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Keywords: Interstellar, non-diegetic music, film music, Christopher Nolan, Hans Zimmer, implicit narrative functions, semiotic concepts, ...
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Lund University Rasmus Mathias Carlsson Centre for Languages and Literature FIMT09, Spring 2019 Master Program in Film and Media History Master’s Thesis Supervisor: Professor Lars Gustaf Andersson Seminar Date: 2019 - 06 - 05
This study sets out to investigate the non-diegetic music in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014) in order to highlight its implicit narrative functions and meanings. The theoretical approach consists of semiotic concepts such as ‘Cognitive denotative’ and ‘Cognitive connotative’ functions by Emilio Audissino, ‘Myth’ and ‘Anchorage’ by Barthes as well as Claudia Gorbman’s ‘Connotative Cueing’. The musical concept called ‘Leitmotif’ is also used. The methodology used was a textual analysis, based on the ‘Multi-code mind-set’ where one thinks about film and music as two separate and competing entities that hand in hand creates dramatic representations. The results show that the non-diegetic music can function as a narrative agent that creates and builds up tension, dynamic and energy within narrative contexts; an assistant to the spectator that helps one to better comprehend a narrative context where it connects one emotionally as well as perceptually to it and the characters within that context; enables the spectator to embrace a interpretation of implicit meanings in a narrative context; cues the viewer into narrational positions that can either lure the spectator into or prepare one for an upcoming narrative context; an indicator or ignitor of a specific diegetic event that heightens the mood and excitement of the visuals; a supporting film element that keeps a static, slow or boring passage of a scene interesting; enables the spectator to embrace a interpretation of implicit meanings in a narrative context; addresses what is implicit within the drama of a scene which helps the spectator to see what is not in the visuals; an narrative agent that can take the form of a specific music piece where its musical characteristics can carry a deeper narrative meaning which elucidates when one considers its musical modifications as well as its pattern of occurrence and reoccurrence within the narrative and its contexts. It is also highlighted that there are both old and new films that resembles to the sound mixing ‘issues’ Interstellar has which sometimes interfere with the spectator’s perception of dialogue because it has been, periodically, slightly mixed beneath the level of music and other sound effects and therefore has a lower level in the hierarchy of the spectator’s cinematic attention. Keywords: Interstellar, non-diegetic music, film music, Christopher Nolan, Hans Zimmer, implicit narrative functions, semiotic concepts, leitmotif, denotation, connotation.
In 2014 Christopher Nolan’s epic space saga, Interstellar (2014), had a worldwide premiere in theatres. It received massive criticism for its sound mixing issues, which “ignited a Hollywood uproar”.^1 The complaints were centered on both the sound effects and the orchestral score of the film, composed by the Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer, which occasionally drowned the dialogue and made it hard, and even impossible, to understand. The complaints about the poor sound mixing were regarded as a technical issue within the theatres until Christopher Nolan broke silence and admitted that the “’impressionistic’ sound was an ‘unusual approach’ for a mainstream blockbuster, [and he] insisted that it was the right choice for an ‘experimental film’ like Interstellar ’”.^2 Nolan underlined that this ‘unusual’ sound mixing was intentionally chosen to make the dialogue harder to hear in certain scenes because “there are particular moments in [the film] where [he] decided to use dialogue as a sound effect, so [it] sometimes [was] mixed slightly underneath the other sound effects to emphasize how loud the surrounding noise [was]. It’s not that nobody has ever done these things before, but it’s a little unconventional for a Hollywood movie.”^3 Hans Zimmer too responded to the criticism, saying that he and Nolan wanted to take the audience on a journey by pushing the technology of what cinema and modern speakers can handle.^4 For Zimmer, they “[wanted] to be bold [regarding the sound mixing]. [Nolan & Zimmer] were aiming for the best sound systems. And […] it was really important for [them] that people wouldn’t hear this music detached from the movie for the first time on their little computer screen because that’s not what is designed for”^5 In response to the complaints, a theatre in New York posted a sign on its door which clarified the sound controversy around Interstellar that there were no problems with the theatres sound equipment and underlined that Christopher Nolan had “mixed the soundtrack with emphasis on the music”.^6 (^1) Andy, Gensler, “Why ‘Interstellar’ Sound Issues Have Ignited a Hollywood Uproar’”, www.billboard.com, 2014, November 14 (collected 2019- 01 - 24). (^2) Hannah-Shaw, Williams, “Interstellar’s Inaudible Dialogue Was an ‘Adventours’ choice”, www.screenrant.com, 2014, November 16 (collected 2019- 01 - 24). (^3) Hannah-Shaw, Williams, “Interstellar’s Inaudible Dialogue Was an ‘Adventours’ choice”, www.screenrant.com, 2014 November 16 (collected 2019- 01 - 24). (^4) Hans, Zimmer, ”Hans Zimmer Comments on ’ Interstellar ’ sound controversy”, The Hollywood Reporter , www.youtube.com, 2014, December 23 (collected 2019- 01 - 16). (^5) Kirsten, Acuna, “Composer Hans Zimmer speaks out against ‘interstellar’ Critics”, www.businessinsider.com, 2014, November 18 (collected 2019- 01 - 24). (^6) Kirsten, Acuna, “Composer Hans Zimmer speaks out against ‘interstellar’ Critics”, www.businessinsider.com, 2014, November 18 (collected 2 019 - 01 - 24).
The sound controversy around Interstellar has made it clear that sound design (especially music) can play a significant role for a spectator’s experience of a film, not to say the least when it comes to a film produced by the duo Nolan & Zimmer.^7 Music, of course, helps the spectator connect emotionally and perceptually with the film being projected on the screen. Thus, it helps the spectator to comprehend films with complex narrative relations or even interpret implicit meanings and functions of the narrative.^8 Today, film music has grown enormously since the early sound films of the 1920s and established itself as an important element in the audio-visual paradigm. Film scholar Claudia Gorbman means that the interrelation between music and film is important since it sets moods and tonalities in a film which “guides the spectator’s vision both literally and figuratively”.^9 The spectator, who enters the cinema to experience a story, rather receives a greater experience than that because of the different elements in the film such as the connotative systems of camera placement, editing, lightings and also music.^10 Yet there is and have always been a central discussion when it comes to the film music’s aesthetics’; the music’s place in the hierarchy of the spectators cinematic attention.^11 In Unheard Melodies (1987), Gorbman discusses a concept called ‘Subordination to the voice’, where she highlights Leonid Sabaneyev’s^12 reasoning regarding narrative logic: ”It should always be remembered, as a first principle of the aesthetics of music in the cinema, that logic requires music to give way to dialogue”. 13 In other words, the dialogue must receive priority in the soundtrack mix, in order to not drown out the character’s speech and to avoid, or rule out, any aural competition in order to ensure the dialogue’s clarity. In contrast, in Interstellar , Nolan & Zimmer place the non-diegetic music on a higher level in the spectator’s hierarchy of cinematic attention, sometimes drowning out the dialogue. This kind of sound mixing issue can also be found in recent BBC documentaries and dramas which the composer George Fenton underlines in a discussion with Mervyn Cooke.^14 Fenton means that the technological aspect is a crucial matter when it comes to be a sound (^7) Nolan & Zimmer have previously received criticism for similar sound mixing issues in for example The Dark Knight Rises (2012) where audiences had problem of hearing and understanding Bane, the main villain in the final instalment of the Dark Knight trilogy. From: Borys, Kit, “’The Dark Knight Rises’ Faces Big Problem: Audiences Can’t Understand Villain”, www.hollywoodreporter.com, 2011, December 20. (Collected 2019- 01 - 25 ). (^8) Emilio, Audissino, Film/Music Analysis , 2017, Palgrave Macmillan, Southampton, p. 141. (^9) Claudia, Gorbman, Unheard Melodies , 1987, Indiana University Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis, p. 11. (^10) Claudia, Gorbman, Unheard Melodies , 1987, p. 11. (^11) Claudia, Gorbman, ”Film music” in: John, Hill & Pamela Church Gibson, The Oxford Guide to Film Studies , 1998, Oxford University Press, Oxford, p. 45. (^12) Leonid Sabaneyev (1881-1968) was a russian musicologist and composer. (^13) Claudia, Gorbman, Unheard Melodies , 1987, 1987, p.77. (^14) The full discussion can be found on page 109 in: Mervyn Cooke’s & Fiona Ford’s The Cambridge companion to: Film Music , 2016, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Nolan’s & Zimmer’s choices regarding the sound mixing puts Interstellar in an oscillating position between the classical Hollywood mainstream film and experiment’s films since it’s non-diegetic music fits the film ‘like a glove’ at the same time as it drowns out the dialogue, almost erasing the relationship between sound and dialogue / lip movement. Moreover, Nolan breaks the norms for sound mixing in Hollywood mainstream films which in turn slightly expands the full potential of the Hollywood mainstream film (in a similar but not the same way as George Méliés did with the science fiction genre in the early cinema era of the 1900 s). 24 By breaking the norms for sound mixing in classic Hollywood mainstream films Interstellar raises certain interests concerning the non-diegetic music. Is its placement in the hierarchy of the spectator’s cinematic attention important for the narrative? How does it affect the spectator’s perception of the narrative? What is the narrative agency of Interstellar’s non- diegetic film music? How is it understood in relation to what is happening on the screen?
Interstellar (2014) and its non-diegetic music will serve as the main object of this study, in order to scrutinize what the non-diegetic music’s narrative agency is in three specific, but yet narratively important, scenes. Hence the research question:
The work is divided into seven major parts. The introduction, part two is Previous research in which there is a presentation of the earlier conducted research concerning film music and research related to the chosen subject. Part three is Theoretical framework in which a theoretical (^24) Hannah-Shaw, Williams, “Interstellar’s Inaudible Dialogue Was an ‘Adventours’ choice”, www.screenrant.com, 2014 November 16 (collected 2019- 01 - 24).
framework of reference, consisting mainly of Claudia Gorbman and Emilio Audissino, will be presented. It contains presentations of different semiotic concepts as well as a musical concept. All used in analytical manner which is illustrated in part six. In the fourth chapter, the methodological approach is presented together with delimitations and selections regarding the number of sequences of scenes chosen for the present study. The fifth chapter presents the origins of the Interstellar soundtrack where a short background story is presented which highlights the birth of the film’s soundtrack. The sixth chapter is introduced with a short plot summary of Interstellar which is followed by three analytical subchapters. The seventh and final chapter presents and discusses the results. It includes a part called ‘discussion’, ‘reflection’ and ‘suggestions for further research’. The first part will highlight how the non-diegetic music in Interstellar as well as its sound mixing resembles to and differs from old and new films in order to underline a historical context concerning film genres and directors. The other part concerns a reflection upon the analytical approach and tools used in this study. The latter part includes suggestions of how one could approach the subject or a similar one by using other observations methods and research questions.
In the following section, an overview of previous research on film music will be given in order to outline and construct the relevant research field for this thesis. It will also highlight that there is a ‘missing piece’ in the big puzzle of film music and Interstellar in the research field of film studies.
The study of film music has taken place in the margins of academia for a long time but has come of age during the last two decades.^25 It is a complicated field since it is a complex subject matter. It is both about music and film, which proclaims that two separate disciplines, film studies and musicology, can claim they are entitled to study it where the latter one has increasingly dominated the field of film and media studies.^26 Interestingly enough, the academic study of film music was initiated by film scholars and not musicologists. Film music has evolved into becoming a legitimate object of study and therefore musicologists and music (^25) Claudia, Gorbman, ”Film music” in: John, Hill & Pamela Church Gibson, The Oxford guide to film studies , 1998, p. 43. (^26) Emilio, Audissino, Film/Music Analysis , 2017, p. 1
together with Steiner’s music generates or reinforces the direction of the narrative and he concludes that the scene is an audiovisual symmetry of design. Neumeyer then dissects the analysis by highlighting how Gorbman’s musical codes are applied to Bellour’s analysis where the ‘pure’ musical code is absent while the ‘cultural’ and ‘cinematic’ codes are active since they are “at work in virtually any music in film. The question is not their presence but to the degree to which they are active.”^30 He also means that the recurrence of music in a scene invites the audio-viewer to make connections to the scene, reinforcing the idea of the film as a coherent narrative. The contribution Neumeyer provides with here can be found in Meaning and interpretation of music in cinema (2015).^31 In an essay, called ‘Analytical and Interpretive Essays (I): Analysing the Music’, by Neumeyer and Jim Buhler they examine the musicological methods for their applicability to film music studies. Both Neumeyer and Buhler highlight central concepts under which musicology functions, but as well as the historical logics under which the field has functioned. Buhler’s essay, ‘Analytical and Interpretive Approaches to Film Music (II): Analysing Interactions of Music and Film’, considers music as an element to the overall sonic composition of the film itself. Buhlers cites Michel Chion and Rick Altman, two pivotal theorists of sound in film, where Buhler negotiates his position between Chion (who emphasizes sound in relation to the larger sound design) and Altman (who argues that the various elements of film sound constitute an equally integral part of the filmic experience): “Following Michel Chion, I argue for interpreting music as an element within the overall sound design, but with Rick Altman and against Chion, I argue that the three elements of the soundtrack (dialogue, music and effects) do indeed constitute an integral, parallel track to the images”.^32 The two essays can be found in Kevin J. Donnelly’s Film Music: Critical approaches (2001) which consists of a collection of essays that outlines a variety of approaches to film music. Peter Larsen has written ‘Analysing music’ and ‘Musical meanings’ which are two chapters in Film Music (2005).^33 In the former chapter, Larsen discusses music in context, moreover how the music itself has “its own language” which one must try to hear by concentrating only on the music in order to “maintain a certain distance from the overall film (^30) David, Neumeyer, Meaning and interpretation of music in cinema , 2015, p. 61. (^31) The work also includes contributions from James Buhler and introduces an eloquent and a wide range of film music theory which focuses on the spectator’s cognitive activities in constructing and enhancing meanings through film music and sound effects (^32) Kevin J. Donnelly’s Film Music: Critical approaches , 2001, Edinburgh University press, Edinburgh, p. 39. (^33) The work is similar to Neumeyer’s with the exception that Larsen traces the history of music in film and discusses central theoretical enquiries concerning narrative and psychological functions
narrative, and then to change perspective and allow the film to be the overall context of the analysis.”^34 Larsen also points out the difficulty with music as a mode of representation in film: Anyone can see what a photograph, a film image or a figurative painting represents and describe it in words. Anyone can retell what is written in a text. It is, however, much more difficult to say what a piece of music ‘means’ or ‘deals with’. Music, like a series of images or a text, is an organized sequence of elements. But unlike images and texts this sequence does not produce a precise content. While images and texts are signs […] music is first and foremost structured sound, [a] sounding form, and sequences of notes that are organized in relation to underlying syntactic codes.^35 Therefore, one is forced to describe the music itself since music doesn’t, according to Larsen, represent anything. It doesn’t convey a different ‘content’ that one can refer to and use as a point of reference in the description. In the latter chapter, ‘Musical meanings’, Larsen emphasizes that musical meanings exist on a scale that ranges from extremely simple structural similarities via complex, cultural connotations to produced references of leitmotifs, to which can be added various expressions of emotions which can be linked to specific sections of the music. He also underlines that it is important to emphasize that those semantic functions are not mutually exclusive. One and the same piece of music can convey many kinds of meaning simultaneously.^36 Leitmotifs and how they acquire meaning are also discussed by Larsen and will be further discussed in chapter three. With musicologists’ domination in the field of Film-Music Studies Emilio Audissino’s Film/Music Analysis: A film studies approach , (2017) brings the discipline back into the domain of film studies. Audissino blends Neoformalism with psychology and musicology. The study treats film music as a cinematic element with an approach to film music in which music and visuals are seen as equals where Audissino presents a review of the issues which make most past and current approaches to film music incomplete or biased. He also presents his theoretical frameworks of reference which consists mainly of Kristin Thompson’s Neoformalism. Audissino propose, later on, a method to “analyse music in films based on three spheres of mental activity in which the viewer is engaged: perception, emotion and cognition. As guidelines for the analysis [Audissino] finally offer[s] a set of three functions that music can fulfil in films, based on those three spheres of mental activity.”^37 Audissino highlights that when music helps the viewer comprehend more complex narrative relations or even interpret implicit or symptomatic meanings he calls it music with a ‘Cognitive function’, since “higher-level mental processes are involved, including productive thinking, in the case of interpretation.”^38 (^34) Peter, Larsen, Film Music , 2005, Reaktion books, London, p. 42. (^35) Peter, Larsen, Film Music , 2005, p. 43. (^36) Peter, Larsen, Film Music , 2005, p. 75. (^37) Emilio, Audissino, Film/Music Analysis , 2017, p. VI. (^38) Emilio, Audissino, Film/Music Analysis , 2017, p. 141.
range of sound, mixers have utilized the possibilities with the new systems which, in other words, have made both sound effects and music louder than before, simply because they can.^43 Case also highlights that music has grown from being a background mood-setter in films to a character in itself and that the digital sound systems are amazingly good at filling out the sound space without drowning out the dialogue. In the earlier times of sound film, no one complained about the films being too loud compared to how it is today.^44 In “The role of music communication in cinema” by Scott D. Lipscomb & David E. Tolchinsky they introduce empirical and theoretical models of film music perception and the role of music in film.^45 They refer to some of the most significant research investigating the relationship between sound and image in the cinematic context.^46 By using a cognitive approach they study musical communication in cinema. The authors discuss how music conveys general moods of a film, internal life, thoughts and feelings of a character as well as narrative structure. Further, they stresses that the typical role of a film score is, according to them, to reinforce, alter or augment the emotional content of a cinematic narrative. Lipscomb & Tolchinsky proposes an extended set of ways in which the soundtrack can serve to communicate meaning through “sound (including music), taking into account the director’s – and therefore, the composer’s – intensions, the narrative content of the film, and the overall strategy of the director in constructing the multifaceted soundtrack.”^47 They mean that “music is capable of conveying the overall perspective or message intended by the director, as related to both character’s and on-screen events.” Additionally, they mean, a musical score can augment the narrative in order to express unspoken and unseen implications that underlie the drama, that is the auditory component (both music and sound effects) of a motion picture can add depth and meaning to the cinematic experience. 48 Lipscomb and Tolchinsky emphasizes that within the context of a completed film “roles of the various individuals involved in the music communication process (^43) Dominic, Case, “SPOTLIGHT FEATURE: POST-PRODUCTION SOUND; Loud & clear: A beginner’s guide to getting your films soundtrack right”, On film , November 2004, Issue 20, p. 1. (^44) Dominic, Case, “SPOTLIGHT FEATURE: POST-PRODUCTION SOUND; Loud & clear: A beginner’s guide to getting your films soundtrack right”, On film , November 2004, Issue 20, p. 1 f. (^45) Scott D., Lipscomb & David E., Tolchinsky, “The role of music communication in cinema”, Musical Communication , March 2012, Oxford university press. (^46) For example: M, Boltz “Musical soundtracks as schematic influence on the cognitive processing of filmed events” in Music Perception ; R.M., Prendergast, Film music: A neglected art , 1992; C. Bullerjahn & M. Güldenring, “An empirical investigation of effects of film music using qualitative content analysis”, Psychomusicology and S.K. Marhsall & A.J. Cohen, “effects of musical soundtracks on attitudes toward animated geometric figures, Music Perception. (^47) Scott D., Lipscomb & David E., Tolchinsky, “The role of music communication in cinema”, Musical Communication , March 2012, p. 3. (^48) Scott D., Lipscomb & David E., Tolchinsky, “The role of music communication in cinema”, Musical Communication , March 2012, p. 4.
become multifaceted and difficult - if not impossible – to disentangle one from another.”^49 They also mentions that it is important to have in mind that the role of the composer to the film score is, often, dramatically influenced by the wishes and expressed input of the director. This is something that could be most certainly applicable to the duo Nolan & Zimmer.^50 Both articles thus highlight aspects highly relevant for the present study. Case emphasizes how the technological aspect has become a crucial matter since todays sound equipment gives the sound mixers new possibilities of pushing the technology almost to its limits which can interfere with the spectators’ perception of dialogue in today’s theatres. Lipscomb & Tolchinsky discuss how film music can unveil the foreshadowed messages that symbolizes the underlying psychological drama of a film. Both articles will be applied and used in the analysis as well as in the concluding chapter.
The semiotic approach can be used to discuss language-based and image-based media, because in either case we find signs that carry a meaning.^51 Signs (something that refers to something else) and what they communicate (codes; sets of conventions used to interpret sign systems and to communicate meanings) is the main interest in semiotics. Each means of communications has its own type of signs and codes, and thus there are semiotic studies of different sign-systems such as literary books, comic books, photographs, films, music etc. So, when it comes to music in films, there is the tendency to “approach the task with a ‘Multi-code mind-set’, that is, to think of cinema as one code system and of music as another.”^52 Here, film scholars has adopted and blended semiotics with psychoanalysis. This leads to thinking about film and music as two separate and competing entities that, hand in hand, creates dramatic representations. 53 It is also important to remember that the meanings in film texts depend, obviously, on how both the visual and aural signs of any film narrative are structured.^54 The audio-visual signs are not only used to denote something but to trigger a whole range of connotations attached to the sign. Barthes calls this the ‘bringing-together’ of signs and their connotations to form a particular (^49) Scott D., Lipscomb & David E., Tolchinsky, “The role of music communication in cinema”, Musical Communication , March 2012, p. 5. (^50) See chapter five for more information about the duo and their working process on Interstellar. (^51) Jonathan Bignell, Media Semiotics , 2002, Manchester University Press, New York, p. 5 - 6. (^52) Emilio, Audissino, Film/Music Analysis , 2017. p. 29 f. (^53) Emilio, Audissino, Film/Music Analysis , 2017. p. 35. (^54) Jonathan Bignell, Media Semiotics , 2002, p. 197.
screen which can indicate different character factors such as moral, class or ethnic values. Furthermore, the characteristics of the melodies, the instrumentation used, and the rhythm imitates or illustrates physical events on the screen. Film music reinforces what is already “signified by dialogue, gestures, lighting, color, tempo of figure movement and editing.”^60 Yet it is important to remember that “music has tremendous power to influence mood [and] that different music will cue the viewer to different interpretations of an image or scene”. 61 Emilio Audissino also discusses the ‘anchorage’ concept where he highlights that it is not only music that anchors ambiguous meaning in the visual images but also ”any other extra-musical elements that anchors the vague meaning of the music.”^62 A piece of film music makes the narrative progress and it clarifies narrative information which helps the spectator to engage with the characters but most of all it reveals possible interpretations of a particular moment of the film and how these work in relation to the co-existing elements in the scene.^63
As previously mentioned in the second chapter, Audissino discusses how music can have a ‘cognitive function’ since it helps the viewer comprehend complex narrative relations or when it comes to interpret implicit or symptomatic meanings. This function can be divided into a ‘Denotative cognitive’ and a ‘Connotative cognitive’ function where the former is when music highlights relations amongst the different elements in the narrative and thematic levels that help the viewer comprehend the narrative and its contexts in a better and less vague way. Audissino further highlights this by applying the concept to film excerpts from Letto a tre piazza (1960) and The Treasure of the Sierre Madre (1948) where he emphasises that music can anticipate a narrative turning point as well as clarify one’s understanding of a character’s motive for a certain action or of, as I will try to apply, a specific moment of action in the film. The latter one, when music has a ‘Connotative cognitive function’, its functions and motivations are less directly graspable than in the denotative cases. Here, it is not a matter of comprehension but rather an interpretation of the audio-visual relationship which in turn means that the music suggests some connotation that can be either consistent or inconsistent with the visuals. Audissino also underlines that if one knows the story behind the musical choices, the film can, (^60) Claudia, Gorbman, Unheard Melodies , 1987, p. 84. (^61) Claudia, Gorbman, Unheard Melodies , 1987, p. 85. (^62) Emilio, Audissino, Film/Music Analysis , 2017, p. 114. (^63) Emilio, Audissino, Film/Music Analysis , 2017, p. 126.
with the help of the ‘Connotative cognitive function”, reveal the deeper layers of a film’s scene or a segment of it since the connotations become then even more evident.^64
A leitmotif is “a theme whose recurrences remain specifically directed and unchanged in their diegetic associations” and it is usually a short piece of music that is associated with a character, place, situation or something or someone else of particular narrative importance.^65 ‘Letimotif’s’’ can be used in a way to add additional information missing in the moving images to certify or determine what is already available in the image. The leitmotif doesn’t only signify its referent, that is: the character, thing, place or situation. It is also modified to reflect its context which is done through musical variation which can be (1) subtle, where the orchestra or composer changes or adjusts the tempo or dynamics or the pitch, (2) it can be substantial as well, where one alters the meter, rhythm or mode for example, from major to minor.^66 During the course of the film, leitmotifs reoccurs and the recurrence, besides creating a coherent mood for the characters and settings, helps the viewers’ comprehension of the story and helps to follow its development through the leitmotifs that make the viewer recall previous events, situations or characters and the emotion associated with those.^67 The leitmotif’s function, then, is to represent something or someone of narrative importance and when it reoccurs it creates a reminder, closure or a feeling of completeness. For example, in the case of Hitchcocks Psycho the reoccurring Rhee! Rhee! Rhee! leitmotif characterizes, according to Audissino, the murder(er) and making one feel the violence and pain of each stab in Marion’s body. When the same piece of (murder) music outburst in a scene later on in the narrative, we know it means murder because we previously heard it during Marion’s death scene.^68 It functions, as Larsen means, to evoke the meaning it was assigned to in that particular context which signals the character, setting or context as well as it can vary nuance in a films dynamic progression. 69 (^64) Emilio, Audissino, Film/Music Analysis , 2017, p. 144 - 145. (^65) Claudia, Gorbman, Unheard Melodies , 1987, p. 27. (^66) James, Buhler & David, Neumeyer, Hearing the Movies: Music and Sound in Film History , 2010, p. 200 - 201. (^67) Emilio, Audissino, Film/Music Analysis , 2017, p. 134. (^68) Emilio, Audissino, Film/Music Analysis , 2017, p. 131 ff. (^69) Peter, Larsen, Film Music , 2005, p. 70.
in key moments of the story. Therefore, the scenes are regarded as fruitful for the present study together with the fact that they bear importance for the progression of the narrative structure. Thus, there is a high possibility that the chosen scenes carry important narrative functions and meanings as well. The scenes have been named after the film’s soundtracks. Hence the main names for each scene and analysis is: ‘Mountains’, ‘No time for Caution’ and ‘Detach’. The following chapter contains a short presentation concerning Hans Zimmer’s and Christopher Nolan’s background story to the origin of the film’s soundtrack.
After nine years, working together on the Batman - trilogy (2005-2012) and Inception (2010)^71 , Christopher Nolan did something he never done before during his career as a filmmaker. He gave Hans Zimmer (during 2013) one page of the, at the time unfinished, Interstellar script, and asked him to write a piece of music to it without telling him about neither the genre, title, characters nor the plot of the film.^72 “It was very important to me [Nolan] that the music did not pay any attention to the genre. What I wanted to do was to engage Hans in a very pure creative process. What I wrote Hans, to get him started, was some dialogue that I’ve written for the film mixed with some ideas behind the film without any indication to genre or scale just to free him up from that.”^73 By starting the process with this experimentation Nolan & Zimmer managed to capture the ‘heart of the movie’ which is what it means to be a parent and Zimmer says that he sat down and wrote the music piece which is “about what it feels like to be a father and what it feels like to have a son and I [Zimmer] was writing about my son.” It was only later Zimmer found out that the son, in the script Nolan had handed to Zimmer, really was a daughter and when Zimmer played the piece of music for Nolan for the first time, it became: “the basis for the entire score, I [Nolan] thought it was absolutely perfect and captured the emotional cords of the film I wanted and it was at that point that I told him it was actually a large scale science (^71) www.imdb.com, “Christopher Nolan” and “Hans Zimmer” pages (collected 2019- 02 - 15). (^72) Jeff, Jensen, “END WITHOUT INFINITY IS A NEW BEGINNING Dejan Stojanovic, The sun watches the sun”, Entertainment Weekly , 2014 October 24, Issue 1334, p. 20 - 28. (^73) Christopher, Nolan, “Cosmic Sounds—The concepts, process, and recording of Hans Zimmer’s unforgettable score” in: the special features from the Blu-ray version of Interstellar , 2014, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Paramount Pictures Corporation.
fiction film, but I didn’t give him any clues about that. I think what that did for him was that it set him very firmly in a direction related to the heart of the film.” 74 In creating the soundtrack for Interstellar Nolan & Zimmer conducted 45 scoring sessions which triple their number on the soundtrack to Inception (2010).^75 The reason for the high number of sessions was because Nolan & Zimmer wanted to abandon old habits regarding, especially, the certain sound they had developed for the Batman trilogy which Zimmer means: had seeped into the zeitgeist of other movies. So, we went ‘okay let’s not do anything we did on that. […] No actiony-string, no thundering drums, none of this […] and the way we [Nolan & Zimmer] talk about music is always on story, we always talk about the story and in some way this talk about story which was really about celebrating science [and scientist] Chris was talking about how movies have become more and more internal and psychological, we wanted to do something which was looking outwards and upwards [and] one of the things we started to talk about was the musical instruments where Chris at one point mentioned pipe-organs and if you think about it, by the 17th^ century they were the most complex machine that man had ever created and held that pole position of complexity until the telephone exchange was invented. And if you think about the way [pipe-organs] look as well, they look like afterburners on a spaceship.^76 New sounds were sought by Nolan & Zimmer and they were again experimenting and looking for new ways of creating a unique soundtrack in order to avoid the typically characterization of their music in previous projects. One third of the 45 scoring sessions were mainly experimentation and learning how the musical instrument functioned, which was the church organ that consists of pipe-organs. The choice of the church organ for the Interstellar soundtrack was, according to Nolan who made a strong case about the choice, that it had some “feeling of religiosity to it, even if Interstellar isn’t religious but rather that the church organ and the architectural cathedrals represents mankind’s attempt of portraying the mystical or meta-physical, what is beyond us, beyond the realm of the everyday.”^77 (^74) Christopher, Nolan, “Cosmic Sounds—The concepts, process, and recording of Hans Zimmer’s unforgettable score” in: the special features from the Blu-ray version of Interstellar , 2014. (^75) Jeff, Jensen, “END WITHOUT INFINITY IS A NEW BEGINNING Dejan Stojanovic, The sun watches the sun”, Entertainment Weekly , 2014 October 24, Issue 1334, p. 20 - 28. (^76) Hans, Zimmer, “ Trent Reznor, Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman and more Composers for THR's Roundtable | Oscars 2015 ”, www.youtube.com. (Collected 2019- 02 - 17). (^77) Christopher, Nolan, “Cosmic Sounds—the concepts, process, and recording of Hans Zimmer’s unforgettable score” in: the special features from the Blu-ray version of Interstellar , 2014.
