Theme Song From Epic Movie
In the spring of 1977, moviegoers packed into American cinemas to watch the space opera epic, Star Wars. Up until this point, surround sound hadn't existed in the film space, so when a Star Destroyer arrived on the screen, audiences felt as though the dagger-shaped ship was flying over them - and they were cheering.
With director George Lucas at the helm, this dynamic marriage between sound and vision became the key to the success of the trailblazing franchise. "Sound is 50% of the movie experience, and I've always believed audiences are moved and excited by what they hear in my movies at least as much as by what they see," Lucas said.
Chris Davies, senior director of audio engineering at Sonos, says: "Back then, the best possible experience you could get when watching a movie was to go to a movie theatre. George Lucas would say, 'I'm only going to put Star Wars into theatres that meet a particular standard'. We're at a place now where we're making it easier to have this great movie experience in your living room. And when you re-create a lot of things with great sound - things that you might have experienced decades ago - it can trigger emotions."
Here is our list of the eight most iconic movie theme songs, all worth a revisit with the aid of brilliant sound.
My Heart Will Go On, Titanic, 1997
Celine Dion's power ballad is synonymous with one of the most famous cinematic captures in modern history: Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet pretending to fly at the bow of the doomed Titanic. Director James Cameron was reportedly initially reluctant to have a ballad roll over the end credits, but the decision to do just that proved the right one as Dion's vocals sparked a palpable reaction from the guests at Titanic's Hollywood premiere - and from the world thereafter. "People were reduced to jelly," Billy Zane, who played snobbish antagonist Cal in the movie, told Billboard. "The most stoic and stalwart pillars of the industry … they were beside themselves. When she hits the high note in 'Near, far, wherever you are' - bam! The floodgates open."
Theme song from Mission: Impossible, 1996
Next to Star Wars, one of the most recognisable tunes in film history is the Mission: Impossible theme song. This rollicking track drums up anticipation, suspense and excitement when matched with Tom Cruise's death-defying stunts and action scenes. Lalo Schifrin composed the tune in just three minutes, and told the New York Post the process was like penning a letter: "When you write a letter, you don't have to think what grammar or what syntaxes you're going to use, you just write a letter. And that's the way it came." Easy for some.
The Raider's March, Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981
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Image source: TNS Sofres
The Indiana Jones theme song immediately conjures up an image of a young Harrison Ford scouring the dark nooks of a temple wearing a felt fedora. Composer John Williams (who won five Oscars for his work on Fiddler on the Roof, Jaws, Star Wars, ET the Extra-Terrestrial and Schindler's List) met director Steven Spielberg, who encouraged Williams to join two songs together to create what is officially called The Raider's March. Ford says: "That damn music follows me everywhere. They play it every time I walk on stage, every time I walk off a stage. It was playing in the operating room when I went in for my colonoscopy ... Music is the spice, it's the salt and pepper in every film recipe that brings the whole thing together."
(I've Had) The Time of My Life, Dirty Dancing, 1987
Songwriter Franke Previte had just $100 in his bank account when his music label asked him to write a song for a "little movie". At the Academy Awards in 1988, Previte met the film's star, Patrick Swayze, who told him: "We all hated the movie. We filmed the final dance scene first, but we didn't have a song then. So we were like, 'Let's just get this piece of shit over with'. But when we heard your song, it changed everything about the movie - and how we reacted to our scenes." Thirty-three years later, (I've Had) The Time of My Life is the anthem to so many people's great tales, its climax emblematic of the euphoria felt when they meet the loves of their lives.
He's a Pirate, Pirates of the Caribbean, 2003
Composed by Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer for the 2003 Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, this film score is instantly recognisable. Listen to the piece on a good speaker and you will be able to hear Badelt and Zimmer insert Irish sea shanties within the orchestral layers. It's been reported that the composers purposefully repeated the musical phrase over and over to reflect the rocking motion of the ocean. While the movie belonged to Johnny Depp's woozy rapscallion, Captain Jack Sparrow, this score is pure gold treasure.
Main Title, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, 1977
The musical score of Star Wars is iconic, instantly identifiable and unforgettable. John Williams's Main Title became the leitmotif for Luke Skywalker and his lightsaber action. But how? With a lot of orchestral fanfare from the brass and strings families, the cinemagoer begins their experience feeling excited and ready for adventure. As rapid-fire trumpets enter the score in the second half of the song, an air of triumph and victory is introduced, making it arguably the most enduring movie theme song of all time. Yes, the force is strong with this one.
Hedwig's Theme, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 2001
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Image source: Rosenfeld Media
Somewhere between Prince Harry and Harry Styles, JK Rowling dreamt up a wand-wielding wizard named Harry Potter. In 2001, four years after the book's publication, film director Chris Columbus brought the boy under the stairs to the silver screen in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. During the opening notes of Hedwig's Theme - the haunting score in all eight instalments of the franchise - a small piano-like instrument with a bell-like sound, known as a celesta, is heard. A flurry of violins and a brass section follow, in a melody so magical that it is still mentally transporting Harry Potter fans to platform 9¾ 19 years on.
Theme song from Jaws, 1975
Composer John Williams proved just how frightening the repetition of two notes can actually be. No other film score in modern cinema builds sonic suspense quite like this one. When Williams first played the little motif to director Steven Spielberg on a piano, the director laughed. Williams said it was "grinding away at you, just as a shark would do; instinctual, relentless, unstoppable".
Crafting that sound for the listener at homeSonos works with people in the film world to ensure its speakers best replicate the original capture and intent.
"We don't necessarily know the intention behind a particular piece of content," says Sonos sound experience manager Greg McAllister. "But we can sit down with three-time Academy Award-winning film sound mixer Chris Jenkins and listen to his work. When we are tuning our speakers, Chris is able to listen to something he produced and say, 'Actually, the third delay of the vocal should have been coming from that position but I heard it from over there'. Because he knows the content inside out, he's able to very accurately tell us if something sounds right or if something sounds not right.
"We carry on doing that until the creators are happy with how the product sounds. With the Sonos Arc, the sound is fired upwards and then bounces off the ceiling and arrives at you. So the sound literally sounds like it's coming from above you."
Listen to movies your way with Sonos.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sonos-hyper-real/2020/aug/19/the-8-most-iconic-movie-theme-songs-of-all-time
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