W. Collins. Available on Apple Podcasts. 
Interviews: Bear McCreary interview for YouTube channel In Deep Geek - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyf7WQ6wQt8

Blog: Bear McCreary’s blog series on making the music for THE RINGS OF POWER - https://bearmccreary.com/bears-blog

Others: The insights and musical analysis of Frank Lehman (@fmlehman on Twitter) and Monoverantus on YouTube & Twitter (@AMoverus) - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbyg3ujMxvifnRRHFrlCvmg/featured

The Tolkien Professor Corey Olson (@tolkienprof and @SignumU) on Twitter. 

In a two-part Kinotes series, we look at Bear McCreary’s work on the new “Lord of the Rings” TV show, THE RINGS OF POWER as it relates to Howard Shore’s expansive score for the LORD OF THE RINGS film trilogy. McCreary wasn’t allowed to use the music from the movies, but felt it was important to stay true to the musical tapestry Shore established for Middle-earth. 

In the first episode, we’ll look at the approaches the composers took and how important music was for Tolkien and his legendarium. We’ll compare the way the Galadriel-narrated prologues establish the world differently between the show and first movie. Then we’ll go through the various realms and cultures of Middle-earth, putting the show and films side-by-side: The Elves, Galadriel & Elrond; The Dwarves, Moria, Khazad-dûm, Durin and Disa; the differences and similarities between the Hobbits and the Harfoots, between Bilbo Baggins and Nori Brandyfoot. We’ll listen to the evolution of Howard Shore’s Fellowship of the Ring, and try to understand the various themes for the powers of the Ring and its consequences—even theorize about a piece of music that may be building to Bear McCreary’s theme for the One Ring and the other Rings of Power.  

Then, next episode, we’ll tackle the human realms: Gondor, Númenor, Rohan, and the Southlands, and some of the figures associated with them. We’ll also look at star-crossed Elf and human relationships, Sauron and the various villainous figures of the show and movies, and try to use McCreary’s music to speculate about mysterious characters from the show. 

Show Notes:
00:00 - Introduction
02:06 - Tolkien & Music
04:19 - Composers’ Approaches: Shore & McCreary
06:13 - The World of Middle-earth
07:18 - Prologues & Antiquity
09:47 - Valinor
13:18 - Greed, Power & Seduction
19:06 - Music of the Elves: Galadriel & Elrond
30:33 - Music of the Dwarves: Moria & Khazad-dûm
40:16 - Homebodies & Nomads: Hobbits & Harfoots
49:31 - Fellowship of Races
52:54 - Outro / Looking Ahead / Sources / Social Media / “Valinor”

Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at kinotes.podcast@gmail.com. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle).

All episodes are written and produced by Nick Nylen.

Sources:





Books: THE MUSIC OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS FILMS by Doug Adams. Available used on Amazon. 
Podcasts: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING series of “The Soundtrack Show” by David W. Collins. Available on Apple Podcasts. 
Interviews: Bear McCreary interview for YouTube channel In Deep Geek - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyf7WQ6wQt8

Blog: Bear McCreary’s blog series on making the music for THE RINGS OF POWER - https://bearmccreary.com/bears-blog

Others: The insights and musical analysis of Frank Lehman (@fmlehman on Twitter) and Monoverantus on YouTube & Twitter (@AMoverus) - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbyg3ujMxvifnRRHFrlCvmg/featured

The Tolkien Professor Corey Olson (@tolkienprof and @SignumU) on Twitter. 

In a new episode of Kinotes, we explore the music of the “Master of Suspense”, Alfred Hitchcock, in part one of a two-part series entitled “Hitchcock: The Music of Suspense, Obsession, & Murder".



There’s been so much discussion about Hitchcock’s use of visuals in the movies, but less so his soundtracks. In this first part, we’ll talk about Hitchcock’s use of music before his collaboration with Bernard Herrmann (with one exception), beginning with his first sound film BLACKMAIL and including films like THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, REBECCA, SUSPICION, SHADOW OF A DOUBT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS, ROPE, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, REAR WINDOW, and many others.



We’ll talk about his early sound and music innovations, his constant return to the waltz as a musical form, his technique of threading a song throughout a story, and his collaboration with a variety of accomplished composers including Franz Waxman, Dimitri Tiomkin, and Miklos Rozsa.



Show Notes:



0:00:00 - Introduction



0:02:36 - Advent of Talkies: BLACKMAIL, MURDER, JUNO & THE PAYCOCK



0:21:00 - The Waltz & Development of a Song: WALTZES FROM VIENNA, REAR WINDOW



0:26:48 - Public Performance, Music for Life and Death: THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH ('34 & '56), SECRET AGENT



0:40:58 - Earworms: THE 39 STEPS & THE LADY VANISHES



0:48:14 - Musical Performances & Guilt: YOUNG & INNOCENT, ROPE, STAGEFRIGHT



0:55:43 - Waxman's Seductive Feminine Themes: REBECCA, THE PARADINE CASE, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, SUNSET BLVD



01:06:04 - Piano Symbolism: PARADINE CASE, WESTWORLD, SABOTEUR



01:09:00 - Themes for Villains: SUSPICION, SHADOW OF A DOUBT, & STRANGERS ON A TRAIN



01:21:08 - Ticking Tiomkin: HIGH NOON, DIAL M FOR MURDER, Boris Gudonov



1:24:56 - The Two Sides of Love: SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS



1:32:30 - Outro / Sources / Social Media / Suite from REBECCA



Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at kinotes.podcast@gmail.com. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle).



All episodes are written and produced by Nick Nylen.



Sources:




Books: HITCHCOCK’S MUSIC by Jack Sullivan, SILENT SCREAM: ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S SOUNDTRACK By Elisabeth Weis, A HEART AT FIRE’S CENTER: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF BERNARD HERRMANN by Stephen C. Smith, and HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT by Francois Truffaut.


Film commentary from the PARADINE CASE Blu-ra by Stephen Rebello and Bill Krohn.


The documentary film, HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT about the conception of the book of the same name.


If you liked this podcast, I have a few other deep dives on music in specific Hitchcock films to recommend: “Settling the Score’s” episodes on VERTIGO and PSYCHO, “Underscore”’s episodes on VERTIGO and on Bernard Herrmann, and “The Soundtrack Show’s” episode on PSYCHO.

After a hiatus, we're back with an episode about my favorite film of all-time: Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 paranoid thriller, THE CONVERSATION. 



THE CONVERSATION has a special relationship with two other films: Antonioni's BLOW UP, which preceded and inspired it, and Brian De Palma's BLOW OUT, which is influenced by both movies. 



This episode explores the interconnection between the three through their music, sound design, and especially their thematic interests which include reality, perception, truth, and privacy. 



Naturally SPOILERS for the three movies, which do have some surprising twists and turns. I'm also including a spoiler warning for Hitchcock's VERTIGO as that film's plot has a special relationship to BLOW OUT. 



Show Notes:



0:00:00 - Introduction



0:03:00 - Blow Up Intro



0:04:15 - Herbie Hancock / Music as Setting & Counterpoint



0:08:28 - The Blow Ups: Narrativized Reality



0:11:58 - Persona Music: Bullitt, Pelham, Dirty Harry



0:13:30 - The Conversation Intro



0:16:00 - Harry Caul's Theme



0:20:45 - The Assignment Theme



0:22:00 - Theme Melding / Filtering and Processing



0:25:27 - Amy's Theme: Harry & Relationships



0:31:13 - The Ending & Legacy



0:36:30 - Blow Out Intro / De Palma & Hitchcock



0:39:35 - Coed Frenzy: Disco & Rock



0:43:40 - Recording & Conspiracy / National Mood



0:51:03 - Suspense Music: Burke Materail, Psycho



0:53:48 - Tragic Love: Jack & Sally's Theme, Vertigo



1:03:45 - Truth & Perception in the Trio



1:05:05 - Outro / Sources / Social Media / "Theme from The Conversation"



Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at kinotes.podcast@gmail.com. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle).



All episodes are written and produced by Nick Nylen.



Sources:



Available on Amazon: "David Shire's The Conversation: A Film Score Guide" by Juan Chattah. 



Available on Amazon: Film commentaries from THE CONVERSATION (Francis Ford Coppola & Walter Murch, on Blu-ray),  BLOW-UP (Peter Brunette, DVD only). David Forgac’s essay “BLOW-UP: In The Details” included in the CRITERION COLLECTION release of BLOW-UP. 



Podcasts on iTunes: The Canon (episode & commentary on BLOW OUT), Soundtracking with Edith Bowman (James Mangold interview about LOGAN), Steven Benedict (BLOW UP, THE CONVERSATION, BLOW OUT episodes)



Interview with David Shire for ZODIAC at Film Score Monthly (subscribe at their website)



If you liked this podcast, check out The Discarded Image video essay on THE CONVERSATION entitled “Who’s Tracking Who?” on YouTube. https://youtu.be/dgAdI4pxlTM



You might also check out Drew Morton’s video essay on Vimeo, entitled CROSS-CUT, which connects BLOW UP, THE CONVERSATION, and BLOW OUT, entirely with visuals. https://vimeo.com/109405354

In this episode, we’ll explore the music in BLADE RUNNER and in BLADE RUNNER 2049 through films noir as well as electronic movie music. We’ll talk sound design much more than usual as its so tightly integrated into the soundscapes of these films.



Also related is a discussion on some of the social issues inherent in the music of the BLADE RUNNERs and noir, specifically race and gender politics.



SPOILERS for most of the major plot points in BLADE RUNNER and BLADE RUNNER 2049.



Show Notes:



0:00:00 - Introduction
0:01:22 - Blade Runner as Hybrid Genre Sci-fi Noir
0:04:30 - Film Noir Music: Intro / Classic Noir
0:09:22 - Jazz in Film: Race & Gender / The Crooner & Chanteuse
0:17:56 - Blade Runner: Memory & Nostalgia
0:20:00 - Noir: Trope of the Jazzy Solo Instrument
0:25:50 - Blade Runner / Chariots of Fire: Expressive & Emotional Electronics
0:28:29 - Electronic Film Music: Alien Sounds / Theremin
0:32:16 - Electronic Film Music: Forbidden Planet / Blurring of Music & Sound Design
0:33:34 - Vehicle Sounds: Blade Runner Films & Forbidden Planet
0:40:02 - Influence of Weather in Music & Film Scores
0:53:48 - Multiculturalism: Blade Runner & Films Noir
1:00:20 - Piano Symbolism in Blade Runner Films
1:04:07 - Reverb & Voice / Voiceover Narration
1:10:43 - 2019 vs. 2049: Stasis vs. Movement
1:19:20 - Outro / Sources / Social media / “Tears in Rain”



Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at kinotes.podcast@gmail.com. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle).



All episodes are written and produced by Nick Nylen.



Sources:



Noir Music Books (all on Amazon):
“Jazz Noir: Listening to Music from The Phantom Lady to The Last Seduction” by David Butler
“Sired City: Sound and Source Music in Classic American Noir” by Robert Miklitsch
“Music in the Shadows: Noir Musical Films” by Sheri Chinen Biesen
“Jazz and Cocktails: Rethinking Race and the Sound of Film Noir” by Jans B. Wager
“Film Music: A Neglected Art” by Roy M. Pendergast



Other Noir Sources:
Articles “Scoring Evil” by Brian Light and “On The Downbeat: Investigating the Special Relationship between Film Noir and Jazz” by Woody Haut from Noir City E-Magazine, Summer 2015 Issue. Available on the Film Noir Foundation’s website: www.noircity.com.



Essay “Crossing Musical Borders: The Soundtrack to Touch of Evil” by Jill Leeper from the book “Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Pop Music” (available on Amazon).



Essay “Notes on Film Noir” by Paul Shrader, published 1972 (http://intelligentagent.com/noir/Schrader.pdf)



Podcasts (all on iTunes):
“Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir”
“Noir Talk”, two part series “Hollywood Nocturne: Classical Film Noir Scores”



Electronic Music Books (all on Amazon):
“Forbidden Planet: A Film Score Guide” by James Wierzbicki
“Off The Planet: Music, Sound, and Science Fiction Cinema”, edited by Philip Hayward



Blade Runner Specific Sources:
Book “Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner” by Paul M. Sammon (available on Amazon)
Book “Sound Design and Science Fiction” by Willian Whittington (available on Amazon)
Video Essay “Listening to Blade Runner” by The Nerdwriter (https://youtu.be/4T_sSSka9pA)
Essay “The Music in Blade Runner” by Andrew Stiller from Book “Retrofitting Blade Runner: Issues in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” (available on Amazon)

Michael Giacchino! Part III of our PLANET OF THE APES series!



Spurred by this year’s release of WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, we kick off Kinotes in a big way with an epic three-episode series on THE PLANET OF THE APES. Part I will tackle the original PLANET OF THE APES, Part II: RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, and Part III: DAWN & WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES.



In this episode, Part III, we'll explore Michael Giacchino’s scores from DAWN and WAR. We’ll discuss what Giacchino brings to the series as well as the major musical themes and influences.



SPOILERS for the major plot points of DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES! — and by extension, RISE. Actually let’s throw the ’68 film in there too.



Show Notes:



00:00 - Intro & Recap of Episodes 1 & 2
03:00 - Dawn & War / Intro to Michael Giacchino as Composer / Rogue One & Lost
06:03 - Piano / Leitmotif: Main Theme for Dawn
11:34 - Leitmotif: Caesar’s Main Theme
23:05 - Goldsmith Influence / Emil Richards
25:46 - The Choir: Ligeti’s Requiem / Duel of the Fates / O Fortuna / Classical Requiems
29:13 - Leitmotif: Caesar’s Burdened Leader Theme / Dawn Ending / Empire Strikes Back
37:50 - Intro to War / 20th Century Fox Fanfare / Influences
40:21 - The Choir / Leitmotif: Main Theme For War
43:00 - Echoplex Reference / Leitmotif: The Colonel’s Motif / Leon & Morricone
45:40 - Leitmotif: Caesar’s Anti-Hero Theme / Morricone: Death Rides a Horse / La Moglie Più Bella
48:30 - Caesar’s Anti-Hero Theme: vs. Super Mario Bros 2 / vs. Porgy and Bess
49:46 - Caesar’s Anti-Hero Theme: John Barry & Goldfinger
52:48 - Leitmotif: Nova’s Theme / Return of Main Theme For Dawn
56:05 - Morricone: Ecstasy of the Bold vs. The Ecstasy of Gold
58:08 - Reference to Jerry Goldsmith’s Link Score
59:30 - Ape Escape / Dies Irae Sidebar / Danny Elfman
1:05:52 - Caesar’s Arc / Reprise of Nova’s Theme
1:06:50 - The Biblical Epic / Rozsa & Ben-Hur
1:08:30 - The End of Caesar’s Trilogy / Comparison to 1968 Apes
1:13:30 - Outro / Sources / Social Media / War “End Credits” Suite



You can find a playlist of all the music used in this episode on our Spotify page - kinotespodcast.



Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at kinotes.podcast@gmail.com. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle).



Sources:



“Music for Apes” featurette on the WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES Blu-ray. You can buy the Blu-ray on Amazon.com



“Simian Symphony: How Apes Music Evolved from Man” by Scorekeeper, from Birth.Movies.Death Magazine's Planet of the Apes Issue. You can buy the magazine at www.mondotees.com



The Soundcast & Cinematic Sound Radio podcast episodes on WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, which connected me to Morricone’s La Moglie Piu Bella score. You can subscribe to both these podcasts on iTunes.



Rebel Force Radio - Star Wars Oxygen: The Music of John Williams gave me much insight on the music of Star Wars. You can subscribe to Rebel for Radio on iTunes.



Shake The Box’s video on comparing the Mario music to WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES: https://youtu.be/Q-AUFoBSgn0



Special Thanks to Julie Popelka.