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…
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
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…
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