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Choral music in film

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Choral music in film

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Choral Music in Film

by

Micah David Bland

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC THORNTON SCHOOL OF MUSIC
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfilment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS (Choral Music)

December 2021

Copyright 2021 Micah David Bland

ii
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank the dissertation committee (Jo-Michael Scheibe, Daniel Carlin,
Cristian Grases) for their support and review of this document, as well as the choral music
faculty at the University of Southern California for their guidance throughout my doctoral
studies. My deepest appreciation to Tyler Bates, Terry Edwards, William Goldman, Henry
Jackman, John Ottman, Jasper Randall, and Sally Stevens whose interviews greatly supported
the research used in this dissertation, and Robert L. Bland for his review of the document.

iii
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................... ii
List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. vi
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................ vii
List of Images ........................................................................................................................... viii
Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... ix
Chapter 1: Research Methodology and the Historical Development of Choral Music in Film .... 1
Historical Development of Music in Film ................................................................................. 1
Research Methodology ........................................................................................................... 5
Overall Development of Choral Music in Film .......................................................................... 7
Chapter 2: Methods of Incorporating Choral Music in Film...................................................... 11
Dramatic Domain .................................................................................................................. 11
Diegetic, Non-diegetic, Transdiegetic, Metadiegetic, and Source Scoring .............................. 15
Differences Between Choral Music in Pre-1960 and Post-1960 Films .................................... 19
Texture ................................................................................................................................. 21
Non-traditional Vocal Elements ............................................................................................. 25
Type and Size of Ensembles .................................................................................................. 30
Audio Mixing of the Chorus ................................................................................................... 35
Synthesized Choral Singing .................................................................................................... 39
Pre-composed, Licensed, and Musical Imitation .................................................................... 41
Music and Film Conceived at the Same Time ......................................................................... 46
Choral Singing in the Musical Film ......................................................................................... 49
Opening Titles and End Credits.............................................................................................. 52
Chapter 3: Artistic Reasons for Choral Music Incorporation in Film ......................................... 57
Choral Inclusion Determined by Director or Composer ......................................................... 58
The Choir as an Expression of Grandeur and Emotional Content ........................................... 62
Textual Expression of the Chorus .......................................................................................... 68
Choral Music as A Means to Transport the Listener to Different Cultures and Realities ......... 74
Humor in Choral Film Music .................................................................................................. 82
iv
Choir as a Textural Color for the Musical Soundscape ........................................................... 85
Chapter 4: Use of Choral Music by Prominent Film Composers ............................................... 88
Max Steiner (1888–1971) ...................................................................................................... 88
Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) ............................................................................................... 90
Dimitri Tiomkin (1894–1979) ................................................................................................. 91
Alfred Newman (1900–1970) ................................................................................................ 93
Miklós Rózsa (1907–1995) .................................................................................................... 98
Roger Wagner (1914–1992) ................................................................................................ 101
Ennio Morricone (1928–2020)............................................................................................. 102
Jerry Goldsmith (1929–2004) .............................................................................................. 107
John Williams (b. 1932) ....................................................................................................... 109
Howard Shore (b. 1946) ...................................................................................................... 113
Danny Elfman (b. 1953) ....................................................................................................... 115
Hans Zimmer (b. 1957) ........................................................................................................ 117
Chapter 5: Choral Ensembles, Vocal Contractors, and Singers ............................................... 121
Hall Johnson Choir .............................................................................................................. 121
Jester Hairston (1901–2000) ............................................................................................... 123
Ken Darby (1909–1992)....................................................................................................... 124
Ron Hicklin Singers .............................................................................................................. 125
London Voices ..................................................................................................................... 126
Los Angeles Master Chorale ................................................................................................ 128
The Hollywood Film Chorale................................................................................................ 129
Metro Voices....................................................................................................................... 130
Jasper Randall (b. 1974) ...................................................................................................... 131
Bobbi Page (b. 1951) ........................................................................................................... 133
Responsibilities of the Vocal Contractor .............................................................................. 133
Working as a Studio Choral Musician in Film Music ............................................................. 135
Chapter 6: The Future of Choral Film Music ........................................................................... 137
Challenges Facing the Continued Use of the Chorus in Film................................................. 137
The Continued Use of Chorus in Film and Alternative Forms of Entertainment ................... 139
v
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 142
Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 144
Appendices ............................................................................................................................. 154
Appendix A: Transcriptions of interviews with composers, contractors, conductors, and
singers ................................................................................................................................ 154
Tyler Bates, Interview ...................................................................................................... 154
Terry Edwards, Interview ................................................................................................ 161
William Goldman, Interview ............................................................................................ 163
Henry Jackman, Interview ............................................................................................... 165
John Ottman, Interview ................................................................................................... 173
Jasper Randall, Interview ................................................................................................. 177
Sally Stevens, Interview ................................................................................................... 183
Appendix B: Complete list of films analyzed by researcher .................................................. 192
Appendix C: Detailed methods of incorporation (m = minutes; s = seconds) ....................... 215

vi
List of Tables
Table 1.1. Profile of Interviewees …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
Table 1.2. Number of Films Analyzed and Percentage that Incorporate Choir ……………………….... 8

Table 2.1. Total Amount of Choral Singing per Dramatic Action (m = minutes; s = seconds) ..... 11

Table 2.2. Percentage of Choral Singing per Decade by Dramatic Action Domain ………………..... 12

Table 2.3. Total Percentage of Choral Singing by Dramatic Action Domain ……………………...….... 13

Table 2.4. Pre and Post-1960 Percentage of Choral Singing by Dramatic Domain ……………...….. 19

Table 2.5. Children and Boychoirs Incorporated in Film …………………………………………………......... 33

Table 5.1. Notable Films Utilizing the Hall Johnson Choir ………………………………………………...….. 122

Table 5.2. Notable Films with Jester Hairston as Conductor and Arranger ……………………...…... 124

Table 5.3. Notable Films with Ken Darby as Conductor and Arranger …………………………...…..... 125

Table 5.4. Notable Films with Ron Hicklin as Vocal Contractor …………………………………………..... 126

Table 5.5. Notable Films Utilizing the London Voices ……………………………………………………...…... 127

Table 5.6. Notable Films Utilizing the Los Angeles Master Chorale …………………………………….... 129

Table 5.7. Notable Films Utilizing The Hollywood Film Chorale or Contracted by Sally Stevens …..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..... 130

Table 5.8. Notable Films Utilizing the Metro Voices ………………………………………………………...….. 131

Table 5.9. Notable Films with Jasper Randall as Vocal Contractor ……………………………......…….. 132

Table 5.10. Notable Films with Bobbi Page as Vocal Contractor …………………………………......….. 133

vii
List of Figures
Figure 1.1. Total Amount of Choral Singing by Year ……………………………………………………………….... 9

Figure 1.2. Important Film Music Terminology …………………………………………………………………….... 10
Figure 2.1. Example of Harmonic Doubling from “Dry Your Tears, Afrika” by Williams ……........ 24

Figure 4.1. Dimitri Tiomkin’s Choral Inclusion by Film ………………………………………………………….... 91
Figure 4.2. Alfred Newman’s Choral Inclusion by Film ……………………………………………………………. 93
Figure 4.3. Miklós Rózsa’s Choral Inclusion by Film ………………………………………………………………… 98
Figure 4.4. Ennio Morricone’s Choral Inclusion by Film ………………………………………………........... 102
Figure 4.5. Jerry Goldsmith’s Choral Inclusion by Film ………………………………………………...…….... 107
Figure 4.6. John Williams’ Choral Inclusion by Film …………………………………………………………...... 109
Figure 4.7. Howard Shore’s Choral Inclusion by Film ……………………………………………………………. 113
Figure 4.8. Danny Elfman’s Choral Inclusion by Film ………………………………………………………....... 115
Figure 4.9. Hans Zimmer’s Choral Inclusion by Film ……………………………………………………………… 117

viii
List of Images
Image 2.1. Treble Voices in Recording Session for Deadpool 2 …………………………………………....... 31

Image 2.2. Tenor-Bass Voices in Recording Session for X-Men: Days of Future Past …………….... 33

Image 2.3. John Powell at Mixing Console for How to Train Your Dragon 2 ……………………......... 36

Image 3.1. Harry Gregson-Williams Conducting the Choir in a Recording Session ………………….. 73

Image 3.2. Composer Tyler Bates (center) and Director David Leitch (Left) at Recording
Session for Deadpool 2 .……………………………………………………………………………………………… 84

Image 5.1. London Voices in Recording Session …………………………………………………………......…… 126

Image 5.2. Los Angeles Master Chorale in Recording Session with John Williams ………………… 128

Image 5.3. Hollywood Film Chorale in a Recording Session for Deadpool 2 ……………………....... 129

Image 5.4. Jasper Randall Conducting Choir for X-Men: Apocalypse ………………………………....... 132

Image 6.1. Los Angeles Master Chorale Performing Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans …………… 140

Image Appendix A.1. Tyler Bates ………………………………………………………………………...……...…….... 154

Image Appendix A.2. Terry Edwards …………………………………………………………………………...…....... 161

Image Appendix A.3. William Goldman …………………………………………………………………………........ 163

Image Appendix A.4. Henry Jackman ………………………………………………………………………………...... 165

Image Appendix A.5. John Ottman ………………………………………………………………………………...……. 173

Image Appendix A.6. Jasper Randall …………………………………………………………………………………….. 177

Image Appendix A.7. Sally Stevens …………………………………………………………………………………....... 183

ix
Abstract
This dissertation investigates the use of choral music in films disseminated in the United
States between 1930 and 2019. To evaluate this choral incorporation, interviews were
conducted with composers, ensemble conductors, vocal contractors, and singers. In addition,
800 films were analyzed and classified based on specific areas of musical interest. The overall
results indicate that choral music has been regularly incorporated by composers throughout the
past century, with some variation in this choral usage as film music has adapted throughout the
decades.
Methods of choral music incorporation were evaluated in order to identify common
compositional trends. Choral music in the form of diegetic source music was found to be a
common method of incorporation due to its necessity in the narrative. Additional methods of
incorporation investigated include texture, non-traditional vocal elements, types and size of
ensemble, approaches to audio mixing, synthesized choral singing, pre-composed or licensed
music, and choral music in credits.
Musically artistic reasons for the inclusion of a choral ensemble were also found to be a
significant factor in a composer’s decision to incorporate a choir. Choral singing has been
identified by composers as a highly effective way to heighten the emotive atmosphere of the
film through its ability to express sentiments of grandeur, emotion, and diverse realities. This
dissertation also investigates the various methods of choral incorporation of select composers,
identifies the prominent choral ensembles and vocal contractors in the industry, and predicts
the future and continued use of choral music in film.

1
Chapter 1: Research Methodology and the Historical Development of Choral
Music in Film
From the origin of film, music has continually served as a significant feature in the
overall film experience. Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, film composers
have regularly incorporated the chorus as a supportive or featured element in the musical
soundscape. As a component in the overall soundscape, the chorus typically supports the
musical score as an additive feature that heightens the emotive atmosphere of the film. This
heightened emotive atmosphere is achieved through the chorus’ innate ability to express
sentiments of grandeur, emotion, and diverse realities, leading to its frequent incorporation as
a musical timbre in a film’s soundscape.

Historical Development of Music in Film

Since the earliest public projection of film by the Lumiere brothers in December 1895,
music has regularly been associated with the industry.
1
Used as a means to fill the void of
silence as well as cover up the unpleasant mechanical noise of the projector, the earliest films
utilized a pianist to provide incidental music.
2
Prior to 1909, these performers played what
they preferred, resulting in music that was not always appropriate for the scene. According to
Charles Hofmann,
Lively music to a solemn scene was a common experience during those first years.
More often the same music was heard for every picture and there was little
differentiation between one film and another. It was as if the musicians never

1
Royal S. Brown, Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994),
12.
2
Roger Manvell, John Huntley, Richard Arnell, and Peter Day, The Technique of Film Music (New York: Hastings
House, 1975).
2
watched the screen!
3

In the early twentieth century, filmmakers started to provide theaters with song lists of
musical suggestions to accompany their films. This practice was first initiated by the Edison
Company in 1909 but became common practice among other film companies by the 1920s.
4

In addition to these musical suggestions, notable composers were occasionally commissioned
to write music for larger film productions. According to Ann Lloyd,
The composer Saint-Saëns was asked to write a special score for the prestigious film
production L’Assassinat du duc de Guise in 1908, and after that it became customary
for any feature-length film to have a specially composed or compiled musical
accompaniment.
5

While many of the earliest films were accompanied by piano, the more affluent
theaters incorporated an organ or orchestra, and in one account, a chorus. According to
James Wierzbicki, “religious music for chorus and organ set the tone for a ‘Passion Play’ film in
New York in February 1898.”
6

As the film industry progressed into the 1920s, synchronized sound was added to the
previous “silent” films. As the synthesis of sound and film continued to develop, a continued
increased interest in original scores resulted in the Classical Style or “Golden Age” of film
music, lasting from 1933 to the 1950s. Through grand orchestral scores, the music of these
classical era films found great success with composers such as Max Steiner, Erich Korngold,
Alfred Newman, Miklós Rózsa, Dmitri Tiomkin, and Franz Waxman. This success was

3
Charles Hofmann, Sounds for Silents (New York: DBS Publications, 1970), 2, quoted in Laurence E. MacDonald,
The Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History (Blue Ridge Summit: Scarecrow Press, 2013), xiv.
4
Laurence E. MacDonald, The Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History (Blue Ridge Summit: Scarecrow
Press, 2013), xiv.
5
Ann Lloyd and David Robinson, 70 Years at the Movies: from Silent Films to Today’s Screen Hits (New York:
Crescent Books, 1988), 84.
6
James Wierzbicki, Film Music: A History (New York: Routledge, 2009), 23.
3
expressed by Tiomkin in a 1951 article in which he stated
In the years that I have been composing and conducting motion picture scores, the
importance and value of background music have been increasingly recognized. Only a
few years ago, music was considered a pleasant, unobtrusive reinforcement of a
sequence’s tempo and mood. Today it is far more. Screen music is still unobtrusive,
for being so is the primary characteristic of any movie score that is good. But screen
music is now so artfully and effectively integrated with script, direction and the actors
themselves, that it has come to be one of the means of story-telling.
7

However, unbeknownst to Tiomkin, studios would soon turn away from the classical
sound in favor of popular music. In the 1950s, through the popularity of Tiomkin’s title song
“Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling” for the film High Noon (1952), studios realized a new
opportunity to promote films and drive profits through the incorporation of popular songs. As
a result, studios regularly requested pop songs to be incorporated in films at the expense of
the classical score. This transition to popular music did not sit well with some composers,
such as Elmer Bernstein who wrote “producers quickly began to transform film composing
from a serious art into a pop art and recently into pop garbage.”
8

Following, and in addition to this “pop garbage,” the 1960s and 1970s observed a
more eclectic amalgamation of musical styles, in contrast to the monolithic narrative style of
the classical era.
9
Spurred on by the cultural and musical revolutions of these decades,
including the British Invasion, Civil Rights movement, Hippie movement, and opposition to the
Vietnam War, composers broke from the traditional symphonic style, incorporating non-
traditional instrumentation and soundscapes.

7
Dimitri Tiomkin, “Dimitri Tiomkin,” in Film Score: The View from the Podium, ed. Tony Thomas (Cranbury, NJ: A.S.
Barnes and Co., 1979), 95.
8
Elmer Bernstein, “What Ever Happened to Great Movie Music?” High Fidelity (July 1972), 58, quoted in James
Wierzbicki, Film Music: A History (New York: Routledge, 2009), 190.
9
Wierzbicki, Ibid.
4
While the classical sound of prior decades was never absent from Hollywood, as it was
carried on in scores by Alfred Newman, Elmer Bernstein, and Miklós Rózsa, among others, a
renewed interest in this classical sound was spurred on by John Williams in the 1970s with his
popular symphonic scores for films such as Jaws (1975) and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New
Hope (1977). According to Shales,
Williams has been highly instrumental in trying to bring back to the movies the full
symphonic score, with all its potentials for pleasurable manipulation and its intimations
of life larger than life.
10

In the 1980s and 1990s, film music transitioned away from the thematic symphonic
scores, as exemplified by John Williams, to action driven orchestral textural colors. According
to James Wierzbicki,
Directors used orchestral music not in a thematic way,. . . but simply as a means to
boost the excitement level of action scenes, as a churning affective backdrop
noticeable only during slight gaps in the foregrounded battery of sound effects.
11

Through technological developments, these textural colors were being produced by
synthesizers, establishing a vastly different soundscape to the traditional symphonic score, as
heard in the music of Hans Zimmer (Rain Man, 1988; Driving Miss Daisy, 1989), and Vangelis
(Chariots of Fire, 1981; Blade Runner, 1982). As synthesizer capabilities continued to develop,
new electronic musical sonorities became available to composers in the twenty-first century.
Through the synthesis of the vast musical arsenal available to composers in recent decades
many composers have developed a highly eclectic musical soundscape through the
combination of symphonic, electronic, and popular musical sonorities, which they freely mix

10
Tom Shales, “The Sound of Movie Music: Re-releases of Soundtracks Past,” Washington Post, July 18, 1976, H6,
quoted in Wierzbicki, Ibid., 204.
11
Wierzbicki, Ibid., 210.
5
based on the needs of the film.

Research Methodology

To better understand the use of choral music in film, interviews were conducted with
composers, ensemble conductors, vocal contractors, and chorus members. These interviews
were completed via zoom, email, or telephone depending on the interviewee’s preference.
Interviews were conducted with Tyler Bates, Terry Edwards, William Goldman, Henry Jackman,
John Ottman, Jasper Randall, and Sally Stevens. Full transcripts of these interviews can be
found in Appendix A.
TABLE 1.1. Profile of Interviewees
Name Professional Role Date of
interview
Interview
Format
Professional Website
Tyler Bates Composer 04/17/21 Zoom https://www.tylerbates.com
Terry Edwards Chorus Master 06/02/20 Email https://www.london-voices.com/
William
Goldman
Singer 06/17/20 Email https://lamasterchorale.org/singers
-will-goldman
Henry Jackman Composer 05/06/21 Phone http://kraft-
engel.com/clients/henry-jackman/
John Ottman Composer;
Editor
04/16/21 Zoom http://www.johnottman.com/
Jasper Randall Composer; Vocal
Contractor
06/15/20 Zoom https://www.jasperrandall.com/
Sally Stevens Vocal Contractor;
Singer
04/05/21 Zoom https://www.hollywoodfilmchorale.
com/choraleintro.html

In addition to the data obtained from interviews and other published materials, 800
films were analyzed and classified based on their areas of musical interest. These films were
released between 1930 and 2019 and represent over 300 different composers. Most films
were selected at random based on availability, however, several were selected for their known
incorporation of choral singing. Due to the significant diegetic nature of the film musical, this
6
genre was not included in the general analysis, and discussed separately in Chapter 2 (pg. 49).
The categories of musical interest investigated in this analysis include total amount of
choral singing, visual action occurring during singing, type of performing ensemble, language of
text, name of choral ensemble, and unique or interesting features in the film’s use of choral
music. The total amount of choral singing was calculated using a stopwatch application on an
iPhone. Choral singing time excluded all instrumental interludes and was determined to be
more than one singer on a part. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com) was utilized to
collect general film data including year of release, length of film, name of composer, and name
of choral ensemble.
This dissertation focuses on films produced by American and English film companies.
However, it also includes some international films that were widely distributed in the United
States. Films were observed in various formats including, but not limited to, DVD, Netflix, Vudu,
YouTube, Amazon, Hulu, and television broadcasts. Appendices B and C report the data for
total time of choral singing, dramatic domain, year of release, composer, and name of
ensemble or vocal contractor, if known.
While exactness is necessary when performing quantitative research, several challenges
occurred throughout the collection of this data. Classification of a film as having choral singing
was a judgement decision made by this researcher. Choral singing was determined to be more
than one singer on a part. This determinization was difficult in instances of small ensembles,
such as pop and doo-wop groups. Due to availability of films and limited financial resources,
many films were observed as television broadcasts. TV broadcasters often edit films to meet
time constraints, content parameters, and regularly exclude significant portions of end credits.
7
This editing for television broadcast likely resulted in less choral singing than was actually the
case. As such, the reported total amount of choral singing constitutes a conservative estimate
in these cases.
Human error was another challenge in the collection of data. It is highly plausible that
moments of choral singing were either missed by the researcher, due to issues in selective
listening,
12
or mistakenly misattributed as choral singing. In the modern film, choral singing can
easily be disguised in the cacophony of noise from sound effects, dialogue, or the instrumental
ensemble. In addition, some instruments and synthesizers can mimic choral singing, making
the identification of choral moments challenging. To accurately identify all moments of choral
singing throughout a film, the researcher would have required a full score for all films observed.
Unfortunately, due to financial and copyright restrictions, this approach was not feasible.
Considering these factors, the choral singing data included in Appendix B and C should be
considered approximations. However, sampling error of a large sample (N = 800) is typically
normally distributed, meaning that the over and underestimates offset each other, resulting in
aggregate measures that approximate the true values.

Overall Development of Choral Music in Film

Since the 1930s, choral singing has been utilized by composers in film scores in various
ways. As seen in Figure 1.1, choral music has been incorporated extensively into film as early as
the 1940s and has remained a significant feature into the first part of the twenty-first century.

12
Cornelia Watkins and Laurie Scott, From the Stage to the Studio: How Fine Musicians Become Great Teachers
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).
8
On reviewing Figure 1.1, one might argue that the general trajectory of choral music inclusion
has gradually increased throughout the decades. While its inclusion has been more consistently
utilized since the 1980s (Table 1.2), any perception of a gradual increase is questionable as the
number of films analyzed per decade are unequal. At the same time, it is commonly accepted
that film scores of the 1990s and 2000s frequently added choral singing to instill a sense of
grandeur. This notion is partially confirmed in Table 1.2, which shows the percentage of films
using choral music by decade, increasing from 41 percent in the 1970s to almost 70 percent in
the 2000s. However, choral usage has once again slightly declined (62 percent) in the 2010s.
TABLE 1.2. Number of Films Analyzed and Percentage that Incorporate Choir

Decade Number of films analyzed in
this study
Number of films that
incorporated chorus
Percentage of films
using choir
1930–39 38 13 34.21%
1940–49 42 18 42.86%
1950–59 50 35 70.00%
1960–69 43 27 62.79%
1970–79 37 15 40.54%
1980–89 45 28 62.22%
1990–99 79 54 68.35%
2000–2009 132 92 69.70%
2010–2019 334 209 62.57%
Total 800 491 61.38%

An analysis of the outliers in Figure 1.1 shows that The Power of One (1992), with score
by Hans Zimmer, incorporated the most choral singing of the 800 films analyzed. With over 40
minutes of choral singing, it exceeded the next closest film by nine minutes of choral music.
Additional outlier films with extensive choral singing include The Galant Hours (1960) and The
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), both with 31 minutes of choral music; The Lord
of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), 29 minutes; The Song of Bernadette (1943), 25
minutes; Ivan the Terrible (1944), and Empire of the Sun (1987), each with 24 minutes.
9

10
From the 491 films that incorporated choral singing, a total of 2,245 minutes of choral
music were identified, appearing in films through various compositional techniques. While
many of these compositional approaches were dependent on the specific film project, a
number of these methods were widely accepted among composers and are discussed in
chapters two and three.
FIGURE 1.2. Important Film Music Terminology

Diegetic- Appearance of musical material that is either performed or perceived by the
actors on screen. Also referred to as source music.

Non-diegetic- Musical soundscape that only the film audience can perceive. Typically
incorporated to enhance the atmosphere of a scene. Also referred to as score,
underscore, background music, and incidental music.

Cue- A single, self-contained piece of music that plays—or has been designed to play—
under one or more contiguous scenes. (The cues that are recorded, edited in, and
ultimately survive the dubbing process comprise a project’s musical soundtrack.)

Soundscape- An auditory experience resulting from the combination of various musical
sounds and effects.
11
Chapter 2: Methods of Incorporating Choral Music in Film

I think when you really dig in and think of the choir as the main instrument, you can
really do some fantastic things that are just unachievable with an orchestra. I think the
possibilities are always endless.
1

Tyler Bates

Dramatic Domain

To better understand how choral music has been incorporated into film scores, nine
dramatic domains were identified and evaluated for their amount of choral singing. Dramatic
domains represent the common types of visual action that appear in film including conflict,
death, pre-conflict, travel or scenic, love or friendship, supernatural or spiritual, diegetic, credits
(opening and end), and a miscellaneous category (other).
TABLE 2.1. Total Amount of Choral Singing per Dramatic Action (m = minutes; s = seconds)

Decade Conflict Travel/
Scenic
Death Love/
Friendship
Pre-
conflict
Supernatural/
Spiritual
Diegetic Credits Other
Total
Choral
Singing
1930s 1m 1s 4m 53s 1m
34s
3m 43s 4m 11s 3m 52s 15m 2s 2m 17s 42s 37m 15s
1940s 5s 14m 5s 14m
57s
4m 14s 5m 58s 12m 49s 42m
20s
4m 46s 13m 40s 112m
54s
1950s 3m 3s 6m 55s 0m 0s 3m 54s 0m 0s 56s 64m 7s 2m 52s 6m 38s 88m 25s
1960s
9m 16s 48m
38s
2m
25s
4m 53s 7m 43s 12m 25s 29m
54s
15m
37s
28m 46s 159m
37s
1970s 14m
48s
13m
17s
2m
53s
3m 33s 7m 30s 5m 23s 22m
46s
13m 3s 12m 18s 95m 31s
1980s 26m
41s
17m
31s
6m
31s
10m 11s 15m
26s
7m 16s 33m
59s
20m
27s
16m 52s 154m
54s
1990s 56m
53s
52m
57s
19m
41s
14m 59s 14m 3s 12m 21s 61m
10s
40m
25s
44m 37s 317m 6s
2000s 107m
24s
59m
15s
31m
28s
35m 35s 35m
26s
17m 51s 43m
25s
60m
26s
61m 4s 451m
54s
2010s 218m
55s
114m
25s
56m
37s
46m 53s 53m
46s
40m 42s 59m
54s
144m
25s
92m 21s 827m
58s
Total 438m
6s
331m
56s
136m
6s
127m 55s 144m
3s
113m 35s 372m
37s
304m
18s
276m
58s
2,245m
34s

1
Tyler Bates, interview by author, Los Angeles, April 17, 2021, transcript Appendix A.
12
Due to an unequal number of films evaluated per decade, a percentage amount of
choral singing was used to compare the nine action domains (Table 2.2). It should also be
noted that Table 2.1 documents the method for determining percentages but should not be
used for comparisons due to the aforementioned inequality.
TABLE 2.2. Percentage of Choral Singing per Decade by Dramatic Action Domain

Decade Conflict Travel/
Scenic
Death Love/
Friendship
Pre-
conflict
Supernatural/
Spiritual
Diegetic Credits Other
1930s 2.73% 13.10% 4.21% 9.98% 11.23% 10.38% 40.36% 6.13% 1.88%
1940s 0.07% 12.47% 13.24% 3.75% 5.28% 11.35% 37.50% 4.22% 12.11%
1950s 3.45% 7.82% 0% 4.41% 0% 1.06% 72.52% 3.24% 7.50%
1960s 5.81% 30.47% 1.51% 3.06% 4.83% 7.78% 18.73% 9.78% 18.02%
1970s 15.49% 13.91% 3.02% 3.72% 7.85% 5.64% 23.84% 13.66% 12.88%
1980s 17.23% 11.31% 4.21% 6.57% 9.96% 4.69% 21.94% 13.20% 10.89%
1990s 17.94% 16.70% 6.21% 4.73% 4.43% 3.89% 19.29% 12.75% 14.07%
2000s 23.77% 13.11% 6.96% 7.87% 7.84% 3.95% 9.61% 13.37% 13.51%
2010s 26.44% 13.82% 6.84% 5.66% 6.49% 4.92% 7.23% 17.44% 11.15%

At times, the identification of a musical cue’s dramatic domain proved challenging as
scenes often depict multiple dramatic domains simultaneously. For example, in the crucifixion
scene from The Robe (1953), the dramatic action may be identified as conflict, death, or a
supernatural occurrence. All three of these dramatic domains are reasonable as in the scene
Jesus is executed and dies, with conflict being observed in the crucifixion and storm that arises.
At the same time, this storm and death of Jesus may also be considered a supernatural or
spiritual dramatic occurrence. Interestingly, in this specific example, none of the above
dramatic domains are applicable as diegetic source scoring occurs (see pg. 18).
Dramatic domains with choral singing were determined through the identification of the
domain that occurred the moment choral singing started, and the most prominent domain
throughout the entirety of choral singing in the scene. The conflict domain includes scenes of
battle, destruction, verbal arguments, action, and danger. Overall, as seen in Table 2.3, scenes
13
of conflict represent the largest percentage of choral singing of the nine dramatic domains. The
use of choral singing in scenes of conflict has increased considerably since the 1970s. This is
likely due in part to the increased popularity of action films in recent decades. One possible
conclusion from this analysis is that choral music is used to emotionally heighten the intensity
of conflict scenes and substitutes for their lack of dialogue (see Chapter 3).
TABLE 2.3. Total Percentage of Choral Singing by Dramatic Action Domain

Conflict Travel/
Scenic
Death Love/
Friendship
Pre-
conflict
Supernatural/
Spiritual
Diegetic Credits Other
Total
minutes
438m 6s 331m
56s
136m 6s 127m 55s 144m 3s 113m 35s 372m
37s
304m
18s
276m
58s
Total
Percentage
19.51% 14.78% 6.06% 5.70% 6.41% 5.06% 16.59% 13.55% 12.33%

Travel or scenic dramatic domains represent visual movement from one location to
another, or the depiction of landscapes and physical structures. Similar to scenes of conflict,
travel and scenic choral moments substitute for a lack of dialogue. Unlike scenes of conflict,
Table 2.2 shows that the travel and scenic domain has remained a relatively consistent choral
feature throughout the decades. Possibly this domain’s most beneficial feature is its ability to
prepare and mentally transport viewers to an upcoming physical location (i.e., cathedral or
church), holiday, or cultural atmosphere (see Chapter 3, pg. 74).
While scenes of conflict frequently incorporate death, the dramatic domain death was
limited to funerals, as well as moments of conflict where choral singing was most strongly
associated with death. This domain has been used irregularly throughout the decades by
composers but has found a minimal, yet consistent, use in films since the 1990s.
The use of chorus in scenes of love and friendship has been incorporated by composers
irregularly throughout the decades. At first, the use of chorus in relation to the dramatic
14
domain of love and friendship may seem slightly unusual. However, this notion becomes more
understandable considering a choir’s ability to instill a sense of humanity in the musical
soundscape, emotionally heightening the scene (see Chapter 3, pg. 65).
Instances of pre-conflict choral music is manifested in the musical anticipation that
precedes a moment of conflict. These scenes may incorporate an inspirational or nefarious
speech by a protagonist or antagonist, and often appear as a climatic musical propellant into
the forthcoming dramatic action. Occasionally, this pre-conflict musical buildup is delayed,
foreshadowing future events to come. Instances of pre-conflict choral singing are most
regularly found in action movies, but also appear in the ominous musical foreshadowing found
in the horror and thriller genre.
Based on the results of this study, the supernatural and spiritual domain is the least
utilized dramatic style of choral writing. However, like the death domain, instances of
supernatural and spiritual choral singing are often superseded by scenes of conflict as well as
diegetic choral singing. Instances of supernatural and spiritual dramatic action include the use
of magic, supernatural abilities, as well as associations with sacred traditions. In films of the
late twentieth and early twenty-first century, use of supernatural abilities in scenes of conflict
has become astoundingly common. However, due to the nature of these combative scenes,
choral singing in these cues are identified as conflict. In the same way, sacred music is regularly
incorporated into films. However, this inclusion is often in the form of diegetic singing.
Choral singing in the opening and end credits has always been a musical feature utilized
by composers since the addition of sound in earliest films. The use of choral music in credits
has gradually increased throughout the last century. This is likely due to the extended length of
15
credits in more recent decades, which allows more opportunity for choral singing. It should be
noted, as indicated in Chapter 1, based on the method of film analysis, some end credits may
have been limited or excluded in television broadcasts. Thus, it is possible that credits are more
of a significant choral feature than indicated in these results.
Interestingly, throughout the analysis of choral music in film, there was a significant
amount of choral singing that occurred in the miscellaneous (other) domain. Although this
domain does not present any distinctive characteristics, these instances of choral singing most
commonly appeared in generic dramatic and inspirational scenes that were not associated with
any other domain.

Diegetic, Non-diegetic, Transdiegetic, Metadiegetic, and Source Scoring

The inclusion of diegetic choral music by film composers comprises the second most
utilized dramatic domain. However, its use has irregularly declined throughout the past century
(Table 2.2). Diegetic music is the appearance of musical material that is either performed or
perceived by the actors on screen.
2
For example, in a film, actors can be observed singing
“happy birthday” as it relates to the narrative of the story. In addition, an example of the
perception of diegetic music can be observed in an individual entering a church where the faint
sounds of a choir can be heard, yet never seen.
It is important to note that the term diegetic, and its variations, are not generally
utilized by film composers who traditionally refer to this method of musical integration as
source music. For clarity purposes, this research will refer to musical diegesis as diegetic source

2
Guido Heldt, Music and Levels of Narration in Film (Bristol: Intellect Ltd, 2013).
16
music. In contrast to diegetic source music, non-diegetic music is the soundscape that only the
film audience can perceive. Again, the term non-diegetic is not utilized by individuals in the film
industry. Instead, terms such as underscore and background music are most frequently
utilized.
In film, choral diegetic source music expresses three musical functions including setting,
tradition, and narrative. To more clearly establish a setting, diegetic source music can be
incorporated in order to establish a physical location through a composer’s choice of choral
soundscape, which closely resembles a country’s heritage such as the Russian musical influence
in the film The Hunt for Red October (1990). Setting can also signify the passing of time through
the inclusion of various holiday songs. The most common form of diegetic musical setting
occurs in the use of sacred choral music to represent various religious affiliations, such as in the
use of hymns in the film How Green was My Valley (1941).
The diegetic function of tradition appears in the various familiar choral singing activities
that take place in everyday life. The two most common appearances of traditional choral
singing include the singing of birthday odes and national anthems. Additional examples include
impromptu moments of group singing at sporting events, reclining around a campfire, or
musical activities in the home.
Narrative diegetic source music fulfils a function in the story. This function is most
obvious in the musical genre where choral singing delivers important dialogue or contributes to
the narrative of the story.
In addition to the traditional binary use of diegetic and non-diegetic music, three
subcategories of diegetic source music can be identified in film. In all these cases, because the
17
music at one point can be identified as diegetic source music, it is identified as such in this
study.
Transdiegetic is the visual on-screen transition from diegetic to non-diegetic, or vice
versa, within the same musical selection. For composers, the use of transdiegetic music often
serves to musically transition between scenes. For example, if a scene takes place in a church
with an on-camera choir, composers may select to have this choral singing begin at the end of
the preceding scene, being initially perceived by the audience as a non-diegetic musical
function.
Metadiegetic music appears in film as a secondary level of narration. In other words, a
narrative within a narrative. Guido Heldt identifies several subcategories of metadiegesis, with
possibly the most significant for this study being internal focalization.
3
In this category of
metadiegetic music we can perceive what an individual actor hears at a given moment in a
scene (e.g., ringing in the ears after an explosion). The use of metadiegetic choral music is
significantly rare but has made appearances at times primarily in films about composers. For
example, in Amadeus (1984) as Mozart lies ill and dying on his bed, he begins to hear the
“confutatis” movement from his Requiem, which is only internally perceived by himself, and
later Salieri who is helping notate the work. In Immortal Beloved (1994), a unique auditory
experience occurs as Beethoven stands in front of the orchestra during the choral movement of
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125. At times throughout the movement, the film audience is
transported inside Beethoven’s head where only silence is heard due to his deafness.

3
Heldt, Ibid.
18
Source scoring is the simultaneous occurrence of diegetic source music and non-diegetic
score.
4
In addition to being a regular feature in musicals, a general example of source scoring
appears when an on-screen soloist or group of singers is accompanied by an off-camera group
of performers. As a tool for composers, source scoring supports musical material that is
intended to be diegetic by heightening the musical moment through the incorporation of
additional voices or instruments. In terms of the chorus, source scoring is uncommon but
typically appears through an on-screen soloist that is joined by an off-screen choir and
orchestra.
Possibly the earliest example of source scoring can be observed in Max Steiner’s score
for The Informer (1935), in which Steiner accompanies an onscreen soloist and violin with a
treble choir. While in the scene nuns appear to be entering the house behind the soloist, they
are never seen singing, making their on-screen diegetic involvement questionable.
One of the most musically profound examples of source scoring can be observed in John
Williams’ score for Empire of the Sun (1987). Upon being captured and placed in a Japanese
internment camp during WWII, young Jim Graham (Christian Bale) sings the song “Suo Gan”
behind the camp’s barbed wire fence, as Japanese pilots ritualistically prepare for a kamikaze
mission. The song brings the entire camp to a standstill as Jim’s on-screen unaccompanied solo
is soon joined by an off-screen children’s chorus and organ, which results in one of the many
heart-wrenching beautiful moments in the film. Interestingly, this source scoring moment is
also unusual in that toward the second half of the cue, while Jim can still be heard singing the
solo, he ceases to sing while pictured on screen. Additional examples of source scoring include

4
Earle Hagen, Scoring for Films (Los Angeles: Alfred Pub. Co., 1990).
19
the crucifixion scene from The Robe (1953), and the song “Non Nobis Domine” from Henry V
(1989) following the Battle of Agincourt, which begins with a momentary on-screen solo that
quickly transitions to a triumphant choral-orchestral work.

Differences Between Choral Music in Pre-1960 and Post-1960 Films

In general, a composer’s approach to the inclusion of choral music prior to the 1960s
differs in many ways from post-1960 films. As indicated in Table 1.2 (pg. 8), films of the 1930s
and 1940s underutilized the chorus with only 34 percent of films in the 1930s incorporating a
choir at least once, increasing to 43 percent in the 1940s. This contrasts with the approximately
60 percent usage of chorus in post-1950s films, except for the 1970s.
In pre-1960 films (1930–59), choral music was significantly used as diegetic source
music, accounting for 50 percent of the on-screen dramatic domains (Table 2.4). This is in stark
contrast to the incorporation of diegetic source music post 1960 (1960–2019), representing
only 12 percent of the total choral singing.
TABLE 2.4. Pre and Post-1960 Percentage of Choral Singing by Dramatic Domain

Conflict Travel/
Scenic
Death Love/
Friendship
Pre-
conflict
Supernatural/
Spiritual
Diegetic Credits Other
Pre 1960 1.74% 10.85% 6.92% 4.97% 4.25% 7.38% 50.92% 4.16% 8.80%
Post 1960 21.62% 15.25% 5.96% 5.78% 6.67% 4.78% 12.51% 14.67% 12.75%

The incorporation of choral music in credits and scenes of conflict also saw a significant
increase after 1960. As previously mentioned, this is likely due in part to the shortened length
of credits and lack of combat scenes in films prior to 1960, compared to the extensive length of
credits, and over the top action sequences in films from the past three decades.
20
In their approach to choral music prior to 1960, composers frequently utilized the choral
ensemble as a prominent feature in scenes through the use of text, duration of singing in the
scene, and prominent placement in the audio mix. While the use of text prior to 1960 was
likely a result of its diegetic function, a choral text consistently appears in pre-1960 films with
several notable exceptions including The Thief of Bagdad (1940), Duel in the Sun (1946), Portrait
of Jennie (1948), The Robe (1953), and Ben-Hur (1959).
Possibly more significant is the duration of choral singing and its prominent placement
in the audio mix compared to later films. Consistently within a cue, films prior to 1960
incorporate the chorus in greater duration than post-1960 films. In more recent films, choral
inclusion in a cue tends to be brief lasting between 15 to 40 seconds. In earlier films, it is
common to hear choral music in a cue lasting for more than one minute. As a musical feature,
this may partially result from differences in approach to film editing, with earlier films
incorporating fewer cuts, while recent film can often move more quickly between scenes.
In addition, the chorus in pre-1960 film tends to be placed prominently in the audio mix
where it can be noticeably heard. This is in contrast to choral singing in post-1960 films that
can be subdued under sound effects and orchestral instrumentation, which is compounded by
the frequent absence of text. Danny Elfman in an interview with The New York Times
complained about the challenges of sound effects overpowering the music stating
Film music as an art took a deep plunge when Dolby stereo hit. Stereo has the capacity
to make orchestral music sound big and beautiful and more expansive, but it also can
make sound effects sound four times as big. That began the era of sound effects over
music.
5

5
Larry Rohter, “Pop Music; Batman? Bartman? Darkman? Elfman,” The New York Times, December 9, 1990, H30.
21
Texture

The musical texture of choral music in film ranges dramatically between various
compositional techniques, with composers freely utilizing diverse vocal textures as needed.
Homophony is arguably the most utilized choral texture as it can be heard in some of the more
popular film works such as “Duel of the Fates” from Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom
Menace (1999), “River” from The Mission (1986), “Joyful, Joyful” from Sister Act 2: Back in the
Habit (1993), among others. However, while homophony may seem to be the predominant
texture used by composers, this may be an inaccurate representation of the choral film music
genre as a whole, as composers regularly incorporate imitative and contrapuntal techniques.
In conjunction with these homophonic and contrapuntal textures, three other
textures—soloist with chorus, a cappella, and unison voices—are also commonly incorporated
by film composers. The combination of soloist and chorus has been a popular compositional
approach of composers throughout the history of choral music. Its inclusion by composers
provides a new textural color for the score’s soundscape, with a single voice emerging from a
larger texture. In addition, this solo voice can often provide a humanistic quality through its
expression of individuality and heartfelt emotional context (see Chapter 3 pg. 65). As in the
case of Ennio Morricone, composers may write for a specific soloist. When describing why he
includes the voice in his scores, Morricone says, “First, I used the human voice because I love it;
and second, I used it because I had an exceptional voice [Edda Dell’Orso] at my disposal.”
6
A
few examples of choral music with soloists include “Ecstasy of Gold” from The Good, the Bad

6
Charles Leinberger, Ennio Morricone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: A Film Score Guide (Lanham, MD:
Scarecrow Press) 2004.
22
and the Ugly (1966), “Suo Gan” from Empire of the Sun (1987), “Going Home” from Amistad
(1997), “Evenstar” from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), and “Misty Mountains”
from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012).
A personal humanistic connection with the audience can also be achieved through a
cappella voices. In film, the use of unaccompanied voices typically occurs as diegetic source
music, historical musical imitation, —as observed in traditional sacred music—or a soulful
representation of the scenes emotional content. In describing a choir’s ability to connect with
these emotions, Tyler Bates says
There's something about a group of singers when they sing in tune and with soul that is
transcendent emotionally. Once I had experienced the choir, I really had the
opportunity to consider emotionally how it can impact the score. Instead of just adding
it to a large piece of music and overstuffing the box, I try to create space for it. Because
I know that in the appropriate context it can be very emotional.
7

There are a number of compositional techniques a composer can implement to create
“space” for the choir including minimized orchestration and doubling the voices with orchestral
instruments. However, the most definitive way to create “space” is to remove all other
instruments, leaving only a cappella voices. Composer John Ottman did this momentarily in his
score for Superman Returns (2006), which he described as “utter resplendence

.”
8

In Pearl Harbor (2001) with music by Hans Zimmer, a chorus faintly doubled by strings is
used most effectively in the emotionally reflective hymn-like song amidst the aftermath scenes
of the Pearl Harbor attack. In another heart wrenching scene, a cappella treble voices with
soloist can be heard in the song “Going Home” to conclude the film Amistad (1997). In this

7
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
8
John Ottman, interview by author, Los Angeles, April 16, 2021, transcript Appendix A.
23
scene, while there is a subtle sense of relief as the freed slaves return home to Africa, there
remains an overwhelming sense of sorrow amidst foreshadowing scenes of the Civil War, and
the tumultuous state of their African homeland. Additional films with notable a cappella choral
music include The Garden of Allah (1936), Ivan the Terrible Part I (1944), The Gallant Hours
(1960), and The Mission (1986).
The texture of unison voices can have a powerful impact on the emotional context of a
composer’s work. This emotional power can be most clearly observed in the collapsing of the
harmonic texture from homophony to unison, often at significant transitional moments in the
score. At the same time, the same emotional outcome can occur transitioning from unison to
homophony. It is also important to note that this unison singing is not typically for the entirety
of a cue. Instead, the texture moves freely throughout each musical moment.
One of the best examples demonstrating the power of unison voices can be heard in
Vangelis’ theme for the film Conquest of Paradise (1992) with its march like rhythmic feature
and inspirational melodic contour. Red River (1948), with music by Dimitri Tiomkin, also
features rousing folk inspired songs with extended unison choral singing in the cues “On to
Missouri” and “A Big Day Od Abilene.”
The incorporation of unison singing may also have an emotional effect on the listener as
heard in the Civil War film, Glory (1989). According to the film’s composer, James Horner,
everyone in the studio was in tears after hearing The Boys Choir of Harlem, with vocal cues that
were primarily for unison and two parts.
9

9
David Hocquet, “Conversation with James Horner,” James Horner Film Music, December 5, 2014,
http://jameshorner-filmmusic.com/conversation-james-horner/.
24
While film composers may take this emotional power into consideration, it is also a
possibility that simplified choral writing in the form of unison, duets, and the doubling of
harmony in both treble and bass voices, is advantageous to composers who are often required
to work at a hurried pace completing their scores quickly. An example of harmonic doubling in
which the treble and bass voices utilize identical pitches can be observed in the work “Dry Your
Tears, Afrika” by John Williams from the film Amistad (1997). Although Figure 2.1 only depicts
four measures of the work, almost the entire song utilizes this simplified compositional
technique.
FIGURE 2.1. Example of Harmonic Doubling from “Dry Your Tears, Afrika” by Williams

As a synthesis of all the previously discussed textures, Henry V (1989) presents a
powerful musical statement following the Battle of Agincourt between Henry V of England and
Charles VI of France. Incorporating a soloist, unison, and a cappella voices at various points
throughout the work, Patrick Doyle’s setting of “Non Nobis Domine” gradually builds to a
climatic conclusion. The work begins with a soloist pictured on camera, who is quickly joined by
an off-screen a cappella unison tenor-bass chorus. This chorus continues to sing the main
theme in unison as a sparse string accompaniment is added. In the fourth reiteration of the
tune, the tenors of the chorus introduce a counter melody as the basses continue with the main
theme. In the fifth variation, the tenor-bass returns to a unison texture as the tonal center is
25
transposed up a whole step. Additional variations include the expansion of the orchestra, an
instrumental interlude, and concludes with the addition of treble voices.

Non-traditional Vocal Elements

Adding to their arsenal of compositional techniques, composers also incorporate non-
traditional vocal elements into the soundscape of their film scores. Possibly one of the most
common non-traditional vocal technique is the use of speech and chant. Not to be confused
with sacred plainchant, the incorporation of speech has become a more modern compositional
technique and can be found in traditional choral literature such as Toch’s Geographical Fugue,
first performed in 1930, and Stabat Mater by Penderecki, which features both spoken and
whispered text. In film, composers incorporate choral speech techniques as chant, sighs,
guttural shouts, and ominous whispers, giving the music a menacing or mysterious quality.
When incorporated as chant or shouts, choral speech is typically produced by tenor and
bass voices and creates an atmosphere of impending conflict that imitates a war cry. Howard
Shore extensively incorporated this type of chant in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the
Ring (2001) during the “Bridge of Khazad-dûm” cue where the film’s protagonists are chased by
a Balrog (demonic being) in the mines of Moria. As the film was shot in New Zealand, Shore
utilized a sixty-voice tenor-bass choir of native Maori and Pacific Islanders. Famous for their
powerful cultural haka chants, the Polynesian singers were augmented with additional voices,
specifically rugby players who provided an added harsh and guttural element to the sound,
26
producing the ominous and threatening soundscape heard in the film.
10

The use of guttural shouts and chant from a group of lower voices has been regularly
utilized by Ennio Morricone in his scores for his Westerns such as A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For
a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good the Bad and the Ugly (1966), providing his scores with
a rustic quality. In addition, John Williams extensively incorporated chant in his score for
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). As Indiana (Harrison Ford), Willie (Kate
Capshaw), and Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) investigate the disappearance of children and a
sacred stone from a local village, they stumble upon a Thuggee cult in the middle of a human
sacrifice ritual, which is accompanied by diegetic source music chanting, sighs, and singing from
a mixed ensemble.
The incorporation of group whispering in film is manifested in various combinations of
treble and bass voice types, dependent upon the composers intended musical effect. In The
Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010), composer David Arnold
manipulated whispered and shouted children’s voices to arrive at his desired effect. According
to Arnold,
I . . . recorded a small choir of 10 year old girls who I got to whisper and scream and
hum. Then I went away with the recordings with Rob Playford to create soundscapes
using these voices so we could make disturbing sounds that were rooted in human
voice, but more disturbingly in children’s voices. This helped the sense of naiveté with
the kids, the dread of the witch as she tempts the children. So the chorus becomes more
warped and disturbing, as the corruption of innocent voices mirrors the film’s evil
forces.
11

10
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (Extended Edition), The Appendices Part 2: From Vision to
Reality, DVD, directed by Peter Jackson, Warner Brothers, 2001.
11
Daniel Schweiger, “Interview with Composer David Arnold,” The Film Music Institute, December 1, 2010,
https://filmmusicinstitute.com/interview-with-composer-david-arnold/.
27
David Arnold’s use of chant and whisper can also be heard in his score for the science fiction
film Stargate (1994).
Also incorporating a small children’s choir was Benjamin Wallfisch in the movie It (2017).
In this film, parts of the score were “whispered, yawned and screamed by a 10-voice children’s
choir.”
12
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), with score by Ennio Morricone, also features moments
of choral whispering among other non-traditional vocal techniques.
One of the most influential film scores that promoted the incorporation of choral
speech was Jerry Goldsmith’s score for The Omen (1976). Earning an Oscar for Best Original
Score, Goldsmith’s music was initially dismissed by critics. According to James Lochner the
varied use of the chorus is the most distinctive feature in the score, which incorporates
“barking, howling, whispering, [and] chanting.”
13

To create a unique soundscape, composers occasionally ask singers to manipulate the
vocal instrument. In Amistad (1997), John Williams utilized tenor-bass voices to create a
harmonic vocal fry sound, which was likely an attempt to imitate throat singing. Like Williams,
Nicholas Hooper incorporated a vocal fry in the bass voices with a slow gradual ascending
glissando during the dementor attack in the opening of Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix (2007). In The Lost Patrol (1934), Max Steiner asked the chorus to “sing in cupped
hands” resulting in a mysterious muffled tonal color.
14

12
Jon Burlingame, “’Blade Runner 2049’: Composer Benjamin Wallfisch on How to Follow up a Classic Sci-Fi Score,”
Variety, October 6, 2017, https://variety.com/2017/music/news/blade-runner-2049-composer-benjamin-wallfisch-
score-interview-1202582983/.
13
James Lochner, “’Hail Satan!’: The Omen and Jerry Goldsmith’s Trilogy of Terror,” Film Score Monthly Online
(December 2007), https://wordsofnote.wordpress.com/articles/hail-satan/.
14
Steven C. Smith, Music by Max Steiner: The Epic Life of Hollywood’s Most Influential Composer (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2020), 135.
28
Various vocal colors are also achieved through the manipulation of the singer’s mouth,
which is a vocal technique extensively utilized by composer James Newton Howard. In films
such as Lady in the Water (2006), Maleficent (2014), and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part
1 (2014), Howard indicates for the singers to perform with their mouth’s half open.
15
In the cue
“Katniss Stowaway” from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015), Howard’s score asks
for the singers to “slowly [change] the shape of the mouth to vary the overtones.”
16

Additionally, in Unbreakable (2000), throughout an extensive section of whole notes, Howard
divides each voice part asking half to sing “ah,” and gradually transition to “oh.” While this
occurs, the other half of each section performs these vowel sounds in retrograde, transitioning
from “oh” to “ah.”
17

Throughout the development of choral music in the twentieth century, the non-
traditional manipulation of pitch became common practice through compositional techniques
such as sprechstimme, cluster chords, dodecaphony, aleatory, parallel triadic motion, and
atonality. Notable examples featuring the non-traditional manipulation of pitch in film music
include 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), The Omen (1976), Maleficent (2014), and The Hunger
Games Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015).
Based entirely on pre-composed licensed works, 2001: A Space Odyssey incorporated
several works by twentieth century Austrian composer, György Ligeti. Known for his avant-
garde style, both his “Kyrie” from Requiem and Lux Aeterna were extensively incorporated

15
James Newton Howard collection, Collection no. 0075, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern
California.
16
Ibid.
17
Ibid.
29
throughout the film and are similar in their compositional construction. While both works
might sound aleatoric in nature, Ligeti carefully notated each vocal part to create the resulting
cacophony of sound.
Inspired by Ligeti’s avant-garde style, composer John Ottman described his own unusual
approach to the manipulation of pitch in his motif for the Kryptonite theme in the film
Superman Returns (2006). Ottman states
I kept thinking how freaky the obelisk in 2001: A Space Odyssey felt with the weird
random choir. I wasn't sure what Ligeti did to achieve that, but I didn't want to know
what he did just so that whatever I attempted might sound a little different. So I wrote
random lines for the men to quiver in varying ways with random accents. . . I was afraid
when we started recording it would sound ridiculous, but as we worked on it, it ended
up sounding great.
18

As described by Ottman, it is interesting to note that occasionally film composers arrive at
these non-traditional vocal techniques through experimentation, trial and error, or possibly
chance. Composer Tyler Bates expressed a desire to do more experimentation with a chorus
stating
I am looking for the opportunity to really experiment with a choir, and do something
that is not commonplace in film, and see if I can't succeed with the idea. You know,
failures always lurking, but I would love the opportunity to [experiment].
19

As previously mentioned, Jerry Goldsmith incorporated various non-traditional
techniques in The Omen. In addition to these speech-based techniques, Goldsmith creates
extreme musical dissonance by using half and quarter steps. In western music, the interval of
the half step represents the smallest unit of measurement. Between each half step

18
John Ottman, “Superman Returns,” John Ottman, accessed June 26, 2021, http://www.johnottman.com/work/
project/53_superman_returns.
19
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
30
is one quarter step, which are not traditionally utilized in western music, but can be found in
the music of other cultures.
In The Omen’s disturbing opening theme “Ave Satani,” which received an Oscar
nomination for best original song, Goldsmith creates intense musical dissonance through a
three-octave repetitive motif where the basses sing a low G, the tenors an octave and a quarter
step higher, and the sopranos on a G# another octave higher. The resulting dissonance
produces an unsettling “nails on a chalkboard” type of musical soundscape. Composer James
Newton Howard has also dabbled in the use of quarter tones asking choristers to slowly and
randomly alter the original sung pitch up and down a quarter step in his scores for Maleficent,
and The Hunger Games Mockingjay – Part 2.
20

Type and Size of Ensembles

Producing these textures and non-traditional vocal soundscapes are a diverse collection
of ensemble types. Traditionally, the mixed chorus is the primary ensemble in film music as it
provides a diverse spectrum of vocal colors and textures for the composer to work with. While
the mixed chorus is likely the most common ensemble type, treble, tenor-bass, and children
choirs are also frequently used by composers for various musical purposes. These musical
purposes vary significantly between films and composers, but some generalizations can be
deduced from the films observed in this study.
Treble and children’s choirs can be used interchangeably at times due to similar ranges,
and are typically used by composers to represent spiritual, angelic, and ethereal musical

20
James Newton Howard collection, Ibid.
31
expressions, as well as moments of love or friendship, innocence, mystery, and occasionally
suspense. Examples of these types of musical expressions include films such as Exorcist II: The
Heretic (1977), The Land Before Time (1988), Empire of the Sun (1987), Glory (1989), Edward
Scissorhands (1990), and Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring (2001).
IMAGE 2.1. Treble Voices in Recording Session for Deadpool 2
Source: Image permission granted by Scoring Sessions.com, photo by Dan Goldwasser.
A few composers have expressed their affinity for the children’s choir. In an interview
with BBC Radio 3 Rachel Portman said, “I’m very drawn to it. . . there’s something very moving
about hearing children sing.”
21
Danny Elfman is a composer known for frequently incorporating
a children’s chorus as observed by Olivia Collette who noted “It’s hard not to notice children’s
choirs on several Elfman tracks. Normally that sound would be reassuring, but in Elfman’s

21
Rachel Portman, interview with Sara Mohr-Pietsch, The Choir – The Choral Interview Rachel Portman, BBC Radio
3, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p04lxlk7.
32
hands, it’s otherworldly and unsettling. You never feel very grounded when the chorus chimes
in, as if they’re singing a gorgeous warning.”
22
Elfman himself commented on his emotional
connection with the children’s choir stating “there’s just something about the sound of children
that particularly gets me.”
23
Elfman’s mysterious and “otherworldly” compositional approach
through the use of children and treble voices is best demonstrated in his score for Edward
Scissorhands.
In John Williams’ score for Empire of the Sun (1987), a children’s choir is intricately
woven into the score appearing in the opening scene and is frequently reprised throughout the
score. As a musical statement, Williams uses the children’s choir to express peace and
innocence in the midst of war. A similar emotional statement through the incorporation of a
boychoir is utilized by James Horner in his score for the Civil War film Glory (1989). While the
boychoir expresses a sentiment of peace, they also represent heroism when paired with the
rest of Horner’s orchestration of bugle calls and militaristic snare drum. In contrast to these
ethereal forms of musical expressions, Ennio Morricone extensively incorporates treble voices
in his score for Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) in a disturbing fashion, which is partially
accomplished through Morricone’s creative and diverse use of instrumentation in conjunction
with these voices.
One of the most frequently used boychoirs in recent decades has been the Trinity Boys
Choir from Croydon, United Kingdom, located just south of London. The Trinity Boys Choir has
been a favorite of composer James Newton Howard who included this ensemble in his scores

22
Olivia Collette, “Danny Elfman Tells the Stories Behind 8 of His Classic Scores,” Vulture, July 6, 2015,
https://www.vulture.com/2015/07/danny-elfman-on-8-of-his-iconic-scores.html.
23
Ibid.
33
for Maleficent (2014), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014), The Hunger Games:
Mockingjay Part 2 (2015), The Huntsman: Winter’s War (2016), and Fantastic Beasts and Where
to Find Them (2016), among scores for other composers.
TABLE 2.5. Children and Boychoirs Incorporated in Film

Trinity Boys Choir Boys Choir of Harlem
The London Oratory School Schola African Children’s Choir
Children’s Choir of the Staatsoper Unter Linden Berlin Libera Boys Choir
The Paulist Boy Choristers of California Northwest Boychoir
Niños Cantores de Morelia Choral Group Capitol Children’s Choir

In contrast to treble and children’s voices, tenor-bass choirs are used to express
sentiments of peril, militaristic endeavors, masculinity, and heroism. Examples of films that
incorporate a tenor-bass chorus include Red River (1948), The Gallant Hours (1960), For a Few
Dollars More (1965), The Good the Bad and the Ugly (1966), The Rock (1996), and Isle of Dogs
(2018).
IMAGE 2.2. Tenor-Bass Voices in Recording Session for X-Men: Days of Future Past

Source: Image permission granted by Scoring Sessions.com, photo by Dan Goldwasser.
34
In Isle of Dogs, one of the regularly recurring tunes was a monophonic chant-like theme
performed by eight low basses.
24
This theme, among others in the film performed by a tenor-
bass ensemble, is accompanied by steady rhythmic percussion which gives the theme an
unusual aura of mystery, hostility, and peril all wrapped up in a minimalistic three note motive.
Similarly, in Star Wars Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) an ominous chant-like theme for
one of the film’s antagonists, Supreme Leader Snoke, is incorporated briefly by composer John
Williams. Vocal contractor Sally Stevens recounted the phone call from Williams in which he
asked if she could gather a group of twenty-eight basses with a low D flat.
25
Interestingly, this
theme is the only choral music in the film.
Throughout the mid twentieth century, the tenor-bass ensemble was regularly utilized
by composers for the Western film genre. The incorporation of a tenor-bass chorus in these
films garnished a sentiment of rustic folk elements as well as masculinity. This sentiment of
masculinity can also be heard in films from the action and adventure genre such as The Rock
(1996), with music by Nick Glennie-Smith and Hans Zimmer, as well as various scenes in the
Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–03), specifically the cue “Khazad-dum.” Throughout The Lord of
the Rings, Shore’s decision to incorporate a tenor-bass choir to represent the dwarf culture was
based on Tolkien’s writing, citing that “even the women look like men.”
26

The size of a choral ensemble for a film score varies significantly from eight singers (or
fewer) to as many as 600. The size of the ensemble predominately depends on the needs of

24
Terry Edwards, email interview with author, June 2, 2020, transcript Appendix A.
25
Sally Stevens, interview by author, April 5, 2021, transcript Appendix A.
26
Howard Shore, “The Lord of the Rings Rarities Archive – 21. In Conversation,” YouTube video, 9:34, May 30,
2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgxJf9YupQI.
35
the composer and budgetary restrictions. According to London Voices founder Terry Edwards,
the standard size of a film chorus ranges between thirty-two and forty singers.
27
However,
choirs of 80 singers are common for large budget blockbuster films, as can be heard in The Lord
of the Rings trilogy, among others.
28
The inclusion of 600 singers in a film score is highly
unusual, but according to John Powell, this was the number of Australian singers who
performed in Happy Feet (2006).
29

While budgetary restrictions significantly influence a composer’s selection of ensemble
size, the emotional content and style of the film is a composers first consideration when
determining ensembles. According to John Ottman,
Sometimes it's inappropriate to have the sound of eighty people. You want it to be
more intimate, or have it sound like a small group based upon what the style of the
movie is, or what feeling the cue needs to evoke. That should be the first consideration.
The other [consideration] is budget.
30

Audio Mixing of the Chorus

The audio mix for a film can have a profound impact on the perception of choral singing.
Through various approaches to the audio mix, choral music can be subdued within a film’s
soundscape, heightened as a significant musical feature, or balanced with the rest of the
musical elements. In the mid to late twentieth century, composers such as Miklós Rózsa and
Ennio Morricone found it difficult to work with some directors as they subdued the music in

27
Edwards, interview with author, Ibid.
28
Jon Burlingame, “Howard Shore’s Farewell to Middle-earth,” The Film Music Society, December 17, 2014,
http://www.filmmusicsociety.org/news_events/features/2014/121714.html.
29
Tim Walker, “John Powell interview: ‘I sold myself to the Devil, just a bit,’” Independent, May 31, 2014,
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/news/john-powell-interview-i-sold-myself-to-the-
devil-just-a-bit-9466955.html.
30
Ottman, interview by author, Ibid.
36
favor of other auditory elements in the film. In his autobiography, Rózsa states,
I was sure that the music of Quo Vadis was going to be interesting not only to the
audience but also to musicologists, on account of its authenticity. Unfortunately, this did
not turn out to be the case. . . After all the trouble I went to, much of my work was
swamped by sound effects, or played at such a low level as to be indistinguishable.
31

Composer Ennio Morricone faced similar audio mixing challenges but found relief in his work
with director Sergio Leone. Morricone writes
There is a special satisfaction in working with someone like Leone. Not only does he
make excellent films, but he respects the work of the composer and the
orchestra. Other directors do a bad job of mixing the music, they keep it too soft or
cover it with noises. But Sergio always gave full value to what I wrote for him.
32

IMAGE 2.3. John Powell at Mixing Console for How to Train Your Dragon 2

Source: Image permission granted by Scoring Sessions.com, photo by Sarah Dunn.

31
Miklós Rózsa, Double Life: The Autobiography of Miklós Rózsa, (Tunbridge Wells, England: Midas Books, 1982),
153–54.
32
Ennio Morricone, “Towards an Interior Music (1997),” in Celluloid Symphonies Texts and Contexts in Film Music
History, ed. Julie Hubbert (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2011), 335.
37
When it comes to the chorus, composer John Ottman posits that this musical texture
should be appropriately balanced within the overall mix. Ottman states “with choir, it's all
about how it's mixed within the orchestra. A little too loud can be cheesy; buried too much, it
can make the cue muddy.”
33
In a follow up interview to this previous statement, Ottman went
on to say
People are surprised when I go to a film dub and actually tell the mixers to lower the
music a bit, and embed it, because that was the intention of the score. If you play it too
loud suddenly the cue doesn't work anymore. It just becomes something embarrassing
because the intention was to have it be weaved in. It's the same exact thing within a
score mixing the choir. A little too much and it's going to go beyond what you wanted,
and it’s suddenly going to be gilding the lily, so to speak. It's a tricky balance of taste.
34

While Ottman’s approach to the mix of a chorus within a film’s musical soundscape is
often appropriate, there are numerous instances where the chorus is sonically heightened as a
significant musical feature. This type of choral significance is of course most necessary in
moments of diegetic source music, but also occurs frequently when the chorus is provided text
to sing, as heard in choral works such as “Dual of the Fates” from Star Wars: Episode I – The
Phantom Menace (1999). Interestingly, in this example, much of the choir’s importance is due
to the lack of instrumental accompaniment in the initial choral entrance, which is powerfully
performed at a forte dynamic by a cappella voices. In a similar way, John Ottman highlighted
the chorus through the removal of the instrumentation during the audio mixing process.
According to Ottman,
There's been times when I mix the score that I literally dip the score right out, and just
have the choir for a few moments. There’s a cue in Superman Returns (2006) where I
did that. I had strings and woodwinds behind the choir, and I just basically dumped

33
Ottman, “Superman Returns,” Ibid.
34
Ottman, interview by author, Ibid.
38
them. The result in those few moments of the cue was utter resplendence. I did that in
another score too, I think Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) in one little
section.
35

The audio mixing of a chorus has also been incorporated in unusual ways. Carter
Burwell described one such unique approach in his work on the film Blood Simple (1984) in
which he acoustically altered the recording of “prisoners working on a chain gain” by burying it
under the rest of the score, and having it played backwards.
36
Additionally, Tyler Bates in the
film 300 (2006) initially recorded himself singing all the treble and bass choral parts. After
recording the 60-voice Metro Voices choir in London, Bates mixed in his original recordings with
the chorus due to his unique throat singing technique, which he believed gave the choral cues a
more militaristic and threatening sound.
37

Audio recording capabilities have also allowed composers to incorporate a choir with a
minimal number of singers. This is likely often necessary when the composer desires a large
choral sound but lacks the budget to hire a large choral ensemble. Current recording
capabilities allow composers to layer the sound of a smaller ensemble multiple times sonically
resulting in a larger choral sound. This layering effect was described by Ottman in his
discussion concerning his earliest compositional experiences with a choir.
My concerns were always that we’d never have enough singers. I didn’t want it to
sound chintzy. We did a sort of wink wink trick where we would do a take two, but it
was actually putting another take on top of another. So, it made it sound huge. By take
three you had the equivalent of sixty or eighty people, and you really only had maybe
twenty-five or thirty people. When I’d go to London there were less budgetary
restrictions, so I had a true massive choir on a couple of films, and it was amazing.
38

35
Ottman, interview by author, Ibid.
36
David Morgan, Knowing the Score: Film Composers Talk About the Art, Craft, Blood, Sweat, and Tears of Writing
for Cinema (New York: HarperEntertainment, 2000), 60.
37
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
38
Ottman, interview by author, Ibid.
39
In addition to budget restrictions, emergency situations also require the creative recording of
voices. According to Ottman,
On [X-Men:] Days of Future Past (2014) we had to have an emergency rescore of the
opening. I was on the scoring stage the day of our print master. The print master is the
day that the movie is done! It was a pick-up session and we didn’t have our choir back…
Basically it was me and two of my orchestrators on a microphone, and that’s the choir
that’s in the movie.
39

At times composers may prefer the sound of layering only a few vocalists. For example,
Brian Tyler likes to record the lower voice parts himself, layering these recordings three to four
times, and hires an additional singer for the treble voices. However, this approach is
dependent upon the film and style of score as he also likes to incorporate a large choral
ensemble.
40

Synthesized Choral Singing

Advancements in music technology have provided composers with new tools for the
creation of their film scores. Synthesized music, also referred to as samples, is the artificial
creation of various instrumental timbres through computer processing. For composers, these
various sounds can be selected through a computer application and controlled externally from
their keyboard. Most commonly, these sounds are notated in MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital
Interface) and activated by composers who play these notes on an electronic keyboard which is
digitally connected to their computer.
As an artificial replacement of the choral ensemble, samples are recorded or simulated

39
John Ottman, “In the Studio with John Ottman,” YouTube Video, 5:39, January 3, 2018,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8bPxWSnwaQ&t=18s.
40
Christian DesJardins, Inside Film Music: Composers Speak (Los Angeles: Silman-James Press, 2006).
40
sounds that imitate the human voice. To accomplish this, audio engineers record a
group of singers performing each note of the scale on various vowel sounds. These individual
note samples are then isolated and programmed to activate based on the digital MIDI
instructions the computer receives. As one might expect, the creation of these samples is a
sore spot for many professional choral musicians as continued improvement of sampled choral
singing can lead to reduced work for singers.
In recent decades, synthesized music has become common among composers in the
creation of score mock-ups. These allow composers, directors, producers, and other interested
parties to review and approve the music prior to recording, saving both time and money.
41

Mock-ups also allow for the creation of click tracks which are utilized during the recording
process to ensure that the music begins, ends, and lands at precise moments throughout the
cue.
Hans Zimmer, who is known for his use of synthesizers, stated that his use of samples
was not to replace live performers, but utilized in mock-ups to convince directors of the power
of a full orchestra.
42
According to Zimmer, this was necessary “because there was a period of
time where everybody thought that if you do an orchestral score it will sound like Star Wars,
and [directors] would go, ‘oh no we don’t want an orchestral score,’ and they didn’t realize
there was so much more to be done with it.”
43

One of the most common reasons for the use of synthesized choral music is because of

41
Henry Jackman, interview by author, Los Angeles, May 6, 2021, transcript Appendix A.
42
Hans Zimmer, “Sound Palettes,” MasterClass video, 17:31, https://www.masterclass.com/classes/hans-zimmer-
teaches-film-scoring/chapters/sound-palettes.
43
Ibid.
41
budget limitations. Composer Tyler Bates refutes this notion, instead using his own money to
hire a choir. Bates says “I’ve been told to use samples before, and instead have taken my own
money to employ the choir.” For Bates this investment is necessary, as he believes the
transcendent quality of a live choir cannot be accomplished with samples.
44
Composer Bruce
Broughton understands the desirable nature of samples but dislikes its incorporation as the
only instrument. Broughton says “The synth. . . is basically just another musical instrument,
and a really useful one at that. However, to some people, it is thought of as a way of getting
cheap and quick scores.”
45

The inclusion of a synthesized chorus can also be an artistic choice. This was the case
for composer Henry Jackman in the film Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019), who wanted to
emulate the 1980s in his score. According to Jackman “it wasn't quite right for the choir to be
completely natural.”
46
As a result he deliberately incorporated a sampled choir using the Korg
M1 synthesizer.

Pre-composed, Licensed, and Musical Imitation

In film music, musical parody is a common occurrence among composers who seek
inspiration from current and past musical icons. According to Danny Elfman, “There’s no four
note or five note theme that doesn’t remind you of something. . . there’s no simple pattern that
hasn’t been done somewhere. It’s impossible to be one hundred percent original.” At the
same time, however, Elfman continues on to say that there is a clear line between “homage,

44
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
45
DesJardins, Inside Film Music, Ibid., 29.
46
Jackman, interview by author, Ibid.
42
inspiration, and plagiarism.”
47
One factor that may perpetuate the imitative nature of film
music may be found in a film’s temp music. Temp music, short for temporary music, are pre-
composed musical selections by other composers, or synthesized versions of the composers
proposed score that are inserted into the film during the editing process as a placeholder until
the score can be completed. Prior to the start of a composer’s work, the director and composer
typically watch a rough edit of the film in a spotting session which includes temp music that is
designed to inform the composer of a director’s musical vision for the scene. As a result, some
composers directly imitate the temp music, which according to Elfman, is the approach of
approximately seventy percent of today’s composers.
48
Several composers refuse to listen to
temp music, as they believe it negatively influences their musical creativity.
While originality in composition is the goal for many composers, even the greatest of
film composers have had their originality questioned. In the article “John Williams: Paraphraser
or Plagiarist?” author Jeremy Orosz questions if the soundtracks of John Williams are simply
inspired or plagiarized. According to Orosz, “Williams studiously avoids quoting material from
other composers without alteration; instead, he is a clever paraphraser who uses pre-existing
material as a creative template to compose new music at a remarkable pace.”
49

The inclusion of pre-composed choral music is frequently used by directors and
composers as both a diegetic feature necessary to the plot, and as part of the non-diegetic

47
Danny Elfman, “Crossing the Line,” MasterClass video, 8:05, https://www.masterclass.com/classes/danny-
elfman-teaches-music-for-film/chapters/crossing-the-line.
48
Danny Elfman, “Starting Your Score: The Spotting Session,” MasterClass video, 10:40,
https://www.masterclass.com/classes/danny-elfman-teaches-music-for-film/chapters/starting-your-score-the-
spotting-session.
49
Jeremy Orosz, “John Williams: Paraphraser or Plagiarist?” The Journal of Musicological Research 34, no. 4
(October 2, 2015): 300.
43
musical soundscape. Throughout the history of film, familiar songs such as hymns, folk songs,
gospel tunes, patriotic anthems, and birthday odes have regularly been included as a musical
element. In addition to these moments of choral singing, famous classical works of past
composers are frequently incorporated in films.
Possibly the most utilized pre-composed choral work is the fourth movement of
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125. In addition to films pertaining to
Beethoven’s life such as Immortal Beloved (1994) and Copying Beethoven (2006), Symphony No.
9 has also been included in films such as Sophie’s Choice (1982), Die Hard (1988), Shine (1996),
and Get Smart (2008).
The extensive use of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is likely equal to that of Carl Orff’s
Carmina Burana, which is also regularly used in film as well as television. Carmina Burana can
be heard in films such as Excalibur (1981), Jackass: The Movie (2002), and The Omen (2006), as
well as television commercials for Gatorade and Carlton Draught Beer, with a comically revised
text. Additional choral works by historically famous composers can be found in films based on a
composer’s life including Amadeus (1984), and the racially insensitive Swanee River (1939),
which dramatizes the life of Stephen Foster, including his association with the blackface
minstrel shows.
Possibly the two most iconic examples concerning the use of pre-composed music in a
film are The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). For the film The
Greatest Story Ever Told Alfred Newman, and his choral supervisor Ken Darby, faced extensive
challenges while working with director George Stevens, and the rest of the film’s producers.
Following the completion of Newman’s original score, he and the rest of his music staff were
44
sideswiped by Stevens’ demand to replace Newman’s “Hallelujah” with Handel’s “Hallelujah
Chorus” from the oratorio Messiah. But Stevens didn’t stop there. He also replaced the raising
of Lazarus with one of Newman’s earlier works from The Robe (1953), as well as inserted the
“Introit” movement from Verdi’s Requiem during the scene of Jesus carrying the cross to
Golgotha.
50
A more complete account of this tumultuous exchange between Newman
and Stevens can be found in Chapter 4 (pg. 95).
Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi adventure, 2001: A Space Odyssey exclusively incorporated the
pre-composed works of Aram Khachaturyan, Johann Strauss, Richard Strauss, and most
significantly, György Ligeti. Composer Alex North was briefly hired to score the film, however
his contributions were limited to less than a month’s worth of work from December 1967 to
January 1968.
51
North’s brief employment likely occurred because Kubrick had not yet
obtained all the permissions for Ligeti’s music.
52
Specifically, four of Ligeti’s works were
incorporated in the film including Requiem, Lux Aeterna, Atmosphères, and Aventures, only two
of which include a chorus (Requiem and Lux Aeterna). To Ligeti’s surprise these works were
never cleared with him, but instead approved by his publisher’s, and the ensembles from which
the recordings were taken. In total, the film utilized thirty-two minutes of his music, which
prompted Ligeti to take legal action claiming that there was no mention of the music’s use in
LPs, and was electronically manipulated.
53
In the end, Ligeti’s lawyer’s settled with MGM for a

50
Ken Darby, Hollywood Holyland: The Filming and Scoring of The Greatest Story Ever Told (Metuchen, N.J:
Scarecrow Press, 1992).
51
Kate McQuiston, “‘An Effort to Decide’: More Research into Kubrick’s Music Choices for 2001: A Space Odyssey,”
The Journal of Film Music 3, no. 2 (2010): 145–54.
52
Julia Heimerdinger, “‘I Have Been Compromised. I Am Now Fighting Against It’: Ligeti Vs. Kubrick and the Music
for 2001: A Space Odyssey,” The Journal of Film Music 3, no. 2 (2010): 127–43.
53
Heimerdinger, “‘I Have Been Compromised,” Ibid.
45
sum of $4,500.
54

For the average listener who is not well acquainted with choral repertoire, pre-
composed choral works likely go unnoticed. In the case of Ligeti, his musical contributions were
not initially recognized by critics and audience members, as he was not credited in the film or
souvenir booklet.
55
An additional example of unrecognized licensed choral music includes the
film Angels and Demons (2009), which incorporates a movement from Morten Lauridsen’s Lux
Aeterna in the final scene. Additionally, listener’s may recognize a tune, but are not able to
identify its exact title or origin. In many cases, unless pre-composed music is needed for a
specific purpose, directors and music supervisors tend to include original work as to avoid this
auditory recognition by the audience, as well as the ever more dangerous, preconceived
emotional connection with a specific work. However, in the case of X2: X-Men United (2003),
composer John Ottman incorporated the “Dies Irae” movement from Mozart’s Requiem in an
effort to be musically different. Ottman states,
I say, if you can use something other than what’s expected, always do that. For that
action scene (in X2: X-Men United) I temp scored it with action music, and sure, it
worked fine. It was exciting and so forth, but there was nothing special about it. It just
felt like you were opening this movie with a standard action scene, and it's nothing
more than that. It really bothered me. I wanted this scene to be remembered. So I
threw in Mozart's Requiem,. . . and it completely transformed that scene in ways that
film music would never be able to do.
56

Choral imitation appears in films in the form of a composer’s arrangement of a pre-
composed song as heard in the films such as Magnificent Obsession (1954) and The Farewell
(2019). In Magnificent Obsession, composer Frank Skinner incorporates treble voices singing

54
Ibid.
55
Heimerdinger, “‘I Have Been Compromised,” Ibid.
56
Ottman, interview by author, Ibid.
46
the “Ode to Joy” theme from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, but occasionally rhythmically alters
the tune, and has the alto voice singing the tune in parallel motion a major 6
th
below the
soprano. Similarly, in The Farewell, composer Alex Weston arranged the second movement of
Beethoven’s Pathetique in a very innovative smooth jazz style accompanied by a solo plucked
string bass. Interestingly, according to Weston, the director Lulu Wang originally wanted to
have “only vocal arrangements of classical pieces” throughout the score.
57

Paradise Road (1997) presents a unique example of pre-composed choral arrangements.
Based on actual events during WWII, this historical drama follows a group of British, Dutch,
American, and Australian women who, while living in Singapore and the surrounding region
prior to the war, were captured and imprisoned by the Japanese on the island of Sumatra. As
part of their survival, the women create a vocal orchestra, performing famous instrumental
works for a cappella voices.
Additional pre-composed choral works incorporated into a film include, Jerusalem by
Parry (Chariots of Fire, 1981), Battle Hymn of the Republic (Nothing Sacred, 1937; Deadline USA,
1952), Fauré Requiem (The Legend of Bagger Vance, 2000), Vivaldi Gloria (Shine, 1996),
“Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah (With Six You Get Eggroll, 1968), and Verdi’s
Requiem (Django Unchained, 2012; Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015).

Music and Film Conceived at the Same Time

As composers seek to musically interpret the emotive context of each scene in a film,

57
Alex Weston, “Languages of Lies: Alex Weston Talks Scoring ‘The Farewell,’” Score It Magazine, January 15, 2020,
http://magazine.scoreit.org/languages-of-lies-alex-weston-talks-scoring-the-farewell/.
47
traditionally, the music and choir are among the last elements added.
58
After the film is shot
and roughly edited, the director, composer, and music editor sit down for a spotting session to
determine where each musical cue will start and stop.
59
Occasionally, the composer may be
invited to observe dailies (printed takes of the day’s shot scenes) to initiate the compositional
process. In some of the more unusual cases, music is conceived prior to, or at the same time as
the film. In the film musical, the pre-conception of the score is a requirement as the actors
either lip synch to recorded audio, or in the case of Les Misérables (2012) record the vocal
music live while filming.
60

In addition to the musical, the synchronous conception of music and film is necessary in
moments of diegetic singing. While some instances of diegetic singing may be superimposed
on the film following production, other instances require original music for a specific moment in
the film. In one unique case Patrick Doyle composed a hymn on the text “Faith of Our Fathers”
for the film Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014), which upon hearing it director Kenneth Branagh
“felt it was essential to have a shot showing the choir singing,”
61
and scheduled an additional
shoot a few days later.
In the case of John Williams’ score for Empire of the Sun (1987), the synthesis of choral
diegetic source music and score plays a significant role, requiring the pre-conception of some
musical selections, as heard in the source scoring example previously discussed (pg. 18).

58
Jasper Randall, interview by author, Los Angeles, June 15, 2020, transcript Appendix A.
59
Elfman, “Starting Your Score,” Ibid.
60
Paul Tingen, “The Les Misérables Sound Team: Part 1,” Sound on Sound, April 2013,
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/les-miserables-sound-team-part-1.
61
Marc Ciafardini, “Interview…Film Composer Patrick Doyle Talks ‘Jack Ryan’, Love of Country and Having a Laugh
at it All,” GST, February 3, 2014, http://goseetalk.com/interviewfilm-composer-patrick-doyle-talks-jack-ryan-love-
of-country-and-having-a-laugh-at-it-all/.
48
While the pre-recording of a film’s score is common in these examples of diegetic source
music, it is highly unorthodox in other situations. According to Fred Karlin, in the early eras of
film “Erich Wolfgang Korngold would begin composing his themes while the film was shooting,
using the script as his guide. He thought of the script as if it were the libretto for an opera.”
62

Later in the 1960s, while working with Sergio Leone, Ennio Morricone would compose the score
prior to filming. “I liked to write the music before shooting the film begins, not only for the
actors but also for the director. I think that when you have the music beforehand you can listen
and get accustomed to it, you can assimilate it.”
63

In a second interview on the topic, Morricone stated “Sometimes [Leone] play[ed] the
music on the set. In Once Upon a Time in the West it seems that this was very helpful to the
actors’ sense of character.”
64
Later in the twenty-first century, composer Brian Tyler “wrote
half an hour’s worth of music for The Mummy (2017) before director Alex Kurtzman even
started shooting.”
65
Around the same time, Tyler Bates scored cues for Guardians of the Galaxy
(2014) and its sequel prior to filming. In the first of these films, select musical cues were played
through speakers on set. However, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) this musical
playback became more advanced with the actors wearing earpieces, which were later digitally

62
Erich Korngold, The Sea Hawk: The Classic Film Scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, National Philharmonic
Orchestra, Charles Gerhardt, RCA Records 60863-2-RG, liner notes, 10. Quoted in Fred Karlin, Listening to Movies:
The Film Lover’s Guide to Film Music (New York: Schirmer Books, 1994, 3.
63
Michael Bonner, “An Audience with…Ennio Morricone,” Uncut (London), no. 214 (2015): 14–6.
64
Morricone, “Towards an Interior Music (1997),” Ibid., 335.
65
Jon Burlingame, “’The Mummy’ Composer Brian Tyler Gets Deep About Film’s Score: Hear an Exclusive Clip,”
Variety, June 7, 2017, https://variety.com/2017/music/news/the-mummy-composer-brian-tyler-talks-film-score-
hear-exclusive-clip-1202457022/.
49
removed in post-production.
66
While Bates says that the chorus was “always part of the music
conceptually,” it was not recorded until after filming due to various musical revisions.
67

Choral Singing in the Musical Film

Musical films have regularly been released by production companies throughout the last
century. Due to the nature of the production, audiences expect these films to contain
numerous instances of diegetic vocal music, which may frequently appear in the form of a
choral ensemble. At times, these instances of choral singing are incorporated as source scoring,
with only the soloist pictured on screen.
TABLE 2.6. Choral Music in the Musical Film (Not Included in Appendix B or C)

Film Title Year Composer Total Amount of
Choral Singing
Centennial Summer 1946 Alfred Newman 4 min 05 sec
Ladies of the Chorus 1948 George Duning 1 min 57 sec
Take Me Out to the Ball Game 1949 Roger Edens/Conrad Salinger 3 min 20 sec
West Side Story 1961 Leonard Bernstein 3 min 41 sec
The Music Man 1962 Ray Heindorf 8 min 58 sec
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory 1971 Leslie Bricusse/Anthony Newley 3 min 03 sec
Fiddler on the Roof 1971 Jerry Bock 10 min 19 sec
Grease 1978 Jim Jacobs/Warren Casey 8 min 19 sec
Beauty and the Beast 1991 Alan Menken 4 min 13 sec
Newsies 1992 J.A.C. Redford 12 min 01 sec
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit 1993 Miles Goodman 12 min 04 sec
The Lion King 1994 Hans Zimmer 20 min 21 sec
The Prince of Egypt 1998 Hans Zimmer 20 min 57 sec
Moulin Rouge 2001 Craig Armstrong 16 min 35 sec
Dreamgirls 2006 Tom Eyen/Henry Krieger 2 min 09 sec
Across the Universe 2007 Elliot Goldenthal 3 min 24 sec
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet
Street
2007 Stephen Sondheim 0 min 00 sec
Pitch Perfect 2012 Christophe Beck/Mark Kilian 22 min 59 sec
Frozen 2013 Christophe Beck 4 min 36 sec
Into the Woods 2014 Stephen Sondheim 2 min 44 sec

66
Tyler Bates, “For Scores: Tyler Bates (Episode 17),” YouTube Video, 26:01, July 29, 2020,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD6AtQGO8Ro.
67
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
50
Pitch Perfect 2 2015 Mark Mothersbaugh 19 min 16 sec
Moana 2016 Mark Mancina 7 min 21 sec
Pitch Perfect 3 2017 Christopher Lennertz 11 min 56 sec
The Greatest Showman 2017 John Debney/Joseph Trapanese 10 min 10 sec
Frozen II 2019 Christophe Beck 5 min 37 sec

As seen in Table 2.6, a total of twenty-five musical films were observed and evaluated
for inclusion of choral singing. Due to the purposeful diegetic nature of these films, they were
not included in this study’s general analysis.
Traditionally, film versions of musicals have been created by studios as a representation
of their theatrically staged counterparts such as The Music Man (1962), Fiddler on the Roof
(1971), Sweeney Todd (2007), and Into the Woods (2014). Interestingly however, many musical
films have reversed this process making the transition from screen to stage. Several examples
from Table 2.6 have made this transition including Beauty and the Beast (1991), Newsies
(1992), Sister Act (1993), The Lion King (1994), and most recently The Prince of Egypt (1998) and
Frozen (2013), both premiering on stage in 2017.
In terms of choral singing, musicals have been responsible for the dissemination and
creation of copious amounts of choral music. To further profit off films, arrangements of songs
from musicals are regularly released for various types of choral ensembles. Choral suites and
highlights of films from the 1960s and 1970s such as West Side Story (1961) and Grease (1978)
remain popular among choral directors for use in their popular music showcases. More
recently the film Frozen (2013) and its sequel Frozen II (2019) have stirred up a musical frenzy
with its collection of choral highlights, as well as the stand alone work, “Vuelie,” which can be
heard in the opening credits of Frozen and is partially reprised in the sequel.
51
The Pitch Perfect trilogy (2012, 2015, 2017), through its depiction of vocal a cappella
groups, has not only provided choral ensembles with numerous scores, but has also contributed
to the reinvigoration of the a cappella pop ensemble. With over twelve published
arrangements from the various films, Pitch Perfect presents several musical selections for
choral ensembles, with possibly the most popular being “Cups (When I’m Gone)” from the
original Pitch Perfect film.
In the 1990s two films, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993) and The Lion King (1994),
produced highly popular choral works, which were performed by many choirs across America.
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit provided the choral community with two of the most iconic
choral works in the film music repertoire. Expanding on the “Ode to Joy” theme by Beethoven,
arranger Mervyn Warren composed the song “Joyful, Joyful” which brings the film to its climatic
moment, and results in St. Francis Academy winning the music competition, and as a result,
saves the school from closing. Earlier in the film, in their first public performance after coming
together as an ensemble, the St. Francis Academy Choir performs the show stopping song “Oh
Happy Day.” Originally written by Edwin R. Hawkins in 1967, “Oh Happy Day” found new life as
a popular gospel song through its incorporation in the film.
With its iconic opening, many individuals are familiar with the tune “The Circle of Life”
from The Lion King. Incorporating both Zulu and English text, “The Circle of Life” was composed
through a collaborative effort between Lebo (Lebohang) Morake and Hans Zimmer who wrote
the opening “Nants’ Ingonyama” theme, and Elton John (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics) who
composed “The Circle of Life.” This theme, among others, was revived in The Lion King’s 2019
remake, once again renewing an interest in the song.
52
Despite being identified as a musical in this study, The Prince of Egypt (1998) exclusively
includes non-diegetic choral singing. While the animated film incorporates soloist in a diegetic
fashion, the background actors are never pictured singing. The film presents an extensive
number of choral cues that are both beautifully uplifting and aggressively powerful, resulting in
one of the most impactful choral film scores. Choral cues from The Prince of Egypt include “The
Burning Bush,” “Deliver Us,” “The Plagues,” “Through Heaven’s Eyes,” and “When You Believe,”
which won the 1999 Oscar for Best Original Song.

Opening Titles and End Credits

In film, the choir occasionally appears in both the opening and end credits acting as
musical bookends. Like moments of conflict and travel, this inclusion of the choir is likely due in
part to the lack of dialogue during these moments, providing the audience with auditory
stimulus in the absence of visual interest. It is also curious to note that choral singing is likely
more apparent to movie goers during the opening and end credits as they are less distracted by
visual stimulus at these times.
In films from the 1930s through the 1950s, composers occasionally introduced choral
singing at the conclusion of the film leading into the end title. As a result, this choral finale
provided a musical and emotional conclusion for the film. In an interview with Jon Burlingame
for the Los Angeles Times, film historian Rudy Behlmer states “particularly in pictures from the
golden age, choruses often provided an inspiration, surging finale.”
68
This type of inspirational

68
Jon Burlingame, “Performing Arts; An Idea in Chorus with Hollywood; The L.A. Master Chorale Gives Voice to Its
Many Roles on Movie Soundtracks: Home Edition,” The Los Angeles Times, May 07, 2000, 84.
53
choral finale can be observed in Max Steiner’s use of the hymn “The Church’s One Foundation”
in the film One Foot in Heaven (1941). According to Steiner biographer Steven Smith, “Steiner’s
instinct for drama turns the familiar tune into an Ode to Joy-like hymn of humanity, and its use
in the final scene is towering.”
69
The Hollywood Reporter concurs with this sentiment in a
1941 review of the film stating “[Steiner’s] music for the final scene. . . must send any audience
out of the theater exalted and reborn.”
70

The inclusion of a choral finale also at times appears as a surprise to the audience, due
to the lack of choral inclusion elsewhere in the film. This type of novelty choral inclusion is
most notable in the film Love is a Many Splendored Thing (1955), with its concluding song by
the same name. Written by Sammy Fain (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics), the song was
a hit garnishing a Best Original Song Oscar win. The film’s composer, Alfred Newman, was not
to be left out, winning an Oscar for Best Music for Dramatic or Comedy Picture. Additional
examples of films that incorporate a chorus in the final scene include The Informer (1935), The
Garden of Allah (1936), Gone with the Wind (1939), Leave Her to Heaven (1945), and Strangers
When We Meet (1960).
Beginning around the 1970s, end credit music typically included a reprise of the various
themes from the score in a symphonic suite, acting as incidental music to fill the otherwise drab
list of contributors. While a reprisal of themes is most common, new music may also appear.
Most frequently this incorporation of previously unheard music may be in the form of a pop

69
Smith, Music by Max Steiner, Ibid., 268.
70
“One Foot in Heaven Great,” Hollywood Reporter, September 30, 1941, quoted in Steven C. Smith, Music by Max
Steiner: The Epic Life of Hollywood’s Most Influential Composer (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020), 268.
54
song, but has also appeared as a choral work in the films Saving Private Ryan (1998) and
Valkyrie (2008).
In Valkyrie, following an unsuccessful attempt by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom
Cruise) and his fellow insurgents to overthrow the Nazi party in Germany, Stauffenberg is
executed at the end of the film for his treason. In discussing this scene and the emotional
importance of end title music, the film’s composer John Ottman said,
On the heels of an emotional ending, end title music has great power and responsibility
on how the audience will be left with the film. There had to be something different from
the emotional scene preceding it, reflective and somehow uplifting. A purely
instrumental approach didn't seem to rise to the occasion and would feel too much like
what just preceded it. As I struggled with the piece with my co-writer, Lior Rosner, it hit
me that making it choral would help it stand apart as a poignant resonance.
71

Valkyrie’s concluding song “They’ll Remember You,” is a beautifully reflective work that helps to
relieve the audience from the suspense laden dramatic build up that had just ensued.
Similarly, in another World War II military epic, Saving Private Ryan, John Williams
concludes the film with an emotionally reflective song, appropriately titled “Hymn to the
Fallen.” Recorded by the California State University, Fullerton choir
72
“Hymn to the Fallen” is
the only choral music in the entire film, which is also limited in its use of score in general.
73

According to Williams,
The ‘Hymn to the Fallen’ was kind of a set piece that seemed to be required. One felt
like we needed a kind of requiem for the people lost in the film. How to do that
tastefully, discreetly, quietly, and hopefully elegantly was the opportunity it presented.
Of course, chorus and orchestra is still the best medium for that kind of thing.
74

71
John Ottman, “Valkyrie, 2008,” John Ottman, accessed June 27, 2021,
http://www.johnottman.com/work/project/50_valkyrie/10_experience.
72
John Williams, “John Williams – Hymn to the Fallen from ‘Saving Private Ryan’ (Behind the Scenes),” YouTube
Video, 0:41, May 29, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfddAAIzxKs.
73
John Williams, “John Williams scoring ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ YouTube Video, 6:12, August 21, 2007,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDq1gETo18w.
74
Ibid.
55

Through a sentiment of peace and patriotism “Hymn to the Fallen” offers a reflective
conclusion to an emotionally charged film about World War II.
Throughout the golden age of cinema, choral singing in the opening credits was just as
prevalent as the previously discussed end credits. During the mid-twentieth century, film
executives learned that they could cross-promote their films by incorporating a hit song. As a
result, films during this era were flooded with popular songs in an effort to boost ticket sales.
75

This incorporation of popular songs in conjunction with the chorus was most prevalent in the
title songs of the mid-twentieth century Western.
76

Composers in this era incorporated an almost formulaic approach to the opening title
song of their film scores through the inclusion of a male soloist that was accompanied by a
chorus, which was most commonly a tenor-bass ensemble. The chorus would initially enter
without text on various vowel sounds, but later join the soloist on the text, which frequently
included the film’s title. Notable films that incorporate this musical formula include Gunfight at
the O.K. Corral (1957) with solo by Frankie Laine; Rio Bravo (1959) with soloist and star of the
film, Dean Martin; The Hanging Tree (1959); El Dorado (1966); The War Wagon (1967)
performed by Ed Ames supported by a mixed chorus; and Mel Brooks Western spoof Blazing
Saddles (1974), with soloist Frankie Laine.
Variations on this musical formula include the exclusion of a soloist in favor of a choral
feature to carry the title sequence. Interestingly, many of these choral only title songs enlisted

75
Jon Burlingame, Sound and Vision: Sixty Years of Motion Picture Soundtracks (New York: Billboard, 2000).
76
Corey K. Creekmur, “The Cowboy Chorus” in Music in the Western: Notes From the Frontier, ed. Kathryn Kalinak
(New York: Routledge, 2011).
56
the help of African American composer Jester Hairston as choral director (see Chapter 5, pg.
123). Hairston’s work as a choral director can be heard in films such as She Wore a Yellow
Ribbon (1949) with its rousing unison tenor-bass chorus, Red River (1948), and mixed chorus in
Band of Angels (1957).
In the 1960s, Ennio Morricone took a drastically different approach to the scoring of
Westerns compared to the sweeping orchestral sounds of the previous decades. While
Morricone removed himself from these previous classical traditions, he maintained some
semblance of the vocal title song. For example, in The Big Gundown (1966), Morricone
incorporates a solo performed by Maria Cristina Brancucci for the song “Run, Man Run,” which
is supported by the textless treble chorus, Cantori Moderni Di Alessandroni. In films such as A
Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
(1966) Morricone forgoes the soloists and replaces it with the vocal grunts and singing of tenor-
bass voices.
In late twentieth and twenty-first century films, the use of opening credits has become
more uncommon, as credits moved to the end beginning around the 1970s. However, films
continue to start with a myriad of various production company logos, which sometimes include
their own musical themes, or are overdubbed with musical material related to the film. In the
case of the Universal Studios logo, a textless mixed chorus can prominently be heard. In the
Disney Studios logo, a treble chorus can be briefly heard in the last seconds, as well as some
variations of the Lionsgate Entertainment Corporation logo.

57
Chapter 3: Artistic Reasons for Choral Music Incorporation in Film

I really do love the soulful quality that a choir, with a specific objective, can bring to
music. You can write notes for them to sing, and they can add a veneer to music that
gives it, let's say an extension of its sonority, and maybe emotional content. But I think
when you really dig in and think of the choir as the main instrument, you can really do
some fantastic things that are just unachievable with an orchestra.
1

Tyler Bates

Since the early part of the twentieth century, music has always served a necessary
function in film. From the early silent era where music and on-screen action were frequently
disjointed due to the individual interpretations of the house musician, the synthesis of music
and film later became a significant means of dramatic communication.
2
According to Anahid
Kassabian, the dramatic communication of film music serves three purposes including
identification, mood, and commentary.
3
In a film score, music can be an identifying feature
establishing the location, culture, and setting of the film through its use of various soundscapes
that transport the listener to alternate realities, as described by Elmer Bernstein who stated
“Film conspires with your imagination to remove you from your present reality and take you on
a freewheeling trip through your unconscious.”
4
Bernstein continues on to describe how music
can also affect a listener’s mood.
Of all the arts, music makes the most direct appeal to the emotions. It is a non-plastic,
non-intellectual communication between sound vibration and spirit. The listener is not
generally burdened with a need to ask what it means. The listener assesses how the

1
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
2
Hofmann, Ibid., quoted in MacDonald, Ibid.
3
Anahid Kassabian, Hearing Film: Tracking Identifications in Contemporary Hollywood Film Music (New York:
Routledge, 2001), 56.
4
George Burt, The Art of Film Music (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1994), 10.
58
music made him feel.
5

In addition to identification and mood, music also offers important commentary through its
ability to alter a listener’s perception of a situation through musical foreshadowing, as well as
influence the on screen emotional and dramatic content. According to a 1979 interview,
Dimitri Tiomkin states
To comprehend fully what music does for movies, one should see a picture before the
music is added, and again after it has been scored. Not only are all the dramatic effects
heightened, but in many instances the faces, voices, and even the personalities of the
players are altered by the music.
6

Similar to the three purposes of music in film as identified by Kassabian (identification,
mood, and commentary), the reasons for choral singing incorporation in film are directly
related to these three domains, but are expanded here to identify specific areas of interest
including: expressions of grandeur and emotion, textual expression, cultural expression, and
textural color.

Choral Inclusion Determined by Director or Composer

When it comes to the incorporation of choral music in a film score, Henry Jackman
posits that the decision “to use choir should always be an artistic choice.”
7
However, at times, a
composer’s artistic intent may be inhibited by budgetary restrictions. In addition, a composer’s
artistic choice may be influenced or supplanted by the director’s vision of the film’s
soundscape, with requests to include or exclude a chorus at various moments in a film. For

5
Elmer Bernstein, “The Aesthetics of Film Scoring: A Highly Personal View,” Film Music Notebook 4, no. 1 (1978),
quoted in George Burt, The Art of Film Music (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1994), 10.
6
Tiomkin, “Dimitri Tiomkin,” in Film Score, Ibid., 99.
7
Jackman, interview by author, Ibid.
59
example, according to composer Alex Weston in the film The Farewell (2019), director Lulu
Wang expressed that she wanted vocal music to underscore the film before Weston was even
hired.
8
In more unique situations, a choir is occasionally requested by director’s late in the
compositional process as recounted by composer and vocal contractor Jasper Randall who said
What happens is we'll do a choir session, and once the director hears it, they go, ‘well,
Isn't there choir there? And we should have choir there.’ Or the composer does the
same kind of thing.
9

According to Randall, when this occurs it ends up being a hectic scramble to compose the parts
and hire a choir in a limited amount of time.
10

In other situations, the chorus is maintained in the film despite a composer’s suggestion
to exclude it. Henry Jackman experienced this in his work on the films The Birth of a Nation
(2016) and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). In discussions with director Nate Parker for the
film The Birth of a Nation, Jackman expressed his concerns of Parker’s musical vision and the
potential cost, suggesting a limited orchestration of piano and cello. To this suggestion Parker
said “No, by the time you get to the third act I’m thinking symphony orchestra and choir.
Whatever needs to happen, I’ll make it happen.”
11
Similarly, in Ralph Breaks the Internet
Jackman recounted how he was uncertain about the inclusion of a choral cue, but was
reassured by Disney music executive Tom MacDougall who said “What are you talking about? If
you think the piece needs choir we should get a choir."
12
In the most surprising of examples

8
Wesley Lara, “Behind the Music interview: The Farewell’s Alex Weston,” Fansided, 2020,
https://hiddenremote.com/2019/07/26/behind-music-interview-farewells-alex-weston/.
9
Randall, interview by author, Ibid.
10
Ibid.
11
Jon Burlingame, “Billion-Dollar Composer Henry Jackman Is a Master of Versatility,” Variety, September 29,
2016, https://variety.com/2016/film/features/henry-jackman-marvel-birth-of-a-nation-1201873839/.
12
Jackman, interview by author, Ibid.
60
due to its now iconic status as a choral film work, John Williams proposed to George Lucas that
the chorus for the cue “Duel of the Fates” could be excluded in the film Star Wars: Episode I –
The Phantom Menace (1999). In discussions with Lucas during the recording session Williams
said, “The only concern that one might have is you may want a version without the chorus.” To
which Lucas replied, “I love the chorus.”
13

In contrast to these examples of directors and executives who supported the inclusion
of the chorus, some composers are at odds with film directors when it comes to their musical
vision. Following the removal of large sections of Alfred Newman’s original score, which were
replaced by Handel’s Messiah and Verdi’s Requiem, Newman’s associate Ken Darby made his
frustrations with director George Stevens public in his book about the making of the film The
Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). Describing his feelings in that moment Darby wrote
I walked back to the recording stage at war with myself, disgusted with an art form that
could be operated by chain of command—where the output of a spectacularly gifted
composer for hire could be thwarted, dismembered, debased, fragmented, and
butchered by executive privilege. I apologized inwardly to Signor Verdi and Mr.
Newman for this deforcement and rupture of their music by a non-musician’s personal
opinion, and angrily reasoned that when executive privilege and personal opinion
become art forms, allowing a committee to wield the power to distort and mutilate, to
funnel and filter an artist’s work through a mesh of whims and prejudices—that artist is
dead!
14

In the film Glory (1989), composer James Horner faced some pushback from director
Edward Zwick when it came to the choir. According to Horner,
Glory was interesting; the director [was] very difficult, and very opinionated. I wanted to
use a boys' choir, and I thought it was appropriate to use a boys' choir that was a group
of kids who were living in Harlem, New York.
15

13
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, DVD, directed by George Lucas (Los Angeles: 20
th
Century Fox,
1999).
14
Darby, Hollywood Holyland, Ibid., 221.
15
Hocquet, “Conversation with James Horner,” Ibid.
61
During playback those listening were in tears at the beauty of the cue, but Zwick wasn’t
convinced yet stating “yes everybody's crying, but is it a good cry or is that going to distract an
audience?”
16

Despite the possible challenges of director opposition and budgetary restrictions,
composers make every effort to realize their artistic visions. According to John Ottman,
regardless the challenges, if his musical vision calls for choir, he makes every effort to
incorporate this ensemble in the film, resorting to synthesized vocals if necessary.
17
In the case
of Tyler Bates, his desire to realize his musical vision in the film 300 (2006) resulted in him
leveraging his own money. In discussing his work on the film, Bates said “That movie was so
low budget—I know people probably think, 300, low budget? Yeah, I took out a second
mortgage on my house to finish that movie.”
18
Through his financial investment, Bates was
able to hire the Metro Voices for the choral cues in the film resulting in a fulfilling musical
soundscape through the use of live vocals.
In establishing their artistic musical vision for the film, some composers have
determined that the chorus is not the appropriate choice for the film. For example, in Star Trek
Into Darkness (2013) composer Michael Giacchino initially avoided the inclusion of the chorus
as he felt it was used excessively in the first Star Trek (2009) film, and wanted to keep the
sequel more simple. However, in the end the composer found a few cues where choir was
appropriate.
19
In Hacksaw Ridge (2016), composer Rupert Gregson-Williams used the chorus

16
Hocquet, “Conversation with James Horner,” Ibid.
17
Ottman, interview by author, Ibid.
18
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
19
Daniel Schweiger, “Interview with Michael Giacchino,” The Film Music Institute, May 6, 2013,
http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=11248.
62
sparingly in an effort to not “dose the whole thing in choir.”
20
In Thomas Newman’s score for
the film 1917 (2019), he and director Sam Mendes initially scheduled a choir to record, but
ended up excluding the chorus as this soundscape would have been “too unreal, to fantastical
as opposed to realistic.”
21
Composers Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson carefully select
how to incorporate a choir in their film scores as the choral ensemble exhibits a sense of
grandeur and “epicness” that should be used in moderation.
22
Henry Jackman later said “I
don’t necessarily like just throwing in the choir as the extra thing, just to take it to the next
level.”
23

The Choir as an Expression of Grandeur and Emotional Content

As an instrument, the voice and its collective manifestation as the choral ensemble has
been revered by many composers for its expression of grandeur and emotive qualities, which is
able to expand the musical soundscape of the orchestra. In discussing his work on the film 300
(2006), composer Tyler Bates expressed his awe for the incredible power of the choral
ensemble describing it as a “jaw dropping experience.”
24
David Arnold described the nature of
his choral music in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010) as “epic,”
relating the powerful nature of choral music to its close association with culture and everyday

20
Jon Burlingame, “Scores for ‘Hacksaw Ridge,’ ‘Allied’ Conquer War Movie Cliches,” Variety, December 1, 2016,
https://variety.com/2016/music/spotlight/hacksaw-ridge-allied-music-1201930755/.
21
Daniel Schweiger, “Audio: Interview with Thomas Newman,” The Film Music Institute, December 20, 2019,
https://filmmusicinstitute.com/audio-interview-with-thomas-newman/.
22
Michelle Hannett, “Interview – WAMG Talks to Kingsman: The Secret Service Composer Matthew Margeson,”
We Are Movie Geeks, February 12, 2015, http://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2015/02/interview-wamg-talks-to-
kingsman-the-secret-service-composer-matthew-margeson/.
23
Jackman, interview by author, Ibid.
24
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
63
life.
25
In addition, the chorus is arguably also capable of expanding the emotive properties of
the orchestra, adding an additional expressive musical layer to the soundscape. According to
composer John Ottman,
Another reason to use choir is to provide an epic quality that a big orchestra can also
achieve, but a choir will just put it over the top. In Jack the Giant Slayer (2013), the
choir transcended epic moments of the beanstalk falling to just that – epic and with the
gravitas the orchestra alone couldn’t give.
26

Expressions of grandeur can be heard in all of the dramatic domains identified in
Chapter 2, but are most commonly found in scenes of conflict, pre-conflict, and travel, due to
the grand atmosphere these types of scenes project. Choral music can appear in the cue as
either lyric or rhythmically aggressive, but is likely best characterized as incorporating
elongated rhythms that create an expansive and dramatic aural experience for the listener,
further establishing an expression of grandness. Occasionally these two contrasting textures of
lyricism and rhythmic aggression are coalesced in a single cue with the choir performing
sustained elongated rhythms and the orchestra providing the rhythmic interest. The
incorporation of a choral text can aurally heighten the “epicness” of the cue but is not required.
Notable examples of choral expressions of grandeur can be observed at pivotal
moments in film. Both Ben-Hur (1959) and King of Kings (1961) by Miklos Rózsa conclude
similarly with grand choral-orchestral scores that feature the sweeping soundscape one would
expect to hear in a classic Hollywood film score. In addition, these concluding cues transition
from a wordless chorus to incorporating the text “Hallelujah” and “Hosanna,” further adding to
the grand finality of the moment.

25
Schweiger, “Interview with Composer David Arnold,” Ibid.
26
Ottman, interview by author, Ibid.
64
As an expression of the travel or scenic domain, the chorus musically heightens
the grandeur of the visual scenery. In Red River (1948) Tiomkin depicts the vast Texas and
Oklahoma landscapes through the lyrical and heroic soundscapes of a wordless tenor-bass
chorus. In Ennio Morricone’s score for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) the grand
musical sonorities of a chorus can be heard towards the end of the film when the film’s
characters arrive at the cemetery where the elusive gold they are seeking is buried. As the
camera follows Tuco (Eli Wallach, also known as The Ugly) through the vast graveyard as he
looks for the tomb with the buried gold, the musical cue slowly builds adding soloist and chorus
in a grand moment of ecstasy, which is fittingly titled “The Ecstasy of Gold.”
In depicting the domains of conflict and pre-conflict, the chorus musically heightens the
dramatic tension that is about to ensue or is currently taking place. In Gladiator (2000) this
choral expression of grandeur occurs just prior to the final climatic battle between Maximus
(Russell Crowe) and Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). In this scene, the actors are slowly elevated
on a platform into the center of the Colosseum. Interestingly, this musical moment of pre-
conflict is filled with an aura of heroic grandeur through its gradually ascending melodic
contour in the cue “Am I Not Merciful.” However, the ensuing battle that follows is almost
completely absent of any musical underscore.
Similar examples of choral grandeur in scenes of conflict are also commonly found in
action films of the 1990s through the present era. The choir’s ability to create an expressive
atmosphere is likely one of the primary factors it was heavily utilized by composers in the 1990s
and 2000s in conjunction with the rise of the action film genre. As a musical feature in these
films, the choir provided an epic quality that noticeably enhances the musical underscore of the
65
orchestra.
While the orchestra provides a necessary and substantive function in a film’s score, the
versatility and emotive nature of the chorus provides a human quality that can connect directly
with the heart of a listener. According to Basil Poledouris
Trumpets are trumpets and oboes are oboes. There are lots of different idioms in which
you can work with the strings. But the choir is probably the most expressive thing there
is. We respond to the human voice in an emotionally different manner than we do to an
instrument.
27

Several other composers have observed the emotional and humanist quality of the chorus.
John Ottman commented “It can be literally more of a holy experience by using the choir as
opposed to the strings, woodwinds, and so forth.”
28
Tyler Bates described the emotional
impact of choral music stating
There's something about a group of singers when they sing in tune and with soul that is
transcendent emotionally. Once I had experienced the choir, I really had the
opportunity to consider emotionally how it can impact the score.
29

In the same interview, Bates went on to say
I always love working with the choir, because you just feel instantly all of this human
energy. It's just so visceral when it comes from people's mouths. I mean the orchestra
is always amazing too, but there's something about the choir that can be so soulful. It
could be so disturbing. It can be just so beautiful. I think it's the most organic musical
element there is.
30

The humanist quality of the chorus has been incorporated by a number of composers to
ease the heaviness of the images depicted on screen. As previously mentioned, in Glory
(1989) the use of a boychoir counterbalanced the scenes of death and war providing the score

27
Burlingame, “Performing Arts; An Idea in Chorus with Hollywood,” Ibid., 84.
28
Ottman, interview by author, Ibid.
29
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
30
Ibid.
66
with a sentiment of humanism and resulted in a powerfully emotional score which brought
those in the recording studio to tears.
31

Similarly, in another film depicting the struggles of black Americans during the
nineteenth century, Birth of a Nation (2016) depicts the life of Nat Turner who led a slave
uprising in 1831. According to the film’s composer Henry Jackman,
In Birth of the Nation (2016), choir played a really important role. It was to humanize a
situation which when depicted. . . The irony of that being that the treatment of the
African Americans in the movie is so appalling, that it's dehumanizing. So, the idea is
that the humanizing/inspirational tone of the choir represented Nat Turner’s (played by
Nate Parker) unbending will to throw off the shackles, and try to start a revolution, and
not to lose faith in there being something better than the conditions that he was in. So,
the choir was a texture that was a counterpoint to the horrific conditions that Nat
Turner and everyone that he knew were in.
32

Despite the troubling and gruesome nature of the film, Jackman’s use of a choir helps to make
these scenes more palpable for audiences through the humanizing character of the chorus.
In a more unique example, composer Alex Weston utilizes the human quality of the
voice in the film The Farewell (2019) to heighten a sentiment of family and community, amidst
the atmosphere of somberness following the family matriarch’s terminal cancer diagnosis.
33

Additional examples of the chorus used to express humanism include the films The Mission
(1986), Empire of the Sun (1987), Amistad (1997), and Pearl Harbor (2001).
Due to the emotive power and grandeur of the chorus, composers often limit the use of
a choir reserving it for select emotionally heightened moments, as well as later in the film when
the dramatic content of the narrative reaches its pinnacle. This concept of deferred musical

31
Hocquet, “Conversation with James Horner,” Ibid.
32
Jackman, phone interview by author, Ibid.
33
Lara, “Behind the Music interview,” Ibid.
67
incorporation has been utilized by composers for several decades and was identified by Jerry
Goldsmith in a 1967 interview.
The idea is not to bombard the audience and beat them down with sound, not to fill the
screen with as much music as there is picture. Composers have learned to save it for
the right moments and make them count.
34

Specifically, in terms of choral music, vocal contractor and conductors Terry Edwards
and Jasper Randall have both observed the heightened emotive feature of the choral ensemble.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4, Edwards commented on the impact of choral music at
heightened moments in the score stating
The singer’s music is always at the most heightened moments. Either the saddest, or
the most aggressive. . . It’s an important aspect that makes for the atmosphere within
the cinema.
35

Randall expanded on the emotionally heightened feature of the choir, and its deferred use later
in film stating
Generally speaking, a lot of the scores that we do, and I contract and conduct on, you'll
find that a lot of the choir comes later in the film, like big action movies. Whereas the
beginning of the film, they're establishing the themes lightly, smaller orchestras and
sound. Then as it grows, much like the story, then you add the choir on and it just kind
of builds in scope. Now there are those scores where the choir is woven throughout,
and it's very much a specific color within the orchestra and within the sound they're
going for. But as a general rule, I find that the choir is that extra “umph.” It's one thing
to have a Marvel film, but when really push comes to shove and characters start dying,
or the worlds on the brink of collapse, or that the team has to come together, that's
when the choir appears, and just adds that extra level of humanity.
36

Numerous films in this study have been found to utilize the chorus selectively at
heightened emotional moments in the film as described by Edwards and Randall. In Wonder

34
Jerry Goldsmith, quoted in Charles Champlin, “Sound and Fury Over Film Music,” Los Angeles Times, March 12,
1967, C14, quoted in Wierzbicki, Ibid., 189.
35
Terry Edwards and Ben Parry, The Film Programme: The Choir That Sang Elvish, BBC Radio 4, accessed July 20,
2019, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07qbst8.
36
Randall, interview by author, Ibid.
68
Woman (2017), composer Rupert Gregson-Williams noted the developmental quality of his
score, which grew to include choir, among other instruments, as the film’s heroine was
developed.
37
In Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) composer Christophe Beck incorporated the
chorus more extensively towards the end, while limiting its appearance earlier in the film.
38
In
Jerry Goldsmith’s score for First Knight (1995), the chorus enters in a surprisingly grand fashion
during the final climatic battle in a choral cue that lasts over four minutes, and is the first
appearance of choral singing in the film. In addition, as mentioned in Chapter 2 (pg. 54) the
films Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Valkyrie (2008) incorporate the chorus during the end
credits as a type of eulogy, providing the audience with some semblance of peace following the
militaristic tension that has just ensued. In both of these examples, choral singing represents
the only choral music in the entire film.

Textual Expression of the Chorus

In film, the incorporation of a choral text can further heighten the emotive aspects of
the score as well as provide commentary on the scene. The inclusion of choral text most
commonly appears as diegetic source music where the actors offer commentary, either directly
or indirectly, on the story, setting, or atmosphere of the film. In the musical genre, actors often
provide commentary that directly propels the narrative of the story. Text may also indirectly
comment on a film by establishing a cultural or historical setting, as heard in the singing of

37
Leah Brungardt, “An Interview with Wonder Woman Composer Rupert Gregson-Williams!” All Access Music,
June 12, 2017, https://music.allaccess.com/an-interview-with-wonder-woman-composer-rupert-gregson-
williams/.
38
Daniel Schweiger, “Interview with Christophe Beck,” The Film Music Institute, July 3, 2018,
https://filmmusicinstitute.com/interview-with-christophe-beck-3/.
69
hymns which help to establish a sacred setting.
While a choral text in film can be set in English to provide direct commentary on the
action, composers regularly avoid the use of English texts due to its ability to distract the
observer and comment on the film’s narrative. Tyler Bates expressed his avoidance of
commentary lyrics stating
If there are lyrics that offer a commentary on the storytelling, then I don't think that's
my place to add text. Unless I’m asked to do so. . . Generally, I don't think that it would
be appropriate for me to offer commentary on the storytelling. That's the writers place.
The directors place.
39

Similarly, David Arnold described avoidance of English in favor of Latin in the film The Chronicles
of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010) relating this type of choral commentary to a
Greek chorus that provided commentary on the dramatic action in ancient Greek dramas.
40

In contrast to English texts, composers prefer to utilize foreign language texts as a
means to offer indirect commentary on a film’s narrative. Languages such as Latin and Russian
are among the most common, appearing in films such as: Alexander Nevsky (1938), The Song of
Bernadette (1943), The Omen (1976), The Mission (1986), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Jack
Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014), and Mission Impossible Fallout (2018), which interestingly had the
film’s title translated into Latin, “missio impossibile,” for use in the film’s finale.
41

In addition to these traditional languages, composers have also incorporated
uncommon dialects, faux Latin, and fictional languages. According to studio singer William
Goldman,

39
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
40
Schweiger, “Interview with Composer David Arnold,” Ibid.
41
Jon Burlingame, “Mission Improbable: The Impossible Task of Rebooting an Iconic Movie Theme,” Variety, July
26, 2018, https://variety.com/2018/music/news/mission-impossible-theme-score-fallout-1202887006/.
70
I have sung in English, Latin, fake Latin, Russian, Swahili, Xhosa, Chinese, Klingon, Sith,
Minion. I would say the most common “language” would be vowel sounds. After that I
would say the most common language would be fake Latin. Syllables that read as Latin
but don’t actually have any meaning.
42

As identified by Goldman, several uncommon and fictional languages have been utilized
by composers including Aramaic (The Passion of the Christ, 2004),
43
Egyptian (The Mummy,
2017),
44
Sanskrit (The Scorpion King, 2002),
45
Xhosa (Black Panther, 2018),
46
Mende (Amistad,
1997), Elvish (The Lord of the Rings, 2001–03),
47
faux Latin (300, 2006),
48
and mermaid which
was a combination of Latin, Hebrew, and Greek (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,
2011).
49

Texts utilized by composers are often translated from English into alternate languages
to avoid the aforementioned dramatic commentary, or to promote the desired cultural
atmosphere. In “Duel of the Fates” from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)
John Williams selected the poem “The Battle of the Trees” by Robert Graves, which he had
translated by friends at Harvard University into Celtic, Greek, and ultimately Sanskrit.
50
For the
film How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) composer John Powell penned the

42
William Goldman, interview by author, Los Angeles, June 17, 2020, transcript Appendix A.
43
John Debney, “John Debney Interviewed by Jon Burlingame,” Film Music Foundation video, 2:39:56,
https://www.filmmusicfoundation.org/interviews.
44
Burlingame, “’The Mummy’ Composer Brian Tyler,” Ibid.
45
DesJardins, Inside Film Music, Ibid., 76.
46
Tim Greiving, “Why Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson traveled all the way to West Africa to score ‘Black
Panther,’” Los Angeles Times, December 8, 2018, https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-en-mn-
score-black-panther-20181208-story.html.
47
Edwards and Parry, The Film Programme, Ibid.
48
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
49
Joseph Susanka, “Zimmer and Whitacre: Strange Musical Bedfellows,” Joseph G. Susanka, accessed June 10,
2021, http://www.josephsusanka.com/summa-this-summa-that/2013/5/21/zimmer-and-whitacre-strange-
musical-bedfellows.
50
“Star Wars Episode 1 – The Phantom menace Interview with John Williams,” Film Music on the Web (UK), April
9, 1999, http://www.musicweb-international.com/film/jwilliamsinterview.html.
71
choral texts which were then translated into Gaelic and Latin.
51
Interestingly, following the
success of the song “Spider Pig” in The Simpsons Movie (2007), the chorus was asked to return
and record the song in eight other languages for its worldwide distribution in other countries.
52

Foreign Languages utilized by composers are carefully vetted for meaning as films are
disseminated throughout the world with native speakers in the audience. As a result, Jasper
Randall points out that composers don’t typically incorporate random meaningless text, as this
text may unintentionally mean something in various languages. Randall states
Composers want to be very careful with text. I mean, I think Latin is kind of the one
thing that you can do whatever you want with, because it's technically a dead language.
I'd say the vast majority of composers don't just want to throw nonsensical stuff up. If
you're dealing with a specific language, they have to be very careful of what they're
actually saying. Many times, they'll bring in musicologists, or they'll bring in native
speakers just to make sure, because the majority of these films get translated into
hundreds of different languages. I worked on Mulan (2020), and at some point there
was a question about possibly doing Chinese lyrics. But the concern there then being,
what would that be, and how would that translate? And what would it mean? You
certainly don't want to, in every good intention, say something, and then have it not
mean what you think it means. . . I believe it might have been Wolverine (2013), they
used some ancient language and text, and had to still vet what it was that we were
saying. I mean, I think simply put, these composers do not just want to make something
up. That is rare. . . They would rather find something that means something that actually
has substance to it within the context of their music, and within the context of the
movie in the film.
53

In setting foreign language texts, composers have, at times, been challenged due to a
lack of linguistic knowledge, and a desire to alter pronunciations for the sounds to be more
vocally pleasing. In the film Valkyrie (2008), John Ottman discovered the challenges of setting
the German text when using the poem “Wanderers Nachtiled II” for the choral cue “They’ll

51
Jon Burlingame, “’How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World’ Soars with Fiery Score,” Variety, February 28,
2019, https://variety.com/2019/artisans/news/how-to-train-your-dragon-3-music-score-1203151400/.
52
Stevens, interview by author, Ibid.
53
Randall, interview by author, Ibid.
72
Remember You.” As he and his co-writer, Lior Rosner, started to adapt the text to the music,
they faced a tremendous challenge due to their lack of German language knowledge. On his
website Ottman recounts these challenges stating
We thought we had done a bang-up job, until I presented the mock-up to Bryan one
night. As fate would have it, he was with a German friend. After the piece finished, the
German guy looked confused and frustrated. Clearly, what sounded good to us didn't
make much sense to him! We had split up language phrases and stretched out words as
to sound awkward to anyone speaking the language. We were so concerned that it
sounded musically beautiful we had no idea we were trying to jam a square peg into a
round hole linguistically. This of course caused alarm bells to go off, and I re-assured
Bryan that the lyrics would be fixed and passed through linguistic experts so he didn't
ever have to worry about Germans having a problem with it. So we did just that to save
the piece. My conductor contacted German language scholars, and we put our heads
together to ensure it was making sense with the melody.
54

Similar linguistic challenges occurred in Howard Shore’s score for The Lord of the Rings,
(2001–03). According to Terry Edwards, Shore had completed a good deal of research on the
pronunciation of Tolkien’s Elvish language, however after hearing this language sung he took
several liberties with the pronunciation changing various consonants and vowels.
55
In contrast
to these linguistic challenges, Jerry Goldsmith commented on his preference for working with
Latin stating, "When you set Latin to music, no matter what it says, it just writes itself."
56

As an expression of emotion or grandeur, the inclusion of a choral text can heighten the
expressive atmosphere of the music. For composer John Williams, this was his purpose for
including a choral text in the cue “Duel of the Fates” from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom
Menace (1999), as it provided the cue with a heightened atmosphere of ritualism, paganism,

54
Ottman, “Valkyrie, 2008,” Ibid.
55
Edwards and Parry, The Film Programme, Ibid.
56
Burlingame, “Performing Arts; An Idea in Chorus with Hollywood,” Ibid., 84.
73
and antiquity.
57
Similarly, in the film 300 (2006) composer Tyler Bates incorporated faux Latin,
with a lot of hard consonants as a means to create an aggressive musical atmosphere.
58
In
addition, Jerry Goldsmith deliberately twisted the Latin Mass to create an unsettling mood in
his score for The Omen (1976), resulting in a disturbing musical soundscape through its use of
Latin text.
59

IMAGE 3.1. Harry Gregson-Williams Conducting the Choir in a Recording Session

Source: Image permission granted by Scoring Sessions.com, photo by Dan Goldwasser.

As a means to heighten the emotional connection between audience and the character
Mark Watney (Matt Damon), composer Harry Gregson-Williams utilized a choral text in The
Martian (2015). According to Gregson-Williams,
A key area for me was how to play “us” looking on at him as it were. . . There’s a lot of
warmth and good will that he feels through his limited communication, and one of the
ways I was able to express that was literally through the human voices of a choir. I drew
their text from “On the Nature of Things” by Lucretius who was a Roman philosopher
who lived before Christ. It creates music that is “holy” without being specifically

57
John Williams, “John Williams Talks The Phantom Menace part II,” YouTube video, 8:37, August 18, 2007,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPacQ6_V6ZM.
58
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
59
Burlingame, “Performing Arts; An Idea in Chorus with Hollywood,” Ibid., 84.
74
religious as such. His text is concerned with the infinity of space and our place in the
universe, which seemed appropriate.
60

Choral Music as A Means to Transport the Listener to Different Cultures and Realities

According to Aaron Copland, the purpose of film music is to “create a more convincing
atmosphere of time and place.”
61
Through the synthesis of text and music, composers establish
sonic soundscapes that transport a listener to differing cultures and realities. This
manifestation of choral music is commonly observed in the travel and scenic dramatic domain
as these visuals help to establish the setting of the upcoming scene. In addition, these scenes
typically lack character dialogue providing composers with the opportunity to incorporate a
choral text, which significantly accentuates the desired visual and musical atmosphere.
To establish a physical location, the choir is most frequently utilized by
composers to establish the sacred atmosphere of a church, and is often incorporated as
diegetic source music in the scene. Numerous films feature the choir in this fashion with some
of the more notable instances including How Green was My Valley (1941), One Foot in Heaven
(1941), The Song of Bernadette (1943), The Mission (1986), and Home Alone (1990). In the film
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014), director Kenneth Branagh in an unprecedented approach
reshot one of the church scenes to visually show the choir that was featured in Patrick Doyle’s
musical cue.
62

60
Daniel Schweiger, “Interview with Harry Gregson-Williams,” The Film Music Institute, October 1, 2015,
https://filmmusicinstitute.com/interview-with-harry-gregson-williams/.
61
Roy M. Prendergast, Film Music: A Neglected Art, 2
nd
ed. (New York and London: W.W. Norton &
Company, 1992), 213.
62
Ciafardini, “Interview…Film Composer Patrick Doyle Talks,” Ibid.
75
In depicting the diverse cultures that are represented in film, composers regularly
feature a culture’s corresponding dialect and musical style. Vocal music is frequently featured
in this capacity, as singing is often closely associated with everyday life and cultural identity. In
the films analyzed for this study, the two most commonly represented cultures were Russia and
Africa.
While a Russian musical influence is to be expected in films such as Alexander Nevsky
(1938) and Ivan the Terrible, Part I (1944), which were composed by native born Russian
composer Sergei Prokofiev, this cultural association has also been significantly utilized by other
composers in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Motivated by political
tensions since the Cold War in the 1950s, the representation of Russia as antagonist in film
borders on cliché. Depicting this Russian cultural association, composers incorporate Russian
inspired choral music in their scores. In The Hunt for Red October (1990) composer Basil
Poledouris had his English lyrics translated into Russian for the cue “Hymn to Red October”
heard in the opening credits.
63
Additional films featuring Russian inspired choral singing include
The Peacemaker (1997), The Sum of All Fears (2002), Babylon A.D. (2008), and Hail, Caesar!
(2016).
Native African and African American inspired choral singing is by far the most
represented cultural music in film. Drastically differing in style, African cultural influences most
commonly appear as native tribal singing, sacred gospel, and spirituals. Notable examples
include Way Down South (1939), The Power of One (1992), Blended (2014), Selma (2014), The
Birth of a Nation (2016), and Harriet (2019).

63
Burlingame, “Performing Arts; An Idea in Chorus with Hollywood,” Ibid.
76
In a unique approach to the musical representation of cultures, in his monumental score
for The Lord of the Rings (2001–03), Howard Shore established his own musical identities for
the fictional cultures depicted in the film. According to Shore,
The score that I wrote is a mirror image of Tolkien’s writing. I would read about
Lothlórien, and then I wanted to create a piece of music that would bring Lothlórien, in
music terms, to life.
64

With each culture having its own theme—several of which included choir—Shore developed a
theme-based score that artfully represented the diverse cultures of fictional Middle Earth. In a
separate interview, Shore expanded on the importance of voices in his score for The Lord of the
Rings describing it as necessary to “create a sense of history.” Shore states
The idea using the voices in The Lord Of The Rings was to create a sense of history.
Middle Earth pre-dates our culture by 5000 or 6000 years, so you want a sense of
antiquity. The story told was very old. So I was trying to go back to the origins of music
which of course is the voice.
65

For the film Avatar (2009), composer James Horner went to great lengths to establish a
unique musical culture for the Pandora dwelling Na’vi. Enlisting the help of musicologist Dr.
Wanda Bryant, Horner and the music production team worked to invent a distinct musical
culture that was both original yet familiar for the audience. The resulting musical culture relied
extensively on singing, and incorporated the fictional language of the Na’vi, which was invented
by linguist Paul Frommer.
66

Despite a composer’s best intention to authentically represent the diverse cultures
represented in film, composer Dimitri Tiomkin argues these musical depictions are unauthentic.

64
Shore, “The Lord of the Rings Rarities Archive,” Ibid.
65
Olivier Desbrosses, “Interview with Howard Shore,” UnderScores Le Magazine de la Musique de Film, October
15, 2017, http://www.underscores.fr/rencontres/interviews-vo/2017/10/interview-with-howard-shore/.
66
Wanda Bryant, “Creating the Music of the Na’vi in James Cameron’s Avatar: An Ethnomusicologist’s Role,”
Ethnomusicology Review 17 (2012) https://ethnomusicologyreview.ucla.edu/journal/volume/17/piece/583.
77
Tiomkin states
The music that is accepted a typical of certain races, nationalities and locales, is wholly
arbitrary. Audiences have been conditioned to associate certain musical styles with
certain backgrounds and peoples, regardless of whether the music is authentic.
67

During the time of Tiomkin’s career (c. 1930–60) the arbitrary depiction of cultures would have
been much more common. While the musical representation of cultures and historical periods
may at times be the fictitious creations by some, many composers spend time researching the
musical practices of these cultures and historical eras attempting to accurately depict them in
their film scores.
To be historically accurate, directors often include the pre-composed music of past
composers. As expected, this type of musical inclusion is heard in films such as Amadeus (1984)
and Immortal Beloved (1994) which exclusively feature the works of Mozart and Beethoven. As
well as the lesser known Paradise Road (1997) which featured several vocal arrangements
created by the captured English, Dutch, and Australian women during World War II. In a more
unsettling approach, featuring the music of Stephen Foster in a fictional film about his life,
Swanee River (1939) depicts the historically accurate derogatory blackface minstrels that would
have been associated with the singing of Stephen Foster’s songs in the mid-nineteenth century.
In addition to these historical pre-composed works, composers Miklós Rózsa and Ennio
Morricone have been noted for their sensitivity to the historical musical elements in their films.
For the film El Cid (1961), depicting the eleventh century Spanish hero Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar
(Charlton Heston), Rózsa fastidiously studied Spanish music of the Middle Ages. In his
autobiography Rózsa stated

67
Tiomkin, “Dimitri Tiomkin,” in Film Score, Ibid., 99.
78
There was research to do, because I knew nothing of Spanish music of the Middle Ages.
The historical adviser on the film was the greatest authority on the Cid, Dr. Ramon
Menendez Pidal, aged ninety-two. It was he who introduced me to the twelfth-century
Cantigas of Santa Maria, in one of what must have been at least ten thousand books in
his vast and beautiful library. . . I spent a month in intense study of the music of the
period. I also studied the Spanish folk songs which Pedrell had gone about collecting in
the early years of this century. With these two widely differing sources to draw upon, I
was ready to compose the music. As always, I attempted to absorb these raw materials
and translate them into my own musical language.
68

Rózsa was similarly attentive to the historical accuracy of his musical scores for films such as
Quo Vadis (1951), Ivanhoe (1952), and Ben-Hur (1959).
69
His attention to detail was noticed by
others including André Previn who commented “In order to keep himself interested, Miklós did
an amazing (and probably unnecessary) amount of research for each of his projects, and so he
was a real expert in biblical instruments, plainsong, Gregorian chant, and the like.”
70

Ennio Morricone’s attention to the historical accuracy of the musical score is most
clearly demonstrated in his work on The Mission (1986). Due to the historical and cultural
setting of the film, Morricone—who is notable for his musically diverse soundscapes—was
limited to the historical epoch of the film. As Morricone describes
The circumstances of the movie put limits on my work…There was a scene where
Cardinal Altamirano walks into a church of the mission and there is a choir. Which kind
of choir could that be? It could only be the outcome of the Council of Trent,
authoritative and in my view proper, which set the rules of the liturgical music at the
time. . . The Third condition was the traditional music of South America; a music that is
repetitive, as primitive music often is. So, I thought of rhythmic pieces.
71

As a result, his work for the film clearly depicts the various religious and cultural groups that
appear in the film. For the religious music, Morricone composed choral music in the style of

68
Rózsa, Double Life, Ibid., 193.
69
Fred Karlin, Listening to Movies: The Film Lover’s Guide to Film Music (New York: Schirmer Books, 1994), 21.
70
Ibid.
71
Emanuele Colombo, “The Miracle of Music: A Conversation with Ennio Morricone,” Journal of Jesuit Studies
2016, no. 3 (2016): 476.
79
Palestrina that would have aligned with the ideals set forth in the Council of Trent. To depict
the South American Guarani people, Morricone utilized native percussion instruments to
accompany the chorus in the cue “River.”
To authentically depict various cultures, composers enlist the help of conductors and
choirs knowledgeable in their respective cultural styles. For the films The Power of One (1992)
and The Lion King (1994) Hans Zimmer hired Lebo Morake to assist in the choral arranging,
providing an authenticity to the music.
72
In Frozen (2013), Christophe Beck partnered with
Norwegian composer Frode Fjellheim, and Norway choral ensemble Cantus, for the cue
“Vuelie,” which provides the opening of the film with a unique cultural flare.
73
In Solo: A Star
Wars Story (2018) John Powell traveled to Bulgaria to record a women’s choir for the cue
“Marauders Arrive,” as he wanted this cue “to feel like a different culture had arrived on the
scene.” In a cue that is vastly different from the rest of the score, the Bulgarian choir (Sofia
Session Orchestra & Choir) provides “an aggressive, exotic sound,” as described by Powell,
creating a unique soundscape for the marauders.
74
In a similar example, Henry Jackman
utilized the A Cappella Choir of Wiley College in his score for the film The Birth of a Nation
(2016). According to Jackman, the style of singing produced by this predominately African
American ensemble provided the film with a more authentic cultural sound as opposed to the
traditional English choral sound of his native homeland.
75

72
Stevens, interview by author, Ibid.
73
Josh Weiss, “’Frozen II’: How Christophe Beck Carved a More Mature Score Out of the Ice for Disney’s Sequel,”
Forbes, December 2, 2019, https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshweiss/2019/12/02/frozen-ii-how-christophe-beck-
carved-a-more-mature-score-out-of-the-ice-for-disneys-sequel/#21bb9b4771ad.
74
Jon Burlingame, “’Solo’ Composer John Powell Reveals His Process for Tackling a ‘Star Wars’ Movie,” Variety,
May 24, 2018, https://variety.com/2018/music/news/solo-a-star-wars-story-john-powell-score-john-williams-
1202821271/.
75
Burlingame, “Billion-Dollar Composer,” Ibid.
80
Further establishing the changing realities and settings of a film, the use of choral music
appears in conjunction with the depiction of holidays. The use of holiday songs in films such as
Miracle on 34
th
Street (1947) and Elf (2003) are to be expected, however in other situations the
inclusion of holiday songs represents a change in the setting through the passing of time. In
Catch Me If You Can (2002) Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) arrives in Montrichard, France to arrest
Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio). Upon Carl’s arrival in France, a children’s choir can be
heard singing Christmas carols. Upon seeing each other Frank exclaims “Carl. Merry Christmas!
How is it that we’re always talking on Christmas?”
76
Similarly, in Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows: Part 1 (2010) Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Hermione (Emma Watson) arrive in Godric’s
Hollow after nomadically hiding out in the woods for several months. Shortly after their arrival
a church bell chimes, to which Hermione comments “Harry, I think it’s Christmas Eve.”
77

Immediately following this statement a choir can be heard faintly in the background singing an
indistinguishable carol. The singing of “Auld Lang Syne” at a New Year’s Eve party in the film
Forrest Gump (1994) helps to further establish the setting and era in a film that spans several
decades. Finally, the film Groundhog Day (1993) presents a more unique example of holiday
music in which the song “Pennsylvania Polka” does not represent the passing of time, but
instead depicts time standing still, as Phil (Bill Murray) continually relives the same day.
The use of a chorus as a representation of cultural patriotism can also be observed in
film and is most commonly heard as diegetic source music. In the film Invictus (2009), group
singing plays an important role in representing the unification of the South African people. Set

76
Catch Me If You Can, DVD, directed by Steven Spielberg (Glendale, CA: DreamWorks, 2002).
77
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, DVD, directed by David Yates (Burbank, CA: Warner Brothers,
2010).
81
prior to the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Invictus depicts Nelson Mandela’s (Morgan Freeman)
desire to unify the country, following the racially segregated Apartheid regime, through
supporting the country’s national rugby team as South Africa hosts the Rugby World Cup. Prior
to the World Cup Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) encourages the team to learn the national
anthem, which the predominately white team initially feels is unnecessary, and challenging as
they cannot even pronounce some of the African dialect. Before the final match, the South
African national anthem is performed by not only a choir, but the players and the entire
stadium as well in a musical moment that represents the improving cultural and political
unification that is slowly taking place in South Africa.
For the film Lincoln (2012), a sentiment of victory is expressed through the union Civil
War song “Battle Cry of Freedom.” Following the successful passing of the Thirteenth
Amendment which abolished slavery, the congressmen in favor of this litigation burst into song.
This song continues to be heard, now in non-diegetic form, as the people take to the streets in
celebration. In Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) the use of a patriotic song and dance
number is utilized in a nostalgically cheesy way emulating the music and style of the 1940s as
Captain America (Chris Evans) is sent on a propaganda tour promoting the war efforts.
In contrast to these positive expressions of patriotism, The Book Thief (2013) depicts
cultural patriotism in a negative light through the singing of a Nazi sympathizing anthem.
Towards the beginning of the movie Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nélisse) joins the Hitler Youth
movement and is pictured with other young children singing a Nazi anthem, which is overlaid
with scenes of the growing violence towards Jews.

82
Humor in Choral Film Music

The use of choral music as a comedic feature in film is occasionally utilized by
composers and is most commonly manifested as either diegetic source music or as juxtaposed
musical commentary on the action. Humorous choral singing as a diegetic feature typically
involves comical texts, however, in the case of the film You’re Never Too Young (1955), Jerry
Lewis utilizes his physical comedy by conducting Dean Martin and the Interstate Choir in a
unique interpretation of the song “I Like to Hike” with the most elaborate of conducting
gestures. Additional examples of diegetic choral comedy in films include Monty Python and the
Holy Grail (1975) with monks who continually sing a monophonic two note chant on the text
“Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem” before hitting their forehead with a wooden plank, and
the song “Knights of the Round Table” with the knights of Camelot being portrayed as foolish,
leading King Arthur to turn the company of knights away from Camelot describing it as “a silly
place.”
78
The 1993 film, Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) possibly presents the most
memorable comedic choral song and dance number due to its catchy tune, which has since
been published for tenor-bass ensemble by Shawnee Press. Additionally, the song “Spider Pig”
from The Simpsons Movie (2007) found great popularity following the film’s premier, and has
since been published for band and string orchestra.
Juxtaposed musical commentary creates a humorous discrepancy between the comedic
action on screen and the seriousness of the music used in the cue, which results in an over
dramatization of the action. For example, in the film Rat Race (2001) two brothers attempt to

78
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, DVD, directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones (Sony Pictures Home
Entertainment, 1975).
83
chase down a hot air balloon with their car which ends in a series of outrageous comedic
moments. In contrast to this on-screen slapstick comedy, the accompanying music is the
operatic tune “Brindisi” from La Traviata by Verdi. In a similar way, but with the added element
of a surprising text from the chorus, Deadpool 2 (2018) juxtaposes the seriousness of a chorus
in a traditional action scene with the unexpected incorporation of profanity in the chorus’ lyrics.
The film’s composer, Tyler Bates shared the story of this moment’s origin in an interview with
Variety magazine.
The choir was performing “one of the bigger, more aggressive vocal cues,” with
meaningless, faux-Latin phrases, Bates told Variety. He invited the director to consider
writing actual lyrics to replace the nonsense phrases he was hearing.
“Dave had some ideas, and following the rhythm that they were singing, put pen to
paper,” Bates said. With the help of choral contractor Sally Stevens and orchestrator-
conductor Tim Williams, the new lines — written during a 20-minute break in the middle
of a three-hour recording session — were incorporated into the score.
“It was pretty funny,” Bates said, “between the men singing the word ‘f—‘ in harmony,
and getting the cadence of ‘holy s— balls’ to really work with the music. It wasn’t merit-
less debauchery, it was just fun. It’s very rare that we can work on something at such a
high professional level that embraces the irreverence of Deadpool.
79

The incorporation of a juxtaposed traditional choral sound with unexpected text has
also been incorporated by composer Henry Jackman in the film This is the End (2013), which
had the chorus echo some racy lyrics which had just been stated by actor Craig Robinson.
However, according to the film’s choral contractor, Jasper Randall, this text was so obscured
amidst the soundscape and sound effects that this text was almost unintelligible.
80
In addition
to this surprising choral text, throughout the film Jackman’s musical approach was to present a

79
Jon Burlingame, “’Deadpool 2’ Score Album is First Ever to Receive a Parental Advisory Warning,” Variety, May
17, 2018, https://variety.com/2018/music/news/deadpool-2-score-album-parental-advisory-warning-
1202814172/.
80
Randall, interview by author, Ibid.
84
serious score, in the style of Jerry Goldsmith’s Omen (1976), as an overly melodramatic
juxtaposition to the outrageous events taking place on screen, resulting in the ridiculousness of
the on-screen action being perceived as more humorous amidst the seriousness of the score.
81

IMAGE 3.2. Composer Tyler Bates (center) and Director David Leitch (Left) at Recording Session
for Deadpool 2
Source: Image permission granted by Scoring Sessions.com, photo by Dan Goldwasser.

Occasionally the humor a composer incorporates is coincidental or hidden, as was the
case for composer Dario Marianelli with the song “Lust at the Abbey” in the film V for Vendetta
(2005). According to Marianelli, “There is a funny (for me anyway) moment, when the Bishop
enters his room where the scantily clad Evey is waiting, and on seeing Evey, the choir in the

81
Jackman, interview by author, Ibid.
85
score can’t help singing “Jesu Christe!”
82
Similarly, in Isle of Dogs (2018), not knowing what
lyrics the choir should sing composer Alexandre Desplat utilized the syllables “Yoko, Ono” in
honor of the Japanese artist Yoko Ono who was one of the voice actors in the film.
83

Choir as a Textural Color for the Musical Soundscape
Choral music is frequently highlighted as a significant musical feature in a film cue
through its incorporation of text, however, it can also be embedded in the musical soundscape
as a textural color. In other words, the chorus can be utilized by composers as another
instrument in the orchestral soundscape, lacking a sense of auditory prominence. Due to its
embedded feature in the score, the chorus as a textural color typically lacks lyrics, instead
incorporating various vowel sounds. According to composer J.A.C. Redford, the absence of a
choral text at times is desirable, as lyrics add a cognitive element to the film that comments on
the dramatic action of the scene, no longer providing just a timbral color.
84
As a result, most of
choral music in film is without text. According to London Voices founder, Terry Edwards,
approximately 90 percent of the films they record are without text.
85
Henry Jackman
corroborates this assessment estimating that 75 percent of choral singing doesn’t include
text.
86

Despite choral singing’s lack of text in these situations, it is still able to express emotion.

82
Dan Goldwasser, “A Musical Vendetta,” Soundtrack.net, March 15, 2006,
https://www.soundtrack.net/content/article/?id=187.
83
Matt Grobar, “Composer Alexandre Desplat on the Booming Taiko Drums & Barking Saxophones of ‘Isle of
Dogs,’” Deadline, January 9, 2019, https://deadline.com/2019/01/alexandre-desplat-isle-of-dogs-wes-anderson-
composer-interview-1202520992/.
84
Burlingame, “Performing Arts; An Idea in Chorus with Hollywood,” Ibid., 84.
85
Edwards and Parry, The Film Programme, Ibid.
86
Jackman, interview by author, Ibid.
86
According to Edwards,
Although the large proportion of the entries are sung to vowels, not to text, it is
surprising how many different ways one can sing to Ah, Oo and Oh! I often notice that
the choice of style and vowel is the same as an audience member might utter if they
were to voice the feelings of their reaction to the scene.
87

These differing vowel options created a challenge for composer Alex Weston in the film The
Farewell (2019) in which he asked himself “What kind of vowel do we need? It can be a ‘oh,’ a
‘ooh,’ it can be more rounded.”
88
For this reason, according to Weston, working with voices
was the more stressful part of the job compared to that of the orchestra.
Composers Ennio Morricone, Jerry Goldsmith, and John Ottman have been noted for,
and commented on, their use of the chorus as a textural color. While Morricone’s choral music
is often featured more prominently in the musical soundscape, his avoidance of text has been
observed to function as a feature of textural composition. According to Charles Leinberger,
Unlike the classical Hollywood film scores that used voices, Morricone would use the
voice as an instrument, without words, to add a desired tone or color to a melody or to
emphasize a particular rhythmic idea.
89

Jerry Goldsmith has contributed to the idea of the wordless chorus as an instrumental texture
describing it as “an added color.”
90
In addition, when asked about the chorus as simply an
added timbre of the orchestra John Ottman responded
I would say I do that more often than having overt choir, because there's not many films
or instances in movies where you're going to have license to use a big choir sound. So
absolutely, again it's sort of an additive thing. You have the orchestra, and then you just
invoke more of a soul by adding the texture of the choir. I always say film music is the
soul of a movie. But within that soul you can actually make it more soulful by using the
choir as a texture.
91

87
Edwards, interview with author, Ibid.
88
Weston, “Languages of Lies,” Ibid.
89
Leinberger, Ibid., 22.
90
Burlingame, “Performing Arts; An Idea in Chorus with Hollywood,” Ibid., 84.
91
Ottman, interview by author, Ibid.
87
In order to achieve these desired textural colors from the choir, composers have been
known to include specific instructions in the score, as well as ask for these colors during the
recording process. According to studio singer William Goldman, singers must be able to quickly
switch between styles and tone colors. He also recalled a session for the film Minions (2015) in
which much of the recording time was spent “experimenting with weird tones and colors.”
92
In
addition, upon analyzing the film scores of James Newton Howard, his notated markings
demonstrate the composers desire for specific vocal colors and timbres through the inclusion of
descriptive directions such as “Misterioso, Raspy Ah,” “Warmer tone,” “Gritty tone,” and
“Hollow/Ethereal.”
93

The use of chorus as an instrumental timbre also frequently lacks melodic direction, and
instead is utilized for its emotive qualities of grandeur and humanism. This lack of choral
melodic content is often replaced by sustained choral soundscapes, and can be heard
specifically in the cues “Main Titles” from The Scorpion King (2002), “The Wardrobe” from The
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), “Opening” from Harry
Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), “Main Titles” from Oz the Great and Powerful (2013),
“Main Titles” from Maleficent (2014), “Main Theme” from Justice League (2017), among many
others.

92
Goldman, interview by author, Ibid.
93
James Newton Howard collection, Ibid.
88
Chapter 4: Use of Choral Music by Prominent Film Composers

The human voice is at the disposal of all composers. Why don’t others use it? I love the
human voice, because it is an extraordinary instrument. . . So I became known as
someone who uses the human voice all the time. Perhaps it’s true, but everyone can
use the voice. It’s at every composer’s disposal.
1

Ennio Morricone

Throughout the past century composers have utilized the chorus in a myriad of ways.
They have, at times, developed compositional tendencies when incorporating a chorus in their
film score. Chapter 4 seeks to evaluate how select composers have implemented choral music
in their scores, and identify any common compositional trends utilized by individual composers.

Max Steiner (1888–1971)

The choral music incorporated by Max Steiner represents some of the earliest non-
diegetic uses of a choir in film. Earning him his first Oscar win for Best Musical Score, The
Informer (1935) incorporates diegetic choral singing, as well as possibly the first instance of
source scoring in a film. A short one year after the release of The Informer, Steiner completed
the score for the film The Garden of Allah (1936), which earned him another Oscar nomination
for Best Musical Score. Compared to The Informer, Steiner incorporates the chorus in The
Garden of Allah as a more significant feature in the score. In the opening scene, Steiner
features an a cappella wordless treble chorus as a representation of the convent in which the
scene takes place. Utilizing this same wordless treble soundscape, Steiner later uses chorus to

1
Jon Burlingame and Gary Crowdus, “Music at the Service of the Cinema: An Interview with Ennio Morricone,”
Cinéaste 21, no. 1/2 (1995): 77.
89
evoke a sense of mysticism as the camera pans across the vast emptiness of the desert, which
had just been described as “The garden of Allah.”
2
According to Steiner biographer, Steven
Smith, the chorus’s incorporation at this moment turns “wind and sand into a supernatural
presence.”
3
This sentiment of supernatural mysticism is continued immediately in the next
scene during a premonition by a soothsayer, again depicted through a textless treble chorus.
Steiner’s greatest use of the choir can be heard in the second half of the film when the budding
relationship between Domini Enfilden (Marlene Dietrich) and Boris Androvsky (Charles Boyer) is
fully manifested. Initially in this scene the music imitates a middle eastern musical style, but
later transitions to a lyrical classical film score soundscape.
The epic historical romance Gone with the Wind (1939) garnished Steiner with another
Oscar nomination for his original score. Due to the extent of the film, Steiner enlisted the help
of at least thirteen orchestrators, which included Dudley Chambers who was assigned to the
chorus.
4
Following the opening titles, the film opens with a wordless mixed chorus singing a
lyrical arrangement of “Dixie Land.” A mixed chorus also concludes the film shortly after Rhett
Butler’s (Clark Gable) iconic line, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” As Scarlett (Vivien
Leigh) weeps on the stairs, the music from the orchestra and choir slowly builds in a sweeping
musical expression of hope, as she decides to return home to Tara (a fictional plantation in
Georgia).

2
“The Garden of Allah 1936 Marlene Dietrich English,” YouTube Video, 1:15:28, February 26, 2014,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj0kXhZijwo&t=3018s.
3
Smith, Music by Max Steiner, Ibid.
4
Ibid.
90
Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)

While this analysis of choral music in film has focused its attention on films primarily
produced and disseminated in America, Sergei Prokofiev’s contribution to choral music in the
Soviet Union should not be overlooked, having scored films such as Alexander Nevsky (1938)
and Ivan the Terrible, Part I (1944).
Alexander Nevsky tells the story of the thirteenth century Russian Prince of Novgorod,
Alexander Nevsky, who rallied troops to fight off an invasion of Teutonic knights. Prokofiev’s
score extensively incorporates a chorus and is significant in choral literature as it was later
reworked into a cantata (Alexander Nevsky, Op. 78). According to Nick Strimple, several
important features of Prokofiev’s compositional style can be observed in the work including
“his sense of drama, rhythmic drive,. . . and an unconventional use of tonality—as well as the
seeds of inspiration for several younger film composers.” Strimple continues on to say “The
juxtaposition of Latin chant with Russian patriotic themes is brilliant, as is the chilling battle
scene on a frozen lake.”
5
One of these patriotic themes can be observed in the contrafactum
6

text from a popular song of the socialist revolution, “Internationale,” which Prokofiev
incorporated in his rousing rendition, “Arise Russian People.”
7

In terms of total amount of choral singing, Prokofiev’s inclusion of choir in Ivan the
Terrible, Part I far surpasses that of Alexander Nevsky, with over twenty-four minutes of choral
singing in Ivan the Terrible, and only nine minutes in Alexander Nevsky. Similar to Alexander
Nevsky, Ivan the Terrible incorporates some of the same musical characteristics through its use

5
Nick Strimple, Choral Music in the Twentieth Century (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 2002), 142.
6
Contrafactum is the changing of a text while still maintaining the original musical content with little to no
alteration.
7
Kevin Bartig, Composing for the Red Screen Prokofiev and Soviet Film (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013).
91
of drama and unconventional tonality. However, Prokofiev also includes several moments of
lyrical a cappella choral singing from the Russian Orthodox tradition. According to Kevin Bartig,
Prokofiev’s involvement in the selection of these liturgical works is unclear. However, at that
time this incorporation of Orthodox liturgical music was significant as Stalin had only recently
lifted the censorship of liturgical music just one year prior in 1943.
8

Dimitri Tiomkin (1894–1979)

FIGURE 4.1. Dimitri Tiomkin’s Choral Inclusion by Film

As a prominent composer during Hollywood’s Golden Age, Ukrainian-born composer
Dimitri Tiomkin regularly incorporated choral music in his film scores. Tiomkin’s first significant
use of the chorus appeared in his score for Lost Horizon (1937), which mixes eastern mysticism

8
Bartig, Composing for the Red Screen, Ibid.
92
with the traditional classical film orchestra.
Tiomkin’s score for Meet John Doe (1941), with choral arrangements by Hall Johnson,
exclusively incorporates pre-composed choral music from the American folk and sacred
tradition in a diegetic format. In the film, following the unintentional creation of the John Doe
political campaign, the congregating followers can be heard singing songs such as “Take Me Out
to the Ball Game,” “My Country Tis of Thee,” and “Oh! Susanna,” among others at the John Doe
political rally.
In a film featuring John Wayne (Thomas Dunson) and Walter Brennan (Nadine Groot),
the score for Red River (1948) demonstrates the quintessential soundscape for Westerns during
the era through its folk-like tunes and grand choral-symphonic score. Under the direction of
Jester Hairston, the choir for Red River exclusively makes use of a tenor-bass ensemble
performing in both English and without text. The highlight of this score is, without a doubt, the
now classic folk-tune “Settle Down.” Heard in the opening credits following a short but
triumphant horn solo, the chorus chimes in on the tune which is later reprised throughout the
film. A little over a decade later in the film Rio Bravo (1959), Tiomkin reused this tune in the
song “My Rifle, My Pony, and Me” with new text by Paul Francis Webster.
In 1952, Tiomkin’s song “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling” from the Western High
Noon (1952) incited the trend by studios to produce and prerelease film title songs in order to
promote ticket sales at the theater.
9
Often incorporating a chorus in conjunction with a soloist,
the title song became increasingly popular in the mid-twentieth century (see Chapter 2, pg. 55).

9
Burlingame, Sound and Vision, Ibid.

93
Alfred Newman (1900–1970)

FIGURE 4.2. Alfred Newman’s Choral Inclusion by Film

Starting his career as a film composer in the 1930s, Alfred Newman was recognized as
one of the leading Hollywood composers in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s as evidenced in his
almost annual Oscar nomination, earning a total of forty-five nominations and winning nine.
Several of his later nominations were shared with fellow composer and choral conductor, Ken
Darby.
One of Newman’s earliest works that extensively makes use of the chorus is How Green
Was My Valley (1941). Winning the 1942 Oscar for Best Picture—surprisingly beating films such
as Citizen Kane (1941) and the Maltese Falcon (1941)—How Green Was My Valley tells the story
of the struggles of a family from a Welsh mining town. Throughout the film choral singing is
94
often included in a diegetic manner, and is associated with various cultural activities often in
the form of a folk song or hymn.
A short three years later, Newman makes greater use of the chorus incorporating over
twenty-five minutes of choral music in the sacred biopic The Song of Bernadette (1943).
Depicting the development of the sacred Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, the film
follows the now canonized Bernadette Soubirous, who experienced multiple apparitions of the
Virgin Mary at the site. Throughout the film, Newman makes great use of a treble choir, likely
in connection with a female protagonist and the supernatural appearance of the Virgin Mary.
To further establish this spiritual connection, the choir often sings the Latin text “Sancta Maria”
(Holy Mary), in addition to various wordless vowel sounds.
In 1953 and later in 1965, Newman completed scores for two additional sacred biopic
films, The Robe (1953) and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), both of which are sacred in
nature through their association with the life of Jesus. In The Robe, Newman incorporates an
unusual musical approach in the crucifixion scene through his use of source scoring. Although
actors are never observed singing on screen, this diegetic source music is implied through an
auditory change with Marcellus (Richard Burton) initially observing the cross from a distance
with faint chant-like singing in the background. This faint auditory effect is removed upon his
arrival at the foot of the cross, implying that the listener is now closer to the source of this
diegetic music.
10
In addition to this chant-like somber diegetic singing, Newman layers a
mysterious angelic type non-diegetic texture of treble voices on top of this chant. Most curious

10
Siu-Lan Tan, Matthew P. Spackman, and Elizabeth M. Wakefield. “The Effects of Diegetic and Nondiegetic Music
on Viewers’ Interpretations of a Film Scene,” Music Perception 34, no. 5 (2017): 605–623.
95
is that these two simultaneously sounding musical textures do not complement each other, but
instead clash harmonically through the use of contrasting tonal centers. Based on the scene, it
is possible Newman is attempting to musically connect both the sorrowfulness of the moment
(depicted in the chant) with the spiritual mystery of Jesus’ death (depicted in the treble voices).
The film concludes with an exuberant mixed chorus singing the Latin text, “Alleluia,” a text that
Newman unfortunately was unable to incorporate in his score for The Greatest Story Ever Told,
due to differences in opinion with the director.
The Greatest Story Ever Told turned out to be a fitting title for director George Stevens’
sacred biopic film due to the compositional challenges Newman and Darby faced throughout
the films production. Darby recounted the tumultuous scoring of the film in his book,
Hollywood Holyland: The Filming and Scoring of The Greatest Story Ever Told.
11
According to
Darby, on December 29, 1964 the choir rehearsed and later recorded the cues for “The Raising
of Lazarus” and “The Resurrection and Ascension,” which utilized the same music. That same
day, following the completion of the mix a group of singers, composers, and producers
gathered to listen to their work. Darby recounted the powerful effect of Newman’s original
music stating, “Vision and sound blended into a fusion of glorious uplift, and when it was over
many in the theater were unashamedly in tears.”
12
However, amidst the celebration by the
composers and musicians, trouble was looming, as the director would soon have a different
plan for the musical finale of Act I and II.
On January 2, 1965, Newman and Darby were blindsided during a meeting with the

11
Darby, Hollywood Holyland, Ibid.
12
Ibid., 203.
96
film’s director and producers in the projection room. Instead of the music that had just been
recorded, director George Stevens replaced Newman’s original music for the “Raising of
Lazarus” cue with music from one of his earlier works (the “Crucifixion” cue from The Robe).
However, the most atrocious musical change was still to come.
According to Darby, Stevens stated “In the scene where Old Aram starts to run toward
Jerusalem, we will cross-fade from The Robe music into another piece I want to use. I’m going
to rely on you to make it work.”
13
The scene was then played with the “Hallelujah Chorus” from
Handel’s Messiah. After hearing his music replaced, Newman left the room in shock and
frustration. Upon collecting himself he returned and responded to Stevens who asked for his
opinion. According to Darby, Newman said
I don’t think it makes any difference what I think, George. You’ve already made up your
mind—or your jury has [referring to Steven’s producers]. . . But, since you have asked
me, I’ll put it this way: I do not now, nor will I ever presume to imply that my talent
remotely compares with that of the great Handel. But in the context of this film, scored
with antique modes from definite thematic sources, I think the use of the Messiah is
vulgar and shocking, both stylistically and dramatically. It comes suddenly out of left
field, totally major in mode, uprooting the audience’s involvement with the film, and
particularly so with the Christians—many of whom probably sang it in a Baptist church
choir. My ‘Hallelujah’ is made from the same cloth as ‘The Great Journey,’ which, in
turn was developed from the basic motif you liked so much in our April audition called
‘Christ, the Lord.’ . . That motif has been the genetic source of much of the score, and
does not lead into anything as great as Handel’s Messiah.
14

After hearing Newman’s response, Stevens dismissed the music department to review the
musical options with his production team.
Later that month, as the musicians returned for additional recording sessions they
learned that Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” would replace what they had all praised so highly in

13
Darby, Hollywood Holyland, Ibid., 205.
14
Ibid., 206.
97
the December recording session. According to Darby, rumors started to go around that Stevens
would “change his mind at the last minute and restore Alfred’s music before the premiere.”
15

These rumors did not sit well with Stevens who stated decidedly to the musicians
following one of the recording sessions, “I have learned from one of my staff that someone is
spreading rumors about Al Newman’s ‘Hallelujah’ being put back into the score. I want you to
know that contrary to all such rumors, Newman’s ‘Hallelujah’ will not be used in this picture.”
16

According to Darby, Stevens motioned for him to come closer and berated him in front of the
group stating “I’m told that you, Darby, have been the agitator of all these disturbing
contradictions. This is a warning. You are not to spread any more such rumors. The Messiah
stays in the score! This picture will immortalize Handel.”
17

Following this combative recording session, Stevens called for a total of fifteen musical
changes due to adjustments in the films edit, which required “twenty-five and a half minutes of
new score” within the next month for the New York preview.
18
Growing ever more disgruntled
at these changes, Newman and Darby returned once again to screen the movie with Stevens
who then requested that Newman replace the music he had composed for Christ’s journey to
the cross, with Verdi’s Requiem.
Completely disgusted at the alterations made to his original score, Newman reached out
to his lawyer on March 19, 1965 writing,
Dear Henry:
You have read my contract with George Stevens Productions, Inc. Do I have any

15
Darby, Hollywood Holyland, Ibid., 209.
16
Ibid.
17
Ibid., 210.
18
Ibid., 211.
98
recourse? Can I force United Artists to remove my name from the film credits of TGSET?
[The Greatest Story Ever Told].
19

Unfortunately for Newman, no legal action was available for him to disassociate himself from
the film.

Miklós Rózsa (1907–1995)

FIGURE 4.3. Miklós Rózsa’s Choral Inclusion by Film

Born in Hungary, Miklós Rózsa emigrated to America via London in the 1940s. Initially
starting his career in England with the film Thunder in the City (1937), Rózsa moved to America
during the production of The Thief of Bagdad (1940), which was forced to leave England due to
the impending conflict of WWII.
20
Throughout his career Rózsa became a notable film

19
Ibid., 250.
20
“Composer Miklós Rózsa Dies at 88,” The Washington Post, July 29, 1995, B4.
99
composer winning three Oscars and scoring almost 100 films.
As a composer, Rózsa spent a considerable amount of time researching the musical style
and historical context of a films settings prior to completing his scores.
21
Despite his efforts,
Rózsa was at times upset by the subdued nature of his music in the overall audio mix of the
film.
Earning Rózsa his first Oscar Nomination, The Thief of Bagdad features a classic
symphonic score with flares of traditional middle eastern music to enhance the setting. The
choral singing throughout the film exclusively utilizes vowel sounds, with two instances of a
soloist in English accompanied by a wordless chorus. Rózsa makes the most extensive use of
choral singing after Abu is transported to the mysterious land of legend. Throughout this scene,
the ethereal quality of a treble choir can be heard subdued beneath the dialogue.
A few decades later, Rózsa ventured into the genre of historical epics with the films Ben-
Hur (1959) and King of Kings (1961). Winning eleven Oscars including one for musical score,
Ben-Hur tells the story of a Jewish prince who is sent to work the galleys following an accident
that injured the governor. The ensuing tale follows Ben-Hur’s struggle for freedom and
revenge. Rózsa makes minimal use of the chorus throughout the film, appearing only on four
occasions. However, three of these musical instances are significant in length lasting
approximately one minute during each occurrence.
The first instance of choral music occurs early in the film with the Star of Bethlehem
traversing the night sky stopping over the stable where Jesus was born, guiding the shepherds
and wise men. In this cue Rózsa utilizes a wordless treble chorus in a reverently glorious

21
Karlin, Listening to Movies, Ibid., 21.
100
fashion depicting the grandeur of the event. In another moment of musical grandeur, following
the miraculous healing of Ben-Hur’s family, Rózsa incorporates a mixed chorus first with vowel
sounds, later transitioning to a triumphant “hallelujah” text.
King of Kings (1961) makes the greatest use of choral music in Rózsa’s films that were
analyzed for this study. Similar to The Thief of Bagdad and Ben-Hur, Rózsa makes extensive use
of a wordless chorus throughout King of Kings. However, the film also incorporates a number
of texts which are most likely in Hebrew or Aramaic as a representation of the films setting.
The most significant use of this text occurs during the Lord’s Supper, which is underscored by a
solemn a cappella tenor-bass chorus singing a unison chant. King of Kings also makes
prominent use of the chorus as an expression of grandeur. This musical expression is most
significantly observed in the films prelude and is reprised in the final scene of the film as the
disciples are sent into the world to preach the gospel. It is at this moment that the previous
wordless theme transitions into the text “Hosanna,” which propels the film into a triumphant
musical conclusion.
Interestingly, Rózsa arranged and published several choral works based on the film King
of Kings. However, many of these scores are greatly expanded and altered from their original
form as heard in the film. For example, in “The Prayer of Our Lord,” Rózsa incorporates the
film’s theme at the beginning and end of the work, but significantly expands the middle section,
as well as includes the Lord’s Prayer text, which appears as a wordless chorus in the film.
Similar musical alterations appear in other published selections from the film including “The
Nativity,” “Pieta,” and “The Way of The Cross,” with the latter two being musically altered to
the point that they barely resemble themes heard in the original film.
101
Roger Wagner (1914–1992)
As the founder of the Roger Wagner Chorale and the Los Angeles Master Chorale,
Wagner is primarily known as a choral conductor. As a film composer, Wagner only minimally
contributed to the medium through his scores for three films—two of which were
documentaries. Despite his limited contribution, Wagner is noted here for his work on The
Gallant Hours (1960), which incorporates the second most choral singing observed in this study.
With over thirty-one minutes of choral singing, Wagner’s score demonstrates his affinity
for the chorus as there is rarely a moment of musical score that does not include the choir. As a
docudrama following Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. leading up to the WWII battle of
Guadalcanal, the music makes significant use of a tenor-bass chorus reflecting the militaristic
nature of the film.
Most interesting is the method in which Wagner incorporates the main theme (words
and music by Ward Costello) which is a sea chanty that is at times both mysteriously haunting
and heroically rousing. This dichotomy is achieved through its use of the dorian mode, and a
rhythmically free solo to start the film, which later rises to a heroic climax with the addition of
chorus. Wagner further expands this dichotomy through the themes text which states “I knew
a lad who went to sea and left the shore behind him. I knew him well the lad was me and now I
cannot find him.”
22
The text gives further credence to a mysteriousness implying that men
leave for war, but return emotionally changed by their experiences.

22
Gallant Hours, The, Video, directed by Robert Montgomery (Beverly Hills, CA: MGM, 1960).
102
Ennio Morricone (1928–2020)

FIGURE 4.4. Ennio Morricone’s Choral Inclusion by Film

As a film composer, Ennio Morricone is often remembered for his work on Westerns
with director Sergio Leone. However, Morricone has also composed music for a wide variety of
film genres. Despite his many iconic scores, Morricone received only six Oscar nominations
throughout his career. In 2007, after a five-decade career in the industry and over 500 film
scores to his name, Morricone finally received the recognition he deserved with an Honorary
Oscar for his contributions to film music, followed by a second Oscar win in 2016 for the film
The Hateful Eight (2015).
As a composer, Morricone is highly eclectic in his choice of instrumentation and
103
soundscape.
23
His immense skill is demonstrated in his ability to internally hear the music
composing at his desk, instead of at the piano, as evidenced in an interview with BBC in which
he stated “I don’t compose at the piano as some others do. I compose at my desk. Unlike
other composers, when I orchestrate, I write directly on the score.”
24

As demonstrated in Figure 4.4, Morricone has a great appreciation for the choir,
regularly incorporating the ensemble in his film scores. This frequent incorporation was likely
due in part to his affinity for the Cantori Moderni Di Alessandroni choir, and more importantly,
the soloist Edda Dell’Orso.
25
Interestingly, as indicated in Figure 4.4, Morricone’s use of the
choir appears to decline starting in the 1990s. This is peculiar as many film composers during
this decade were making greater use of the chorus as indicated in Figure 1.1 and Table 1.2.
In collaboration with director Sergio Leone on the films The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
(1966) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Morricone’s scores for these films exemplify
the choral soundscape that he prefers to incorporate in his Westerns. Throughout this genre
Morricone likes to feature the guttural shouts and singing of a wordless chorus, which often
performs in conjunction with a soloist. These vocal sonorities, paired with his other eclectic
soundscapes, further removed film music from the traditional sonorities of the classical
symphonic orchestra to a more progressive realm of musical possibility. This departure from
the traditional soundscapes of the era is confirmed by Laurence MacDonald who states
With its vocal yells and grunts, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly theme seemed to
redefine the sound of film music. Its raucous, brash, and rhythmically driven sound

23
Timothy E. Scheurer, “John Williams and Film Music Since 1971,” Popular Music and Society 21, no. 1 (March 1,
1997): 59–72.
24
Ennio Morricone, “Ennio Morricone – BBC Documentary (1995) – Part 3,” YouTube Video, 8:42, August 30, 2007,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N6wAm0nZrQ.
25
Leinberger, Ibid.
104
departed drastically from the folksy style of Dimitri Tiomkin’s Western ballads and the
exuberant full-orchestra sonorities of Elmer Bernstein.
26

In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, a raucous musical texture is clearly stated in the
opening credits of the film which features the steady rhythm of the percussion, choral chant,
vocal yodeling from the tenors and basses, and electric guitar. This brash texture is mixed with
a heroic soundscape from the trumpets, strings, and choral ascending arpeggios. A similar
mixture of textures can be heard in the cue “Ecstasy of Gold,” which again features the driving
rhythm of the snare drum, heroic sonorities of the chorus, trumpets, and orchestra, but now
incorporates a treble soloist, which further accentuates the grandeur of this musical moment.
With its foreboding harmonica theme, Once Upon a time in the West features similar
musical soundscapes as found in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. However, the choral music in
this film is utilized in a more lyrically reflective fashion through its use of a soloist, and frequent
doubling of the theme in the violins. The dichotomy of the ominous nature of the harmonica
theme contrasted with the lyrical vocal sonorities results in a harmonically interesting musical
soundscape.
In Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), Morricone’s incorporation of the choir features some
similarities to his Westerns, but is very eclectic in its soundscape and use of non-traditional
vocal techniques. Continuing to utilize a wordless choir, harsh rhythmic chant-like shouts, as
well as lyrical choral themes, Morricone also includes a tribal ethnic quality, spoken whispers,
disjunct vocal writing, and twentieth century compositional sonorities. In the cues “Magic &
Ecstasy” and “Little Afro-Flemish Mass,” Morricone features a tribal ethnic quality with its edgy

26
MacDonald, Ibid., 211.
105
vocal timbre and rhythmic percussion. This unique vocal timbre is most intriguing in the cue
“Little Afro-Flemish Mass” with its disjunct cacophony of sound, with various voice parts and
musical lines entering sporadically throughout the cue. Similarly, in the cue “Night Flight,” this
same choral texture can be heard, now with ominous sighs from the chorus. In the cue “Great
Bird of the Sky” Morricone incorporates an almost aleatoric soundscape with treble voices
entering randomly a half step apart both above and below a fundamental pitch. In the cue
“Seduction and Magic,” Morricone utilizes a few voices speaking unintelligible text in an eerily
hushed tone.
Earning Morricone his second Oscar nomination, The Mission (1986) is a powerfully
moving film about Jesuit missionaries who struggle to convert the native Guarani people of
South America, and later must defend their mission from the Portuguese. Initially, upon
viewing the rough cut, Morricone turned down the job because he felt the images were so
strong that “he didn’t feel like he could live up to it.”
27
Morricone recounted his first encounter
with the film and thematic musical approach in an interview with Franco Sciannameo.
I was aware that when I went to London to view the film at Ghia's invitation, Puttnam
had already tried to get in touch with Leonard Bernstein for composing the score, but
apparently his query remained unanswered.
28
However, at the end of the screening I
felt so torn by what I saw that I decided against scoring the film. Following some strong
convincing on Ghia's part, I accepted the task, immersed myself in reading what I could
about the story's historical period and devised a musical scenario based on the mystique
of the Trinity. It consisted of three principal thematic 'mandatory conditions' provided
respectively by the sound of the oboe (as one of the protagonists plays the oboe), the
human voice (the Guarani people sing 'solo' and choral pieces), and a kind of illusory

27
David Puttnam, “Ennio Morricone – BBC Documentary (1995) – Part 4,” YouTube Video, 7:05, August 30, 2007,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqZeE_CFNCs.
28
According to the author Sciannameo, Morricone was alluding to film composer Elmer Bernstein, as opposed to
Leonard Bernstein.
106
ethnic music which is heard in combination with the other two components only during
the end credits as a collective musical fresco.
29

As Morricone points out, singing is an important feature in the film with choral music
incorporated as both diegetic source music and musical score. Two important choral themes
appear throughout the film including “River” and “Ave Maria Guarani.” “River” features a
traditional mixed chorus singing the Latin text, “Vita, nostra,” which means “Life, our life.” The
theme is minimalistic in nature utilizing the same chord structure throughout and depicts a
sentiment of triumphant declaration through its detached repetitive rhythmic feature. The
traditional sound of the chorus is accompanied by various native percussion instruments
expressing the union of both the Jesuit and Guarani cultures.
In the cue “Ave Maria Guarani” as well as the tune “Conspectus tuus,” this cultural
synthesis is subdued through the westernization of the Guarani people. Both cues feature a
traditional renaissance texture through their compositional approach, and lack of instrumental
accompaniment. According to Morricone,
In order for me to be historically pertinent to the period in question, I composed
Conspectus tuus, a four-part motet in the style of Palestrina. This type of setting would
have reflected better the traditions of Church music after the Council of Trent (1545–
1563) as imported by the Jesuits into South America.
30

As described by Morricone, these themes, along with other instrumental themes, were
combined in the cue “On Earth as it is in Heaven” for the end credits. Following the horrific
destruction of the Guarani village at the end of the film, this cue expresses a beautiful
sentiment of hope and peace through the synthesis of the various musical cultures and styles

29
Franco Sciannameo, “Ennio Morricone at 85: A Conversation About His ‘Mission.’” The Musical Times 154, no.
1924 (2013): 40.
30
Sciannameo, “Ennio Morricone at 85” Ibid., 41.
107
previously heard throughout the film.
Interestingly, prior to composing the music for The Mission, Morricone had reduced his
film work starting in the 1980s to focus on concert music. In addition to this shift in
compositional focus, Morricone also refused American films because he was significantly
underpaid. However, after the success of The Mission, Morricone returned to film music as he
was now paid equitably with the best of composers from the era.
31

Jerry Goldsmith (1929–2004)

FIGURE 4.5. Jerry Goldsmith’s Choral Inclusion by Film

31
Puttnam, “Ennio Morricone – BBC Documentary,” Ibid.
108
As indicated in Figure 4.5, the incorporation of choral music by Jerry Goldsmith greatly
fluctuates, and often excludes choral music altogether. Without a doubt, Goldsmith’s greatest
contributions to choral film music are his scores for The Omen trilogy, with the first in the series
(The Omen, 1976) being the most influential. The music for The Omen was initially diminished
by some critics who found the film “overscored” and “heavy.”
32
However, despite some poor
critical reviews, the score was overwhelmingly popular, winning the 1977 Oscar for Best
Original Score. In addition to this honor, the main theme, “Ave Satani,” heard at the beginning
of the film was nominated for Best Original Song. As a film depicting the arrival of the
antichrist, The Omen incorporates Latin text which disturbingly honors Satan, such as “Ave
Satani,” (Hail Satan) and “Tolle Corpus Satani” (Raise the body of Satan). Musically, the film
features a wide range of non-traditional vocal soundscapes, which heighten the ominous and
demonic aura of the film.
In stark contrast to The Omen, the animated film The Secret of NIMH (1982) features the
lyrical sonorities of a wordless choir paired with the traditional classical film soundscape of a
symphonic orchestra. A wordless chorus is also extensively utilized in Goldsmith’s score for The
Mummy (1999), but utilizes the chorus as an expression of mystery, suspense, and grandeur.
In the score for First Knight (1995), Goldsmith incorporates the chorus surprisingly
compared to his other films. In most other film scores by Goldsmith, the composer regularly
incorporated the chorus sporadically throughout the film. However, in First Knight Goldsmith
excluded all use of the chorus until the final climatic battle. At this moment in the film King
Arthur (Sean Connery) is impaled by an arrow as he cries out for his fellow countrymen to fight

32
Murf, “Film Reviews: The Omen,” Variety, June 9, 1976, 23.
109
and never surrender. As King Arthur is shot, a mixed chorus erupts in a fury of sound lasting the
entirety of the cue with over four minutes of choral music. Throughout the cue, the chorus,
performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, is prominently heard in the film’s audio mix with
its Latin text and aggressive rhythmic articulation.

John Williams (b. 1932)

FIGURE 4.6. John Williams’ Choral Inclusion by Film

Through his iconic scores for film sagas such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Superman, and
Jurassic Park, John Williams has emerged as one of the most revered composers of all time as
evidenced in his staggering fifty-two Oscar nominations. With a career spanning six decades,
the inclusion of choral music by Williams, as seen in Figure 4.6, demonstrates some interesting
110
trends. First, it is curious to note the lack of choral music in his earliest films. Typically, this lack
of choral usage is due in part to limited budgets inhibiting composers during the earliest part of
their career. However, Williams continues to neglect the choral ensemble following successful
films such as Jaws (1975) and Star Wars: Episode IV (1977), which would have likely garnished
Williams with a reasonable budget for the sequels. In addition, Figure 4.6 demonstrates
Williams’ greater use of the chorus in the late 1980s through the early 2000s, with a gradual
decline throughout the later decades, supporting the notion that choral music in the 1990s and
2000s was regularly added to film scores to create a musical sentiment of grandeur.
When considering the Star Wars saga, it is difficult to fathom this franchise without John
Williams’ music. As a musical score, Williams’ work on Star Wars, as well as Jaws, has been
identified by researchers as the point of revival for the classical symphonic film score.
According to Jon Burlingame,
The success of Star Wars (and its sequels, The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and Return of
the Jedi in 1983) altered the course of contemporary film music. After several years of
scores dominated by pop and rock songs, filmmakers were suddenly demanding
orchestral music in their films.
33

Stretching throughout almost the entirety of his career, many of the Star Wars films
have featured choral music, however, this choral inclusion is most prominently heard in
Episodes I, II, and III.
Star Wars’ most iconic choral moment appears in Episode I – The Phantom Menace
(1999) with the cue “Duel of the Fates.” Appearing in the final climatic battle, “Duel of the
Fates” provides the scene with a sense of threatening grandeur and was described by Williams

33
Burlingame, Sound and Vision, Ibid., 18.
111
as having a musical character of ritualism, paganism, and antiquity.
34
This musical sentiment is
achieved through the use of the Sanskrit language and driving rhythmic features in the
orchestration that are coupled with elongated rhythms in the voices.
While “Duel of the Fates” is now an iconic choral work in film music, interestingly, the
incorporation of the chorus was momentarily questioned by Williams. In a discussion with
George Lucas during the recording process concerning this cue, Williams said, “The only
concern that one might have is you may want a version without the chorus.” Lucas quickly
replied, “I love the chorus.”
35
For the text, Williams selected Robert Graves poem, “The Battle
of the Trees” which he had translated into Celtic, Greek, and Sanskrit, ultimately selecting
Sanskrit for its optimal vocal sound quality.
36

In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), similar to “Duel of the Fates,” Williams
utilizes a chorus to express a sentiment of ritualism and paganism, however, his compositional
approach for the chorus in Temple of Doom is vastly different from Star Wars. Upon first
arriving in the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and his fellow companions
stumble upon a pagan ritual sacrifice. In this moment, Williams initially introduces the chorus
in a chant-like fashion with voices in octaves. As the musical cue develops, voices are added at
the unsettling interval of a tritone. The rhythmic chant-like feature continues with this tritone
interval descending in pitch a whole step in parallel motion. As even more voices are added,
now in the upper octaves, the interval transitions to a major 6
th
, again utilizing parallel motion
now oscillating up a whole step. Throughout the rest of the cue, sighs, chants, and shouts from

34
Williams, “John Williams Talks,” Ibid.
35
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, DVD, Ibid.
36
Williams, “John Williams Talks,” Ibid.
112
the chorus can regularly be heard further adding to the pagan ritual that is ensuing on screen.
Additionally, in the film, Williams incorporates the chorus as a depiction of the mysterious
supernatural essence of the stones Indiana is trying to retrieve, and can also be heard in the
final battle with the cue “The Broken Bridge,” featuring a musical style closer to the threatening
grandeur of “Duel of the Fates.”
Released on Christmas Day in 1987, Empire of the Sun exhibits the greatest amount of
choral singing for films by John Williams analyzed in this study. As a musical feature, the chorus
is intricately woven into the fabric of the entire score. Choral singing throughout the film is
often delivered by a boychoir with soloist, which can be observed in the opening scene as a
transdiegetic feature, with the camera transitioning from wooden caskets floating down the
river to a boychoir in a church performing an arrangement of “Suo Gan.” As a primary theme in
the film, “Suo Gan” is an anonymous Welsh lullaby that beautifully captures childhood
innocence amidst the conflict of war.
The film Amistad (1997) is an emotionally challenging film depicting a group of slaves
and their struggle for freedom through the early nineteenth century American judicial system.
Despite its dramatic courtroom setting, Williams delivers an inspired score that makes
significant use of the chorus. The cue, “Dry Your Tears Afrika” is utilized as one of the
significant themes in the film, and first appears when imprisoned slave Cinque (Djimon
Hounsou) stands in the courtroom speaking English for the first time proclaiming, “Give us
free!”
37
This theme is later utilized at the conclusion of the film as British ships destroy the
Lomboko slave fortress in Sierra Leone. For this cue Williams utilizes a text set in the Mende

37
Amistad, DVD, directed by Steven Spielberg (Glendale, CA: DreamWorks, 1997).
113
language which proclaims “Dry your tears, your children are coming home. We’re coming
home, Afrika.”

Howard Shore (b. 1946)

FIGURE 4.7. Howard Shore’s Choral Inclusion by Film

As a composer Howard Shore is most often recognized for his extensive work on both
The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. Interestingly, as seen in Figure 4.7, apart from
these films, Shore rarely incorporates the chorus. While both of these trilogies incorporate a
significant amount of choral singing, this data is slightly disproportional to other films in this
study due to the sheer length of these fantasy epics, with the shortest lasting two hours fifty-
eight minutes. It should also be noted that the extended edition versions of The Lord of the
114
Rings Trilogy were utilized in this study, which run between three and a half to four hours in
length.
The music for both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were designed by Shore in the
style of Wagnerian opera incorporating the leitmotif technique and significantly incorporating
vocal music. In describing this operatic influence Shore said
Lord of the Rings is essentially an opera work. It uses Tolkien’s . . . five languages, . . .
and the music for the film is essentially based around voices, choral music, and soloists,
and there are many singers that I wrote for in the course of that ten or eleven hours of
music.
38

In a comprehensive analysis of Shore’s use of music in The Lord of the Rings films, Doug Adams
identified the thematic leitmotif elements in the film’s trilogy. According to Adams,
What had begun as a handful of themes had now become an interconnected network of
dozens of leitmotifs. Though Shore had looked to Italian opera to inform the emotional
tone of this work, the leitmotif approach was more closely associated with German
opera—most famously, the works of Richard Wagner.
39

As a result of this strong connection with Wagnerian opera, Adams refers to Shore’s musical
score for The Lord of the Rings as “Shore’s Ring Cycle,” paying homage to Wagner’s cycle of four
operas called Der Ring des Nibelungen, also commonly referred to as “The Ring Cycle.”
40

Throughout both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Shore utilized various
combinations of vocal ensembles including children’s voices, as well as the synthesis of choir
and soloist. Further enhancing the mythical nature of the film’s setting in Middle Earth, Shore
incorporated Tolkien’s five languages, with some liberties for optimal vocal performance.
41

38
Howard Shore, “Movie Geeks United Interview: Composer Howard Shore,” YouTube Video, 30:32, April 14, 2021,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp7TJaF3uKc.
39
Doug Adams, The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films: A Comprehensive Account of Howard Shore’s Scores (Van
Nuys, CA: Alfred Music, 2010), 7.
40
Ibid., 8.
41
Edwards and Parry, The Film Programme, Ibid.
115
Danny Elfman (b. 1953)

FIGURE 4.8. Danny Elfman’s Choral Inclusion by Film

From his use of choral music in the opening theme for the longest running animated
series, The Simpsons (1989- ), to films such as Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Justice League
(2017), Danny Elfman has consistently incorporated choral singing in most all his films. While
Elfman includes various ensemble types, he has an affinity for children and treble voices
significantly incorporating these ensemble types in most of his works.
42
In terms of duration of
choral singing, Elfman often features the chorus briefly in cues with choral singing typically
lasting between five and thirty seconds.

42
Collette, “Danny Elfman Tells the Stories,” Ibid.
116
Elfman’s score for Edward Scissorhands embodies an atmosphere of otherworldly
mysticism which is significantly heightened by the lyrical textless voices of a children’s and
treble chorus. In the hands of Elfman, the chorus expresses both beautiful lyrical melodies of
hope, as heard in the cue “Storytime,” as well as ominous mystery as heard in the opening
credits.
Incorporating a soundscape similar to Edward Scissorhands, Elfman’s score for Oz the
Great and Powerful (2013) significantly utilizes a chorus as a means to express otherworldly
mysticism. This musical atmosphere is made clear in the opening credits which acts as a
musical overture introducing the various future soundscapes. Throughout the film, instances of
choral music appear as both a mixed chorus and treble chorus, and is exclusively wordless, with
one exception of diegetic source music in English.
In the same year as Oz the Great and Powerful, Elfman composed the music for the
animated film Epic (2013). With some compositional similarities to that of Oz, Epic features a
livelier and more heroic score with wordless choral moments that again heighten the fantasy
qualities of the film.
Featuring a heroic rhythmically driven score, Justice League (2017) presents a
soundscape that is closely associated with the comic book film scores of the twenty-first
century. The score musically heightens the dramatic action on screen through its ominous and
rhythmically driven soundscape, which is paired with the sustained wordless texture of a chorus
which elevates the grandeur and heroism of the score.

117
Hans Zimmer (b. 1957)

FIGURE 4.9. Hans Zimmer’s Choral Inclusion by Film

During the 1990s, Hans Zimmer quickly became one of the most prominent composers
in Hollywood with his scores for Rain Man (1988), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), The Lion King
(1994), The Rock (1996), As Good as it Gets (1997), The Prince of Egypt (1998), and Gladiator
(2000), earning Zimmer four Oscar nominations and one win early in his career. As a composer,
Zimmer often combines electronic music with the traditional symphonic orchestra, and prefers
to score a film in his synthesizer first, later extrapolating the parts for an orchestra to record.
43

In discussing his work for Rain Man, Zimmer expressed his preference for working with
synthesizers stating,

43
Jackman, interview by author, Ibid.
118
The Rain Man score was done in Barry [Levinson’s] office. It was a really nice way for
him to work because he was used to people writing on paper, and then you’d go to the
orchestra session, and that was really the first time you heard the thing. If you didn’t
like something, there would be a mad scramble with a hundred players in the orchestra
sitting out there, and you’d try to change things that would inevitably end up some sort
of doggy compromise.
44

As seen in Figure 4.9, Zimmer regularly incorporates choral singing throughout all his
films, and is notable in this study for his work on the film The Power of One (1992) which
incorporates the most choral singing of any film analyzed. The Power of One depicts the story
of a young boy named P.K. (Stephen Dorff) who inspires hope and unity in the South African
tribes through his boxing and the myth spread by his trainer, Geel Piet (Morgan Freeman) of
the Rainmaker. To create an authentic African musical experience in The Power of One, Zimmer
enlisted the help of Lebo Morake, who he also worked with on The Lion King. The film’s score is
primarily made up of traditional African singing that is a mixture of both non-diegetic and
diegetic source music. The most extensive use of choral singing appears in a five minute on-
screen performance by a group of African prisoners in the cue “Southland Concerto.” In this
scene the African prisoners perform a concert for the commissioner who is making his annual
visit. However, it is through this song that P.K. brings the tribes together in uniformity against
the prison guards with the subversive text “They run this way, they run that way, they are
confused, they are afraid, they are cowards.”
45

Zimmer’s score for Pearl Harbor (2011) is unusual compared to most other films with a
similar amount of choral singing, as it incorporates only six choral cues with three of these cues

44
Hans Zimmer, “Hans Zimmer Interview 2011,” YouTube Video, 6:46, June 7, 2011,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjDWaXvBtVg.
45
Power of One, The, DVD, directed by John G. Avildsen (Burbank, CA: Warner Brothers, 1992).
119
lasting over two minutes in length. This contrasts other films which are often a combination of
several shorter cues lasting between fifteen and forty-five seconds each. In Pearl Harbor,
Zimmer incorporates the chorus during emotionally heightened moments of conflict and death,
most notably in the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. These choral moments are
rhythmically slow and express a sense of humanity amidst the emotional turmoil of the scenes
they accompany.
The film scores for both The Da Vinci Code (2006) and its sequel Angels and Demons
(2009) are highly similar through their use of a suspenseful and mysterious soundscape, which
makes considerable use of the choir. Zimmer’s decision to include the chorus in these films
may be loosely based on the sacred connection with the Catholic church observed in both films.
This connection can be observed in the occasional use of a Latin text, as heard in the cues
“Salvete Virgines,” “Kyrie for The Magdalene,” “Lux Aeterna,” and “Sistine Chapel.” However,
this music does not tend to imitate Catholic musical traditions of chant and polyphony, with the
exception of the cue “Smashing the Ring” in Angels and Demons, and instead incorporates the
chorus as a sentiment of mystery. In contrast to The Da Vinci Code, while still utilizing the
chorus as an expression of mystery, Angels and Demons also features the chorus in a
threatening and ominous soundscape that accompanies the increased dramatic action in the
sequel.
Similar to Angels and Demons, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
features the chorus as both rhythmically driven and threatening, as well as lyrical and
mysterious. For the film, Zimmer worked with choral composer Eric Whitacre who stated in an
interview that he (Whitacre) “co-composed the ‘Mermaid Theme’. . . and conducted some of
120
the choral sessions.”
46
In this “Mermaid Theme” Whitacre’s former wife, Hila Plitmann, can be
heard singing the solo in the fictitious Mermaid language which she invented from a
combination of Latin, Hebrew, and Greek.
47

46
Susanka, “Zimmer and Whitacre,” Ibid.
47
Ibid.
121
Chapter 5: Choral Ensembles, Vocal Contractors, and Singers

One of the most powerful things ever is human voice, and more than one is even more
powerful.
1

David Arnold

Since the 1930s, various choirs and individuals have been contracted to create the
choral music incorporated in film. This chapter identifies the film industry’s most notable
choral ensembles and vocal contractors, as well as the responsibilities and expectations of vocal
contractors and singers.

Hall Johnson Choir

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s the Hall Johnson Choir gained fame as a prominent
African American choir through their frequent appearances in film. Named after its founder
and conductor, Hall Johnson (1888–1970), the ensemble quickly became a collective star of the
screen frequently pictured singing and acting in several films. According to Eugene Thamon
Simpson,
The Hall Johnson Choir was the only choir in the history of the American cinema to
become a movie star. If we apply the criteria to the choir that are applied to any actor—
billing, number of movies made, scenes on camera, and integration into the plot—this
conclusion is inescapable. This is all the more amazing because it happened three
decades before an African American could eat in a restaurant, use a rest room, or live in
a hotel that was not segregated.
2

Unfortunately for the singers, the ensemble was regularly depicted in oppressed situations, as

1
David Arnold, “David Arnold Interviewed by Tim Grieving,” Film Music Foundation video, 4:30:23,
https://www.filmmusicfoundation.org/interviews.
2
Eugene T. Simpson, Hall Johnson: His Life, His Spirit, and His Music (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2008), 107.
122
slaves or impoverished farmers, portraying the mistreatment of black Americans.
Conceived by Johnson during the Harlem Renaissance in 1925, the choir was a musical
medium for the promotion of “new Negro ideals.”
3
Performing their first concert on February
26, 1926, the ensemble was quickly called on to provide music for film. Their first films
included two shorts: St. Louis Blues (1929), and Black and Tan Fantasy (1929) with Duke
Ellington, as well as the racially insensitive Big Boy (1930) with its blackface lead Al Jolson. After
a short hiatus from film, the Hall Johnson Choir became a regular staple in the industry starting
in 1936 with Hearts Divided and The Green Pastures, and concluding in 1947 with their final film
The Peanut Man.
The ensemble’s leader, Hall Johnson, was a respected conductor and arranger primarily
known for his spirituals. Born in Athens, Georgia in 1888, Johnson completed extensive studies
in music at various universities including Allen University, the University of Pennsylvania,
Juilliard, and the University of Southern California. Initially, Johnson’s primary musical training
was on the violin and viola, most notably with the Negro String Quartet, until he transitioned
his focus to choral music in 1924, and the founding of the Hall Johnson Choir in 1925.
TABLE 5.1. Notable Films Utilizing the Hall Johnson Choir

Title Date Composer
The Green Pastures 1936 Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Dimples 1936 Bassett/Buttolph/Mockridge
Banjo on My Knee 1936 Charles Maxwell
Meet John Doe 1941 Dimitri Tiomkin
Road to Zanzibar 1941 Victor Young
Dumbo 1941 Frank Churchill/Oliver Wallace
Heart of the Golden West 1942 Mort Glickman

3
Matthew A. Armstrong, “The Choral Negro Spiritual Arrangements and Compositions of Hall Johnson Performed
in The Green Pastures.” ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2019.
123
Jester Hairston (1901–2000)

Jestie “Jester” Hairston was a notable composer, arranger, conductor, singer, and actor.
Born on July 9, 1901, in Belews Creek, North Carolina, Hairston’s birth name was Jestie.
However, his first grade teacher commented that he had such a great sense of humor he should
be named Jester instead. The nickname stuck.
4
In 1929, Hairston completed his Bachelor’s
degree at Tufts University, and later studied at the Juilliard School. Following his bachelor’s
degree, Hairston’s first music position was at a music school in Harlem, which he secured
through the help of President Roosevelt’s mother.
5
From 1930–36, he served as the assistant
conductor of the Hall Johnson Choir. In 1936, while working with this ensemble on the film The
Green Pastures (1936), Hairston met composer Dimitri Tiomkin, and decided to remain in Los
Angeles. He formed his own ensemble and regularly arranged music for Tiomkin’s films, among
other composers.
6
As a composer, conductor, and arranger in Hollywood, Hairston worked on
several notable films, the first of which was Lost Horizon (1937), which earned an Oscar
nomination for Best Musical Score. As a conductor, Hairston was culturally progressive, leading
“the first integrated choir in Hollywood.”
7
In addition to his musical work for film, Hairston also
regularly appeared as an actor in television and film, most notably in Yes Sir, Mr. Bones (1951),
The Alamo (1960), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), and the television show Amen (1986–1991).
For his contributions to the film industry, Hairston earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame in February 1992.

4
“In Memoriam: Jestie Hairston,” Choral Journal 40, no. 8 (2000): 51.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid.
7
Ibid.
124
TABLE 5.2. Notable Films with Jester Hairston as Conductor and Arranger

Title Date Composer
Lost Horizon 1937 Dimitri Tiomkin
Duel in the Sun 1946 Dimitri Tiomkin
Red River 1948 Dimitri Tiomkin
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1949 Richard Hageman
The Sun Shines Bright 1953 Victor Young
Band of Angels 1957 Max Steiner
Lilies of the Field 1963 Jerry Goldsmith

Ken Darby (1909–1992)

Throughout the mid twentieth century, Ken Darby worked in the film industry in various
capacities including performer, conductor, arranger, and composer. Born in 1909, Darby’s
earliest experience with music was the piano lessons he received from his mother, Clara Alice
Powell, at the age of five. Darby attended California Christian College (now Chapman College),
and in 1929 helped form the King’s Men Quartet, which was started to fill a singing role in the
film Sweetie (1929). Upon positive response from Paramount, the studio incorporated this
quartet in additional films.
8
As a choral arranger, vocal coach, and conductor, Darby’s first
project was MGM’s iconic film The Wizard of Oz (1939).
9
In 1948 he moved to 20
th
Century-Fox
to work with Alfred Newman, with whom he shares two of his three Oscars. Darby founded the
Ken Darby Singers, which most famously performed with Bing Crosby on several records,
including “White Christmas.”
10
As an arranger he was a favorite of Walt Disney, “and was
responsible for some of the most thrilling and innovative choral sounds to emanate from the

8
Darby, Hollywood Holyland, Ibid.
9
Ibid.
10
Ibid.
125
silver screen.”
11

TABLE 5.3. Notable Films with Ken Darby as Conductor and Arranger

Title Date Composer
The Wizard of Oz 1939 Harold Arlen
Bambi 1942 Frank Churchill/Edward Plumb
The Robe 1953 Alfred Newman
Love Me Tender 1956 Lionel Newman
How the West Was Won 1962 Alfred Newman
The Greatest Story Ever Told 1965 Alfred Newman

Ron Hicklin Singers

In the 1960s through the 1980s, the Ron Hicklin Singers were one of the most prominent
singing groups for radio, television, and film. Ghost singing for The Partridge Family and The
Monkees, Ron Hicklin’s (n.d.) voice can be heard on more than 100 Billboard #1 hits.
12
The
group hit it big performing the theme song to Happy Days, lasting eleven seasons (1974–1984)
and earning considerable residual payments from reruns for the group’s members.
13
As a
soloist, Hicklin performed as a backup vocalist for many of the era’s most notable performers
including Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Barbra Streisand, Neil
Diamond and Placido Domingo.
14
For most of its existence, The Ron Hicklin Singers maintained
a core group of approximately six singers that were augmented by additional vocalists based on
the needs of the project. One of these core singers was Sally Stevens who later formed her
own group, the Hollywood Film Chorale. As a vocal contractor and singer, Ron Hicklin worked

11
Ibid., xiii.
12
Ken R. “Hired Guns: Ron Hicklin and the Voices Behind the Hits,” Goldmine 32, no. 25 (2006): 57.
13
Ibid.
14
Lee Kerry, “A Life Filled with Music,” Adweek 39, no. 31 (1989): 16.
126
on films such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Out of Africa (1985), Glory (1989),
and Apollo 13 (1995).
TABLE 5.4. Notable Films with Ron Hicklin as Vocal Contractor

Title Date Composer
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969 Burt Bacharach
Apocalypse Now 1979 Carmine Coppola/Francis Coppola
Out of Africa 1985 John Barry
Glory 1989 James Horner
Apollo 13 1995 James Horner

London Voices
15

IMAGE 5.1. London Voices in Recording Session

Source: Image permission granted by London Voices.

15
Ensemble website, https://www.london-voices.com/.
127
Founded by Terry Edwards (b. 1939) in 1973, the London Voices are a versatile group of
singers performing diverse repertoire including traditional choral works, modern avant-garde,
popular music, and film. The London Voices have provided the choral music for such iconic
films as The Mission (1986), Star Wars: Episodes I and II (1999 and 2002), The Lord of the Rings
Trilogy (2001–03), and The Hobbit Trilogy (2012–14). In addition to their film work, the
ensemble has worked with notable composers, conductors, singers, and bands including John
Adams, György Ligeti, Sir Simon Rattle, Coldplay, Ozzy Osbourne, Renée Fleming, and Sir Paul
McCartney.
Terry Edwards originally pursued a career in music and basketball, playing for the Great
Britain Olympic team in 1964. After leaving basketball, Edwards transitioned to performing in
the chorus at the Royal Opera House, and later managing choirs and ensembles such as the
John Alldis Choir, Linden Singers, and Electric Phoenix.
Upon Edwards’ recent retirement, long time co-director Ben Parry (b. 1965) took on
leadership responsibilities with the ensemble. As a musician, Parry was a member of the
Swingle Singers, director of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus, Director of Music at St.
Paul’s School, and Artistic Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain.
TABLE 5.5. Notable Films Utilizing the London Voices

Title Date Composer
The Mission 1986 Ennio Morricone
Immortal Beloved 1994 Ludwig van Beethoven
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace 1999 John Williams
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2001 Howard Shore
The Passion of the Christ 2004 John Debney
Kung Fu Panda 2008 John Powell
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 2012 Howard Shore
Isle of Dogs 2018 Alexandre Desplat
128
Los Angeles Master Chorale
16

Founded in 1964, the Los Angeles Master Chorale is one of the preeminent, professional
choirs in the United States. Currently under the direction of Grant Gershon (Artistic Director)
and Jenny Wong (Associate Artistic Director), the ensemble is the largest professional choir in
the country, with a roster of approximately 100 singers. Founded by Roger Wagner in
partnership with the Los Angeles Music Center, the Master Chorale has performed over 500
concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, as well as
produces their own concert series and recordings. As a musical organization, the Los Angeles
Master Chorale has focused its attention on a rigorous concert schedule, but subsidizes these
performances with occasional recording sessions for film.
IMAGE 5.2. Los Angeles Master Chorale in Recording Session with John Williams

Source: Image permission granted by Los Angeles Master Chorale.

16
Ensemble website, https://lamasterchorale.org/.
129
TABLE 5.6. Notable Films Utilizing the Los Angeles Master Chorale

Title Date Composer
Waterworld 1995 James Newton Howard
The Sum of All Fears 2002 Jerry Goldsmith
Lady in the Water 2006 James Newton Howard
Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker 2019 John Williams

The Hollywood Film Chorale
17

Prior to starting the Hollywood Film Chorale, Sally Stevens (b. 1939) was a highly sought
after vocalist working as one of the core members of the Ron Hicklin Singers, as well as touring
with Ray Conniff, Nat “King” Cole, and could be regularly heard performing on television and
film. In the 1980s, Stevens transitioned into contracting ensembles for recording sessions, but
continued to regularly sing in these projects, as well as projects contracted by others in the
business. Throughout her career, Stevens has performed or contracted for over 600 film and
television scores.
IMAGE 5.3. Hollywood Film Chorale in a Recording Session for Deadpool 2

Source: Image permission granted by Scoring Sessions.com, photograph by Dan Goldwasser.

17
Ensemble website, https://hollywoodfilmchorale.com/choraleintro.html.
130
In the late 1990s, Stevens was asked by John Williams to gather a choir for a Hollywood
Bowl performance of his recent film Amistad (1997), for which she was the contractor. At this
concert, through the encouragement of Williams, Stevens decided to name the group The
Hollywood Film Chorale, utilizing this company name for future projects.
18
According to
Stevens, the ensemble’s name was selected in order to identify their music as being produced
in Hollywood, likely to set the ensemble apart from the growing popularity of recording in
London.
19

TABLE 5.7. Notable Films Utilizing The Hollywood Film Chorale or Contracted by Sally Stevens

Title Date Composer
Edward Scissorhands 1990 Danny Elfman
The Power of One 1992 Hans Zimmer
Forrest Gump 1994 Alan Silvestri
Amistad 1997 John Williams
The Simpsons Movie 2007 Hans Zimmer
Watchmen 2009 Tyler Bates
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 2017 Tyler Bates
Deadpool 2 2018 Tyler Bates

Metro Voices
20

Throughout the last three decades, the Metro Voices have quickly become one of the
prominent ensembles in the industry appearing in film sagas such as Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and
Pirates of the Caribbean. Founded by Jenny O’Grady in 1995, to date the ensemble has
recorded over 150 film scores. Based in London, the development of the Metro Voices has

18
Joe Montague, “The Sally Stevens Interview Part Two,” Riveting Riffs, December 21, 2015,
http://www.rivetingriffs.com/Sally%20Stevens%20Interview%20Part%20Two.html.
19
Stevens, interview by author, Ibid.
20
Ensemble website, https://metrovoices.co.uk/.
131
further contributed to the development of England as a popular location for composers to
record their scores. In addition to their film work, the Metro Voices also provide vocal music for
commercials and pop recordings, working with performers such as LL Cool J, Missy Elliott,
Michael Jackson, and Sir Elton John. The ensemble’s most notable commercial work was for
Honda with the song “This is What a Honda Sounds Like,” which utilized a 60-voice choir
imitating and reproducing the sounds of a car.
21
The chorus boasts approximately 1,000 singers
from which they select each roster to customize the specific artistic needs for the project.
TABLE 5.8. Notable Films Utilizing the Metro Voices

Title Date Composer
American History X 1998 Anne Dudley
Shrek 2001 Harry Gregson-Williams/John Powell
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 2003 Klaus Badelt
The Passion of the Christ 2004 John Debney
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe
2005 Harry Gregson-Williams
The Da Vinci Code 2006 Hans Zimmer
How to Train Your Dragon 2010 John Powell
Kung Fu Panda 2 2011 John Powell/Hans Zimmer
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 2017 Tyler Bates

Jasper Randall (b. 1974)
22

Composer and contractor Jasper Randall has more recently joined the choral film
industry with his first credit appearing in 1986. Randall currently works alongside Peter Rotter
at Encompass Music Partners managing the vocal music contracts for various recording
projects. Prior to entering the film industry, Randall studied music at Azusa Pacific University,
and later composition at the University of Southern California. Outside the film industry,

21
“Biography,” Metro Voices, accessed June 3, 2021, https://metrovoices.co.uk/biog.php.
22
Jasper Randall’s website, https://www.jasperrandall.com/.
132
Randall has served as the Composer in Residence for the Los Robles Master Chorale since
2015.
23
As a composer he has received several accolades, and regularly receives commissions
for new works. As a vocal contractor and composer, Randall has worked on over 300 films and
television shows, with over 30 of these credits as composer.
TABLE 5.9. Notable Films with Jasper Randall as Vocal Contractor

Title Date Composer
National Treasure Book of Secrets 2007 Trevor Rabin
Avatar 2009 James Horner
Battle Los Angeles 2011 Brian Tyler
Big Hero 6 2014 Henry Jackman
Pixels 2015 Henry Jackman
X-Men Apocalypse 2016 John Ottman
Harriet 2019 Terence Blanchard

IMAGE 5.4. Jasper Randall Conducting Choir for X-Men: Apocalypse

Source: Image permission granted by Scoring Sessions.com, photo by Dan Goldwasser.

23
Jasper Randall, “Jasper Randall, Composer,” Honey Grove Road Music, Inc., 2019,
https://www.jasperrandall.com/about.
133
Bobbi Page (b. 1951)
24

Bobbi Page has been an active singer and vocal contractor in the film industry since
1989 performing in iconic films such as The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), and Mulan
(1998), among others. As a vocal contractor and singer, Page has worked on over 150 films and
television shows. Outside the film industry, Page has performed live and in the studio with
Michael Jackson, Josh Groban, and Michael Bublé, as well as the rock bands Korn, Linkin Park,
and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
25

TABLE 5.10. Notable Films with Bobbi Page as Vocal Contractor

Title Date Composer
Armageddon 1998 Trevor Rabin
X2: X-Men United 2003 John Ottman
Evan Almighty 2007 John Debney
Oz the Great and Powerful 2013 Danny Elfman
Jurassic World 2015 Michael Giacchino
War for the Planet of the Apes 2017 Michael Giacchino

Responsibilities of the Vocal Contractor

The responsibilities of the vocal contractor have remained relatively unchanged
throughout the history of film music. A vocal contractor’s main responsibility is to locate and
hire the vocal talent. In the earlier eras of film, the vocal contractor was also regularly hired to
complete the vocal arrangements, as observed in the work of Jester Hairston and Ken Darby.
26

However, this is also a skill exhibited by some current contractors, as seen in the work of Jasper

24
Bobbi Page’s website, http://bobbipage.com/.
25
Bobbi Page, “About,” Bobbi Page, accessed June 5, 2021, http://bobbipage.com/about/.
26
Marlin Skiles, Music Scoring for TV & Motion Pictures (Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Tab Books, 1976).
134
Randall.
As union rules became more specific, the vocal contractor became responsible for
ensuring that singers were active members of SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild-American
Federation of Television and Radio Artists), preparing financial quotes for prospective clients,
coordinating the schedule, as well as other miscellaneous management responsibilities. As a
manager of the vocal talent, Jasper Randall points out that the vocal contractor is “uniquely
situated in the middle of the industry to where you have composers, producers, directors, the
studio, payroll companies, and the union.”
27
Due to their placement in the middle of the
industry, the job of a vocal contractor can be challenging. Randall continued to say,
I wouldn't say there's anything glorious about the position. All it equates to is a lot of
responsibility, and many times people looking to you when something goes wrong and
wanting to know why it went wrong and, you know, deferred blame.
28

Many contractors take an active role in the musical process through singing with or
conducting the ensemble and working closely with the composer to realize their musical vision.
In communicating with composers, the vocal contractor must identify the specific needs of the
film in order to assemble the most appropriate singers for the project. In describing his work
with Sally Stevens, composer Tyler Bates said,
Sally Stevens . . . spent time with me discussing what we were doing, and what I wanted
to accomplish in the sessions. So perhaps the real story behind the music is something
that she was able to carry into the sessions, and guide her direction with the choir.
Other than just meeting their technical mark as written in the music. The context of the
choir was always something she understood very well, and sometimes she would ask me
some excellent questions that gave me food for thought, and sometimes I would then
take pause and make some adjustments, because I felt that her suggestions were really
excellent.
29

27
Randall, interview by author, Ibid.
28
Randall, interview by author, Ibid.
29
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
135
In selecting the ensemble, the contractor must understand various types of voices, and
be able to combine these voices in a pleasing manner.
30
At times, the contractor must carefully
audition multiple soloists to find the right vocal quality that fits the composer’s artistic vision.
In Sally Stevens work with John Williams, she spent an extensive amount of time locating the
right soloists for an emotional cue in the film Amistad (1997). Stevens says
I got some demo tapes from people here and it wasn’t quite right. I was at New York for
some trustee meetings and I thought well I will go to Juilliard and I will have some
people audition. I did that and I didn’t find anything quite right. Somebody told me they
knew the director who had just taken over at the San Francisco Opera, so I called him to
see if he had any people and he told me about a young African American woman who
they had just signed. She was at that moment on tour doing concerts, so I called her and
reached her in Birmingham. In just talking to her on the phone there was something
about the quality of her personhood that told me she was the right person. She sent a
demo to me and John loved it. . . John Williams ended up writing three cues for different
spots for her in the film.
31

Working as a Studio Choral Musician in Film Music

The work of a studio choral musician is a challenging profession that requires a high
level of skill. In the studio, the choral singer must be versatile in multiple styles of music, and
possess the ability to vocally accommodate the musical requests from a composer. Just as
important as vocal ability, a singer must be proficient at sight-reading. This is of the upmost
importance as singers typically receive music upon arrival at the recording studio, and must
sight-read each cue perfectly.
32

Personal character and responsibility are highly valued in the studio business. Singers

30
Etienne Walter, “Sally Stevens: A Voice of Film Music,” James Horner Film Music, August 14, 2011,
http://jameshorner-filmmusic.com/sally-stevens-a-voice-of-film-music/.
31
Montague, “The Sally Stevens Interview Part Two,” Ibid.
32
Edwards, interview with author, Ibid.
136
must be responsive to emails and phone calls. According to William Goldman, in extreme
situations, sometimes these calls arrive the day of recording.
33
However, most arrive well in
advance, with the singer being responsible to carefully schedule their sessions and not double
book or forget about a booking and fail to show. Failure to show, arriving late, and poor sight-
reading abilities are the fastest ways to not be invited back by the contractor for future
projects. Personal character and a pleasant demeanor are also beneficial to a studio singer.
According to Goldman,
Being pleasant to work with is huge. Part of that is being flexible. Things change
constantly and it’s necessary to roll with it. I think a very important personal skill is the
ability to remove your ego from the situation. You are executing the vision of others -
the composer, the director, producers, etc., so it’s important (unless otherwise asked) to
keep your opinions to yourself.
34

To be hired for most studio work in the United States, a singer must be a member of the
SAG-AFTRA union. Through this union the pay for American based studio musicians has been
regulated. The current studio pay rates range between $50.00–$147.00 per hour and are based
on the ensemble size and type of recording.

33
Goldman, interview by author, Ibid.
34
Goldman, interview by author, Ibid.
137
Chapter 6: The Future of Choral Film Music

I am looking for the opportunity to really experiment with a choir and do something that
is not commonplace in film.
1

Tyler Bates

Challenges Facing the Continued Use of the Chorus in Film

The future of choral music in film remains promising, but is potentially limited by a
number of challenges. Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries film music has
fluctuated through differing compositional approaches and soundscapes. According to Thomas
Maremaa,
Composers, of course, are just as vulnerable to the fads of the industry as anyone else.
The symphony sound, for example, will continue as long as the movies in which it’s used
make money. Once they don’t, producers will demand something differently musically.
2

While composers have continually utilized the chorus throughout the history of film music,
there is no guarantee that this compositional approach will remain popular, and could very well
be supplanted by other musical soundscapes. However, as long as choral singing remains an
integral part of cultural traditions, the potential for the exclusion of the chorus is highly unlikely
due to its need as diegetic source music.
The far more likely and concerning challenges facing the continued use of choral music
in film is budget restrictions and improved synthesized choral samples. The budgetary
challenges are already affecting composers, especially in the early part of their careers.

1
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
2
Thomas Maremaa, “The Sound of Movie Music,” New York Times, March 28, 1976, 145, quoted in Wierzbicki,
Ibid., 205.
138
According to Henry Jackman, “The sad thing about choir is if you're in an early stage of your
career, or you're unlucky enough that there just isn't any money, you're going to be stuck with
samples.”
3
Challenges of budget restrictions also plague established composers, such as John
Debney who has turned down jobs with limited budgets which prevent him from writing the
score in a manner that is most appropriate for the film.
4

The challenge with the chorus is that it is often viewed by directors and producers as an
additive luxury, and thus can be easily cut when budgets are limited.
5
In its place, composers
may elect (or be asked) to insert synthesized vocals. According to Stevens, “the use of synth
vocals. . . has been happening in television for a long time, because the budgets just aren’t
there.” Stevens continued on to say that she fears synth vocals will become more common in
the future.
6
This concern over the continued use of synthesized vocals is also shared among
professional singers, as expressed by William Goldman.
7
However, despite these concerns,
composers continue to express a desire for live musicians in their film scores. Hans Zimmer,
who is known for his use of electronic music, expressed his affinity for live musicians stating in
an interview
I think the orchestra is about one thing and one thing only, and that is to get a
performance out of the guys. Because, I can make all those notes sound pretty
convincing and pretty spiffy in the computer. But what the computer lacks is the feel,
energy, and the danger that real musicians bring to it. . . the interpretation of each

3
Jackman, interview by author, Ibid.
4
Jon Burlingame, “Composers Compete for Oscar with Fresh Tunes, New Technology,” Variety, December 13,
2016, https://variety.com/2016/artisans/awards/composers-compete-for-oscar-with-fresh-tunes-new-technology-
fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them-1201940274/.
5
Bates and Randall, interviews by author, Ibid.
6
Stevens, interview by author, Ibid.
7
Goldman, interview by author, Ibid.
139
note.
8

In an unprecedented approach, Tyler Bates used his own money to hire a choir after
being asked to use synthesized vocals.
9
In addition, executive producer Seth MacFarlane has
expressed his commitment to the continued use of live musicians in his popular animated
comedy Family Guy (1999– ), as live instruments express a different emotion from synthesized
instruments.
10

The Continued Use of Chorus in Film and Alternative Forms of Entertainment

Despite these potential challenges, the continued use of chorus in film appears
promising through its significant incorporation in all aspects of the industry including concert
performances, publication, and other forms of entertainment.
As a concert performance, film music is regularly programmed by various organizations
for inclusion in their concert season. The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles regularly features film
music concerts, and as previously mentioned, was the origin of the Hollywood Film Chorale as
they performed on John Williams’ score for Amistad (1997). In addition, pop orchestras such as
the American Pops Orchestra, The New York Pops, and Boston Pops Orchestra continue to
promote the performance of film music.
Individual composers have found popularity with audiences leading to live concert tours
in which they perform their film music. Composer Hans Zimmer is possibly the most popular

8
Hans Zimmer, “Working With Musicians: The Orchestra – Part 1,” MasterClass video, 10:36,
https://www.masterclass.com/classes/hans-zimmer-teaches-film-scoring/chapters/working-with-musicians-the-
orchestra-part-1.
9
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
10
Stevens, interview by author, Ibid.
140
film composer to feature their music in a live concert event performing to sold out arenas
throughout the world. Originating around 2016, the Hans Zimmer Live concert series features
the greatest hits from Zimmer’s career with a choir ranging between sixteen and twenty-four
singers.
In an innovative approach to the film music concert experience, the Los Angeles Master
Chorale commissioned a new choral work to accompany the 1927 silent film Sunrise: A Song of
Two Humans. With new music composed by Jeff Beal and libretto by his wife Joan Beal, the
score significantly featured chorus.
11

IMAGE 6.1. Los Angeles Master Chorale Performing Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Source: Image permission granted by Los Angeles Master Chorale.

11
Tim Greiving, “Culture Monster; New Voice for ‘Sunrise’; Jeff and Joan Beal Team on Score for Master Chorale to
Accompany Screening of Silent Oscar Winner,” The Los Angeles Times, January 22, 2020, E3.
141
Interestingly, while many concert performances of film music incorporate the choir,
several of James Newton Howard’s concert scores have excluded the choir from films known to
have choral singing. For example, his concert score for Waterworld (1995) includes no choral
part, while his score for Peter Pan (2003) lists the chorus as optional or synthesized choir.
12

The publication of film music as a choral arrangement has increasingly become popular
with ensembles since the 1990s. These publications have been most successful with songs
from the musical film genre including medleys and individual octavos from films such as Pitch
Perfect and its subsequent sequels (2012, 2015, 2017), Amistad (1997), Star Wars: Episode I –
The Phantom Menace (1999), Shrek (2001), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004),
The Simpsons Movie (2007), The Hunger Games (2012), Selma (2014), and just about every
Disney movie released in the last three decades.
Apart from film, the chorus remains a popular ensemble for use in television, video
games, and commercials. Television has regularly featured group singing in theme songs for
classic shows such as The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961), The Brady Bunch (1969–
1974), The Partridge Family (1970–1974), Good Times (1974–1979), and The Jeffersons (1975–
1985). In addition, television has aided in the reinvigoration of group singing through shows
that feature choirs such as Glee (2009–2015), The Sing-Off (2009–2014), and America’s Got
Talent (2006– ).
The general public is further subjected to moments of group singing during television
commercial breaks, which often highlight a vocal ensemble. “O Fortuna” from Carmina Burana
has been a popular song in advertisements appearing in commercials for Carlton Draught Beer,

12
James Newton Howard collection, Ibid.
142
Gatorade, and Hershey. When it comes to unforgettably catchy jingles, who can forget the
opera spoof commercial for JG Wentworth, with the choir chiming in on the text “Call JG
Wentworth 877-Cash-Now.” Honda presented a unique choral experience in their commercial
for the Honda Civic, in which a choir created all the sound effects for the vehicle as it drove
around town. Some additional companies of note that have featured choral singing in their
commercials include Coca Cola, Budweiser, Glade, and Kit Kat.
Video Games have also been found to support the continued use of choral music in
media and entertainment. This form of inclusion is most notable in the video game Civilization
IV through its choral work “Baba Yetu” by Christopher Tin, which made history in 2011
becoming the first video game to win a Grammy for its music.
13
The work has since been
published and remains a popular work for choral ensembles throughout the country. Some
additional popular video games that feature choral singing include Halo, with its mysterious
chant-like vocal texture, Super Smash Bros: Brawl, and World of Warcraft.

Conclusion

As a musical component in a film score, the incorporation of chorus has continually
been a significant musical feature throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. As a
soundscape, the chorus has been used to express a diverse range of emotions and atmospheres
in various dramatic settings, and can achieve emotive results that are arguably, at times,
unachievable with the orchestra. The possible uses of a choir are vast, as pointed out by Tyler

13
Jennifer Gersten, “’There’s a lot of creative haggling’: an interview with composer Christopher Tin,” Bachtrack,
May 23, 2017, https://bachtrack.com/interview-christopher-tin-film-game-music-month-2017.
143
Bates who posits,
I think when you really dig in and think of the choir as the main instrument, you can
really do some fantastic things that are just unachievable with an orchestra. I think the
possibilities are always endless.
14

Due to these expressive qualities, and the popularity of the ensemble in other forms of
entertainment, the chorus provides a highly desirable timbre for a film’s soundscape. It is
highly unlikely that the chorus will be supplanted by other musical timbres in the near future,
but as Maremaa points out, composers remain susceptible to the fads of the industry.
15

14
Bates, interview by author, Ibid.
15
Maremaa, “The Sound of Movie Music,” Ibid., 145, quoted in Wierzbicki, Ibid.
144
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Appendices
Appendix A: Transcriptions of interviews with composers, contractors, conductors, and singers

Tyler Bates, Interview IMAGE Appendix A.1. Tyler Bates
April 17, 2021, via zoom
Professional Role- Composer

Micah Bland: To my knowledge your primary
instrument initially was the guitar, but growing
up and throughout your musical development,
would you say you had much experience with
singing or choral music?

Tyler Bates: Not a ton other than when I was in
concert band in high school. As a player we had
to work with the choir. I was certainly aware of
it. During high school I did very well in my music
in school, but I was more interested in playing
guitar. So, the saxophone kind of took a backseat.
But I’ve always listened to so much music since I was a child, because my mother was such a
tremendous enthusiast of music. A lot of what I was attracted to earlier in my life was music
with a lot of vocal harmony, or choir. So sometimes it was the soundtrack to Hair or Jesus
Christ Superstar, and then some of the prog (progressive) rock bands I love like Yes, 10cc, and
Boston. They had very complex harmonies. So that's very relatable for me, even though much
of that was written in some modicum of a pop format, but it inspired the way I do approach
[choral music]. More so than Carl Orff, Bartok, Penderecki, and Ligeti who did some really cool
choir work. That also touched me. The more contemporary classical stuff. I would say that an
amalgam of those sources of inspiration are probably what I have drawn from. And then my
whole life I’ve worked with singers being in bands. I was always the writer/producer of all the
music, and I would write for whichever singer was in our band. I mean long before the internet
it was much more difficult to find people to play music with, because the world was far less
crowded, and not as many people openly pursued a career in music as they do now. So, when I
would find a great singer for our band, no matter what their style was, I would adapt the
writing to accommodate their strengths. That's led into my later life of producing records. I do
work with singers a lot, and each one has a unique approach and characteristic, and it does
inform my thinking about how I write. It depends what we're talking about. I believe that
you're probably going to reference the choir session from Deadpool 2 (2018). That's just like a
romp, you know. I see it for exactly what it is, and it was an opportunity to really create a
special moment for the director, who’d never even been in a choir session before, but to give
them an opportunity to kind of follow along with our recording session, and I inspired him to
write words for the choir. I laid the music out in front of him, which had the faux Latin
consonants and vowels. I said, “yeah Dave (David Leitch), if you want to write some lyrics we
can have them actually sing it.” He said, “can we do that?” I said, well it's not my place simply
Source: Image permission granted by
Tyler Bates, photo by Piero Giunti.
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to start writing lyrics for a choir when it's David Leitch and Ryan Reynolds writing all the jokes in
the movie. It’s just not my spot. It was cool because he was fast on his feet, and he got pen to
paper, and came up with some stuff that surprised me (laughs). Then we went out and worked
with the choir after they came back from a break. At first, I think they were a little bit shocked,
and then it became very fun.

Bland: With perhaps minimal experience with the choral ensemble growing up, did you find it
challenging to compose for a choir the first time you used it in a score?

Bates: Yes, because the first time I actually really used choir instead of having two or three
singers, multi parts, just to give my samples some life, I didn't really know how to mock up the
music for the choir for 300 (2006). When I was working on that the director told me exactly
what the vibe and attitude was. When I started there were no samples that could do what the
choir needed to sound like to demo it out. So, I ended up writing this faux Latin choir part. It
was intended to really put forth a lot of aggressive energy. Therefore, there was a lot of “kah”
sounds. I sang all the male and female parts to the choir for the entire movie. Then I recorded
a sixty member choir in London, and my voice is part of what that sounds like. So, we left it in
there because it just gives it a different sound, and because that movie was so low budget—I
know people probably think, 300 (2006), low budget? Yeah, I took out a second mortgage on
my house to finish that movie. So anyway, there are a couple scenes in the movie where there
are other types of male vocals. Azam Ali sang a lot of great solo vocals on that score, but
toward the end of the movie, the captain is taking a spear into his abdomen. It's kind of slow
motion with some narration over it, and there's a male operatic vocal, and that ended up just
being me because my orchestrator, Tim Williams and I, discussed it, and he's like, “there's no
way they're going to get it.” He said, “just leave yours in there, it's great!” I said, “okay, well
promise never to tell anyone.” That never has been really discussed. Yeah, so there's a whole
layer of that, because I used a throat technique to sing, and it just gave it a little bit more of a
battle type sound. We wanted to make it sound like the choir consisted of people who were
eight feet tall, so that was really the objective. I had to figure out how to create a sound like
that. So, it was experimentation.

Bland: When working on a film score, what are some of the reasons why you would choose to
include a choir in a cue?

Bates: Well, there are various contexts dramatically that would warrant that. In the case of
Deadpool 2 (2018) we were just having fun creating this epic rock version of a sound from
centuries ago. I would say it was part of the joke. It was just for grandeur. Clearly, in some
films like Watchmen (2009) I applied the choir much differently. That was to create a beautiful
soulful atmosphere, when the music is a little bit more minimalist. There's something about a
group of singers when they sing in tune and with soul that is transcendent emotionally. Once I
had experienced the choir, I really had the opportunity to consider emotionally how it can
impact the score. Instead of just adding it to a large piece of music and overstuffing the box, I
try to create space for it. Because I know that in the appropriate context it can be very
emotional. That's really what I’m thinking of unless there's a literal reference in the story or on
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screen that would elicit that. If there's a church it may be nice to color that church with choir.
Just because, again, that elicits some grandeur, and some thoughts of what it sounds like inside
of a church. I'm currently doing a couple horror movies that have a vocal central concept, and
we may not use choir in the movie, but it's very vocal centric. I’m more than capable at this
juncture of writing score that is vocal centric, because I work with singers every day. So, while I
am doing movies and TV, I’m also almost every day having sessions for records, and I’m working
with singers.

Bland: You mentioned the faux Latin, but I read that you incorporated Bulgarian, Greek, and
Latin texts in 300 (2006). Can you talk about your reasons behind that decision?

Bates: It wasn't text, it was cultural inspiration. I was working with Azam Ali on a record at the
time I was doing 300 (2006). Azam is a very well-known world music singer. She's done some
work in film, starting with me. I think her first real notable film vocal was 300 (2006). She did
something for me on Dawn of the Dead (2004), and I would play on her records through the
years. At some point, around 300 (2006), she and I were making a record—which was her first
album with English lyrics—and the way she sang in her own career prior to then was this. . . It’s
kind of her made up version of Farsi meets Bulgarian music. Because she studied Bulgarian
singing, even though she's Iranian. So, those two cultural influences kind of became a hybrid
style for her. The more I got to understand her style and her approach, I considered
implementing that in 300 (2006). In films, usually the score is written, and at the eleventh hour
the colorists or soloists come on board, because music’s flying around a lot. But in 300 (2006),
we developed that over time. So, while we were working on an album I would maybe every
week or so give her a cue. In the cues where she's featured, she would just take it and work
with it. I told her I don't want some cinematic oohs and ahhs. I want you to take this piece of
music, and treat it like it's a piece of folk music for the context of this film, and really give a
performance that you own. She's credited as co-writer on those cues where she did that work,
and I wanted it to be more emotionally transcendent than simply just hearing this siren voice in
the background. I have a tendency to work on my movies like that with colorist. If it's somebody
that I really want or need for a score, then I try and engage them more as a songwriter than just
simply a hired session player. I think you get more of a unique expression, and more heart and
soul when the musician or artist is credited as a writer on the piece of music. You know, Sally
Stevens was not my first choir contractor, but she definitely spent time with me discussing what
we were doing, and what I wanted to accomplish in the sessions. So, perhaps the real story
behind the music is something that she was able to carry into the sessions, and guide her
direction with the choir. Other than just meeting their technical mark as written in the music.
The context of the choir was always something she understood very well, and sometimes she
would ask me some excellent questions that gave me food for thought, and sometimes I would
then take pause and make some adjustments, because I felt that her suggestions were really
excellent. Again, I’m really fascinated by the capacity of the choir. I think it's incredibly
powerful. 300 (2006) was like a jaw dropping experience. I had three days to record the entire
score. Everything! That was maddening, but the choir, when they came in, it was my first real
choir session. Like I said, I had a couple small groups before. But sixty people to start, that was
just the most incredible thing, and it moved me. There was a movie I did called The Day the
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Earth Stood Still (2008). Again, Sally was the choir contractor and leader of the group. This
really has nothing to do with the movie, but my associate who was with me in the studio that
day—again it was a large group. I think we had like forty-eighty singers—It was his birthday,
and they sang Happy Birthday to him in beautiful perfect harmony with piano accompaniment,
and the Pro Tools operator didn’t record it. I mean it's almost never that a human being is
going to receive a happy birthday like that. It was honest to god the most beautifully powerful
moment I had felt musically in a long time. It was just incredible. It's a shame that that wasn't
recorded, because it was really one of the most fantastic moments I’ve ever had in the studio.
Same studio where we did holy s*** balls (referring to Deadpool 2). Anyway, I mean I’m really
motivated by just the very personal human expression of music. Sometimes it's beautiful.
Sometimes it's disturbing. It depends what the material calls for. But I really do love the soulful
quality that a choir, with a specific objective, can bring to music. You can write notes for them
to sing, and they can add a veneer to music that gives it, let's say an extension of its sonority,
and maybe emotional content. But I think when you really dig in and think of the choir as the
main instrument, you can really do some fantastic things that are just unachievable with an
orchestra. I think the possibilities are always endless and I’m still learning quite a bit about all
of it.

Bland: While you have incorporated a text in various films, some of your choral writing
appears to be without text, incorporating various vowel sounds. Can you discuss the reasons
why you would choose not to incorporate text in some of your choral writing?

Bates: If there are lyrics that offer a commentary on the storytelling, then I don't think that's my
place to add text. Unless I’m asked to do so. In the context of film and television I am often
asked to write songs, in which case, I will collaborate with excellent songwriters/lyricists.
Usually when I’m asked to do anything that contains lyrics in a movie it's more writing songs
with my friends. So, it may be a collaborative approach lyrically, or they will just write it if
they’re somebody who's already written a ton of hits, I differ to them. But that can be a loose
reference to the story, or the feeling of a film or TV show. Generally, I don't think that it would
be appropriate for me to offer commentary on the storytelling. That's the writers place. The
directors place. It's not something that I usually consider at the onset of a project, but if I see
an opportunity like in Deadpool 2 (2018). . . I just thought there was an opportunity to do
something fun, because that movie’s so unhinged. And I know how funny the director is, and I
think that was our third film together at that point. Also, I saw an opportunity to offer David
[Leitch] a moment that he would ultimately never forget. I do things organically. I’m not one to
create some profile of myself for the public, and I don't “BS” people. I just saw that the movie
is funny. The scene we were recording is violent, but funny. So, I thought, well, this is a great
opportunity to at least extend an offer to Dave to pen some lyrics. So he did, and it was
incredibly fun replacing all those faux Latin vowels and consonants with the lyrics that he had
written. And because he had been listening to the cadence of the choir for ten minutes before
they went on break, when we got back, we were able to work out the lyrics and imbue the
music with those. I have to say it was pretty funny because Sally [Stevens]—she is a wonderful
amazing person, and certainly not a prude, but is not somebody who's going to be dropping
expletives very often in her regular conversation. So, I thought it was just. . . I mean we almost
158
threw up laughing when she started giving the choir their parts. She was like, (imitates Sally)
“men, now could you please sing f***, and ladies, I’d like you to sing, you can't stop this mother
f*****. Okay, so let's see how that works. (Recites lyrics) You can’t stop this mother f*****
you can't stop him. Oh holy s***. Oh that's amazing that works perfectly!” (stops imitating
Sally and laughs) She's like so literal about it, and the moment that she put the puzzle together,
it was just laughter everywhere, and that was the spirit of the session. It was so wonderful to
have a moment like that, and I’m perfectly fine kind of going deep into the trough. I have no
concerns about that. My whole repertoire as a film composer is so much a mixed bag. If we're
going to do something, I’m going to go in and do it as authentically as I can. Whether it's The
Devil's Rejects (2005) with Rob Zombie, which is an extremely disturbing soundtrack, and nearly
an endurance challenge to listen to it in one sitting. Or you know, swing the other way to
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), which is very lyrical and really emotionally present at all times,
and it's serving that purpose. I’ve done a lot of things where music is sort of a morphous too.
There was a big movement that came out of the late 90s that has really been a serious
component of film score and TV score ever since, which is a lot of electronic atmosphere, and
maybe not too much literal commentary on the material on screen. For instance, writing for
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) was such a welcome change because we could be more lyrical
and literal with the writing, because the characters are fantastical, and the storytelling is
fantastical.

Bland: In Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) you composed some of the music prior to filming.
Was the music played on set the completed audio used in the film including the chorus, or
was it synth choral imitation, with the live vocals being added after filming?

Bates: Yes, in in the case of Guardians they were pretty good sketches as far as how realistic the
programming was. It was most important to state the themes clearly. And then James [Gunn]
had me create looped versions of each cue so he could just let it play. So, on the first
[Guardians] that's what happened, and there is an element of post rock in it. Really, the most
important elements in the music that I wrote in advance to the first movie had sort of a post
rock element that kind of compensated for wherever I didn't program things to sound 100%
realistic. But as a piece of music, it all worked. James was inspired by that, and so there were
several cues that he shot to. Then I visited the set, and Chris Pratt had remarked that that was
the first time he had ever shot to music in that way, and how powerful it was. That was really
encouraging to know that it wasn’t just a fool's errand, and that the music would probably be
hitting the bin before we even got to post production. The music was rewritten a ton, so it
wouldn't be practical to use a choir in those sketches. The resources are much more limited
than one may imagine for a movie like that. In the second movie (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.
2) I got a little bit deeper with choral writing, because the majority of that was more literal. It
was much more in a real orchestral context, because some of the orchestra in the first
Guardians is kind of like a rock orchestra, but with a nod to some throwback movies with the
very lyrical melodies and whatnot. So yeah, choir was always part of the music conceptually. It
wasn't like, oh yeah, we could throw a choir on there, that would even sound bigger. That's not
how I think, but I always intended to have choir in the score. From the initial conversations
about how we wanted to approach the movie, James stated that Guardians is a space rock
159
opera. That analogy made it obvious to me that choir would be essential to the score for the
film. I think choir evokes a powerfully transcendent emotion in music. With the Guardians films
I deliberately wrote lyrical melodies that are central to the thematic language of the score. At
the time I focused my creative energy on scoring movies, many scores were drone and rhythm-
based, which aptly supported the tone of hyper realism that became very common in
filmmaking towards the late 90's. The beauty of working on the Guardians movies is that they
are set in a world where fanaticism is reality, but the emotions are rooted in authentic
human experiences. It was rewarding to write such bold melodies which was a rare creative
opportunity for me.

Bland: Do you utilize any synthesized vocals, or a mixture of synth and recorded vocals in
your films scores?

Bates: I do now. (laughs) The sample libraries are much more pliable. I was writing music on
300 (2006), really since Dawn of the Dead (2004) was released. It was a matter of a few weeks
after the release of Dawn of the Dead (2004) that Zack Snyder called me up, and asked me to
come to his house to check out 300 (2006) for a discussion about this movie they wanted to
make. I started writing music for still images, puppets, statuettes, and then we did an anamatic
at some point that was sort of a synopsis of the movie, and the style of storytelling. Zack took
the actual pages from Frank Miller's graphic novel, and created a sequence with 2D animation.
You would see spears flying, and things like that, but it was not like a live action movie by any
stretch. Then at that point I had Scott Glenn, the actor, at my studio to provide the narration
for this presentation, just to get the film made. But even then, choir was intimated in that
music. So again, that was always part of the core concept for that score, but we weren't even
sure the movie was going to be made. It took about a year and a half to get that one greenlit.

Following the conclusion of the final interview question, Tyler Bates inquired about the topic
of this dissertation. The following is the conversation that continued.

Bates: Yeah, I have to say if choir was embraced the way certain locations in a movie are
embraced—the importance or significance of those—then I really feel like personally I would
take advantage of that, and be able to really do something inventive. Usually, when we're
recording a score there's so little time, and oftentimes limited resources to get everything
done, that experimentation is not usually something that we're able to do in the studio,
because we have such limited time with a choir. It's always getting that final cue as the clock
ticks down to the last second. To get studio executives, and sometimes a director, to really feel
comfortable with something that is a new concept or expression for a film, it takes a minute.
So, it needs to exist early on. Definitely in the next project I have where there's an opportunity
to do something like that, I intend to really make a point of trying to get the space, resources,
and time to develop a concept early on. See if I can get the support to do that so we can
integrate choir in a more unique fashion in film. It's very easy to write some sort of modern,
atonal, or contemporary classical choral textural expressions to be used in a film, but I would
like to go a little bit deeper with it. I really do love the choral work of those more contemporary
composers, as well as a lot of rock and progressive artists who compose with really beautiful
160
sophisticated melodies. One of my friends is the leader of a band named Alice in Chains, and
the vocal dimension of their music is kind of like a dark version of Crosby, Stills & Nash. I mean
they're a heavy band, but he was inspired by his choir teacher in high school, because they
would study Bartok’s music pretty frequently. So that introduced him to the more Bulgarian
harmony style that he applies to his music, and it's a very unique sound. Really awesome and
beautiful. Stuff like that, even though that's maybe one person singing three or four voices,
that does inspire me too, as far as how I consider the composition with applying choir to my
music. I’m excited for my next opportunity, because I’ve had some really awesome experiences
with some very talented singers over the past few years. We'll see what happens. I’m still
curious to see how COVID, and the changing of the business will impact the studios
consideration of things like choir, which can oftentimes be considered a luxury or a fringe
aspect to film music, because it's an additional expense. I’ve been told to use samples before,
and instead have taken my own money to employ the choir. And this is on big movies, because
they just want it to get done and sound appropriate, and I want it be substantive and
transcendent, and I don't believe that can be accomplished with samples the same way you can
with a live human.

Bland: I’m glad that you're looking out for the future of choral singing. That's wonderful! As a
choral singer, and a choral musician I appreciate it.

Bates: I think something that would be really exciting to do is a choir based score with a lot of
the discordant electronic, or dark ambient electronic stuff that I do at times. But to use the
choir more as the main body of the music, and color that with other elements. At least to have
that in mind to create those musical scenarios. I always love working with the choir, because
you just feel instantly all of this human energy. It's just so visceral when it comes from people's
mouths. I mean the orchestra is always amazing too, but there's something about the choir
that can be so soulful. It could be so disturbing. It can be just so beautiful. I think it's the most
organic musical element there is. It's the first real musical element that we've had in music.
And it's so culturally relevant in our world. People can go anywhere in the world and sing
together, even if they can't speak the common language. That's what I love about music so
much. It's a beautiful language. Yeah, I am looking for the opportunity to really experiment
with a choir, and do something that is not commonplace in film, and see if I can't succeed with
the idea. You know, failures always lurking, but I would love the opportunity to do that.

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Terry Edwards, Interview IMAGE Appendix A.2. Terry Edwards
June 2, 2020, via email
Professional Role- Chorus Master and Founder of the
London Voices

Micah Bland: Studio work is a challenging job and requires
a lot of skill. What personal and musical skills do you
believe are necessary in order to become successful as a
studio choral musician?

Terry Edwards: The vital skills needed are the ability to
sing with a straight tone (i.e., no vibrato on the voice at all).
Also, the ability to sight read music, whatever the difficulty,
perfectly. As with the orchestral players booked for
sessions no advance rehearsal of the material is made and
quite often a perfect recording is achieved the first time a
section (usually only a few phrases long) is attempted.
However, the very finest singers have such a wonderful
control of their voices that, if requested, they can sing with
vibrato, even matching the sound made by an Opera
Chorus, and they can also sing in a variety of styles—classical, light, pop, jazz, etc., and in any
number of languages plus what we call ‘mid Atlantic’ to suit an American audience.

Bland: In your BBC Radio 4 interview you mention that about 90% of the films you do are
textless and sung only on vowel sounds. Why do you think this is the case?

Edwards: Choral singing is mainly used in films to highlight the mood of the action on the
screen—sad, triumphant, dramatic, moody, war like, etc. Although the large proportion of the
entries are sung to vowels, not to text, it is surprising how many different ways one can sing to
Ah, Oo and Oh! I often notice that the choice of style and vowel is the same as an audience
member might utter if they were to voice the feelings of their reaction to the scene. Because of
this effect it would be entirely inappropriate to muddy the texture with words.

Bland: When recording, do you or Ben conduct the choir, or is it the composer?

Edwards: Ben and I both have long careers that have been dedicated to vocal music and part of
our experience includes the ability to obtain the finest of nuances and performances from
singers and choirs. Thus, we are always happy to conduct sessions and are often called upon so
to do. However, from time to time the conductor of the orchestral sessions that will have taken
place immediately before the choral ones remains on the podium. In this situation Ben and I
assist the producer and technician in the control room to add our expertise to the process.
These days it is a rarity for composers to conduct sessions. They are far more useful adding
their wishes and advice from the control room.

Source: Image permission
granted by London Voices.
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Bland: Do you recall any memorable recording session moments with composers or
fellow musicians? Anything humorous or surprising?

Edwards: I would propose two sessions which in entirely different ways qualify for the award of
“most memorable.” Firstly, the recordings of Star Wars conducted by John Williams.
Most unusually he liked to record orchestra and choir together and such was his mastery of the
forces (80 in the orchestra plus a choir of eighty all crammed into the very famous Studio One
at Abbey Road) that he could command the sessions without raising his voice. The silence from
everybody whenever he spoke was absolute. We were all in awe of him. Last year we sang in
some tracks for the latest Ozzy Osborne album. The producer was the famous Andrew Watt,
assisted by the former drummer in Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chad Gaylord Smith. Neither
gentleman seemed capable of constructing a phrase of English without lacing it with a
remarkable variety of swear words. All delivered with great good humor. These of course were
being relayed from the control room into the headphones of my choir and it did take a little
time for my lovely (innocent!) sopranos to adjust to the language.

Bland: Considering ensemble forces, I’m sure it varies from project to project, but is there an
approximate number of singers that seems to be requested most often? What were the
largest and smallest ensemble size requests?

Edwards: The numbers of singers engaged for projects can vary from one to eighty. As a ‘rule of
thumb’ I reckon that a professional singer makes twice the sound of an amateur and so eighty
professionals would be at least as loud as a large choral society. There isn’t a favorite number
although thirty-two (SATB x 8) and forty (SATB x 10) probably make up the majority.

Bland: In film music one can often hear different ensemble types such as treble only or tenor-
bass only. How common are these types of ensemble requests, and are there other requests
for unusual voicings?

Edwards: Sometimes a special effect is needed by the composer, the most unusual one I can
recall was the eight very low basses who sang on the soundtrack of Isle of Dogs (2018).

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William Goldman, Interview IMAGE Appendix A.3.
June 17, 2020, via email William Goldman
Professional Role- Singer

Micah Bland: Currently you are a member of the Los Angeles
Master Chorale and work as a studio musician along with a
number of other singing engagements, how did this career in
choral music come about for you?

William Goldman: Somewhat by accident. I had never thought of
myself as being an incredible singer but loved choral music so my
original career goal was to conduct choirs. However, while at the
University of Southern California, an alumnus of the doctoral
program sat in on a rehearsal and told me I should audition for
the LA Master Chorale. They also introduced me to their friend
who was a voice teacher and that person recommended me to
contractors. I kind of fell into it.

Bland: What are some of the films or television shows that you performed in as a chorus
member?

Goldman: The Simpsons (1989– ), The Voice, The Academy Awards, Frozen (2013), The Lion King
(2019), all of the most recent Star Wars trilogy.

Bland: From the time you are hired to the conclusion of the project, can you talk about the
experience of the choral studio musician? For example, how much advance notice do you
receive, when do you receive the music, what happens during a recording session?

Goldman: I usually receive an email from a contractor. Sometimes it’s an availability check for a
specific date and time. Sometimes it’s just a work call. I have received these emails as early as
six months in advance of a call and as late as three hours before hand. Rarely do we receive
music beforehand unless something is particularly tricky--tempo, language. Otherwise, we
arrive at a recording studio, fill out paperwork, and then are placed on risers. Most frequently,
they are three-hour sessions, sometimes eight hour. We get five to ten minute breaks every
hour. For the most part, the first time we see a cue is right before we record it.

Bland: Studio work is a challenging job and requires a lot of skill. What personal and musical
skills do you believe are necessary in order to become successful as a studio choral musician?

Goldman: In terms of musicianship, your ability to sight read is paramount. Versatility is also
important - being able to switch between styles, tone colors, vibrato vs. straight. Personal skills,
it’s important to be on time and to read through all instructions carefully so as not to waste
time. Being pleasant to work with is huge. Part of that is being flexible. Things change
constantly and it’s necessary to roll with it. I think a very important personal skill is the ability to
Source: Image permission
granted by William Goldman.
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remove your ego from the situation. You are executing the vision of others—the composer, the
director, producers, etc., so it’s important (unless otherwise asked) to keep your opinions to
yourself.

Bland: What languages have you sung in for film? Is there a language that seems to be the
most common?

Goldman: I have sung in English, Latin, fake Latin, Russian, Swahili, Xhosa, Chinese, Klingon,
Sith, Minion. I would say the most common “language” would be vowel sounds. After that I
would say the most common language would be fake Latin. Syllables that read as Latin but
don’t actually have any meaning.

Bland: Do you recall any memorable recording session moments with composers or
fellow musicians? Anything humorous or surprising?

Goldman: One of the most memorable session moments would have to be being conducted by
John Williams for the most recent Star Wars score. One of my favorite/most humorous sessions
was for the first Minions (2015) movie. So much of it was experimenting with weird tones and
colors. As well as singing a minion version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Modern Major-General.”
That was funny and also very hard.

Bland: In your opinion, what is the purpose of the choral sound in a film’s overall
soundscape? In other words, why do you think composers include a choir in their film score?

Goldman: I would say that choir makes the overall soundscape more epic. I also think the
human voice taps into a primal part of our brains that allows us to experience something
without realizing it’s happening. Dissonance and shrieks to add tension or soft, consonant
“Ooh’s” to add tenderness.

Bland: Is there a concern amongst studio musicians about the continued use of choral singing
in film due to improved synthesized choral sounds, cost, or improved recording techniques
that allow for fewer singers?

Goldman: This is absolutely a concern. Samples have become better and better and it’s simpler
logistically. That being said, as good as samples may be, it’s hard to achieve the same kind of
sound without real voices. Fewer singers is also a concern but because of our contracts, fewer
singers doesn’t necessarily mean the cost is lowered from a production standpoint.

Bland: I see you toured with Hans Zimmer Live, what was that experience like?

Goldman: It was a very rewarding and fun experience. I became intimately familiar with a lot of
his scores and it was so cool to work with so many different kinds of musicians. The absolute
highlight of that experience was performing at both weekends of Coachella. Hearing the crowd
of thousands erupt when we started “The Circle of Life” is something I will never forget.
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Henry Jackman, Interview IMAGE Appendix A.4.
May 6, 2021, via phone Henry Jackman
Professional Role- Composer

Micah Bland: Having attended St. Paul Cathedral Choir
School starting at the age of eight, would you say that you
have a different opinion or outlook on choral music and film
compared to other composers?

Henry Jackman: Probably. The funny thing is, because I
went to a cathedral choir school, the type of music. . . You.
know, it was a very strict classical education. So obviously, if
you go to St Paul's Cathedral Choir School, what you're not
singing is generally the sort of choral parts that show up in
Hollywood movies. I mean, I spent my childhood singing
Palestrina, Tallis, and sixteenth century Renaissance church
music. As well as Brahms, Mozart ,and Beethoven. So, it was
very strict classical ecclesiastical music. Now generally, if you
think of a big movie that has choir in it, like Lord of the Rings,
the style of choral music that tends to appear in Hollywood is
not really in a strict choral tradition of European cathedral
music. Having said that, I actually did get the chance on movies like Trial by Fire (2018), which is
not a movie that's well-known. I actually did get to write some music in a very strict four-part
polyphonic style that sounds very much like Thomas Tallis. But leaving that aside, I think just
the fact of being a chorister at a cathedral choir—which I think I share with Harry Gregson-
Williams, and maybe a couple of other European composers—maybe it is a slightly different
background. Because whilst the USA has prestigious cathedral choirs in that European
tradition, if anything, America might be more famous for astonishing and amazing gospel
choirs. It's the same thing, like you get them in England and there are great ones, but the true
exponents and the true origin of the gospel choir is the USA. It might be that having come from
the UK with that slightly more traditional cathedral/ecclesiastical background that pertains
really to the history of European church music might have given me a slightly different angle.
It's difficult to say, because I can think of loads of composers who have used choir extremely
effectively that probably haven't had a cathedral background. Because like I say, quite often in
Hollywood movies the choral parts are a little more like string or orchestral parts sort of
translated, and they’re not necessarily idiomatically choral in the historical choral music style
like, Allegri’s Miserere and Thomas Tallis, or later choral composers like Brahms and Beethoven.
I mean, I sang so much different choral music at St. Paul's Cathedral, but I wouldn't say that the
very strict idiom of European choral music often translates into Hollywood film scores. With a
few exceptions. I did a movie called [indistinguishable], and there I was using pretty strict
sixteenth century harmony. It did pertain to a particular period of choral music. But I would
definitely say that when I do get a chance to use choir, it does feel a bit like coming home. It's
not some exotic thing that I don't feel comfortable about because I've been around it. On Birth
of a Nation (2016), what was great about Birth of a Nation—I mean, we had such a small
Source: Image permission
granted by Henry Jackman.
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budget on that movie—but thanks to Nate Parker’s ability to get almost anyone involved. We
managed to get the services of an amazing gospel choir. So, I think all things choral I've always
been comfortable with. So yeah, that background probably played a part in that.

Bland: Because of your background in choral singing, are you highly involved during the
choral recording sessions in terms of giving feedback and instructions to the ensemble?

Jackman: Yeah. Well, you can imagine having been. . . One of the great things about being at St.
Paul's Cathedral Choir was by age eight, you're already part of a musical institution whose
standards of expectation and performance are kind of, you know, equal to the London
Symphony Orchestra. Which aged eight or nine, you just get used to. But the great advantage of
that is, even while you're really young, you get accustomed to incredibly high standards without
realizing that that's actually exceptional. That's not normally what nine year olds are doing. I
had several incredibly talented, inspirational, and very demanding choir masters when I was
young. Maybe a little bit of that sticks with me (laughs). So yeah, when I do get to choral
sessions, rather than floundering around, I usually know exactly what needs to be achieved.
And hopefully without being too invasive, because the great thing about the choir recordings
you do here (USA), and in London is as well as having a choir, there's always a great choral
leader or choir master. Usually when I. . . especially let's say like Kong: Skull Island (2017) had
quite a lot of tricky choir. Not because the parts moved quickly or were technically that
demanding, it's that the harmony was quite exotic. There was a lot of tritone harmony, and
there was a lot of tritone harmony where different harmonies were superimposed on another
harmony. The choir had to be able to sing an F# Major on top of the C Major without getting
confused or lost. Which means the tenors are having to sing an F# while someone else is having
to sing a G, and you've got to hold your C Major chord while the F# Major chord is laid on top of
it. If you've written all the music, you have such a good handle on what's supposed to be
happening with the combination of having written it, and being really familiar with the
demands on the choir. I think I'm able to sort of give pretty useful directions that are actually
somewhat sympathetic, because I used to be the poor chorister trying to sing that stuff. So, I'm
always kind of on the side of the choir, and I apologize in advance when there's a passage
coming up that's really tricky, where I superimposed three different harmonies all on top of
each other. Which they are expected to sing perfectly in tune.

Bland: Early in your film music career you worked with Hans Zimmer. To my knowledge,
Zimmer usually incorporates a choral arranger. Did you do any of this choral arranging for
him?

Jackman: No, I don't think I did. And I'm not sure that's exactly true, because Hans writes it all in
his sequencer. He won't write it all. It's just that it won't fall to him to get all the notes on the
page. But really, they just take what's in his sequencer, and get it all organized on the stage. But
all the choral writing took place inside his sequencer, and then is extracted and put into Sibelius
(music notation software). So no, that didn't fall to me. In fact, thinking about that, there's a
lovely bit of choral. . . Hans is so well known for his. . . not minimalist, but you know, that kind
of modular, simple chord genius, like that piece "Time" in Inception (2010). People forget that
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he also does harmonically sophisticated music. Like in Da Vinci Code (2006), there's a great
track called the "Louvre," and it's got a really cool harmonic superimposition where there's sort
of two things happening at once. As I remember there's some pretty cool choral writing in that.

Bland: When working on a film score, what are some of the reasons why you would choose to
include a choir in a cue?

Jackman: Well, the first thing to say is you're privileged and you're lucky if you're working on a
movie with a budget. The sad thing about choir is if you're in an early stage of your career, or
you're unlucky enough that there just isn't any money, you're going to be stuck with samples
and nothing beats human performance. The only thing about choir is by the time a studio’s paid
for orchestra, music editors, orchestrators, this, that, and the other, and then you go, “Hey, can
we have a forty piece choir?” Oh my God, like yet more expenses going on. If you're lucky
enough not to have to think about money, your choice to use choir should always be an artistic
choice. You shouldn't try and avoid it because of budgetary concerns. Worst comes to the
worst people can use samples. They are pretty good these days. But generally speaking, like in
the cue "The Temple," for example, in Kong: Skull Island (2017). . . the choir has a million and
one uses, but for me personally, I don't necessarily like just throwing in the choir as the extra
thing, just to take it to the next level. I think it’s kind of cheating. Generally for me, the choir
has always had a mythic, mystical, or supernatural element. So, I sneaked a bit of it into the
score I did for The Predator (2018). But Kong: Skull Island, a cue like “The Temple”. . . what
happens is the characters find themselves in this cave. And they see that the tribal people
actually have quite a different. . . instead of Kong being a monster, they realize that Kong is the
central part of this tribe’s religion. And although they fear him, they respect him. And the main
characters go in this cave, and they see all these paintings on the wall that depict Kong as a sort
of mythic God for this tribe. So, instead of just using orchestra, that's a really good example of.
. . You'd be mad not to use choir when the narrative purpose of the cue is to make the
audience's understanding of Kong become more sophisticated. He's not some giant, clumsy,
aggressive animal. He's also a mythic keystone of the religion of these tribal people. If they (the
main actors) didn't have such a colonial attitude, they could actually take seriously the attitudes
of the tribe, and understand that maybe they've got a pretty basic and misplaced
understanding of this creature. So, that would be a good reason to write a cue whose harmony
is somewhat mystical, but then in the texture and the color you can use choir. I also used quite
a lot of choir in Birth of a Nation (2016). That's partly because Nate Parker loves to connect. . .
Nate's whole thing, and he's absolutely right, is there's a very special connection between the
voice. . . Everyone loves beautiful string playing, or beautiful brass playing or woodwinds, but
obviously being human, you feel this extra connection with the voice. And I was worried
because I was thinking, what we don't want is to end up with samples on such a beautiful and
harrowing movie. But in his inimitable style, he secured the services of this amazing gospel
choir. So, in Birth of the Nation, choir played a really important role. It was to humanize a
situation which when depicted. . . The irony of that being that the treatment of the African
Americans in the movie is so appalling, that it's dehumanizing. So, the idea is that the
humanizing/inspirational tone of the choir represented Nat Turner’s (played by Nate Parker)
unbending will to throw off the shackles, and try to start a revolution, and not to lose faith in
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there being something better than the conditions that he was in. So, the choir was a texture
that was a counterpoint to the horrific conditions that Nat Turner and everyone that he knew
were in.

Bland: Yeah, I watched that film (Birth of a Nation) recently. It's a tough watch in many ways,
but that choir part really brings it to the heart and makes it even more impactful.

Jackman: I think that is important, because when you have a movie like that, where if you're
not going to pull your punches, and you're going to do a historically truthful depiction, there's
going to be some terrible scenes. And if you double down so that the music only describes the
horror, it becomes almost unwatchable. Whereas if you make the score follow the journey of
Nat Turner, then by the end it feels like a sacrifice, and there's something redeeming and
inspirational about his journey, even though you've seen horrible things, so that it doesn't just
become such a kind of horror fest that you're left feeling so bleak, that there's nothing in the
movie to take out of it in a positive sense.

Bland: You talked about samples. How often would you say you use samples, or a mixture of
synth and recorded vocals in your film scores?

Jackman: Pretty rarely. I can just thank my lucky stars. I've just been very fortunate that
whenever something's supposed to be a natural or real choir of any kind, one way or another
it's ended up being real choir. But there are deliberate creative exceptions to that. For example,
in the movie, Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019), it has this slightly nostalgic eighties synth
element where there's a lot of (Roland) MKS 50, and (Roland) Juno 106 (types of synthesizers).
And it wasn't quite right for the choir to be completely natural. So, there's actually quite a lot of
use of a deliberately synthetic choir that is a classic M sound on the Korg M1 (type of
synthesizer), called “universe,” which is a sort of. . . it actually has a little bit of choir sound in
there, but it's not intending to be naturalistic. There are times when you can deliberately
cultivate a different atmosphere where you don't actually want it to be completely natural, and
that was the case in Pokémon Detective Pikachu.

Bland: You also mentioned how in Birth of a Nation the director kind of asked for choir. Are
there other examples of external influences and factors like budget or director that influences
your use of a choir?

Jackman: I don't think anyone said no. I mean, the one thing I would say is that anytime I've
done a Disney animation project the accommodation for budget has always been fantastic. I
remember writing a cue right at the end of Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), where I was sort of
on the fence. (Imitates his contemplation of the use of the choir) “We could make a case for
choir here.” And I was sort of ooming and ahing about it thinking, “well, I suppose if it's only a
few cues, is it really necessary? Because it'll cost a few pennies.” And Tom MacDougall, who's
now head of music at Disney, said, "What are you talking about? If you think the piece needs
choir we should get a choir." I don't recall the choir being killed as an idea.

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Bland: That's good. That's beneficial in those circumstances where they help you out, and are
willing to go for it with budget. Has there been anything with a director hearing the choir in a
cue, and then they're like, “Oh, I want it more here and there.” Any examples of those
situations?

Jackman: Well, no I don't think so. That may have been the case many decades previously
where, imagine if you get to the scoring stage, and you're recording ninety-five minutes of
music for a big movie. In the old days, very often when you record the music, it's the first time.
. . They may have heard themes on a piano, but way back in the day, that would be the first
opportunity for everyone to become really familiar with the music. So, there might have been
more of (imitates director) "Oh, wow! That was fantastic. Couldn't we have had more of that
earlier on." But of course these days, by the time I get to the stage, very accurate mock-ups of
every single cue have been finished and approved. The filmmakers are even watching the
movie with the demo version. So, there's been plenty of opportunity for people to say, "Hey, I
really like such and such textures." That sort of thing. I don't think I've ever been at the stage
when there was a sort of revelation. “We should've had more of it.” You know, thanks to
modern technology, by the time you get to the scoring stage, everyone is familiar with all the
cues of the score.

Bland: While you have incorporated a text in various films, a significant amount of your
choral writing appears to be without text, incorporating various vowel sounds. Can you
discuss the reasons why you would choose not to incorporate text in some of your choral
writing?

Jackman: I imagine that isn't just me, I reckon. I would guess that if you took 7,000 minutes
worth of prominent material in Hollywood movies that have choir, I would guess that 75% or
more doesn't have a text. That's for a pretty good reason, because when you have a
standalone piece of music that people have come to hear in a concert hall, it would seem
unusual just to use vowel sounds, because everyone's seated and focused and ready to
concentrate on the piece of music in front of them. But here's the thing. When you watch a
movie there may well be dialogue. There's already a narrative, and that narrative is the movie.
So often if you have an added layer of semantic delivery that's coming across through the lyrics
of singing, whilst there’s also a story and people talking on screen, you can end up with a
slightly muddled situation. You might say, “well, hold on a minute. This is a bit of an overload,”
because there's important dialogue happening, plus there's a story unfolding. But meanwhile,
I'm also hearing the lyrics to something and there's only so much my brain can take. So, I
imagine that the times when texts are used. . . not always, but the times texts are used will
either be when there's no dialogue. So there's a really good opportunity to get the lyrics of
choral music across, or the lyrics will be abstract, like Latin or in some language that doesn't
distract so that people don't notice it. Or it's a needle drop (referring to diegetic source music).
If someone plays a Peter Gabriel song in the middle of a track, then it's fine. If it's a montage
everyone's brain is ready to receive lyrics. But in general, you could retain a little more
abstraction. So, I wouldn't really want to come up with lyrics while I had “The Temple” cue, and
it was to do with the Kong situation I was describing. I don't think anything would be
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particularly gained if I came up with some lyrics in Latin. Because if you've done a good job, the
evocation of mystery in the music is already present in the abstract reality of music. You don't
need to double down by having lyrics about how Kong is a mysterious figure. Hopefully you've
achieved that in the music. But there's all sorts of iconic examples where some form of lyric is
used and it's great, and it's effective, and it does the job. But probably the reason you'd find
the majority without text is to be less literally and semantically invasive, and let either dialogue
or the narrative of the movie takeover. . . with exceptions.

Bland: You mentioned earlier in this interview that sometimes the chorus can be used as
more of an orchestral texture. Can you expand on that? And do you think that has anything
to do with a lack of text?

Jackman: Well, I think what I meant by that is, if you were with the cathedral background I've
got, and if you were to take a piece of music by Palestrina, Tallis, Orlando [Gibbons], or any of
these Renaissance cathedral church composers, it's pretty dense contrapuntal writing. That is
not a hallmark of most. . . I mean, obviously supposing you were writing the score for a movie
that was set in sixteenth century Florence, and it was about the Pope. Okay. Maybe then it
would sound a bit like that. But generally speaking, choral music isn't necessarily strictly from
that sort of European classical tradition, which is a little dense and a bit complicated, like
Handel, Bach, or these kind of composers. All I meant by that was. . . I don't know, if you look
at the choral writing in Birth of a Nation (2016), even though I love contrapuntal writing, it's a
lot more simple. People are moving in minims (half notes), they're moving in semibreves
(whole notes). It has an almost Protestant hymnal quality, and the harmony is quite
straightforward. It's sort of modal harmony. And then when you mix that with the distinctive
texture of an African-American choir, instead of a European cathedral choir, it draws it much
closer to the story of Nat Turner. I think all I meant by that is that if you analyze the style of
composition of choral writing, it doesn't have the contrapuntal density of say, Handel, Bach,
Mozart, or Beethoven, because it's fulfilling a more simple function. Another way to look at it,
all I meant by that is imagine you could have a relatively straightforward piece of string writing
that's quite emotive/emotional, and you could take that and just rearrange that for choir.
Obviously, the range of the string orchestra goes way lower on the double bass, and
stratospherically higher on violin. But I think all I meant by that is it's rare. Unless it's a movie
about Haydn, Mozart or something very strictly where the subject matter is classical. Choral
music that appears in film is probably closer to a piece of simple string writing in school rather
than. . . That's not always true when it's solo that's different. If you think of like what Hans
Zimmer did with Lisa Gerrard in Gladiator (2000), that's a completely different thing. Because
it's an expressionistic/soloistic. . . she's like a woman in a trance. Almost singing in tongues. It
has this sort of mythic and different quality when it's a solo singer who's got a very particular
charisma and identity.

Bland: Yeah. Thanks for clarifying that. Can you talk about the choral text that was used in
the film This is the End (2013)?

Jackman: The reason we got involved in text is because it was deliberately over melodramatic,
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because it was a movie that was about the end of the world. Right. But it wasn't a serious movie
about the end of the world. My job in the score was to play it straight. In a funny way, the
more melodramatic the score was taking itself, enormously seriously, the more funny it was
that Rihanna and James Franco are arguing about whatever. They’re all goofing around while
the end of the world is taking place. The whole movie is completely ridiculous. So, instead of
writing funny music, my job is almost to be influenced by, Jerry Goldsmith’s Omen (1976) score,
which is sort of an inverted Mass. There was this whole scary sounding, satanic Mass in the
Omen. So, because it was a comedy, and it was completely overblown and over the top, it
sounds more hysterical when you've got a sort of a shrieking choir that's almost like a pastiche.
Like a satirical over the top version of the sort of choir that you'd expect to hear in the Omen.
And in order to really deliver that idea and just push everything to the limit and make it as over
melodramatic as possible a similar kind of apocalyptic Latin text was found.

Bland: Is there a choral moment in your work you're most proud of?

Jackman: That's a tough question.

Bland: Multiple examples maybe?

Jackman: Yeah, I think probably I would say that the most emotionally effective use of choir
would have to be Birth of a Nation, because there's so much of it, and it was really moving. Not
only did we have the gospel choir, we were lucky enough to record a kid's choir, and they were
just amazing. There was a child soloist who could not have been older than eight or nine, and
there was a sort of uncynical honesty about the way they sang that put us all to shame. There's
a certain. . . it's unblemished in its creative honesty. So, I would say listening through to Birth of
a Nation, there's probably more choral moments in that score than any other, in terms of just
hitting and connecting with an audience at an emotional level. Then from a sort of technical
point of view, probably the penultimate track of Trial by Fire (2018). It's a very idiomatically
strict piece of music that is a little bit like Thomas Tallis to the point where I was lucky enough
to actually record it with The Tallis Scholars. And I was thinking, “uh oh, these guys will find me
out.” Because they're going to go, “well, this isn't quite right. It's like a Hollywood version of a
Tallis piece of music.” So, they started singing it, and the director turned around to me and
went, "hmm. . . Mr. Jackman, this is a rather legitimate piece of sixteenth century church music.
It's rather well written.”

Bland: I’m sure that’s reassuring to hear from The Tallis Scholars.

Jackman: Yeah. Well, you know, that's more of a technical thing. It was more. . . I mean, it's
also an emotional piece. It's another troubling subject about a guy who was executed by the
state of Texas when they subsequently found he had actually done nothing wrong, which is not
ideal in anyone's conception of the world. It was a powerful piece of music, but it was more
that I nailed the idiom of it sounding like ecclesiastical music. Whereas I would say Birth of a
Nation, the choral element is more prevalent throughout as a means of connecting with the
172
audience, and particularly helping them through coming face-to-face with a lot of horrific
situations that are shameful for anyone to have to see.

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John Ottman, Interview IMAGE Appendix A.5. John Ottman
April 16, 2021, via zoom
Professional Role- Composer and Editor

Micah Bland: Growing up, I read that you
played the clarinet, but was singing or
choral music ever part of your musical
development?

John Ottman: No, not at all really. I played
the clarinet for better or for worse. I wish I
had played piano [laughs]. It would be
easier to write my scores. But no, the choir
really never came in until I started writing
film music during the times I’d search for
better ways to communicate what I wanted on a scene and emote the feeling I was trying to
emote. Sometimes the more overt human quality of choir does something more than standard
instruments can do. And sometimes a song can do something that a cue from a score could
never do. Sometimes nothing is better than anything a score can do. In fact, I always say if you
can do anything other than score, do it. Then do score. Having said that, the use of choir is no
different from this notion. Choir can be ancillary, an addition to the music you're writing to give
more of a soul; or sections of a score can literally be the choir just by itself. There's been times
when I mix the score that I literally dip the score right out, and just have the choir for a few
moments. There’s a cue in Superman Returns (2006) where I did that. I had strings and
woodwinds behind the choir, and I just basically dumped them. The result in those few
moments of the cue was utter resplendence. I did that in another score too, I think Fantastic 4:
Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) in one little section.

Bland: With perhaps minimal experience with the choral ensemble growing up, did you find it
challenging to compose for a choir the first time you used it in a score?

Ottman: I don't recall, but I think it would have been challenging early on if I was attempting
lyrics or bologna Latin syllables and so forth. So, my first use for the choir was mere chords. I
don't remember when my first choir experience was, but I’m sure it was a special moment
(laughs). I just remember my concerns were always that we’d never have enough singers. I
didn’t want it to sound chintzy. We did a sort of wink wink trick where we would do a take two,
but it was actually putting another take on top of another. So, it made it sound huge. By take
three you had the equivalent of sixty or eighty people, and you really only had maybe twenty-
five or thirty people. When I’d go to London there were less budgetary restrictions, so I had a
true massive choir on a couple of films, and it was amazing.

Bland: I'm sure sometimes its budget, but what musical reasons determine the use of twenty
singers, forty singers, or a large choir of eighty singers?
Source: Image permission granted by John Ottman.
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Ottman: Yeah it's both. Obviously sometimes it's inappropriate to have the sound of eighty
people. You want it to be more intimate, or have it sound like a small group based upon what
the style of the movie is, or what feeling the cue needs to evoke. That should be the first
consideration. The other is budget.

Bland: Are there current or past composers that inspire your choral writing or composition in
general?

Ottman: I grew up with John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, and James Horner. I have to say, those
guys would have had the most influence on me. And the classical music I listened to didn't have
a lot of choir in it. Basically, it was Dvorak, Holst and a host of others who didn’t use a lot of
choir. Way back, just before I started writing film music, I went to Tower Records. I went to the
classical section, and I told the guy, “give me every symphony that sounds like film music.” So,
he gave me a bunch of Holst. He gave me Sinfonia Antarctica [by Ralph Vaughan Williams], etc.,
and then when I entered that doorway I started branching out. Pretty soon I was listening to
Debussy and others of the Romantic and twentieth century era. But again, it's weird, choral
music really didn't play a huge part in a lot of that work. It must have been film music that
subliminally got me into it. Also, it's need-fulfillment. You’re writing and searching for a way to
communicate an idea, and sometimes I would just think that it had to be choir.

Bland: When working on a film score what are some of the reasons why you would choose to
include a choir in a cue?

Ottman: It just goes back to what you're trying to emote that an orchestra could not, or could
not emote as effectively. For instance, in Superman Returns (2006) he’s sort of a godly figure
and misunderstood. There's a moment where he's peering into Lois’ house, looking at Lois and
her boyfriend; and he's full of pain. He doesn't fit in, and then he sadly rises up above the
house. That's where I took out the orchestra and just played the choral chords – and it just
went to your heart. You can't really describe it. It can be literally more of a holy experience by
using the choir as opposed to the strings, woodwinds, and so forth. If you're doing a religious
movie, it could indeed sound cliché, but I remember George Delerue’s, Agnes of God (1985).
It's really beautiful, and he uses choir in such a moving way. Sure it's a movie that has a
religious backdrop to it, so you think that's the obvious thing to do; but he did it with such
grace. Another reason to use choir is to provide an epic quality that a big orchestra can also
achieve, but a choir will just put it over the top. In Jack the Giant Slayer (2013), the choir
transcended epic moments of the beanstalk falling to just that – epic and with the gravitas the
orchestra alone couldn’t give.

Bland: You mentioned the choir can express something that the orchestra cannot. But have
you ever used the choir simply as a color or another timbre of the orchestra?

Ottman: Absolutely, I would say I do that more often than having overt choir, because there's
not many films or instances in movies where you're going to have license to use a big choir
sound. So absolutely, again it's sort of an additive thing. You have the orchestra, and then you
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just invoke more of a soul by adding the texture of the choir. I always say film music is the soul
of a movie. But within that soul you can actually make it more soulful by using the choir as a
texture. I endorse any kind of film music style if it's appropriate for the movie. But having said
that, I think when you have real players you have something you can't put your finger on.
There is a soul you’re feeling because they are real people playing instruments. I think the
highest version of that is the choir, because you're literally hearing the voices of those players.

Bland: Can you talk about the external factors that influence your decisions to include a choir,
such as the director or budget restrictions?

Ottman: I’ve been fortunate not to have had external influences control whether I put
something in or not, because if I want to put something in that I feel is appropriate, I’m going to
find a way to do it. If it’s budgetary limitations that preclude a choir, and I still need that
texture, I’d resort to synthesizer. Which can be an arduous task to make it sound convincing.

Bland: Do you ever mix synthesized with recorded vocals?

Ottman: Through my insecurity I would often have synth choir supplementing the real choir.
But then, by the time I got done with a real choir, and doing my additive technique, I would
dump my synthesized part. The more voices you have, there's no reason to keep that synth
part around, unless it has a specific synthesized sound that helps it sound modernistic, or it’s
stuff that the real choir can't do. I use to do that with my strings all the time in the early days. I
was so insecure about not having the string power in the orchestra that I would always have my
synthesized strings underneath. I have used synth choir for mockups, of course. I’ve used them
for the syllables as well. My choir mockups using syllables sound pretty ridiculous. Sometimes I
need not listen to the skeptics around me when they look at me in strange ways after hearing
the horrible choir patches. I would tell them not to worry, that it would sound great, even
though I would worry! There was a cue from X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) where I wanted the
choir to sing extremely rapid lyrics (imitates fast syllabic singing), and I was just basically
pushing keys with different syllables, and it sounded so dumb. But I kept trying to reassure
myself that when they sang these syllables it was going to be very tight and cool sounding. I
remember my music editor was a big skeptic, and when we had the choir out there she looked
at me, and I looked at her, and I said, “see, I told you! (laughs)

Bland: On your website you describe a non-traditional vocal technique in the film Superman
Returns (2006), where you ask the “men to quiver in varying ways with random accents.”
1

Can you describe any other non-traditional vocal techniques you‘ve incorporated in your
choral writing?

Ottman: I've done whispers before, which isn't profound. People have done that before. I think
I did that in a couple of horror movies. . . Gothika (2003) I think. Of course, portamentos, just
dropping and rising techniques. Using men in their lowest possible register for bizarre sustain,

1
Ottman, “Superman Returns,” Ibid.
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or for something guttural. But I would say random wide quavering is probably the most overt
and cool thing that I did, and I was thrilled when we had the session. It sounded fantastic.

Bland: Is there a choral moment in your work you're most proud of?

Ottman: Yeah, I would say that moment in Superman Returns (2006) when Superman levitates
over Lois’ house. . . I can’t remember if it’s literally over her house or in space. It's not a long
moment. It’s probably twenty seconds. To me it was that moment of just achieving total
resplendence. There's another one where he regenerates his powers by going close to the sun.
There was another moment where I used a choir to a euphoric degree. I guess it was that
movie where I had the most chills based on what I did with the choir. Even if it was a moment
of quivering, it was cool.

Bland: In the film X2: X-Men United (2003) you incorporated the “Dies Irae” movement from
Mozart’s Requiem. Can you discuss your reasons for including this specific work?

Ottman: This is a great question. This is the obvious reason to put choir in a film. I say, if you
can use something other than what’s expected, always do that. For that action scene (in X2: X-
Men United) I temp scored it with action music, and sure, it worked fine. It was exciting and so
forth, but there was nothing special about it. It just felt like you were opening this movie with a
standard action scene, and it's nothing more than that. It really bothered me. I wanted this
scene to be remembered. So, I threw in Mozart's Requiem, and it worked pretty well, but it
needed more testosterone. So, I found a recording of the piece and made a click track to it and
played back to the orchestra. Then I wrote all the additional orchestral parts , percussive
sections. So, the orchestra was basically enhancing the original piece to be an odd action cue by
infusing snare drums, anvils, and so forth, and it completely transformed that scene in ways
that film music would never be able to do. It became a fusion of film music and a classical
piece. That scene is now something special forever and not forgettable.

Bland: On your website you say “with choir, it's all about how it's mixed within the orchestra.
A little too loud can be cheesy; buried too much, it can make the cue muddy.”
2
Can you
expand on this statement at all?

Ottman: Yeah, it's all about balance. It's almost the same way you mix a film cue in a movie.
People are surprised when I go to a film dub and actually tell the mixers to lower the music a
bit, and embed it, because that was the intention of the score. If you play it too loud suddenly
the cue doesn't work anymore. It just becomes something embarrassing because the intention
was to have it be weaved in. It's the same exact thing within a score mixing the choir. A little
too much and it's going to go beyond what you wanted, and it’s suddenly going to be gilding
the lily, so to speak. It's a tricky balance of taste.

2
Ottman, “Superman Returns,” Ibid.
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Jasper Randall, Interview IMAGE Appendix A.6. Jasper Randall
June 15, 2020, via zoom
Professional Role- Composer and Vocal
Contractor

Micah Bland: As you started your
professional career, how did you become
involved in the choral side of film music?

Jasper Randall: Well, first and foremost, I'm a
composer myself. That's what I came to
California to do. I was born and raised up in
Oregon in the country. But I've pursued
music since an early age, and fell in love
with the art of film music at a young age, and just kind of set my mind on pursuing that. So, I
initially came to Los Angeles and did undergraduate work, then subsequently, graduate work in
the USC film scoring program to pursue not only working in the film music industry, but as a
film composer. Along the way I met my colleague Peter Rotter, another composer, who at the
time was starting to do the contracting of instrumentalists, orchestras, and players. As that
grew, and we were working alongside each other on scoring projects, more and more
opportunities came to him on that side of things. He approached me to see if I wanted to work
alongside him as a vocal contractor, because he knew of my background both in church music,
accompanying, conducting, and singing, and I'd done some arranging in high school and college.
He thought that that would be a natural fit. It took me a while to make that decision, as it was
quite a change from what I had set my goals to be and still do. But ultimately decided to take
advantage of the opportunity that was presented to me. And the rest is kind of history. That
was approximately thirteen years ago. It has just kind of exponentially grown. I mean, I would
say that my abilities and knowledge as a composer have certainly lent to my success as a
contractor, in the sense of I have a better understanding, perhaps, as to what my clients need
and go through. And in a sense, it's almost like working for yourself in that I see voices and the
different timbres of voices, much like instruments. Whether it's the difference between an
oboe and a flute, or a violin and the cello. So, hearing all those idiosyncrasies, and all those
minutiae in the voice—in the tone, the color, the style, and everything—I think helped me
better provide exactly what they're looking for. Whether it's a solo singer or a large group. So, I
wouldn't say I fell into it, but I would say that my talents and pursuit of being a composer
definitely lent itself to what I do now as a as a vocal contractor. I still compose. I still write. But
obviously, the majority of my time and effort is working alongside composers, producers, and
songwriters to get them singers.

Bland: Can you talk a little bit about the responsibilities of a choral contractor and a choral
conductor?

Randall: Well, I wear many hats as you've seen in credits. The job in itself, a vocal contractor, if
you're simply looking at the basics of it, is generally one of the performers within a group, or an
Source: Image permission granted by Jasper Randall.
178
individual that is responsible for finding and hiring the singing talent for the client. But along
with that is not simply referrals of talent, picking the group, putting the group together, or
presenting options, if it's a soloist or something they're looking for. But then you get into the
day to day aspect of it with regard to union performers. There is anything from what's called
station twelve clearance of their eligibility. Making sure they're in good standing with the union
and members, and paid up with their dues. Which is a very simple straightforward process. But
also coordinating the budgets, the estimates, coordinating the schedule, coordinating the
paperwork, the start paperwork and payroll companies, and all of these things that are outside
of even the creative aspect. My involvement on the creative level varies, and sometimes can be
extremely hands on. Anything from arranging to writing, and obviously performing a lot of
times as a professional singer. But also, there's the whole administrative side of things for
which I have a team of people that work alongside me, because the logistics itself can be quite
daunting if you're dealing with forty, sixty, eighty singers in a choir. The scheduling and the
communication and making sure that everything's handled properly can be quite time
consuming. So ultimately, I'm the guy in charge or the person in charge. There are many vocal
contractors in town and around, people that self-identify as a vocal contractor. Anyone
technically can be a vocal contractor within a group, but not many people actually identify as a
vocal contractor purely, because they primarily work as a singer, and are not really pursuing
work as a contractor.

Bland: You mentioned that you sometimes sing, arrange, or conduct the choir. For the
multiple entries (over 250 entries) you have on IMDb, are you directly involved in all these?
Are you in person at all the recording sessions?

Randall: Yes, generally. There's a lot of administration that I do on projects whereby they've
already hired the talent. They've already engaged the person, and they simply need me there to
make sure it's handled correctly. To make sure the paper works correct. Again, they have to
make sure that these. . . You know, contractually singers are the same as actors for the purpose
of the Screen Actors Guild. It’s as if they're hiring us as an employee for that session, for that
day, just a one off. There's an awful lot of coordination of paperwork and contracts and stuff
that need to be adhered to and managed. So, for the administrative part of things, it really
depends. For anything and everything that you would see on, for instance, IMDb, that stuff was
very hands on. I mean, there's probably another three hundred projects that I've been involved
on. But I generally don't put that kind of stuff down if I'm not hands on with it. There in the
studio participating, conducting, arranging, or producing. I generally focus on kind of that stuff,
because the others are more logistical and administrative in nature. I would say I'm hands on
involved in about probably two thirds of the things that I do. The rest is simply administration
on behalf of production companies, music departments, producers, and signatories to make
sure that everything's handled correctly. Even when I'm not involved in a hands on or creative
level, I do try to be there. Overall, the goal is for me to be as present as much as possible,
because they are going to me for a service, and I want to make sure that they understand that
they're in good hands and there won't be any surprises or issues that arise. There are so many
ways that things can go wrong. The job itself is not that complicated when things go right, but
obviously, the entertainment industry is a very complicated industry of contracts and collective
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bargaining agreements. Everywhere you turn there's liability of one sort or another. You have
to be very careful with how you navigate. You have to be very careful with how you say things
and how you phrase things, because you can very quickly find yourself in a position that even
the smallest of things create the biggest of headaches. It's definitely a minefield, and
unfortunately the only way you learn sometimes is by doing it wrong, and I think you just hope
that whatever the things are that you do wrong isn't something that costs you a client, costs
you financially, or cost you your career. Which isn't unheard of.

Bland: When you're active in these recording sessions, has there been any moments with the
fellow musicians that were humorous or surprising? Any memorable moments?

Randall: Well, there's definitely those clients that love to have fun in the studio and keep things
light. Not at the expense of the music, but rather because it can be a very stressful
environment. I mean, from just a logistical standpoint, the majority of the time that we go into
the studio and record, whether it's chorally or otherwise, the singers really haven't seen the
music. They’re sight-reading it. They're seeing it for the first time. I'm trying to think of specific
instances of things that have been said. There's been so many, I would say. There are definitely
those moments that are lighter in nature, and clients that are always more of a joy to work with
because they kind of stay lighthearted about the whole thing, knowing that there's so much at
stake not only for them, but for each performer. I can't really point to a light-hearted moment.
But there are definitely, like I said, those clients that you're going to have a good time, and
you're going to have fun making music. And then others that are very stoic, very serious, very
focused and rightly so, but almost to the point of, just don't screw up. Get in. Get out.

Bland: Have there been any unusual texts a choir has been asked to sing?

Randall: Of course! Yes. There's been projects where they sneak in lyrics. For instance, many
times we'll be singing in Latin, or we'll be singing nonsensical stuff. I'm trying to remember the
exact phrases. . . I think it was This Is The End (2013) where we were echoing some script lines
that were pretty racy and raunchy, but very covered in the sense to where that unless you
knew it was happening, you wouldn't know it. We've had sung people's names that were kind
of hidden with a tall vowel or something like that. I've been in situations where they've wanted,
no one being named specifically, but we've had composers and producers that have wanted to
make a kid’s choir sing these absolutely R rated lyrics. Not even thinking, they're just such in a
mode. I kind of would be the one to go, “you cannot have minors sing these lyrics. You cannot
have them singing profanity. I mean, are you crazy?” And then they'd be like, “oh, my gosh. Of
course.” One of the first things I did as a singer, I wasn’t actually contracting it, I got a call to do
a session, and I was told at the time that. . . I knew enough about the film that it was going to
be probably fairly raunchy and racy, and some pretty colorful language. But I was assured that,
“you won't be singing any of that.” Okay, great. But by the time we got to the session, there
must have been 200 F-bombs, and all that kind of stuff within the lyrics. I should've known. I
mean, it was one of those things where you walk out going, I think that's the most profanity I've
ever used in my life on that one session. So, you never know. I mean, I think we're basically
talking, obviously profanity, which the world has plenty of, but I do have to keep in mind as a
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contractor also the sensitivities of not only obviously kids, but adults. You have to be careful
that whatever content is being done, lyric wise or otherwise, I have to make sure that I'm not
stepping into a situation where we get there and a performer goes, “I can't do this. I can't sing
this. I don't agree with this song's message.” You know, artists that are making a political
statement or something, which they have full right to do, but perhaps someone has strong
enough convictions of either side where they're not comfortable with doing that. So, again,
situations where I have to look ahead, and I have to think of every possible scenario. I basically
have to think of every possible thing that could go wrong, and make sure that I have a game
plan in place for that, or I do everything I can to avoid that situation. Because in the end, it's
easy to be quarterback on Monday morning, but I have to look ahead or else a client will simply
ask me, “why didn't you think of this? This is your job. You're supposed to anticipate these kind
of things.” Now I do, and in the beginning I didn't. There were some interesting situations of
performers saying, “well, I can't do that.”

Bland: It sounds like you're a great advocate for your singers, and the go between for these
people.

Randall: Well yeah that’s it. We're the go between, and likewise my colleague, Peter Rotter, as
an instrumental contractor. We are uniquely situated in the middle of the industry to where
you have composers, producers, directors, the studio, payroll companies, and the union. So, not
only are we the go between in between the performer and the union, and I'm the singer
representative on the SAG National Board, and I sit as an alternate on the executive committee.
As far as membership leadership within the union, I'm kind of a point person between thirty-
five hundred or so professional SAG singers and the union. And then the client and the studio
agents. So it's. . . we have it on all sides. I wouldn't say there's anything glorious about the
position. All it equates to is a lot of responsibility, and many times people looking to you when
something goes wrong and wanting to know why it went wrong and, you know, deferred
blame.

Bland: There seems to be a lot of, as you mentioned nonsense syllables, or just vowel sounds.
Why do you think this lack of text is so prevalent?

Randall: Well, the primary reason composers want to be very careful with text. I mean, I think
Latin is kind of the one thing that you can do whatever you want with, because it's technically a
dead language. I'd say the vast majority of composers don't just want to throw nonsensical stuff
up. If you're dealing with a specific language, they have to be very careful of what they're
actually saying. Many times, they'll bring in musicologists, or they'll bring in native speakers just
to make sure, because the majority of these films get translated into hundreds of different
languages. I worked on Mulan (2020), and at some point there was a question about possibly
doing Chinese lyrics. But the concern there then being, what would that be, and how would
that translate? And what would it mean? You certainly don't want to, in every good intention,
say something, and then have it not mean what you think it means. With Avatar (2009) it was
obviously a completely made up language. So, they were able to utilize that with no problem. I
think with, I believe it might have been Wolverine (2013), they used some ancient language and
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text, and had to still vet what it was that we were saying. I mean, I think simply put, these
composers do not just want to make something up. That is rare. That they simply say just do
anything you want, because even then it might sound like something. They would rather find
something that means something that actually has substance to it within the context of their
music, and within the context of the movie in the film. They simply don't want to throw
something at the wall and get away with it, or make sure it isn't something they don't mean it
to be. They do want it to have forethought, and they do want it to have meaning. And if that's
not possible, then for the most part, they just kind of resort to oo’s and ah’s. But they definitely
try to, if possible, find something that has a little bit more meaning than that, because there are
composers that don't like oo’s and ah’s just for the sake of oo’s and ah’s.

Bland: Can you talk a little bit about the function of the chorus in a film score, and in the
scene itself? How is it used?

Randall: For the most part I found the choir to be kind of the ultimate. . . it's generally the icing
on the cake. I don't mean that at the expense of any other part of the orchestra. What I
generally mean is, from a budgetary standpoint, it's a bit of a luxury. There's hundreds of film
scores and orchestral film scores every year that are recorded and produced. But I would say
only a small fraction of them have choir. Mainly because of additional cost and logistics. But
also, I would say that the role of the choir always adds an extra level of humanity to it.
Generally speaking, a lot of the scores that we do, and I contract and conduct on, you'll find
that a lot of the choir comes later in the film, like big action movies. Whereas the beginning of
the film, they're establishing the themes lightly, smaller orchestras and sound. Then as it grows,
much like the story, then you add the choir on and it just kind of builds in scope. Now there are
those scores where the choir is woven throughout, and it's very much a specific color within the
orchestra and within the sound they're going for. But as a general rule, I find that the choir is
that extra “umph.” It's one thing to have a Marvel film, but when really push comes to shove
and characters start dying, or the worlds on the brink of collapse, or that the team has to come
together, that's when the choir appears, and just adds that extra level of humanity. I mean, I did
Battle Los Angeles (2011) with Brian Tyler. Fantastic composer. And he wove that sound
through the whole score. It's a very heavy choral score, mainly because there was a very human
aspect to the whole thing. It was a survival movie about human kind coming together and trying
to save Los Angeles, and subsequently the world. So, short question long answer. It would be
that it's generally that extra level not only of sound and power, but humanity that the choir
brings.

Bland: Talking about the recording process. How often are minor or major changes to the
choral score made during the recording process?

Randall: Quite often. In fact, many times choir isn't added until the end. I know it's generally. . .
unless it's built into the palette of sound that the composer wants to present score wide, many
times the choir is. . . they'll write the score and then they'll add choir on whatever cues near the
end of the film or whatever. A lot of times that's how it works. Sometimes the director asked
for it. Something like, (imitating director) “oh, and we'll have some choir here or something.”
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And then it'll be a scramble. “Of course, yes, we're going to put choir there.” And then all of a
sudden, I get an email going “I need a 40 voice choir in three days.” Then there's a mad dash to
write the choir parts. Many times, generally speaking, they will put the choir session at the end
of the scoring schedule, because number one, there's going to be all these changes and tweaks
and revisions along the way, as naturally happens once they start hearing the final product of
music. But then also they kind of tack it on like the icing of the cake. And they want to make
sure all that creative decision is put away before they bring us in. Both for logistics and just for
budgetary reasons. So they might as well wait until the dust settles, and then bring the choir in
at the end. Then sometimes there's changes on the stand. Sometimes because the choir has
been added so last minute by maybe not the composer, but an orchestrator or arranger, and
then once the composer hears it there like, “no, I want this, I want that.” There are changes
throughout the scoring process. But then there's also changes all the time on the stand once
they hear it come together. There are re-voicings. There's “wait till this bar,” or “come in here,
and we're going to add some stuff.” And it's a constant evolving process, both large scale and
small scale.

Bland: You talked about the director adding it later, saying, “let's have choir here.” Have they
ever reversed that and said, “I don't like the choir,” and they cut it out?

Randall: Oh, yeah. Yes, that's happened. But I think what's happened more is that once they've
heard the choir, they've wanted more choir. Looking back on, for instance, Avatar (2009). I
don’t think many people know the story. The deadline we run into with a film, not only people
think is the release date, but before that is what's called the dub date. When they actually mix
the film, and they have to lock the film. And there’s a very big cue in Avatar (2009) where,
because of the scoring schedule and rewrites, they weren't able to deliver the orchestral music
for this scene until very late. In fact, they were mixing that section of the film—called the reel—
immediately, and they had just got the cue in. But they didn't have time to do the choir. So,
what happened was they went ahead and they recorded the orchestra and they delivered the
orchestra to the dub stage. James Cameron heard it, and they put it into the mix. But then very
shortly after that, when we were finishing the rest of the score, we recorded that cue and
added the choir to it. James Horner sent it to James Cameron to hear and said, “I just wanted
you to hear, we've got the choir in. I know you've already mixed that reel and that's done, but I
just wanted you to hear it with the choir.” James Cameron was so blown away by the addition
of the choir and how much it sounded. . . It's actually the scene in the movie where they cut the
tree down. Is it the Na’vi or whatever, they cut their big tree down. Huge cue! Once he heard it
with the choir, he was so blown away he actually went back, opened up the reel again, and
dropped in the music with the choir in it. Now, that's unheard of, especially on a film that scale.
But I always keep that in my mind as an example of how poignant and powerful the addition of
chorus can be. You have an enormous orchestra sawing away and playing away and stuff. But
there's something about the humanity of a choir and the performance that takes it to a whole
other emotional level. That's a kind of a pure example of that happening. And that happens on
many other occasions. What happens is we'll do a choir session, and once the director hears it,
they go, “well, isn't there choir there? And we should have choir there.” Or the composer does
the same kind of thing.
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Sally Stevens, Interview IMAGE Appendix A.7. Sally Stevens
April 5, 2021, via zoom
Professional Role- Vocal Contractor and Singer

Micah Bland: Your career as a singer and
vocal contractor has spanned several
decades with your first appearances as a
singer occurring in the 1960s. Can you talk a
little bit about how, if at all, the business side
of film choral singing has changed
throughout your career?

Sally Stevens: The first film score that I sang
on was in 1961, and it was How the West Was
Won (1962), and that was the first time I’d
been on a scoring stage. In those days
everybody was live, the orchestra was live, the choir was live, and it would all happen at once.
The business has really changed quite a bit, in relation to choral work and the volume of it.
When I started getting busy in the 60s I was doing more solo work. I started to work with Ron
Hicklin singers, but I also did solo vocal cues for Klute (1971) and Dirty Harry (1971), and some
of Clint Eastwood's. Those are the ones I remember, more specifically. Just before I started
working, the job of vocal contractor had become a union position. Prior to that there were
vocal studios of the music department, or staff people who did the vocal contracting, and they
were not singers. I think the problem was there was never anybody on the scoring stage with
the singers to communicate with the engineers and so forth. So, a couple of the busy singers, I
suspect Bill Lee, and Thurl Ravenscroft of that era in the mid 50s late 50s, were able to get it
Vocal Contractor put under the union label.

Bland: When did the vocal unions start?

Stevens: Well, it was not really a singer’s union. Originally the Screen Actors Guild (SAG)—I wish
I could tell you the exact year—but it was in place I’m sure from the early 40s or late 30s, and
represented actors. We were covered, but we didn't have much of a voice, and we still don't.
We're only about 2-3% of the membership. I feel we were more democratically represented in
AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). AFTRA was the union that
handled sound recordings, radio commercials, radio broadcast, and then some of the early TV
series. Because originally, SAG didn't want to bother with TV. So, it was that the two unions
kind of grew in the same time period, and then that growth and competition. . . it wasn’t
competition, but the fact that producers could go to one or the other, and play them one
against the other for lower rates, eventually made them think about merging. That's a whole
other story. Residuals didn't go into place for SAG until I think it was 1960. So, although my
mother and my dad worked in films, they never got residuals for their work. She sang on The
Wizard of Oz (1939), and never got residuals.

Source: Image permission granted by Sally Stevens.
184
Bland: To clarify, earlier on would the studios contract the singers directly?

Stevens: Yeah, for instance, I remember the summer before I went to UCLA. I was seventeen,
and my dad happened to know a gentleman named Rick Riccardi who was the vocal contractor
for Fox at the time, and he owned a place in Santa Monica that was there until fairly recently—I
don't know if it's still there or not—called the Horn. It was sort of a bar and restaurant place
where singers could go in and try their material. It was just open mic kind of. So, my dad having
been a singer at one time thought that would be good training for me. And that's the only
reason I remember Rick [Ricardi], because by the time I started working, which was about five
years later, the whole system had been changed. There was no longer somebody on staff, or
they may have been on staff, but they still had to work and book the choir through a SAG or
AFTRA contractor. I would say in 1960-62 Bill Lee contracted a lot of film sessions that I worked
on. Thurl Ravenscroft and Bill were also wonderful solo singers. Bill sang for Christopher
Plummer in Sound of Music (1965). So, it wasn't a world of choral singers. It really never has
been. You find that you can work— or you could in those days, it's changing a lot— but you
could earn a living doing choral work, and you could still be pursuing your solo career, or you
might just settle into [choral singing], and that's all you want to do.

Bland: Since there were unions established when you started, was there pay equality among
genders?

Stevens: Yeah, very much so. We worked for union scale, and as soon as you got busy enough
with union work. . . I mean, I think we all probably started with non-union jobs, but once you
get plugged in a little bit. . . My dear friend, when I started was a singer I met on the Ray Conniff
tour in 1960, and she began to do some contracting. She said when you see that your work is
developing in union jobs, you have to turn down that other stuff because that's just
competition with what you're doing. Once I learned the process, I don’t think there were any
early films that were not union.

Bland: This is kind of a very broad question, but throughout your career, have you observed
any changes to the compositional or musical approach of choral singing in film?

Stevens: Some of the choirs I’ve been a part of were thirty voice choirs. Some were seventy
voice choirs. I think in the earlier times it was maybe thirty-six sometimes, forty-two. . .
something like that. But there were also small ensembles. We did a twenty voice choir that was
just a women's choir for Edward Scissorhands (1990). As for the music changes, I’m not the
person to probably talk to about that, because I never studied composition. I just know what I
wanted to hear as a beautiful sound and I knew what voices sounded what way. I recently did a
film for Tom Newman, Finding Dory (2016), and that was like nine voices, and he wanted them
all to be kind of individual character voices, but we created an ensemble sound. There have
been children's choirs that were maybe twelve or sixteen kids with a few women mixed in. It’s
interesting, and it's not something that I really thought about, but I think it's just very much
dependent on the project. Most of John Williams’ choir things are very classical sounding. One
of the first projects that I did—which is what got me that first John Williams score—was a Hans
185
Zimmer score for The Power of One (1992), and that was all very authentic African music. There
was a little community of people here that had come from West Africa, and Lebo Morake, who
also worked with Hans on The Lion King (1994), was also working with Hans on The Power of
One (1992). I think he contributed a lot of that very authentic feel of the music and sound. In
my recollection, when it's a full choir it's usually been SATB with two or three divisions within
each part. Musically, it has to be a fit with the feel and the message of the film and the
orchestral scores. Coincidentally, I was looking around to try to record the SAG awards last
night on television, and I stumbled upon the same channel, The Wizard of Oz (1939)playing, and
so I watched it through, and the choral parts in that, that I recall, were a lot of high women's
voices, and you could hear the men, but it wasn't like a balanced SATB. It was to create a
magical kind of sound. And that's the way Edward Scissorhands (1990) was. We did some
vocals for Beetlejuice (1988) that was a smaller group. I think they were maybe six or eight
singers, but it was an ensemble sound. It wasn't like a vocal jazz group.

Bland: In a previous interview you mentioned that you have written lyrics for TV and film
projects.
3
Were any of these texts for a chorus, and do you recall any of these texts?

Stevens: Yeah, I recall them because they were rare little treasures of experiences. I wrote the
main title lyric for a film called On Any Sunday (1971), which was about motor cycling, and
Steve McQueen was the. . . it was almost like a documentary, but it turned out to be a pretty
big movie. Dominic Frontiere was doing the score, and I had worked with him as a singer. I
think I had sent him some songs I had written just, you know, if you ever need a lyricist. And he
gave me a chance to do that. It was not a choir, but was a group of eight singers, and there
were some solo cues which I did with the background. The other film lyric was for a song from
Absence of Malice (1981) that was actually a children's choir. Dave Grusin was the composer,
and in the scene the children were walking into a Catholic Church at Christmas time, and he
wanted something that kind of sounded old English. It was a short cue, and then about twenty
years later, Dave was involved with the first Christmas CD that James Taylor did, and he played
the song for James, and asked me if I could write a second verse for it, and James Taylor
recorded it as a solo. But originally it had been written for children's choir.

Bland: Occasionally composers incorporate unusual or humorous texts, do you recall any of
these texts?

Stevens: Yes, I do. Two situations come to my mind. The first was on South Park (1997– ). Marc
Shaiman was the composer, and he called me the night before and just cautioned me that there
would be some off color lyrics and words, and I should be careful about that and didn't want to
offend anybody. I tried to book those singers that I knew wouldn't be offended by those words.
The one that was the most fun was Deadpool 2 (2018) with Tyler Bates. We had, I think it was
about 40 voices, and we were scoring on the Fox stage. About an hour and a half or so into the
session the director and Tyler came out into the studio, and Tyler said would you mind trying
some alternate lyrics, because we had just been doing oohs and ahhs. So, I said sure, and this is

3
Walter, “Sally Stevens: A Voice of Film Music,” Ibid.
186
the working title of my memoir that I just wrapped up. It was the first time that I ever had to
give a cut off on holy s--- balls. And you can't stop this motherf-----. A couple of people in the
choir played a trick on me, because they said, “Sally would you run us just that last line once,
because we're not sure where the cut off is,” and somebody taped it with their phone [laughs].
So that was fun. And honestly, when he said, would you try some alternate lyrics it didn't occur
to me that it was going to be offensive, because I hadn't seen any of the marvel movies. So,
there were some of the same people who I was concerned about with the South Park lyrics.
They were there and they just kind of mumbled through the words you know.

Bland: Sometimes composers don't incorporate a text, how often would you say a wordless
choir is asked for during a recording session?

Stevens: Over the years, I think the oohs and aahs are probably more prominent than the lyrics.

Bland: Can you maybe speculate as to why a composer would choose to include a wordless
chorus?

Stevens: I don't know if you know Seth MacFarlane who created Family Guy (1999– ). He is
committed to using live instruments, live musicians, and he has said in talks that he feels there's
a different emotion. . . there is emotion there that isn't in the synth, “sampled” cues, and that's
the same with voices. I think when there are human voices it adds a dimension of emotion to
the scene that you wouldn't get with synths, and sadly synth vocals are probably going to start
happening more and more, but there's a presence, there's a. . . Sometimes if it's part of the
story, then of course there are lyrics, but sometimes it's just like Edward Scissorhands (1990).
Those were oohs and aahs, but they created a magical quality for the scenes. Sometimes I
would think that there's a grandness that a big choral sound creates. Some of John Williams’
scores --just the presence of live voices seems to lend credibility to a time or a place or. . .I think
it's related emotionally, but I’m not expressing it very well.

Bland: Can you describe any non-traditional vocal techniques the choir has been asked to
perform?

Stevens: It wasn't a strange technique really, but John Williams called a couple of years ago
when he was working on Bridge of Spies (2015), no-- that was Tom Newman. It was one of the
Star Wars movies, and John called and said do you think we could find twenty-nine or twenty-
eight low D flats, and we did find twenty-eight low D flats, and all he wanted was [imitates low
rumble bass sound] just growly sounds.

Bland: I guess some of these are not overly non-traditional, but any spoken chant, whispers?

Stevens: Absolutely, and I can't. . . I wish I could think of some examples for you. But yes, we've
done just [imitates whisper murmurs] everybody's pretending to talk, or there were humming
cues. . . I wish I could think of more.

187
Bland: In addition to your responsibilities as a contractor and singer, are you involved in the
creative process in other ways, such as conducting, arranging, or producing?

Stevens: I’ve never arranged and never produced, except on. . . I guess you could call it almost
producing, because if we're doing a solo vocal for Simpsons (1989– ) or Family Guy (1999– ) I
am there in the control booth trying to make helpful suggestions for the performance. For
instance, a soloist did some work on Munich (2005) for John Williams, and I was there at the
session and, you know, you give whatever input you think might be helpful. Though with John
Williams and Steven Spielberg on the scoring stage, there aren’t many suggestions needed!
More so, I did it for, and am doing it for Family Guy (1999– ). I don't work on Simpsons (1989– )
any longer, as of this last year or two. I never arranged, except for my own little projects.

Bland: Other than Deadpool 2 have you done much conducting? I think you mentioned
conducting for this film.

Stevens: No, actually I didn't conduct the session, just that one line, requested by the singers so
they could videotape it! I think the person conducting was somebody that Tyler [Bates] worked
with. I can't remember exactly who it was. I conducted one session for James Newton Howard,
and I conducted the Hans Zimmer, The Power of One (1992) sessions, but it's not something I
got to do real often. I didn't make myself known as a conductor.

Bland: You talked about TV shows you’ve worked on; how often do you go and record for
these? It sounds like it's a regular recording gig.

Stevens: Well, for Family Guy (1999– ), Simpsons (1989– ), and American Dad (2005– ) for those
shows the main titles were recorded initially when the shows went on the air, and they've
never been changed. But weekly there might be on Simpsons the village people have some silly
little song, or there's a group of, you know, whatever people from outer space, and Family Guy
as well, there's sometimes a little vocal cue with special lyrics that relates to the story in that
episode. Those are recorded for the episode, and they're recorded prior to the animation so
that the actors can match the voices. Sometimes we record the music a year before the
episode airs.

For the Oscars, you know we haven't talked about the Oscars, but it just occurred to me that
that's been a really fascinating process with choirs and small groups. We did a sound effects
choir on the Oscars one year that the director of the Oscars that year, the producer had heard, I
think it was a Honda spot, where the composer, Steve Sidwell, in London had used all human
voices to do all sounds. The sounds of the car, the rain, whatever. They reached out to him to
create a number for the Oscars. That was the Hollywood Film Chorale “Sound Effects Choir,”
and he put together film clips from various films where we made just a bunch of sound effects
sounds. There have been large choirs, there was a thirty voice men's choir behind Adele a
couple of years ago. Not too often a large choir on camera. The song “Glory” from Selma
(2014) was a large on camera choir, and we prerecorded that first at Capitol [Records], and
then the singers sang along on camera for the show.
188
Bland: Would you say you've done pretty consistent work with the Oscars every year?

Stevens: For the Oscars I did sing with other contractors in my earlier years, but then in about
1987–8, I had a chance to contract, and they gave me choral director credit, and I did that for
about twenty-two years.

Bland: In your film music experience do you recall any memorable recording session
moments with composers or fellow musicians? Anything humorous or surprising?

Stevens: Gosh again, you have to forgive me, but this brain is not good with coming up with
memories and I. . .

Bland: I'm sure it's difficult with your 600 some odd credits, and everything else for film and
TV. [laughs]

Stevens: And that's nowhere near the full number. Well, I know there have been funny
situations, but I cannot think specifically of what they were. I mean in the olden days when I
used to walk into the record sessions and Glen Campbell was still a sideman guitarist with the
Wrecking Crew musicians. Every time I walked into United Recording he started singing “Sally
Was a Good Old Gal.” Some of the composers have a terrific sense of humor, and they say
funny things, or somebody in the choir. But I can't think specifically.

Bland: Maybe any surprising things such as you record, they like the choir, and so they bring
you back for another day, or things like that.

Stevens: Yes, for The Simpsons Movie (2007), which Hans Zimmer scored, “Spider Pig” was
really a kind of a fun little song. They got such a great reaction to that song that they had us
come back, and we recorded it in about eight other languages. I had forgotten about that. Oh
Alan Silvestri, we did a session for What Women Want (2000) that Alan Silvestri was scoring,
and this was not so much like funny, but the director didn't seem to like any of the vocal cues.
He was so sweet and patient with her, and he just kept rewriting them and reworking them. I
think we came back a couple more times. She was happy with the sound of the choir, but she
just didn't [imitating director] “no I don't want that there. I want that over here,” and whatever.
So, he was rewriting stuff.

Bland: Is there a concern amongst studio musicians about the continued use of choral singing
in film due to improved synthesized choral sounds, cost, or improved recording techniques
that allow for fewer singers?

Stevens: Well, during this last year I haven't really been in touch with any composers, because
except for like Family Guy (1999– ), where they can do remote solo or a little group or
something. But honestly, I’ve had a wonderful long journey, and my road is kind of winding
down. A lot of the composers that I used to contract for are now using other people. It's
already happening in television, the use of synth vocals, and that has been happening in
189
television for a long time, because the budgets just aren't there. For instance, there's a thirteen
episode rate for television that is basically a buyout it's the equivalent of payment for maybe
two or three episodes. But it allows them to use the main title every week for the whole
season, and you can do underscore for vocals at that same time, and they can also be used. But
when a composer is doing an episode, the budgets have been so cut that for him to bring in a
solo singer, and have to pay them $1,000 that's probably not going to happen to too often. I
think what is going to have to happen, and is, I’m sure it will. Is that the SAG singers, the
committee — I’ve been involved with them for decades — they’re going to look at the business,
and they're going to try to find ways to adjust or reinterpret contracts, or come up with some
new waivers. Whatever film scoring has been here for the last ten years we managed to keep,
because we created a three-hour waiver to the eight hour Theatrical scoring day. Otherwise, I
don't. . .we haven't had any, I mean maybe one or two eight hour days, but I think we wouldn't
even have had those three hour waiver days had that not happened. It didn't change the way
our residuals are paid or calculated, it's just a lower initial session fee. So, it made that
affordable. But yeah, I think that's going to be a great challenge going forward. I think they're
even creating programs where words can be said now with synth voices. Maybe not all words
but some. It just is an artistic decision, it's a creative decision, and I think that's another thing
that has happened it's. . . I got to tell you, I think that so much of the business has come to the
bottom line issues. and the budgets for the composers. I think that is a result of there not
necessarily being creative people at the head of studios anymore. You know there's not a Louis
B. Mayer, Sam Goldwyn, or Lionel Newman at Fox. And technology has changed so much.
Technology has allowed these things to be done fairly well. The quality might be different, but
not everybody will notice it, because we're hearing so much effect on voices now anyway on
pop records and everything else. I think ears are just learning to hear it differently.

Bland: Can you talk a little bit about the current status and activities of the Hollywood Film
Chorale? I ask because the website looks like it was last updated in 2015.

Stevens: Yeah, it's out of date. The Hollywood Film Chorale --I get many emails from young
singers who want to audition. But it's not a chorale like the LA Master Chorale that rehearses
every week. Its personnel morphs, for a classical sound, or a Gospel sound, or whatever is
needed. Those people are called as carefully assembled freelance singers, and we come
together as needed, for whatever sound is needed. The only reason that we put up the website
was so that people could track the work as being recorded here in Hollywood instead of Abbey
Roads or Seattle or some other non-union place, but it's about four or five years behind in
terms of being currently updated . I need to take care of that with somebody.

Bland: Are you still leading the business side of the group?

Stevens: There isn't a business side because I own the name. So, if anybody wants to use it,
they got to check with me. I have often thought that at some point, I would take that
trademark name and transfer it to a couple of the young singers who I believe are going to be
with the business for a while and are doing a great job.

190
Bland: Can you also talk about your current involvement in film music? Are you still doing the
Oscars?

Stevens: I did the Oscars last year. I didn't contract, there was a new musical director, Ricky
Martin, and the vocal contractor was Dorian Holly, a really excellent singer. He and his
daughter kind of put together the paperwork, and his daughter Nayanna reached out to me
with some questions, which I was happy to help her with. They had a very large choir overall.
Lots of singers involved in that show, but they kind of had a choir that overlapped some parts
with this other choir, and then a different group that was on camera. They handled it really
well. That was the 2020 Oscars. I don't know what they're going to do for 2021. I don't expect
to be involved. I've worked on Family Guy (1999– ) this year, and have contracted a couple
vocals for American Dad (2005– ). But that's really about it that I can recall after the pandemic
hit. I’ve done a couple of remote vocals, and this last week did a vocal demo in his studio, of a
setting of The Lord’s Prayer that my friend had written. He will do the “Choir” individual by
individual, which he can do in his very professional home studio.

Bland: Do you have any projects set up for this coming year already?

Stevens: No, I really don't. I don't know when it's going to be back together. When Peter
[Rotter] took over the musicians, and Jasper [Randal] began to do more of the choral
contracting, many of the new composers were automatically part of that picture. But also
people like. . . Well this is not true, Alan Silvestri was an independent, and I sang on a score for
him more recently. I didn't contract it, Rick Logan contracted it. It was Ready Player One
(2018), the Spielberg film. But I’m trying to think. Edie Lehmann [Boddicker] is now doing all
Hans Zimmer's work. Bobbi Page is contracting for Danny Elfman. But even those things are
morphing and changing. I don't say that with any disparity or any negativity at all. It's just time
you know. I'm trying to help a couple of the young singers. I’ve turned over projects to Fletcher
Sheridan and Jarrett Johnson. I turned over a virtual choir project that a composer from
England wanted to do, because I felt Jarrett was better in touch. . . You know, not all the singers
have their home studio setups, and you’ve got to know which ones can read the music.
Although they can get it ahead of time, look at it in that situation, but you have to know who
has their setups, and who is familiar with the union contract issues and everything. So, there
will be some wonderful new singers taking those roles going forward.

Bland: You kind of already touched on this in an earlier question, but maybe there's more you
can add. Through your interactions with composers, and your experience in the industry, can
you speculate the reasons why the choir is included in the film score?

Stevens: Again, I think it's for emotional time and place. I’m thinking back over the last few
projects that I was involved with. Finding Dory (2016) there were little ensemble songs within
that score that were kind of the voices of the setting and the characters. I was thinking about
John Williams’ scores and Jurassic Park, and the power of the choral sound. It gives voice to the
dinosaurs almost. I mean it is a spiritual presence. I can't really describe it very well. Some
beautiful vocal cues that I remember specifically were in Peter Pan (2003) by James Newton
191
Howard. There were a lot of vocal cues that were just magical, airy, floaty, beautiful, and
energized. James Horner actually used myself and another singer for a lot of duet vocal cues in
the score for Sneakers (1992), which was an interesting choice because it was a
governmental espionage. The budget has to allow it, and then if there's an emotional element
that the voices would bring to it. . . I think that's probably what makes the decision.

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Appendix B: Complete list of films analyzed by researcher

Ensemble Abbreviation Key
AFCC – African Children’s Choir
AS – The Ambrosian Singers
AV – The Apollo Voices
ACC – Ascension Church Choir
BC – The Bach Choir
BP – Bobbi Page, Choral Contractor
BCH – The Boys Choir of Harlem
CC – Cantillation Choir
CMA – Cantori Moderni Di Alessandroni
CCC – Capitol Children’s Choir
CSC – Chicago Symphony Chorus
CCSULB – Children’s Choir of the Staatsoper Unter Linden Berlin
KC – The Choir of the King’s Consort
CEFC – Crouch End Festival Chorus
DV – Doublef Voices
ELB – Edie Lehmann Boddicker
EWS – Eric Whitacre Singers
EBC – Ethnic Bulgarian Choir
HFC – The Hollywood Film Chorale
HJC – Hall Johnson Choir
JH – Jester Hairston, Choral Director
JO – Jenny O’Grady
JR – Jasper Randall, Choral Contractor/Conductor
KC – Kings College School Choir
KD – Ken Darby, Choral Supervisor/Choral Director
LBC – Libera Boys Choir
LOSS – The London Oratory School Schola
LAMC – Los Angeles Master Chorale
LV – London Voices
MV – Metro Voices
NRC – New Renaissance Choir
NCMC – Niños Cantores de Morelia Choral Group
NBC – Northwest Boychoir
OVC – One Voice Children’s Choir
PBC – The Paulist Boy Choristers of California
RA – Red Army Choir
RB – Rundfunkchor Berlin
SS – Sally Stevens
SSC – Sofia Session Choir
SPC – Choristers of St. Pauls Cathedral and Ladies Chorus
STC – St. Theodosius Cathedral
193
SHS – The Stephen Hill Singers
TV – Theatre of Voices
TBC – Trinity Boys Choir
TMAMC – Tokyo Musashino Academia Musicae Chorus
VS – Voquality Singers
WAC – Westminster Abbey Choir
WC – Wiley College

Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
1 300 2006 Tyler Bates 9 min 29 sec MV
2 1917 2019 Thomas Newman 0 min 00 sec
3 1492 Conquest of Paradise 1992 Vangelis 21 min 29 sec
4 16 Candles 1984 Ira Newborn 2 min 29 sec
5 2 Guns 2013 Clinton Shorter 0 min 00 sec
6 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 Khatchaturian/Ligeti/Strauss 15 min 18 sec
7 21 Bridges 2019 Alex Belcher/Henry Jackman 0 min 00 sec
8 22 Jump Street 2014 Mark Mothersbaugh 0 min 03 sec JR
9 3:10 to Yuma 2007 Marco Beltrami 0 min 00 sec
10 500 Days of Summer 2009 Mychael Donna/ Simonsen 0 min 00 sec
11 5th Wave, The 2016 Henry Jackman 0 min 00 sec
12 7 Years in Tibet 1997 John Williams 3 min 54 sec
13 A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 2019 Nate Heller 0 min 30 sec
14 A Cinderella Story 2004 Christophe Beck 0 min 00 sec
15 A Double Life 1947 Miklós Rózsa 0 min 00 sec
16 A Farewell to Arms 1932 Uncredited 0 min 00 sec
17 A Fistful of Dollars 1964 Ennio Morricone 8 min 01 sec CMA
18 A Good Day to Die Hard 2013 Marco Beltrami 0 min 11 sec
19 A Hatful of Rain 1957 Bernard Herrmann 0 min 00 sec
20 A Knight's Tale 2001 Carter Burwell 2 min 08 sec MV
21 A Quiet Place 2018 Marco Beltrami 0 min 00 sec
22 A Stranger in My Arms 1959 Joseph Gershenson 0 min 00 sec
23 A Stranger in Town 1943
Daniele Amfitheatrof/
Nathaniel Shilkret 0 min 00 sec
24 A Walk in the Clouds 1995 Maurice Jarre 1 min 31 sec
25 A Wrinkle in Time 2018 Ramin Djawadi 2 min 26 sec JR
26 A-Team, The 2010 Alan Silvestri 0 min 00 sec
27 Accountant, The 2016 Mark Isham 1 min 16 sec JR
28 Admission 2013 Stephen Trask 1 min 09 sec
29 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The 1960 Jerome Moross 0 min 00 sec
30 Adventures of Tintin, The 2011 John Williams 0 min 11 sec
31 After Earth 2013 James Newton Howard 6 min 38 sec ELB
194
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
32 Air Force One 1997 Jerry Goldsmith 2 min 58 sec
33 Alamo, The 2004 Carter Burwell 0 min 00 sec
34 Alex and Emma 2003 Marc Shaiman 0 min 00 sec
35 Alex Cross 2012 John Debney 1 min 01 sec
36 Alexander Nevsky 1938 Sergei Prokofiev 9 min 22 sec
37 Alien 1979 Jerry Goldsmith 0 min 00 sec
38 Alita: Battle Angel 2019 Junkie XL 2 min 41 sec JR
39 All the President's men 1976 David Shire 0 min 00 sec
40 Amazing Grace 2006 David Arnold 5 min 19 sec NRC
41 Amazing Spider Man, The 2012 James Horner 6 min 38 sec
42 American Hustle 2013 Danny Elfman 0 min 32 sec
43 American Sniper 2014 Joseph S. DeBeasi 2 min 57 sec
44 American Ultra 2015 Marcelo Zarvos 0 min 00 sec
45 Amistad 1997 John Williams 19 min 26 sec HFC
46 Anchorman 2004 Alex Wurman 0 min 00 sec
47 And Then There Were None 1945 Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco 0 min 00 sec
48 Angel Has Fallen 2019 David Buckley 0 min 00 sec
49 Angels and Demons 2009 Hans Zimmer 19 min 29 sec LAMC
50 Animal Kingdom, The 1932 Max Steiner 0 min 00 sec
51 Annapolis 2006 Brian Tyler 0 min 00 sec
52 Ant Man 2015 Christophe Beck 0 min 00 sec
53 Apocalypse Now 1979
Carmine Coppola/Francis
Coopola 0 min 39 sec
54 Apollo 13 1995 James Horner 6 min 07 sec
55 Aquaman 2018 Rupert Gregson-Williams 8 min 40 sec LV
56 Argo 2012 Alexandre Desplat 0 min 53 sec
57 Armageddon 1998 Trevor Rabin 23 min 50 sec BP
58 Arrival 2016 Jóhann Jóhannsson 0 min 59 sec TV
59 Arriverderci, baby 1966 Dennis Farnon 0 min 00 sec
60 Assassin’s Creed 2016 Jed Kurzel 0 min 00 sec
61 Astro Boy 2009 John Ottman 3 min 46 sec MV
62 Avatar 2009 James Horner 6 min 51 sec JR
63 Avengers Age of Ultron 2015 Danny Elfman 4 min 12 sec MV
64 Avengers Endgame 2019 Alan Silvestri 1 min 39 sec LV
65 Avengers Infinity War 2018 Alan Silvestri 3 min 16 sec LV
66 Avengers, The 2012 Alan Silvestri 0 min 23 sec
67 Aviator, The 2004 Howard Shore 0 min 00 sec
68 Baby Driver 2017 Steven Price 0 min 00 sec
69 Babylon AD 2008 Atli Örvarsson 4 min 56 sec MV
70 Back to the Future 1985 Alan Silvestri 0 min 00 sec
195
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
71 Back to the Future II 1989 Alan Silvestri 0 min 00 sec
72 Back to the Future III 1990 Alan Silvestri 0 min 00 sec
73 Bad Company 2002 Trevor Rabin 0 min 47 sec
74 Bad Sister, The 1931 David Broekman 0 min 00 sec
75 Badlands 1973 George Tipton 2 min 41 sec
76 Band of Angels 1957 Max Steiner 7 min 19 sec JH
77 Barracuda 1978 Klaus Schulze 0 min 00 sec
78 Batman Begins 2005 Hans Zimmer 1 min 16 sec
79 Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice 2016 Hans Zimmer 10 min 52 sec
80 Battle for the Planet of the Apes 1973 Leonard Rosenman 0 min 00 sec
81 Battle Los Angeles 2011 Brian Tyler 5 min 52 sec JR
82 Battle of the Sexes 2017 Nicholas Britell 0 min 00 sec
83 Beauty and the Boss 1932 W. Franke Harling 0 min 00 sec
84 Bedtime Story 1964 Hans J. Salter 0 min 00 sec
85 Beguiled, The 2017 Phoenix 0 min 31 sec
86 Being There 1979 Johnny Mandel 0 min 57 sec
87 Ben Hur 2016 Marco Beltrami 4 min 23 sec
88 Ben Hur 1959 Miklós Rózsa 3 min 11 sec
89 Beneath the 12-Mile Reef 1953 Bernard Herrmann 2 min 05 sec
90 Best in Show 2000 Jeffery C.J. Vanston 0 min 00 sec
91 Beyond the Reach 2014 Dickon Hinchliffe 0 min 00 sec
92 BFG, The 2016 John Williams 0 min 00 sec
93 Big 1988 Howard Shore 0 min 47 sec
94 Big Hero 6 2014 Henry Jackman 1 min 00 sec JR
95 Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey 1991 David Newman 5 min 41 sec
96 Billy Jack 1971 Mundell Lowe 6 min 22 sec
97 Birds and the Bees, The 1956 Walter Scharf 0 min 17 sec
98 Birth of a Nation, The 2016 Henry Jackman 12 min 42 sec WC/OVC
99 Black Knight 2001 Randy Edelman 2 min 02 sec
100 Black Mass 2015 Junkie XL 0 min 00 sec
101 Black Panther 2018 Ludwig Göransson 4 min 42 sec VS
102 Black Widow 1954 Leigh Harline 0 min 00 sec
103 Blackhat 2015
Harry Gregson-Williams/
Ross 0 min 14 sec
104 Blackkklansman 2018 Terence Blanchard 1 min 26 sec
105 Blades of Glory 2007 Theodore Shapiro 1 min 55 sec HFC
106 Blast From the Past 1999 Steve Dorff 2 min 21 sec
107 Blended 2014 Rupert Gregson-Williams 5 min 30 sec
108 Blonde Ice 1948 Irving Gertz 0 min 00 sec
109 Blondie on a Budget 1940 Leigh Harline 0 min 00 sec
196
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
110 Blood Diamond 2006 James Newton Howard 1 min 42 sec MV/AFCC
111 Book of Life, The 2014 Gustavo Santaolalla 5 min 00 sec JR
112 Book Theif, The 2013 John Williams 2 min 09 sec CCSULB
113 Boondock Saints 1999 Jeff Danna 10 min 26 sec
114 Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The 2008 James Horner 0 min 27 sec
115 Boy, Did I Get A Wrong Number 1966 Dunham/Richard LaSalle 0 min 13 sec
116 Bravados, The 1958 Lionel Newman 4 min 55 sec NCMC
117 Brave 2012 Patrick Doyle 1 min 44 sec
118 Brave One, The 1956 Victor Young 1 min 07 sec
119 Braveheart 1995 James Horner 7 min 27 sec WAC
120 Breakfast at Tiffany's 1961 Henry Mancini 4 min 11 sec
121 Breakfast Club, The 1985 Keith Forsey 0 min 00 sec
122 Bridge of Spies 2015 Thomas Newman 2 min 21 sec HFC
123 Bridge on the River Kwai 1957 Malcolm Arnold 1 min 09 sec
124 Broken Arrow 1950 Hugo Friedhofer 3 min 13 sec
125 Bugsy 1991 Ennio Morricone 1 min 36 sec
126 Bus Stop 1956
Cyril Mockridge/Alfred
Newman 2 min 35 sec
127 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969 Burt Bacharach 4 min 44 sec
128 Cable Guy, The 1996 John Ottman 1 min 41 sec
129 Caddyshack 1980 Johnny Mandel 0 min 51 sec
130 Candyman 1992 Philip Glass 18 min 47 sec
131 Captain America (The First Avenger) 2011 Alan Silvestri 3 min 30 sec
132 Captain America: Civil War 2016 Henry Jackman 1 min 10 sec LV
133 Captain America: The Winter Soldier 2014 Henry Jackman 0 min 00 sec
134 Captain Marvel 2019 Pinar Toprak 0 min 00 sec
135 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1958 Charles Wolcoft 2 min 27 sec
136 Catch Me If You Can 2002 John Williams 2 min 36 sec
137 Central Intelligence 2016
Ludwig Göransson/
Theodore Shapiro 0 min 00 sec
138 Chariots of Fire 1981 Vangelis Papathanassian 8 min 11 sec
139 Charlies Angels 2000 Ed Shearmur 0 min 11 sec
140 Chasing Liberty 2004 Christian Henson 1 min 15 sec
141 Cheaper by the Dozen 2 2005 John Debney 1 min 10 sec
142 Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 2008 Harry Gregson-Williams 12 min 26 sec CEFC
143 Cider House Rules, The 1999 Rachel Portman 0 min 00 sec
144 Circle, The 2017 Danny Elfman 0 min 00 sec
145 Citizen Kane 1941 Bernard Herrmann 1 min 00 sec
146 Cleopatra 1963 Alex North 0 min 00 sec
147 Cobbler, The 2014 John Debney/Nick Urata 0 min 00 sec
197
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
148 CoCo 2017 Michael Giacchino 0 min 26 sec JR
149 Code 8 2019 Ryan Taubert 0 min 00 sec
150 Collateral Beauty 2016 Theodore Shapiro 0 min 00 sec
151 Conan the Barbarian 1982 Basil Poledouris 16 min 01 sec
152 Conan the Barbarian 2011 Tyler Bates 6 min 43 sec
153 Conan the Destroyer 1984 Basil Poledouris 0 min 00 sec
154 Concussion 2015 James Newton Howard 0 min 35 sec
155 Cool Runnings 1993 Hans Zimmer 0 min 00 sec
156 Copying Beethoven 2006 Ludwig van Beethoven 7 min 27 sec
157 Core, The 2003 Christopher Young 6 min 38 sec BP
158 Cornbread, Earl and Me 1975 Donald Byrd 0 min 00 sec
159 Couples Retreat 2009 A.R. Rahman 0 min 18 sec
160 Courage Under Fire 1996 James Horner 0 min 46 sec
161 Cowboys and Aliens 2011 Harry Gregson-Williams 2 min 04 sec JR
162 Crazy Rich Asians 2018 Brian Tyler 0 min 21 sec JR
163 Creed 2015 Ludwig Göransson 3 min 47 sec JR
164 Creed II 2018 Ludwig Göransson 2 min 27 sec JR
165 D2: The Mighty Ducks 1994 J.A.C. Redford 1 min 28 sec
166 Da Vinci Code, The 2006 Hans Zimmer 11 min 42 sec KC/MV
167 Daddy's Home 2015 Michael Andrews 0 min 20 sec
168 Damaged Lives 1933 uncredited 0 min 00 sec
169 Damien: Omen II 1978 Jerry Goldsmith 10 min 30 sec
170 Dances with Wolves 1990 John Barry 3 min 13 sec
171 Danger Close 2019 Caitlin Yeo 0 min 16 sec
172 Dark Knight 2008 Hans Zimmer 0 min 00 sec
173 Dark Knight Rises 2012 Hans Zimmer 8 min 50 sec
174 Dark Mirror, The 1946 Dimitri Tiomkin 0 min 00 sec
175 Darkest Hour 2017 Dario Marianelli 0 min 00 sec
176 Day the Earth Stood Still, The 2008 Tyler Bates 3 min 38 sec SS
177 Deadline USA 1952 Cyril Mockridge 0 min 34 sec
178 Deadly Companions, The 1961 Marlin Skiles 1 min 17 sec
179 Deadpool 2016 Junkie XL 0 min 00 sec
180 Deadpool 2 2018 Tyler Bates 3 min 07 sec SS
181 Dear Brigitte 1965 George Duning 0 min 11 sec
182 Deep Water Horizon 2016 Steve Jablonsky 0 min 00 sec
183 Deer Hunter, The 1978 Stanley Myers 13 min 18 sec STC
184 Defiance 2008 James Newton Howard 0 min 00 sec
185 Delivery Man 2013 Jon Brion 0 min 23 sec
186 Desire 1936 Friedrich Hollaender 0 min 00 sec
198
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
187 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul 2017 Ed Shearmur 0 min 27 sec JR
188 Die Hard 1988 Michael Kamen 2 min 13 sec
189 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 1988 Miles Goodman 0 min 00 sec
190 District 9 2009 Clinton Shorter 0 min 00 sec
191 Django Unchained 2012
Ainz Brainz Prasad
(additional music) 4 min 04 sec
192 Don't Lose Your Head 1967 Eric Rogers 1 min 18 sec
193 Double Harness 1933 Max Steiner 0 min 00 sec
194 Dr. Strange 2016 Michael Giacchino 8 min 42 sec LV
195 Draft Day 2014 John Debney 0 min 00 sec
196 Dragonheart Battle for the Heartfire 2017 Mark McKenzie 0 min 00 sec
197 Driven 2001 BT 2 min 42 sec
198 Driving Miss Daisy 1989 Hans Zimmer 1 min 12 sec
199 Duck You Sucker 1971 Ennio Morricone 0 min 35 sec
200 Dude Where's My car 2000 David Kitay 2 min 35 sec
201 Duel in the Sun 1946 Dimitri Tiomkin 3 min 26 sec JH
202 Dukes of Hazzard 2005 Nathan Barr 0 min 00 sec
203 Dumb and Dumber 1994 Todd Rundgren 0 min 05 sec
204 Dumb and Dumber To 2014 Empire of the Sun 0 min 00 sec
205 Duplicity 2009 James Newton Howard 0 min 00 sec
206 Eagle Eye 2008 Brian Tyler 0 min 00 sec
207 Edward Scissorhands 1990 Danny Elfman 16 min 32 sec SS
208 El Dorado 1966 Nelson Riddle 0 min 59 sec
209 Emperor's Club, The 2002 James Newton Howard 0 min 00 sec
210 Empire of the Sun 1987 John Williams 24 min 49 sec
211 Enemy of the State 1998
Harry Gregson-
Williams/Trevor Rabin 0 min 00 sec
212 Entertainer, The 1960 John Addison 0 min 49 sec
213 Epic 2013 Danny Elfman 10 min 48 sec BP
214 Equalizer 2 2018 Harry Gregson-Williams 0 min 00 sec
215 Equalizer, The 2014 Harry Gregson-Williams 0 min 33 sec
216 Escape from Alcatraz 1979 Jerry Fielding 0 min 00 sec
217 Escape Plan 2013 Alex Heffes 0 min 00 sec
218 Evan Almighty 2007 John Debney 9 min 52 sec BP
219 Every Night at Eight 1935
Friedrich Hollaender/
Clifford Vaughan 1 min 04 sec
220 Everything is Thunder 1936 Jack Beaver/Louis Levy 0 min 00 sec
221 Everything, Everything 2017 Ludwig Göransson 0 min 00 sec
222 Exile Express 1939 George Parrish 0 min 00 sec
223 Exodus: Gods and Kings 2014 Alberto Iglesias 11 min 43 sec LV
224 Exorcist II: The Heretic 1977 Ennio Morricone 8 min 10 sec
199
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
225 Expendables 3 2014 Brian Tyler 1 min 40 sec
226 Express, The 2008 Mark Isham 0 min 23 sec
227 Fahrenheit451 2018
Anthony Partos/Matteo
Zingales 0 min 34 sec
228 Family Man, The 2000 Danny Elfman 2 min 57 sec
229 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2016 James Newton Howard 6 min 42 sec LV/TBC
230 Fantastic Four 2005 John Ottman 5 min 17 sec BP
231 Farewell, My Lovely 1975 David Shire 0 min 00 sec
232 Farewell, The 2019 Alex Weston 8 min 49 sec
233 Fast Five 2011 Brian Tyler 0 min 00 sec
234 Faster 2010 Clint Mansell 0 min 40 sec
235 Fate of the Furious 2017 Brian Tyler 0 min 00 sec
236 Fences 2016 Marcelo Zarvos 0 min 40 sec
237 Fighting with My Family 2019 Vik Sharma 0 min 44 sec
238 Finding Dory 2016 Thomas Newman 0 min 57 sec SS
239 Finest Hours, The 2016 Carter Burwell 0 min 50 sec
240 First Daughter 2004 Michael Kamen/Blake Neely 2 min 47 sec NBC
241 First Kill 2017 Ryan Franks/Scott Nickoley 0 min 00 sec
242 First Knight 1995 Jerry Goldsmith 5 min 15 sec LAMC
243 Flame of the Islands 1955 Nelson Riddle 0 min 40 sec
244 Flight 2012 Alan Silvestri 0 min 00 sec
245 Flight of the Navigator 1986 Alan Silvestri 0 min 06 sec
246 Flight of the Phoenix 2004 Marco Beltrami 0 min 24 sec HFC
247 Flubber 1997 Danny Elfman 1 min 16 sec
248 Fluffy 1965 Irving Gertz 0 min 00 sec
249 Fools Rush In 1997 Alan Silvestri 1 min 26 sec
250 For a Few Dollars More 1965 Ennio Morricone 6 min 35 sec CMA
251 Ford v Ferrari 2019
Marco Beltrami/Buck
Sanders 0 min 00 sec
252 Foreigner, The 2017 Cliff Martinez 0 min 00 sec
253 Framed 1947 Marlin Skiles 0 min 00 sec
254 Free State of Jones 2016 Nicholas Britell 0 min 00 sec
255 Free Willy 1993 Basil Poledouris 6 min 06 sec
256 French Connection, The 1971 Don Ellis 0 min 00 sec
257 Furious 7 2015 Brian Tyler 0 min 34 sec
258 Galant Hours, The 1960 Roger Wagner 31 min 40 sec
259 Game, The 1997 Howard Shore 0 min 00 sec
260 Gangster Squad 2013 Steve Jablonsky 0 min 00 sec JR
261 Garden of Allah, The 1936 Max Steiner 7 min 40 sec
262 Gentleman's Fate 1931
Domenico Savino
(uncredited) 0 min 00 sec
200
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
263 Get Out 2017 Michael Abels 3 min 17 sec
264 Get Smart 2008 Trevor Rabin 1 min 28 sec
265 Getaway 2013 Justin Caine Burnett 0 min 00 sec
266 Ghost Rider 2007 Christopher Young 8 min 46 sec
267 Giver, The 2014 Marco Beltrami 7 min 10 sec
268 Gladiator 2000 Hans Zimmer 3 min 09 sec
269 Glass 2019 West Dylan Thordson 0 min 00 sec
270 Glory 1989 James Horner 19 min 05 sec BCH
271 Glory Alley 1952 Rugolo/Sendrey/Stoll 2 min 08 sec
272 Glory Road 2006 Trevor Rabin 1 min 35 sec HFC
273 Godfather, The 1972 Nino Rota 1 min 30 sec
274 Godfather: Part II, The 1974 Nino Rota 1 min 15 sec
275 Gods of Egypt 2016 Marco Beltrami 11 min 52 sec CC/JR
276 Godzilla 2014 Alexandre Desplat 5 min 33 sec JR
277 Going in Style 2017 Rob Simonsen 0 min 00 sec
278 Golden Compass, The 2007 Alexandre Desplat 2 min 18 sec LV/LOSS
279 Gone in Sixty Seconds 2000 Trevor Rabin 0 min 00 sec SS
280 Gone with the Wind 1939 Max Steiner 4 min 55 sec
281 Good Morning, Miss Dove 1955 Leigh Harline 0 min 45 sec
282 Good Sam 1948 Robert Emmett Dolan 2 min 33 sec
283 Good Sam 2019 Mario Sevigny 0 min 00 sec
284 Good the Bad and the Ugly, The 1966 Ennio Morricone 15 min 29 sec CMA
285 Good Will Hunting 1997 Danny Elfman 3 min 49 sec PBC
286 Goodfellas 1990 Pete Townshend 0 min 00 sec
287 Goonies, The 1985 Dave Grusin 0 min 00 sec
288 Gothika 2003 John Ottman 0 min 14 sec
289 Grapes of Wrath, The 1940 Alfred Newman 0 min 00 sec
290 Great Escape, The 1963 Elmer Bernstein 2 min 35 sec
291 Great Wall, The 2016 Ramin Djawadi 4 min 16 sec MV
292 Greatest Story Ever Told, The 1965 Alfred Newman 17 min 27 sec KD
293 Green Book 2018 Kris Bowers 0 min 26 sec
294 Green Promise, The 1949 Rudy Schrager 0 min 20 sec
295 Green Zone 2010 John Powell 0 min 00 sec
296 Groundhog Day 1993 George Fenton 4 min 27 sec SS
297 Grown Ups 2 2013 Rupert Gregson-Williams 0 min 00 sec
298 Guardians of the Galaxy 2014 Tyler Bates 11 min 38 sec MV
299 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 2017 Tyler Bates 10 min 28 sec MV
300 Guest in the House 1944 Werner Janssen 0 min 00 sec
301 Hacksaw Ridge 2016 Rupert Gregson-Williams 4 min 27 sec LV
201
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
302 Hail Caesar 2016 Carter Burwell 9 min 37 sec RA/ACC/JR
303 Halloween 2007 Tyler Bates 0 min 00 sec
304 Hamlet 1990 Ennio Morricone 0 min 36 sec
305 Happy Go Lovely 1951 Mischa Spoliansky 1 min 12 sec
306 Harriet 2019 Terence Blanchard 5 min 14 sec JR
307 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 2010 Alexandre Desplat 2 min 22 sec LV
308 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 2011 Alexandre Desplat 6 min 11 sec LV
309 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 2005 Patrick Doyle 1 min 14 sec
310 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2009 Nicholas Hooper 5 min 39 sec LV
311 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 2007 Nicholas Hoooper 2 min 26 sec LV
312 Has Anybody Seen My Gal 1952 Herman Stein 0 min 14 sec
313 Hateful Eight, The 2015 Ennio Morricone 1 min 37 sec
314 Haunted, The 2003 Brian Tyler 0 min 00 sec
315 Haywire 2011 David Holmes 0 min 00 sec
316 Heart is a Rebel, The 1958 Ralph Carmichael 2 min 58 sec
317 Heatwave! 1974 Fred Steiner 0 min 00 sec
318 Heaven Only Knows 1947 Heinz Roemheld 1 min 50 sec
319 Heavy Weights 1995 J.A.C. Redford 0 min 52 sec
320 Hell or High Water 2016 Nick Cave/Warren Ellis 0 min 00 sec
321 Henry V 1989 Patrick Doyle 5 min 02 sec SHS
322 Hercules 2014
Fernando
Velazquez/Johannes Vogel 3 min 33 sec
323 Here Comes the Boom 2012 Rupert Gregson-Williams 0 min 00 sec
324 Hidalgo 2004 James Newton Howard 0 min 00 sec
325 Hidden Figures 2016
Benjamin
Wallfisch/Williams/Zimmer 2 min 29 sec ELB
326 High Anxiety 1977 John Morris 0 min 00 sec
327 Highwaymen, The 2019 Thomas Newman 0 min 00 sec
328 Hitchcock 2012 Danny Elfman 0 min 00 sec
329 Hitman's Bodyguard, The 2017 Atli Örvarsson 1 min 38 sec
330 Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The 2012 Howard Shore 17 min 58 sec LV
331 Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, The 2013 Howard Shore 7 min 38 sec LV
332 Hobbit: Five Armies, The 2014 Howard Shore 14 min 08 sec LV
333 Home Alone 1990 John Williams 7 min 11 sec
334 Home Alone 2: Lost in New York 1992 John Williams 2 min 17 sec
335 Hoosiers 1986 Jerry Goldsmith 0 min 58 sec
336 How Green Was My Valley 1941 Alfred Newman 17 min 35 sec
337 How to be a Latin Lover 2017 Craig Wedren 0 min 16 sec
338 How to Lose a Guy in 10 days 2003 David Newman 0 min 00 sec
339 How to Marry a Millionaire 1953 Cyril Mockridge 0 min 54 sec
202
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
340 How to Train Your Dragon 2010 John Powell 4 min 27 sec MV
341 How to Train Your Dragon 2 2014 John Powell 18 min 28 sec MV/ELB
342
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden
World 2019 John Powell 8 min 11 sec EWS/ELB
343 Hugo 2011 Howard Shore 0 min 00 sec
344 Hunger Games Catching Fire 2013 James Newton Howard 8 min 07 sec LV
345 Hunger Games Mocking Jay Part 2 2015 James Newton Howard 14 min 51 sec LV/TBC
346 Hunger Games, The 2012 James Newton Howard 1 min 55 sec LV
347 Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, The 2014 James Newton Howard 4 min 40 sec LV/TBC
348 Huntsman: Winter's War, The 2016 James Newton Howard 8 min 54 sec LV/TBC
349 Hurt Locker, The 2008
Marco Beltrami/Buck
Sanders 0 min 00 sec
350 I Met a Murderer 1939 Eric Ansell 0 min 00 sec
351 I Spy 2002 Richard Gibbs 0 min 00 sec
352 Imitation Game, The 2014 Alexandre Desplat 0 min 00 sec
353 In Love and War 1958 Hugo Friedhofer 0 min 00 sec
354 In the Heart of the Sea 2015 Roque Baños 0 min 00 sec
355 Inception 2010 Hans Zimmer 0 min 00 sec
356 Independence Day 1996 David Arnold 3 min 26 sec
357 Independence Day Resurgence 2016
Harold Kloser/Thomas
Wanker 3 min 02 sec
358 Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull 2008 John Williams 1 min 07 sec HFC
359 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 1984 John Williams 9 min 48 sec
360 Indiana Jones Last Crusade 1989 John Williams 0 min 26 sec
361 Indiscreet 1958 Richard Bennett/Ken Jones 0 min 00 sec
362 Informer, The 1935 Max Steiner 2 min 36 sec
363 Instructions Not Included 2013 Carlo Siliotto 0 min 00 sec
364 Insurgent 2015 Joseph Trapanese 1 min 46 sec
365 Intern, The 2015 Theodore Shapiro 0 min 00 sec
366 Interstellar 2014 Hans Zimmer 0 min 47 sec LV
367 Into the Blue 2005 Paul Haslinger 0 min 11 sec
368 Invitation 1952 Bronislau Kaper 0 min 00 sec
369 Iron Man 3 2013 Brian Tyler 4 min 09 sec
370 Iron Triangle, The 1989
John
D'Andrea/Lloyd/Strimple 1 min 21 sec
371 Ironclad: Battle for Blood 2014 Andreas Werdinger 8 min 39 sec
372 Isle of Dogs 2018 Alexandre Desplat 6 min 12 sec LV
373 It Happens Every Thursday 1953 Herman Stein 0 min 00 sec
374 Ivan the Terrible 1944 Sergei Prokofiev 24 min 10 sec
375 Jack and Jill 2011
Rupert Gregson-
Williams/Wachtel 0 min 20 sec
376 Jack Reacher 2012 Joe Kraemer 0 min 00 sec
203
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
377 Jack Reacher (Never Go Back) 2016 Henry Jackman 0 min 00 sec
378 Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 2014 Patrick Doyle 0 min 47 sec
379 Jack the Giant Slayer 2013 John Ottman 8 min 10 sec
380 Jaws 1975 John Williams 0 min 00 sec
381 Jaws 2 1978 John Williams 0 min 00 sec
382 Jobs 2013 John Debney 0 min 00 sec
383 John Wick 2014 Tyler Bates/Joel J. Richard 0 min 00 sec
384 John Wick : Chapter 3 - Parabellum 2019 Tyler Bates/Joel J. Richard 0 min 09 sec
385 John Wick Chapter 2 2017 Tyler Bates/Joel J. Richard 0 min 23 sec
386 Jojo Rabbit 2019 Michael Giacchino 2 min 01 sec LV/TBC
387 Judge Dredd 1995 Alan Silvestri 1 min 46 sec
388 Judge, The 2014 Thomas Newman 0 min 00 sec
389 Jumanji 1995 James Horner 0 min 00 sec
390 Jumanji: The Next Level 2019 Henry Jackman 1 min 46 sec J
391 Jupiter Ascending 2015 Michael Giacchino 14 min 37 sec LV
392 Jurassic World 2015 Michael Giacchino 4 min 39 sec BP
393 Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom 2018 Michael Giacchino 8 min 31 sec LV
394 Just Go with It 2011 Rupert Gregson-Williams 0 min 07 sec
395 Just Married 2003 Christophe Beck 0 min 00 sec
396 Justice League 2017 Danny Elfman 5 min 56 sec MV
397 Karate Kid 2010 James Horner 0 min 00 sec
398 Kate Did It 1950 Frank Skinner 0 min 00 sec
399 Kathy O' 1958 Frank Skinner 0 min 00 sec
400 Kick Ass 2 2013
Henry Jackman/Matthew
Margeson 1 min 30 sec
401 Killers, The 1964 John Williams 0 min 00 sec
402 Killing Fields, The 1984 Mike Oldfield 2 min 19 sec
403 King Arthur 2004 Hans Zimmer 11 min 06 sec MV
404 King Kong 1933 Max Steiner 1 min 21 sec
405 King of Kings 1961 Miklós Rózsa 16 min 20 sec
406 King, The 2019 Nicholas Britell 2 min 29 sec LV
407 Kingdom of Heaven 2005 Harry Gregson-Williams 11 min 27 sec BC
408 Kingsman 2014
Henry Jackman/Matthew
Margeson 3 min 54 sec
409 Kiss and Tell 1945 Werner Heymann 0 min 00 sec
410 Knight and Day 2010 John Powell 0 min 00 sec
411 Knives Out 2019 Nathan Johnson 0 min 00 sec
412 Kong: Skull Island 2017 Henry Jackman 0 min 52 sec LV
413 Kubo and the Two Strings 2016 Dario Marianelli 3 min 28 sec DV/LBC
414 Kung Fu Panda 2008 John Powell/Hans Zimmer 2 min 36 sec LV
204
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
415 La La Land 2016 Justin Hurwitz 3 min 18 sec TMAMC/JR
416 Lady in the Morgue, The 1938 Franz Waxman 0 min 00 sec
417 Lady in the Water 2006 James Newton Howard 5 min 05 sec LAMC
418 Lake Placid 1999 John Ottman 0 min 00 sec
419 Land Before Time, The 1988 James Horner 6 min 39 sec KC/SPC
420 Larceny on the Air 1937
Harry Grey (music
supervisor) 0 min 00 sec
421 Last Action Hero, The 1993 Michael Kamen 0 min 00 sec
422 Last knights 2015
Satnam Ramgotra/Martin
Tillman 0 min 00 sec
423 Last Man on Earth, The 1964 Paul Sawtell/Bert Shefter 0 min 52 sec
424 Last of the Mohicans, The 1992
Randy Edelman/Trevor
Jones 0 min 33 sec
425 Last Summer, The 2019 Ryan Miller 0 min 00 sec
426 Last Valley, The 1971 John Barry 22 min 37 sec
427 Last Woman on Earth 1960 Ronald Stein 0 min 00 sec
428 Lawrence of Arabia 1962 Maurice Jarre 1 min 30 sec
429 Leave Her to Heaven 1945 Alfred Newman 0 min 16 sec
430 Legally Blonde 2001 Rolfe Kent 0 min 00 sec
431 Legend of Hercules, The 2014 Tuomas Kantelinen 7 min 30 sec
432 Legend of Zoro, The 2005 James Horner 0 min 00 sec
433 Lemon Drop Kid, The 1951 Victor Young 1 min 29 sec
434 Les choristes 2004 Bruno Coulais 16 min 43 sec
435 Life of Pi 2012 Mychael Danna 10 min 10 sec JO
436 Lincoln 2012 John Williams 2 min 17 sec CSC
437 Little Giants 1994 John Debney 0 min 00 sec
438 Little Rascals, The 1994 William Ross 0 min 17 sec SS
439 Lockout 2012 Alexandre Azaria 0 min 00 sec
440 Logan 2017 Marco Beltrami 0 min 18 sec
441 London Has Fallen 2016 Trevor Morris 0 min 23 sec
442 Lone Ranger 2013 Hans Zimmer 4 min 25 sec JR
443 Looper 2012 Nathan Johnson 0 min 00 sec
444
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the
Ring, The 2001 Howard Shore 29 min 37 sec LV/LOSS
445
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,
The 2003 Howard Shore 31 min 36 sec LV/LOSS
446 Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The 2002 Howard Shore 22 min 12 sec LV/LOSS
447 Lost Horizon 1937 Dimitri Tiomkin 5 min 28 sec JH
448 Love Happens 2009
Andrew Spence/Christopher
Young 0 min 00 sec
449 Love is a Many Splendored Thing 1955 Alfred Newman 1 min 12 sec
450 Luck of the Irish, The 1948 Cyril Mockridge 0 min 00 sec
205
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
451 Lucy 2014 Eric Serra 1 min 05 sec
452 Lucy Gallant 1955 Van Cleave 1 min 10 sec
453 Mad Max: Fury Road 2015 Junkie XL 0 min 39 sec
454 Mad Monster, The 1942 David Chudnow 0 min 00 sec
455 Madison Avenue 1961 Harry Sukman 0 min 00 sec
456 Magnificent Obsession 1954 Frank Skinner 4 min 39 sec
457 Magnificent Seven Ride, The 1972 Elmer Bernstein 0 min 00 sec
458 Magnificent Seven, The 2016
James Horner/Simon
Franglen 0 min 32 sec
459 Magnificent Seven, The 1960 Elmer Bernstein 0 min 00 sec
460 Major Payne 1995 Craig Safan 1 min 26 sec
461 Making the Grade 1984 Basil Poledouris 1 min 44 sec
462 Maleficent 2014 James Newton Howard 20 min 30 sec LV/TBC
463 Maltese Falcon 1941 Adolph Deutsch 0 min 00 sec
464 Man of Steel 2013 Hans Zimmer 7 min 45 sec
465 Man of the House 1995 Mark Mancina 0 min 00 sec
466 Martian, The 2015 Harry Gregson-Williams 6 min 48 sec BC
467 Mask of Zorro 1998 James Horner 0 min 00 sec
468 Maze Runner, The 2014 John Paesano 7 min 01 sec ELB
469 McFarland USA 2015 Antonio Pinto 0 min 52 sec
470 Me Before You 2016 Craig Armstrong 0 min 00 sec
471 Meatballs 1979 Elmer Bernstein 5 min 10sec
472 Medallion, The 2003 Adrian Lee 1 min 09 sec
473 Meg, The 2018 Harry Gregson-Williams 0 min 14 sec
474 Men in Black II 2002 Danny Elfman 2 min 46 sec
475 Men in Black III 2012 Danny Elfman 2 min 20 sec
476 Men of Honor 2000 Mark Isham 0 min 00 sec
477 Midnight Manhunt 1945 Alexander Laszlo 0 min 00 sec
478 Midway 2019
Harald Kloser/Thomas
Wanker 0 min 00 sec
479 Mile 22 2018 Jeff Russo 0 min 00 sec
480 Million Dollar Arm 2014 A.R. Rahman 1 min 04 sec
481 Minions 2015 Heitor Pereira 5 min 08 sec
482 Miracle 2004 Mark Isham 0 min 15 sec
483 Miracle on 34
th
Street 1947 Cyril Mockridge 0 min 00 sec
484 Miracles 1986 Peter Bernstein 0 min 00 sec
485 Missing Evidence 1939
Charles Previn (musical
director) 0 min 00 sec
486 Mission Impossible 3 2006 Michael Giacchino 0 min 00 sec
487 Mission Impossible Fallout 2018 Lorne Balfe 1 min 09 sec LV/JO
488 Mission to Mars 2000 Ennio Morricone 3 min 55 sec
206
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
489 Mission, The 1986 Ennio Morricone 15 min 25 sec LV
490 Molly's Game 2017 Daniel Pemberton 0 min 00 sec
491 Money Monster 2016 Dominic Lewis 0 min 00 sec
492 Moneyball 2011 Mychael Danna 0 min 00 sec
493 Monsters University 2013 Randy Newman 0 min 23 sec
494 Monty Python and the Holy Grail 1975 uncredited 4 min 15 sec
495 Moonrise 1948 William Lava 0 min 36 sec
496 Mouse that Roared, The 1959 Edwin Astley 0 min 34 sec
497 Mr. 3000 2004 John Powell 0 min 10 sec
498 Mr. Holland's Opus 1995 Michael Kamen 1 min 12 sec
499 Mr. Right 2015 Aaron Zigman 0 min 00 sec
500 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939 Dimitri Tiomkin 0 min 31 sec
501 Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor 2008 Randy Edelman 4 min 47 sec MV
502 Mummy, The 1999 Jerry Goldsmith 11 min 45 sec AS
503 Mummy, The 2017 Brian Tyler 2 min 49 sec
504 Music and Lyrics 2007 Adam Schlesinger 0 min 00 sec
505 My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 2016 Christopher Lennertz 0 min 00 sec
506 My Name is Nobody 1973 Ennio Morricone 10 min 08 sec CMA
507 Nacho Libre 2006 Danny Elfman 4 min 39 sec BP
508
Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the
Wardrobe 2005 Harry Gregson-Williams 11 min 40 sec BC
509 National Treasure Book of Secrets 2007 Trevor Rabin 3 min 09 sec JR
510 Navy Seals 1990 Sylvester Levay 0 min 00 sec
511 Negotiator, The 1998 Graeme Revell 4 min 0 sec
512 Nerve 2016 Rob Simonsen 4 min 13 sec JR
513 Net, The 1995 Mark Isham 9 min 57 sec
514 Never Been Kissed 1999 David Newman 0 min 07 sec
515 New World, The 2005 James Horner 3 min 57 sec
516 Next Three Days, The 2010 Danny Elfman 0 min 00 sec
517 Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 2014 Alan Silvestri 3 min 06 sec HFC
518 Night School 2018 David Newman 0 min 00 sec JR
519 Nightmare Before Christmas, The 1993 Danny Elfman 3 min 04 sec
520 Nightmare in the Sun 1965 Paul Glass 0 min 37 sec
521 No Country For Old Men 2007 Carter Burwell 0 min 00 sec
522 No Escape 2015
Marco Beltrami/Buck
Sanders 0 min 06 sec
523 North Star, The 1943 Aaron Copland 5 min 27 sec
524 Nothing Sacred 1937 Oscar Levant 0 min 50 sec
525 Now You See Me 2013 Brian Tyler 0 min 00 sec
526 Now You See Me 2 2016 Brian Tyler 0 min 00 sec
207
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
527 Oblivion 2013
Anthony
Gonzalez/M83/Trapanese 1 min 04 sec JR
528 Oceans 8 2018 Daniel Pemberton 0 min 00 sec
529 Of Mice and Men 1939 Aaron Copland 0 min 00 sec
530 Old Dark House, The 1932 uncredited 0 min 00 sec
531 Old School 2003 Theodore Shapiro 0 min 20 sec
532 Olympus Has Fallen 2013 Trevor Morris 6 min 20 sec
533 Omen III: The Final Conflict 1981 Jerry Goldsmith 16 min 07 sec
534 Omen, The 1976 Jerry Goldsmith 7 min 24 sec
535 Once Upon a Time in the West 1968 Ennio Morricone 8 min 04 sec CMA
536 One Foot in Heaven 1941 Max Steiner 6 min 14 sec
537 Operation Petticoat 1959 David Rose/Henry Mancini 1 min 06 sec
538 Other Woman, The 2014 Aaron Zigman 0 min 00 sec
539 Outlander 2008 Geoff Zanelli 2 min 37 sec
540 Overboard 2018 Lyle Workman 0 min 00 sec
541 Oz the Great and Powerful 2013 Danny Elfman 10 min 28 sec BP
542 Pacific Rim 2013 Ramin Djawadi 4 min 17 sec JR
543 Pan 2015 John Powell 13 min 15 sec MV/CCC/ELB
544 Paradise Road 1997 Ross Edwards 10 min 51 sec
545 Parent Trap, The 1961 Paul Smith 0 min 53 sec
546 Passion of the Christ 2004 John Debney 11 min 20 sec LV
547 Patriot 2000 John Williams 0 min 28 sec SS
548 Patriots Day 2016 Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross 0 min 00 sec
549 Patton 1970 Jerry Goldsmith 0 min 00 sec
550 Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 2015 Rupert Gregson-Williams 1 min 02 sec
551 Pay it Forward 2000 Thomas Newman 0 min 00 sec
552 Peacemaker, The 1997 Hans Zimmer 9 min 44 sec
553 Pearl Harbor 2001 Hans Zimmer 8 min 23 sec
554 Pete's Dragon 2016 Daniel Hart 3 min 32 sec LV
555 Phantom Thread 2017 Jonny Greenwood 0 min 17 sec
556 Phenomenon 1996 Thomas Newman 0 min 00 sec
557 Phone Call From A Stranger 1952 Franz Waxman 0 min 24 sec
558 Pinky 1949 Alfred Newman 0 min 00 sec
559 Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides 2011 Hans Zimmer 12 min 29 sec MV
560
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No
Tales 2017 Geoff Zanelli 8 min 03 sec MV
561 Pixels 2015 Henry Jackman 2 min 33 sec JR
562 Planet of the Apes 2001 Danny Elfman 1 min 51 sec
563 Planet of the Apes 1968 Jerry Goldsmith 0 min 00 sec
564 Platoon 1986 Georges Delerue 0 min 44 sec
208
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
565 Play It As It Lays 1972
Don Fendley (musical
coordinator) 0 min 00 sec
566 Point Blank 2019 Mitch Lee 0 min 00 sec
567 Portrait of Jennie 1948 Dimitri Tiomkin 5 min 21 sec
568 Post, The 2017 John Williams 0 min 10 sec
569 Power of One, The 1992 Hans Zimmer 40 min 51 sec SS
570 Power Rangers 2017 Brian Tyler 0 min 21 sec JR
571 Prestige, The 2006 David Julyan 0 min 00 sec
572 Priest 2011
Andrew Spence/Christopher
Young 12 min 59 sec
573 Prince of Persia 2010 Harry Gregson-Williams 2 min 21 sec AV
574 Prisoner of Zenda, The 1979 Henry Mancini 0 min 00 sec
575 Prisoners 2013 Jóhann Jóhannsson 0 min 00 sec
576 Promised Land 2012 Danny Elfman 0 min 37 sec MV
577 Proposal, The 2009 Aaron Zigman 0 min 20 sec
578 Quartet 2012 Dario Marianelli 1 min 40 sec
579 Quest for Fire 1982 Philippe Sarde 3 min 12 sec
580 Race 2016 Rachel Portman 0 min 00 sec
581 Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981 John Williams 2 min 04 sec
582 Rain Man 1988 Hans Zimmer 0 min 16 sec
583 Ralph Breaks the Internet 2018 Henry Jackman 1 min 03 sec JR
584 Rambo 2008 Brian Tyler 0 min 38 sec
585 Rambo First Blood 1982 Jerry Goldsmith 0 min 00 sec
586 Rambo First Blood Part II 1985 Jerry Goldsmith 0 min 00 sec
587 Rambo III 1988 Jerry Goldsmith 0 min 00 sec
588 Rampage 2018 Andrew Lockington 0 min 41 sec AFCC/JR
589 Rango 2011 Hans Zimmer 3 min 24 sec SS
590 Rat Race 2001 John Powell 6 min 40 sec LV
591 Ready Player One 2018 Alan Silvestri 2 min 43 sec
592 Real Steel 2011 Danny Elfman 1 min 29 sec
593 Rebecca 1940 Franz Waxman 0 min 00 sec
594 Red 2 2013 Alan Silvestri 0 min 00 sec
595 Red River 1948 Dimitri Tiomkin 6 min 06 sec JH
596 Red Sea Diving Resort, The 2019 Mychael Danna 0 min 00 sec
597 Remedy for Riches 1940 C. Bakaleinikoff 0 min 00 sec
598 Revenant, The 2015 Alva Noto/Ryuichi Sakamoto 0 min 00 sec
599 Revolt of Mamie Stover, The 1956 Hugo Friedhofer 1 min 09 sec
600 Rich Relations 1937 uncredited 0 min 00 sec
601 Richie Rich 1994 Alan Silvestri 0 min 00 sec
602 Ridiculous 6, The 2015 Rupert Gregson-Williams 3 min 02 sec
209
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
603 Rim of the World 2019 Bear McCreary 0 min 00 sec
604 Robe, The 1953 Alfred Newman 13 min 19 sec KD
605 Robin Hood 2010 Marc Streitenfeld 8 min 20 sec MV/BC
606 Robin Hood 2018 Joseph Trapanese 0 min 00 sec
607 Robin Hood Men in Tights 1993 Hummie Mann 2 min 40 sec
608 Rock a Bye Baby 1958 Walter Scharf 2 min 0 sec
609 Rock, The 1996
Hans Zimmer/Nick Glennie-
Smith 4 min 51 sec
610 Rocker, The 2008 Chad Fischer 0 min 00 sec
611 Rocketeer, The 1991 James Horner 0 min 00 sec
612 Rocky III 1982 Bill Conti 0 min 22 sec
613 Rogue One A Star Wars Story 2016 Michael Giacchino 2 min 05 sec BP
614 Ronin 1998 Elia Cmiral 3 min 08 sec
615 Roommate, The 2011 John Frizzell 0 min 00 sec
616 Run for the Sun 1956 Fred Steiner 0 min 00 sec
617 Run of the Arrow 1957 Victor Young 0 min 00 sec
618 Running Man, The 1963 William Alwyn 1 min 47 sec
619 Safe Haven 2013 Deborah Lurie 0 min 00 sec
620 San Andres 2015 Andrew Lockington 6 min 46 sec LV
621 Saving Mr. Banks 2013 Thomas Newman 0 min 00 sec
622 Saving Private Ryan 1998 John Williams 3 min 24 sec
623 Scarface 1983 Giorgio Moroder 0 min 00 sec
624 School of Rock 2003 Craig Wedren 0 min 00 sec
625 Scorpion King, The 2002 John Debney 9 min 06 sec HFC
626 Second Time Around 1961 Gerald Fried 0 min 00 sec
627 Secret of NIMH, The 1982 Jerry Goldsmith 6 min 38 sec
628 Security 2017 FM Le Sieur 0 min 00 sec
629 See You Yesterday 2019 Michael Abels 0 min 14 sec
630 Selma 2014 Jason Moran 5 min 50 sec
631 September Affair 1950 Victor Young 0 min 15 sec
632 Set it Up 2018 Laura Karpman 0 min 00 sec
633 Seven Pounds 2008 Angelo milli 2 min 24 sec
634 Seven Year Itch, The 1955 Alfred Newman 0 min 00 sec
635 Shakiest Gun in the West, The 1968 Vic Mizzy 0 min 00 sec
636 Shazam! 2019 Benjamin Wallfisch 3 min 41 sec
637 She Had to Choose 1934 uncredited 0 min 35 sec
638 Shed No Tears 1948 Raoul Kraushaar 0 min 00 sec
639 Shine 1996 David Hirschfelder 1 min 31 sec
640 Shrek 2 2004 Harry Gregson-Williams 2 min 54 sec MV
641 Shrek Forever After 2010 Harry Gregson-Williams 2 min 07 sec
210
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
642 Shrek the Third 2007 Harry Gregson-Williams 1 min 28 sec BC
643 Shrike, The 1955 Frank Skinner 0 min 00 sec
644 Sicario 2015 Jóhann Jóhannsson 0 min 00 sec
645 Sidewalks of London 1938 Arthur Johnston 0 min 54 sec
646 Silence of the Lambs 1991 Howard Shore 0 min 00 sec
647 Silver Horde, The 1930
Levant/Tierney/Webb
(stock music) 0 min 00 sec
648 Silver Linings Playbook 2012 Danny Elfman 0 min 00 sec
649 Simpsons Movie, The 2007 Hans Zimmer 3 min 05 sec HFC
650 Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2005 Cliff Eidelman 0 min 28 sec
651 Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 2008 Rachel Portman 0 min 00 sec
652 Skiptrace 2016 Kwong Wing Chan 2 min 49 sec
653 Skyscraper 2018 Steve Jablonsky 0 min 00 sec
654 Slumdog Millionaire 2008 A.R. Rahman 0 min 00 sec
655 Smart Alecks 1942 uncredited 0 min 00 sec
656 Snow White and the Huntsman 2012 James Newton Howard 9 min 05 sec LV
657 Snows of Kilimanjaro, The 1952 Bernard Herrmann 5 min 11 sec
658 Social Network, The 2010 Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross 0 min 56 sec
659 Solo: A Star Wars Story 2018 John Powell 1 min 28 sec EBC/SSC/ELB
660 Some Like it Hot 1959 Adolph Deutsch 0 min 54 sec
661 Song of Bernadette, The 1943 Alfred Newman 25 min 11 sec
662 Sophie’s Choice 1982 Marvin Hamlisch 0 min 41 sec
663 Sorcerer's Apprentice, The 2010 Trevor Rabin 8 min 36 sec
664 Soylent Green 1973 Fred Myrow 0 min 00 sec
665 Space Cowboys 2000 Lennie Niehaus 2 min 52 sec
666 Space Jam 1996 James Newton Howard 0 min 44 sec
667 Spare Parts 2015 Andres Levin 0 min 30 sec
668 Spectre 2015 Thomas Newman 0 min 51 sec LV
669 Speed 1994 Mark Mancina 0 min 00 sec
670 Speed 2 1997 Mark Mancina 0 min 00 sec
671 Speed Racer 2008 Michael Giacchino 7 min 10 sec
672 Spellbound 1945 Miklós Rózsa 0 min 00 sec
673 Sphinx, The 1933
Abe Meyer (musical
director) 0 min 00 sec
674 Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told 1967 Ronald Stein 0 min 00 sec
675 Spider's Web, The 1960 Tony Crombie 0 min 00 sec
676 Spiderman Into the Spiderverse 2018 Daniel Pemberton 0 min 00 sec
677 Spiral Staircase, The 1946 Roy Webb 0 min 00 sec
678 Split 2016 West Dylan Thordson 0 min 00 sec
679 Star Trek Beyond 2016 Michael Giacchino 7 min 08 sec BP
211
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
680 Star Trek II: Wrath of Kahn 1982 James Horner 0 min 00 sec
681 Star Trek into Darkness 2013 Michael Giacchino 4 min 08 sec BP
682 Star Wars IV A New Hope 1977 John Williams 0 min 00 sec
683 Star Wars V The Empire Strikes Back 1980 John Williams 0 min 00 sec
684 Star Wars VI Return of the Jedi 1983 John Williams 5 min 24 sec
685 Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi 2017 John Williams 1 min 35 sec LAMC
686 Star Wars: Episode II 2002 John Williams 3 min 32 sec LV
687 Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith 2005 John Williams 12 min 40 sec LV
688
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of
Skywalker 2019 John Williams 2 min 25 sec LAMC
689 Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens 2015 John Williams 0 min 51 sec HFC
690 Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 1999 John Williams 9 min 26 sec LV
691 Stardust 2007 Ilan Eshkeri 3 min 21 sec MV
692 Starter for 10 2006 Blake Neely 1 min 01 sec
693 Stepford Wives, The 1975 Michael Small 0 min 00 sec
694 Stranger Than Fiction 2006 Britt Daniel/Brian Reitzell 1 min 21 sec
695 Stranger, The 1946 Bronislau Kaper 0 min 00 sec
696 Strangers of the Evening 1932 Val Burton 0 min 00 sec
697 Strangers When We Meet 1960 George Duning 0 min 43 sec
698 Street Scene 1931 Alfred Newman 1 min 08 sec
699 Sucker Punch 2011 Tyler Bates/Marius De Vries 4 min 04 sec SS
700 Suicide Squad 2016 Steven Price 6 min 06 sec ELB
701 Sully 2016
Christian Jacob/Tierney
Sutton Band 0 min 00 sec
702 Sum of all Fears, The 2002 Jerry Goldsmith 2 min 57 sec LAMC
703 Sun Also Rises, The 1957 Hugo Friedhofer 2 min 48 sec
704 Sun is Also a Star, The 2019 Herdis Stefansdottir 0 min 00 sec
705 Sun Shines Bright, The 1953 Victor Young 5 min 42 sec
706 Superman Returns 2006 John Ottman 11 min 48 sec
707 Survivor 2015 Ilan Eshkeri 0 min 00 sec
708 Svengali 1931 David Mendoza 0 min 00 sec
709 Tag 2018 Germaine Franco 0 min 35 sec
710 Taken 2 2012 Nathaniel Méchaly 0 min 00 sec
711 Taken 3 2014 Nathaniel Méchaly 0 min 00 sec
712 Taxi 1932 Sam Perry 0 min 51 sec
713 Tears of the Sun 2003 Lisa Gerrard/Hans Zimmer 2 min 59 sec
714 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014 Brian Tyler 7 min 29 sec JR
715 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1990 John Du Prez 0 min 00 sec
716
Teenage Mutant ninja Turtles II: Secret of
the Ooze 1991 John Du Prez 0 min 00 sec
717 Teenage Mutant ninja Turtles III 1993 John Du Prez 0 min 00 sec
212
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
718 Ten Commandments, The 1956 Elmer Bernstein 4 min 07 sec
719 Terror, The 1963 Ronald Stein 0 min 00 sec
720 That Hamilton Woman 1941 Miklós Rózsa 4 min 13 sec
721 That's My Boy 2012 Rupert Gregson-Williams 0 min 00 sec JR
722 Theory of Everything 2014 Jóhann Jóhannsson 0 min 47 sec
723 They Made Me a Criminal 1939 Max Steiner 0 min 00 sec
724 Thief of Bagdad, The 1940 Miklós Rózsa 7 min 11 sec
725 Thing, The 1982 Ennio Morricone 0 min 00 sec
726 This Happy Breed 1944
Muir Mathieson/Clifton
Parker 0 min 29 sec
727 This is Not a Test 1962 Grieg McRitchie 0 min 00 sec
728 This is the End 2013 Henry Jackman 3 min 39 sec JR
729 This Means War 2012 Christophe Beck 0 min 00 sec
730 Thor Ragnarok 2017 Mark Mothersbaugh 2 min 11 sec LV
731 Thor: the Dark World 2013 Brian Tyler 11 min 47 sec
732 Three Amigos 1986
Elmer Bernstein/Randy
Newman 0 min 00 sec
733 Three Billboards Outside Edding Missouri 2017 Carter Burwell 0 min 00 sec
734 Three Musketeers, The 1993 Michael Kamen 1 min 28 sec SS
735 Three Musketeers, The 2011 Paul Haslinger 0 min 20 sec
736 Three Stooges, The 2012 John Debney 0 min 13 sec
737 Tombstone 1993 Bruce Broughton 0 min 00 sec
738 Tommorowland 2015 Michael Giacchino 3 min 45 sec
739 Tommy Boy 1995 David Newman 0 min 06 sec
740 Top Gun 1986 Harold Faltermeyer 0 min 00 sec
741 Tora! Tora! Tora! 1970 Jerry Goldsmith 0 min 00 sec
742 Total Recall 2012 Harry Gregson-Williams 0 min 21 sec
743 Tracers 2015 Lucas Vidal 0 min 00 sec
744 Transformers Age of Extinction 2014 Steve Jablonsky 1 min 14 sec JR
745 Trilogy of Terror 1975 Bob Cobert 0 min 00 sec
746 Triple Frontier 2019 Disasterpeace 0 min 00 sec
747 Trouble with the Curve 2012 Marco Beltrami 0 min 00 sec
748 True Grit 2010 Carter Burwell 0 min 00 sec
749 True Memoirs of an International Assasin 2016 Ludwig Göransson 0 min 00 sec
750 Tulsa 1949 Frank Skinner 0 min 56 sec
751 Twister 1996 Hans Zimmer 0 min 08 sec
752 Two for the Road 1967 Henry Mancini 0 min 29 sec
753 Ultimate Gift, The 2006 Mark McKenzie 0 min 15 sec
754 Ultimate Life, The 2013 Mark McKenzie 0 min 00 sec
755 Unbreakable 2000 James Newton Howard 1 min 40 sec MV
213
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
756 Unbroken 2014 Alexandre Desplat 1 min 59 sec LV
757 Uncle Drew 2018 Christopher Lennertz 0 min 10 sec
758 Untouchables, The 1987 Ennio Morricone 0 min 00 sec
759 Upside, The 2017 Rob Simonsen 0 min 00 sec
760 US Marshals 1998 Jerry Goldsmith 0 min 00 sec
761 Usual Suspects, The 1995 John Ottman 0 min 00 sec
762 V for Vendetta 2005 Dario Marianelli 6 min 40 sec
763 Valentine's Day 2010 John Debney 0 min 00 sec
764 Valiant is the Word for Carrie 1936
Friedrich
Hollaender/Clifford
Vaughan 0 min 00 sec
765 Valkyrie 2008 John Ottman 2 min 49 sec RB
766 Veronica Mars 2014 Josh Kramon 0 min 00 sec
767 Vow, The 2012
Michael Brook/Rachel
Portman 0 min 00 sec
768 Wall Street Money Never Sleeps 2010 Craig Armstrong 0 min 00 sec
769 Wanted 2008 Danny Elfman 2 min 01 sec BP
770 War Dogs 1942
Frank Sanucci (musical
director) 0 min 00 sec
771 War for the Planet of the Apes 2017 Michael Giacchino 3 min 37 sec BP
772 WarCraft 2016 Ramin Djawadi 2 min 35 sec MV
773 Warm Bodies 2013 Marco Beltrami 0 min 00 sec
774 Waterworld 1995 James Newton Howard 8 min 08 sec LAMC
775 Wedding Ringer, The 2015 Christopher Lennertz 0 min 27 sec
776 Welcome to Mooseport 2004 John Debney 0 min 00 sec
777 Westward Passage 1932 Bernhard Kaun 0 min 00 sec
778 What Happens in Vegas 2008 Christophe Beck 0 min 00 sec
779 When We First Met 2018 Eric V. Hachikian 0 min 00 sec
780 Whiplash 2014 Justin Hurwitz 0 min 00 sec
781 Whisperers, The 1967 John Barry 2 min 25 sec
782 Wicked as They Come 1956 Malcolm Arnold 0 min 00 sec
783 Wild Hogs 2007 Teddy Castellucci 0 min 00 sec
784 Winter's Bone 2010 Dickon Hinchliffe 0 min 00 sec
785 With Six You Get Eggroll 1968 Robert Mersey 2 min 18 sec
786 Wives Never Know 1936
Boris Morros (musical
director) 0 min 00 sec
787 Wonder Woman 2017 Rupert Gregson-Williams 3 min 24 sec LV
788 Wreck-it Ralph 2012 Henry Jackman 2 min 54 sec JR
789 Written on the Wind 1956 Frank Skinner 0 min 00 sec
790 X-Men Apocalypse 2016 John Ottman 14 min 42 sec JR
791 X-Men Days of Future Past 2014 John Ottman 3 min 13 sec JR
792 X-Men: First Class 2011 Henry Jackman 3 min 51 sec ELB
214
Film Title Year Composer
Total Amount
of Choral
Singing
Chorus/
Contractor
793 X2: X-Men United 2003 John Ottman 7 min 04 sec BP
794 XXX Return of Xander Cage 2017 Brian Tyler 2 min 34 sec
795 Yes Man 2008 Mark Everett/Lyle Workman 0 min 24 sec SS
796 You're Never Too Young 1955 Walter Scharf 4 min 43 sec
797 Young Frankenstein 1974 John Morris 0 min 00 sec
798 Zoolander 2 2016 Theodore Shapiro 4 min 55 sec
799 Zootopia 2016 Michael Giacchino 1 min 04 sec
800 Zulu 1964 John Barry 12 min 52 sec

215
Appendix C: Detailed methods of incorporation (m = minutes; s = seconds)

Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
300 2006 1m 52s 17s
2m
12s 2m 18s
1m
33s
1m
17s
9 min 29
sec
1492 Conquest of
Paradise 1992 4m
6m
18s
1m
47s 31s 1m 46s
4m
26s
2m
41s
21 min 29
sec
16 Candles 1984
2m
29s
2 min 29
sec
2001: A Space
Odyssey 1968 2m 32s
12m
46s
15 min 18
sec
22 Jump Street 2014 3s
0 min 03
sec
3 Musketeers 1993 51s 5s 23s 9s
1 min 28
sec
7 Years in Tibet 1997 3m 54s
3 min 54
sec
A Beautiful Day in
the Neighborhood 2019 30s
0 min 30
sec
A Fistful of Dollars 1964 52s
3m
53s 26s 2m 13s 37s
8 min 01
sec
A Good Day to Die
Hard 2013 5s 6s
0 min 11
sec
A Knight's Tale 2001
1m
31s 37s
2 min 08
sec
A Walk in the Clouds 1995 1m 31s
1 min 31
sec
A Wrinkle in Time 2018 25s
1m
17s 44s
2 min 26
sec
Accountant, The 2016 51s 25s
1 min 16
sec
Admission 2013 1m 9s
1 min 09
sec
Adventures of Tintin,
The 2011 11s
0 min 11
sec
After Earth 2013 1m 50s
1m
14s 25s
1m
49s
1m
20s
6 min 38
sec
Air Force One 1997 1m 3s 1m 55s
2 min 58
sec
Alex Cross 2012 41s 20s
1 min 01
sec
Alexander Nevsky 1938 1m 1s
1m
51s 20s 4m 11s 1m 36s 23s
9 min 22
sec
Alita: Battle Angel 2019 26s 7s 8s 1m 20s 40s
2 min 41
sec
Amazing Grace 2006 22s 32s 1m 1s 1m 18s 16s
1m
50s
5 min 19
sec
Amazing Spider Man,
The 2012 2m 29s
1m
24s 1m 15s
1m
30s
6 min 38
sec
American Hustle 2013 32s
0 min 32
sec
American Sniper 2014
2m
57s
2 min 57
sec
Amistad 1997 6m 17s
5m
38s
1m
21s 55s
2m
34s
2m
41s
19 min 26
sec
Angels and Demons 2009 3m 48s
2m
42s
3m
48s 1m 12s 21s
4m
17s
3m
21s
19 min 29
sec
Apocalypse Now 1979 39s
0 min 39
sec
Apollo 13 1995
3m
39s
2m
28s
6 min 07
sec
216
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Aquaman 2018 2m 40s 2m 8s 1m 5s 26s 28s 1m 7s 46s
8 min 40
sec
Argo 2012 53s
0 min 53
sec
Armageddon 1998 6m 30s 6m 3s
3m
29s
1m
12s 1m 32s 2m
3m
4s
23 min 50
sec
Arrival 2016 59s
0 min 59
sec
Astro Boy 2009 40s 22s 53s 4s 23s 1m 7s 17s
3 min 46
sec
Avatar 2009 1m 35s
2m
44s 51s 35s 15s 51s
6 min 51
sec
Avengers Age of
Ultron 2015 1m 54s 5s 9s 21s 43s 1m
4 min 12
sec
Avengers Endgame 2019 6s 6s 29s 39s 5s 12s 2s
1 min 39
sec
Avengers Infinity
War 2018 46s 43s 42s 9s 12s 30s 14s
3 min 16
sec
Avengers, The 2012 13s 10s
0 min 23
sec
Babylon AD 2008 1m 36s
1m
22s 12s 1m 7s 39s
4 min 56
sec
Bad Company 2002 9s 38s
0 min 47
sec
Badlands 1973 1m 22s 32s 47s
2 min 41
sec
Band of Angels 1957 6m 0s
1 min
19 sec
7 min 19
sec
Batman Begins 2005 20s 26s 30s
1 min 16
sec
Batman v.
Superman: Dawn of
Justice 2016 4m 26s 26s
2m
19s 5s 1m 6s 32s 1m 1s 57s
10 min 52
sec
Battle Los Angeles 2011 2m 50s 4s 52s 35s 1m 4s 27s
5 min 52
sec
Beguiled, The 2017 31s
0 min 31
sec
Being There 1979 57s
0 min 57
sec
Ben Hur 2016 46s 36s 28s 2m 2s 31s
4 min 23
sec
Ben Hur 1959
1m
18s 1m 53s
3 min 11
sec
Beneath the 12-Mile
Reef 1953 2m 5s
2 min 05
sec
Big 1988 47s
0 min 47
sec
Big Hero 6 2014 36s 13s 5s 6s
1 min 00
sec
Bill and Ted's Bogus
Journey 1991 5m 41s
5 min 41
sec
Billy Jack 1971 29s 5m 53s
6 min 22
sec
Birds and the Bees,
The 1956 17s
0 min 17
sec
Birth of a Nation, The 2016 1m 51s
2m
13s
1m
17s 1m 9s 42s 49s
2m
49s
1m
52s
12 min 42
sec
Black Knight 2001 2m 2s
2 min 02
sec
Black Panther 2018 32s 17s 2s 13s 30s 38s
2m
30s
4 min 42
sec
217
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Blackhat 2015 5s 9s
0 min 14
sec
Blackkklansman 2018 44s 42s
1 min 26
sec
Blades of Glory 2007 23s 18s
1m
14s
1 min 55
sec
Blast From the Past 1999 30s 1m 6s 45s
2 min 21
sec
Blended 2014 4m 20s
1m
10s
5 min 30
sec
Blood Diamond 2006 7s 18s 41s 7s 29s
1 min 42
sec
Book of Life, The 2014 1m 40s
2m
19s 5s 21s 7s 5s 10s 13s
5 min 00
sec
Book Theif, The 2013 2m 9s
2 min 09
sec
Boondock Saints 1999 5m 35s 8s
1m
23s 37s 2m 23s 20s
10 min 26
sec
Boy in the Striped
Pajamas, The 2008 27s
0 min 27
sec
Boy, Did I Get A
Wrong Number 1966 13s
0 min 13
sec
Bravados, The 1958 4m 55s
4 min 55
sec
Brave 2012 50s 54s
1 min 44
sec
Brave One, The 1956 1m 7s
1 min 07
sec
Braveheart 1995 28s
1m
20s
1m
46s 1m 41s
2m
12s
7 min 27
sec
Breakfast at Tiffany's 1961
3m
24s 47s
4 min 11
sec
Bridge of Spies 2015 26s 26s 56s 33s
2 min 21
sec
Bridge on the River
Kwai 1957 1m 9s
1 min 09
sec
Broken Arrow 1950 3m 13s
3 min 13
sec
Bugsy 1991 1m 36s
1 min 36
sec
Bus Stop 1956 10s 16s 2m 9s
2 min 35
sec
Butch Cassidy and
the Sundance Kid 1969
4m
44s
4 min 44
sec
Cable Guy, The 1996 43s 10s 23s 25s
1 min 41
sec
Caddyshack 1980 51s
0 min 51
sec
Candyman 1992 8m 5s
2m
30s
1m
19s 2m 34s
4m
19s
18 min 47
sec
Captain America (The
First Avenger) 2011 3m 30s
3 min 30
sec
Captain America:
Civil War 2016 38s 25s 7s
1 min 10
sec
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1958 2m 27s
2 min 27
sec
Catch Me If You Can 2002 1m 22s 38s 36s
2 min 36
sec
Chariots of Fire 1981 10s 8m 1s
8 min 11
sec
218
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Charlies Angels 2000 11s
0 min 11
sec
Chasing Liberty 2004 1m 15s
1 min 15
sec
Cheaper by the
Dozen 2 2005 1m 10s
1 min 10
sec
Chronicles of Narnia:
Prince Caspian 2008 8m 4s
1m
50s 26s 29s 54s 43s
12 min 26
sec
Citizen Kane 1941 1m
1 min 00
sec
CoCo 2017 26s
0 min 26
sec
Conan the Barbarian 1982 4m 38s 2m 1s
1m
43s 4m 56s
2m
43s
16 min 01
sec
Conan the Barbarian 2011 2m 53s 26s 6s 21s 43s 1m 9s 32s 33s
6 min 43
sec
Concussion 2015 35s
0 min 35
sec
Copying Beethoven 2006 5m 28s
1m
45s 14s
7 min 27
sec
Core, The 2003 2m 51s 3m 5s 9s 33s
6 min 38
sec
Couples Retreat 2009 3s 15s
0 min 18
sec
Courage Under Fire 1996 8s 38s
0 min 46
sec
Cowboys and Aliens 2011 31s 20s 47s 26s
2 min 04
sec
Crazy Rich Asians 2018 9s 12s
0 min 21
sec
Creed 2015 17s 1m 13s
1m
47s 30s
3 min 47
sec
Creed II 2018 5s 2m 22s
2 min 27
sec
D2: The Mighty
Ducks 1994 1m 22s 6s
1 min 28
sec
Da Vinci Code, The 2006 2m 39s
1m
45s 48s
3m
23s
3m
7s
11 min 42
sec
Daddy's Home 2015 10s 10s
0 min 20
sec
Damien: Omen II 1978 3m 16s
2m
13s 1m 42s 33s
1m
50s 56s
10 min 30
sec
Dances with Wolves 1990 1m 15s 1m 41s 17s
3 min 13
sec
Danger Close 2019 16s
0 min 16
sec
Dark Knight Rises 2012 1m 20s 22s 5s 43s 2m 33s
1m
17s
2m
30s
8 min 50
sec
Day the Earth Stood
Still, The 2008 1m 6s 23s 4s 2m 5s
3 min 38
sec
Deadline USA 1952 34s
0 min 34
sec
Deadly Companions,
The 1961 1m 17s
1 min 17
sec
Deadpool 2 2018 2m 21s 2s 44s
3 min 07
sec
Dear Brigitte 1965 11s
0 min 11
sec
Deer Hunter, The 1978
2m
56s 1m 8s 9m 14s
13 min 18
sec
219
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Delivery Man 2013 23s
0 min 23
sec
Diary of a Wimpy
Kid: The Long Haul 2017 14s 13s
0 min 27
sec
Die Hard 1988
2m
13s
2 min 13
sec
Django Unchained 2012 1m 29s
1m
29s 50s 16s
4 min 04
sec
Don't Lose Your
Head 1967 8s
1m
10s
1 min 18
sec
Dr. Strange 2016 4m 27s 2m 15s
1m
47s 13s
8 min 42
sec
Driven 2001
2m
42s
2 min 42
sec
Driving Miss Daisy 1989 1m 12s
1 min 12
sec
Duck You Sucker 1971 12s 23s
0 min 35
sec
Dude Where's My
car 2000 12s 5s
1m
27s 17s 16s 18s
2 min 35
sec
Duel in the Sun 1946 2m 8s 27s 26s 25s
3 min 26
sec
Dumb and Dumber 1994 5s
0 min 05
sec
Edward Scissorhands 1990 1m 24s
4m
21s 37s 3m 6s
3m
40s
3m
24s
16 min 32
sec
El Dorado 1966 59 sec
0 min 59
sec
Empire of the Sun 1987 3m 20s
4m
10s 10s
4m
15s 1m 2s 3m 19s
5m
39s
2m
54s
24 min 49
sec
Entertainer, The 1960 49s
0 min 49
sec
Epic 2013 3m 28s
2m
13s 52s 51s 55s
2m
29s
10 min 48
sec
Equalizer, The 2014 16s 17s
0 min 33
sec
Evan Almighty 2007 2m 3s
1m
12s 8s 3m 24s 19s 1m 7s
1m
39s
9 min 52
sec
Every Night at Eight 1935 1m 4s
1 min 04
sec
Exodus: Gods and
Kings 2014 1m 14s
1m
43s
1m
32s 24s 15s 3m 27s
2m
38s 30s
11 min 43
sec
Exorcist II 1977 1m 26s
1m
16s 2m 40s 11s
1m
23s
1m
14s
8 min 10
sec
Expendables 3 2014 17s 15s 28s 40s
1 min 40
sec
Express, The 2008 23s
0 min 23
sec
Fahrenheit451 2018 34s
0 min 34
sec
Family Man, The 2000 14s
2m
25s 18s
2 min 57
sec
Fantastic Beasts and
Where to Find Them 2016 1m 16s 48s 21s 9s 3m 5s
1m
5s
6 min 42
sec
Fantastic Four 2005 1m 43s 52s 33s 56s 22s 44s 7s
5 min 17
sec
Farewell, The 2019
2m
13s 2m 7s 12s
2m
46s
1m
31s
8 min 49
sec
Faster 2010 23s 17s
0 min 40
sec
220
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Fences 2016 40s
0 min 40
sec
Fighting with My
Family 2019 44s
0 min 44
sec
Finding Dory 2016 7s 50s
0 min 57
sec
Finest Hours, The 2016 50s
0 min 50
sec
First Daughter 2004 2m 47s
2 min 47
sec
First Knight 1995 4m 26s 49s
5 min 15
sec
Flame of the Islands 1955 40s
0 min 40
sec
Flight of the
Navigator 1986 6s
0 min 06
sec
Flight of the Phoenix 2004 24s
0 min 24
sec
Flubber 1997 3s 47s 10s 16s
1 min 16
sec
Fools Rush In 1997
1m
26s
1 min 26
sec
For a Few Dollars
More 1965 8s 4m 1m 1s 1m 4s 22s
6 min 35
sec
Free Willy 1993 8s 25s 21s 6s
4m
15s 51s
6 min 06
sec
Furious 7 2015 9s 25s
0 min 34
sec
Galant Hours, The 1960 1m 8s
5m
50s 2m 5s
22m
37s
31 min 40
sec
Garden of Allah, The 1936 28s
3m
43s 2m 16s 54s 19s
7 min 40
sec
Get Out 2017 15s 2m 1s 5s 56s
3 min 17
sec
Get Smart 2008 15s 10s 1m 3s
1 min 28
sec
Ghost Rider 2007 1m 48s 1m 3s 35s 2m 46s
1m
34s 1m
8 min 46
sec
Giver, The 2014
1m
42s 23s
3m
24s
1m
41s
7 min 10
sec
Gladiator 2000 7s 31s 1m 42s 49s
3 min 09
sec
Glory 1989 2m 46s 37s
3m
12s 2m 45s 5m 59s
2m
36s
1m
10s
19 min 05
sec
Glory Alley 1952 33s 1m 17s 18s
2 min 08
sec
Glory Road 2006 8s 5s
1m
22s
1 min 35
sec
Godfather, The 1972 12s
1m
18s
1 min 30
sec
Godfather: Part II,
The 1974 1m 15s
1 min 15
sec
Gods of Egypt 2016 2m 48s
1m
21s
1m
22s 17s 1m 32s 3m 2s
1m
30s
11 min 52
sec
Godzilla 2014 49s
2m
20s 40s
1m
36s 8s
5 min 33
sec
Golden Compass,
The 2007 24s 41s 9s 25s 39s
2 min 18
sec
Gone with the Wind 1939
1m
13s
1m
14s 1m 46s 42s
4 min 55
sec
221
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Good Morning, Miss
Dove 1955 45s
0 min 45
sec
Good Sam 1948 2m 33s
2 min 33
sec
Good the Bad and
the Ugly, The 1966 27s
3m
55s 1m 2s 10s 3m 30s 5m 14s
1m
11s
15 min 29
sec
Good Will Hunting 1997 23s 12s
1m
23s
1m
51s
3 min 49
sec
Gothika 2003 1s 13s
0 min 14
sec
Great Escape, The 1963 2m 35s
2 min 35
sec
Great Wall, The 2016 1m 12s 28s 25s 11s 2m
4 min 16
sec
Greatest Story Ever
Told, The 1965 1m 7s 3m 4s 49s 8m 35s 2m 35s
1m
17s
17 min 27
sec
Green Book 2018 26s
0 min 26
sec
Green Promise, The 1949 20s
0 min 20
sec
Groundhog Day 1993 4m 27s
4 min 27
sec
Guardians of the
Galaxy 2014 3m 7s
1m
17s 3s 2m 9s 42s 1m 28s
2m
17s 35s
11 min 38
sec
Guardians of the
Galaxy Vol. 2 2017 7m 15s 22s 30s 1m 2s 37s 28s 10s 4s
10 min 28
sec
Hacksaw Ridge 2016 2m 11s 10s 22s 55s 49s
4 min 27
sec
Hail Caesar 2016
2m
22s 14s 41s
4m
52s
1m
28s
9 min 37
sec
Hamlet 1990 36s
0 min 36
sec
Happy Go Lovely 1951 50s 22s
1 min 12
sec
Harriet 2019
1m
22s 1m
1m
54s 58s
5 min 14
sec
Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows Part 1 2010 11s 8s 22s 28s 32s 35s 6s
2 min 22
sec
Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows Part 2 2011 2m 44s 42s 33s 27s
1m
45s
6 min 11
sec
Harry Potter and the
Goblet of Fire 2005 47s 27s
1 min 14
sec
Harry Potter and the
Half-Blood Prince 2009 35s 31s 44s 30s 16s 1m 37s
1m
26s
5 min 39
sec
Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix 2007 56s 17s 33s 6s 24s 10s
2 min 26
sec
Has Anybody Seen
My Gal 1952 14s
0 min 14
sec
Hateful Eight, The 2015 58s 39s
1 min 37
sec
Heart is a Rebel, The 1958 2m 58s
2 min 58
sec
Heaven Only Knows 1947 1m 50s
1 min 50
sec
Heavy Weights 1995 52s
0 min 52
sec
Henry V 1989 2m 53s
2m
09s
5 min 02
sec
Hercules 2014 1m 36s 54s 22s 4s 14s 23s
3 min 33
sec
222
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Hidden Figures 2016 18s 9s 1m 4s 58s
2 min 29
sec
Hitman's Bodyguard,
The 2017 13s 8s 30s 25s 22s
1 min 38
sec
Hobbit: An
Unexpected Journey,
The 2012 7m 38s
2m
13s 7s 33s 44s 31s 2m 3s
1m
35s
2m
34s
17 min 58
sec
Hobbit: Desolation of
Smaug, The 2013 1m 24s
1m
25s
1m
10s 24s 30s 2m 4s 41s
7 min 38
sec
Hobbit: Five Armies,
The 2014 6m 12s 28s
1m
18s
2m
11s 1m 31s 6s
2m
16s 6s
14 min 08
sec
Home Alone 1990 37s 29s 6m 5s
7 min 11
sec
Home Alone 2: Lost
in New York 1992
1m
36s 41s
2 min 17
sec
Hoosiers 1986 58s
0 min 58
sec
How Green Was My
Valley 1941
2m
31s
2m
49s 23s 9m 17s 49s
1m
46s
17 min 35
sec
How to be a Latin
Lover 2017 16s
0 min 16
sec
How to Marry a
Millionaire 1953 54s
0 min 54
sec
How to Train Your
Dragon 2010 1m 2s 1m 1s 36s 53s 43s 12s
4 min 27
sec
How to Train Your
Dragon 2 2014 5m 36s
4m
12s 1m 7s
1m
59s 51s
2m
25s
2m
18s
18 min 28
sec
How to Train Your
Dragon: The Hidden
World 2019 1m 1s
2m
40s
2m
32s 7s
1m
46s 5s
8 min 11
sec
Hunger Games
Catching Fire 2013 38s
1m
41s
2m
53s 1m 41s
1m
14s
8 min 07
sec
Hunger Games
Mocking Jay Part 2 2015 2m 33s
2m
17s
2m
37s 22s 18s
5m
35s
1m
9s
14 min 51
sec
Hunger Games, The 2012 6s 27s
1m
22s
1 min 55
sec
Hunger Games:
Mockingjay - Part 1,
The 2014 1m 51s 7s 38s 37s
1m
27s
4 min 40
sec
Huntsman: Winter's
War, The 2016 16s 14s
1m
44s
1m
19s 14s 1m 57s 2m 2s
1m
8s
8 min 54
sec
Independence Day 1996 7s 29s 8s 54s 43s
1m
5s
3 min 26
sec
Independence Day
Resurgence 2016 1m 15s 30s 6s 39s 32s
3 min 02
sec
Indiana Jones and
the Crystal Skull 2008 39s 28s
1 min 07
sec
Indiana Jones and
the Temple of Doom 1984 7m 27s 24s 32s 38s 47s
9 min 48
sec
Indiana Jones Last
Crusade 1989 26s
0 min 26
sec
Informer, The 1935 1m 35s 1m 1s
2 min 36
sec
Insurgent 2015 30s
1m
16s
1 min 46
sec
Interstellar 2014 24s 23s
0 min 47
sec
Into the Blue 2005 11s
0 min 11
sec
Iron Man 3 2013 1m 34s 30s 54s 45s 26s
4 min 09
sec
223
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Iron Triangle, The 1989 1m 21s
1 min 21
sec
Ironclad: Battle for
Blood 2014 4m 40s
1m
57s 17s
1m
45s
8 min 39
sec
Isle of Dogs 2018 48s 23s 8s 53s 4m
6 min 12
sec
Ivan the Terrible 1944
9m
54s
2m
21s 5m 5s 49s
6m
1s
24 min 10
sec
Jack and Jill 2011 20s
0 min 20
sec
Jack Ryan: Shadow
Recruit 2014 47s
0 min 47
sec
Jack the Giant Slayer 2013 2m 29s
1m
38s 49s 7s 11s
1m
40s
1m
16s
8 min 10
sec
John Wick : Chapter
3 - Parabellum 2019 9s
0 min 09
sec
John Wick Chapter 2 2017 9s 14s
0 min 23
sec
Jojo Rabbit 2019 12s 11s 36s
1m
2s
2 min 01
sec
Judge Dredd 1995 36s 33s 16s 21s
1 min 46
sec
Jumanji: The Next
Level 2019 21s 26s 9s 42s 8s
1 min 46
sec
Jupiter Ascending 2015 5m 30s
2m
10s
1m
20s 30s 18s 4m 2s 47s
14 min 37
sec
Jurassic World 2015 43s
1m
13s 2m 4s 39s
4 min 39
sec
Jurassic World Fallen
Kingdom 2018 59s
2m
22s 31s 1m 13s
1m
53s
1m
33s
8 min 31
sec
Just Go with It 2011 7s
0 min 07
sec
Justice League 2017 3m 7s 41s 32s 7s 43s 46s
5 min 56
sec
Kick Ass 2 2013 32s 5s 31s 13s 2s 7s
1 min 30
sec
Killing Fields, The 1984 1m 40s 19s 20s
2 min 19
sec
King Arthur 2004 4m 35s 52s 39s
1m
54s 1m 23s 1m 7s 36s
11 min 06
sec
King Kong 1933 1m 21s
1 min 21
sec
King of Kings 1961 25s
1m
21s 1m 4s 3m 50s 7m 8s
2m
32s
16 min 20
sec
King, The 2019
1m
30s 59s
2 min 29
sec
Kingdom of Heaven 2005 1m 57s 2m 7s
1m
31s 29s 2m 22s 16s
1m
59s 46s
11 min 27
sec
Kingsman 2014 1m 4s
1m
56s 54s
3 min 54
sec
Kong: Skull Island 2017 29s 9s 14s
0 min 52
sec
Kubo and the Two
Strings 2016 1m 24s 22s 38s 5s 59s
3 min 28
sec
Kung Fu Panda 2008 44s 23s 5s
1m
24s
2 min 36
sec
La La Land 2016 47s 2m 18s 13s
3 min 18
sec
Lady in the Water 2006 45s
1m
10s
3m
10s
5 min 05
sec
224
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Land Before Time,
The 1988
1m
36s 15s
3m
11s 56s 41s
6 min 39
sec
Last Man on Earth,
The 1964 43s 9s
0 min 52
sec
Last of the Mohicans,
The 1992 33s
0 min 33
sec
Last Valley, The 1971 4m 58s 2m 6s 39s
2m
44s 1m 58s 1m 9s
2m
57s
6m
6s
22 min 37
sec
Lawrence of Arabia 1962 31s 59s
1 min 30
sec
Leave Her to Heaven 1945 16s
0 min 16
sec
Legend of Hercules,
The 2014 2m 55s
1m
34s 22s 5s 21s 25s
1m
36s 12s
7 min 30
sec
Lemon Drop Kid, The 1951 34s 46s 9s
1 min 29
sec
Les choristes 2004 42s
1m
16s
10m
54s
3m
11s 40s
16 min 43
sec
Life of Pi 2012 1m 35s
4m
33s
1m
20s 1m 9s 24s
1m
9s
10 min 10
sec
Lincoln 2012 1m 45s 32s
2 min 17
sec
Little Rascals, The 1994 17s
0 min 17
sec
Logan 2017 18s
0 min 18
sec
London Has Fallen 2016 23s
0 min 23
sec
Lone Ranger 2013 46s 4s 1m 2m 30s 5s
4 min 25
sec
Lord of the Rings:
Return of the King,
The 2003 10m 3s 48s
1m
54s
9m
29s 34s 22s 21s
6m
27s
1m
38s
31 min 36
sec
Lord of the Rings:
The Fellowship of the
Ring, The 2001 7m 14s
5m
53s
3m
40s 32s 1m 9s 1m 15s 15s
2m
46s
6m
53s
29 min 37
sec
Lord of the Rings:
The Two Towers, The 2002 4m 26s
2m
11s
2m
20s
1m
17s 5m 25s
5m
18s
1m
15s
22 min 12
sec
Lost Horizon 1937
1m
21s 3m 33s 34s
5 min 28
sec
Love is a Many
Splendored Thing 1955
1m
12s
1 min 12
sec
Lucy 2014 1m 5s
1 min 05
sec
Lucy Gallant 1955 1m 5s 5s
1 min 10
sec
Mad Max: Fury Road 2015 26s 13s
0 min 39
sec
Magnificent
Obsession 1954
1m
48s 43s 34s
1m
34s
4 min 39
sec
Magnificent Seven,
The 2016 22s 10s
0 min 32
sec
Major Payne 1995 1m 26s
1 min 26
sec
Making the Grade 1984 51s 53s
1 min 44
sec
Maleficent 2014 3m 17s
4m
22s 1m 9s 1m 31s 2m 57s
5m
23s
1m
51s
20 min 30
sec
Man of Steel 2013 2m 45s 1m 1s 6s
1m
29s
2m
19s 5s
7 min 45
sec
225
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Martian, The 2015 44s
2m
22s 49s 57s
1m
18s 38s
6 min 48
sec
Maze Runner, The 2014 25s 22s
1m
25s
1m
35s
3m
14s
7 min 01
sec
McFarland USA 2015 52s
0 min 52
sec
Meatballs 1979 36s 1m 37s
1m
41s
1m
16s 5 min 10sec
Medallion, The 2003 16s 11s 7s 25s 10s
1 min 09
sec
Meg, The 2018 11s 3s
0 min 14
sec
Men in Black II 2002 52s 20s 45s 10s 39s
2 min 46
sec
Men in Black III 2012 28s 33s 1m 19s
2 min 20
sec
Million Dollar Arm 2014 10s 54s
1 min 04
sec
Minions 2015 41s 15s 13s 47s 3s 1m 24s 31s
1m
14s
5 min 08
sec
Miracle 2004 15s
0 min 15
sec
Mission Impossible
Fallout 2018 18s 31s 7s 13s
1 min 09
sec
Mission to Mars 2000 1m 9s 54s
1m
49s
3 min 55
sec
Mission, The 1986 2m 16s
1m
17s
1m
33s 6m 42s
3m
37s
15 min 25
sec
Monsters University 2013 23s
0 min 23
sec
Monty Python and
the Holy Grail 1975 4s 49s 1m 7s 1m 32s 43s
4 min 15
sec
Moonrise 1948 36s
0 min 36
sec
Mouse that Roared,
The 1959 34s
0 min 34
sec
Mr. 3000 2004 10s
0 min 10
sec
Mr. Holland's Opus 1995 1m 12s
1 min 12
sec
Mr. Smith Goes to
Washington 1939 31s
0 min 31
sec
Mummy Tomb of the
Dragon Emperor 2008 2m 26s 52s 9s 15s 22s 5s 38s
4 min 47
sec
Mummy, The 1999 1m 23s
1m
52s
1m
32s 7s 2m 2s 1m 25s 1m
1m
55s 29s
11 min 45
sec
Mummy, The 2017 33s 15s 28s
1m
12s 21s
2 min 49
sec
My Name is Nobody 1973 2m 34s
3m
38s 2m 13s 1m 8s 35s
10 min 08
sec
Nacho Libre 2006 53s
1m
20s
1m
28s 28s 30s
4 min 39
sec
Narnia: The Lion the
Witch and the
Wardrobe 2005 3m 25s
2m
28s 21s 34s 2m 42s
2m
10s
11 min 40
sec
National Treasure
Book of Secrets 2007 53s
1m
17s 11s 9s 39s
3 min 09
sec
Negotiator, The 1998 2m 37s 32s 51s 4 min 0 sec
Nerve 2016 48s 11s 11s
1m
29s
1m
34s
4 min 13
sec
226
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Net, The 1995 1m 15s
4m
11s 6s 22s 1m 25s 10s
2m
28s
9 min 57
sec
Never Been Kissed 1999 7s
0 min 07
sec
New World, The 2005 1m 37s 1m 8s
1m
12s
3 min 57
sec
Night at the
Museum: Secret of
the Tomb 2014 1m 6s 18s 31s 12s 56s 3s
3 min 06
sec
Nightmare Before
Christmas, The 1993 12s 2m 52s
3 min 04
sec
Nightmare in the Sun 1965 37s
0 min 37
sec
No Escape 2015 6s
0 min 06
sec
North Star, The 1943 53s 4m 1s 33s
5 min 27
sec
Nothing Sacred 1937 50s
0 min 50
sec
Oblivion 2013 37s 27s
1 min 04
sec
Old School 2003 20s
0 min 20
sec
Olympus Has Fallen 2013 51s 36s
2m
29s 12s 20s
1m
52s
6 min 20
sec
Omen III: The Final
Conflict 1981 1m 28s
2m
58s 52s 3m 23s 2m 13s
3m
50s
1m
23s
16 min 07
sec
Omen, The 1976 56s 37s 50s 27s 1m 22s
2m
46s 26s
7 min 24
sec
Once Upon a Time in
the West 1968 1m 54s
4m
27s 34s 34s 35s
8 min 04
sec
One Foot in Heaven 1941 6m 14s
6 min 14
sec
Operation Petticoat 1959 1m 6s
1 min 06
sec
Outlander 2008 1m 16s 12s 57s 7s 5s
2 min 37
sec
Oz the Great and
Powerful 2013 2m 37s 3m 7s
1m
17s 1m 23s 18s 30s
1m
16s
10 min 28
sec
Pacific Rim 2013 1m 41s 24s 46s 40s 46s
4 min 17
sec
Pan 2015 3m 49s
1m
23s 13s 22s 18s 2m 35s
2m
51s
1m
44s
13 min 15
sec
Paradise Road 1997 1m 9s 7m 7s
2m
35s
10 min 51
sec
Parent Trap, The 1961 53s
0 min 53
sec
Passion of the Christ 2004 4m 33s 1m 5s
1m
14s 52s
3m
36s
11 min 20
sec
Patriot 2000 28s
0 min 28
sec
Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 2015 4s 4s 54s
1 min 02
sec
Peacemaker, The 1997 14s
1m
53s
1m
31s 58s 2m 54s
1m
41s 33s
9 min 44
sec
Pearl Harbor 2001 2m 47s
2m
41s 16s
2m
39s
8 min 23
sec
Pete's Dragon 2016 44s 2m 5s 38s 5s
3 min 32
sec
Phantom Thread 2017 17s
0 min 17
sec
227
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Phone Call From A
Stranger 1952 24s
0 min 24
sec
Pirates of the
Caribbean: On
Stranger Tides 2011 3m 5s 45s
1m
33s 20s 2m 5s 6s 5s
1m
4s
12 min 29
sec
Pirates of the
Caribbean: Dead
Men Tell No Tales 2017 2m 38s 44s 18s 42s 3m 3s 38s
8 min 03
sec
Pixels 2015 1m 1s 49s 9s 32s 2s
2 min 33
sec
Planet of the Apes 2001 12s 48s 10s 18s 23s
1 min 51
sec
Platoon 1986 44s
0 min 44
sec
Portrait of Jennie 1948 5s 43s
1m
14s 16s 1m 27s
1m
36s
5 min 21
sec
Post, The 2017 10s
0 min 10
sec
Power of One, The 1992 1m 22s
7m
34s 58s
1m
48s 45s
12m
54s
5m
47s
9m
43s
40 min
51sec
Power Rangers 2017 12s 4s 5s
0 min 21
sec
Priest 2011 5m 44s
4m
13s 25s 29s 1m 49s 19s
12 min 59
sec
Prince of Persia 2010 18s 5s 29s 58s 16s 15s
2 min 21
sec
Promised Land 2012 12s 25s
0 min 37
sec
Proposal, The 2009 20s
0 min 20
sec
Quartet 2012 31s 1m 9s
1 min 40
sec
Quest for Fire 1982 2m 2s
1m
10s
3 min 12
sec
Raiders of the Lost
Ark 1981 21s 32s 1m 11s
2 min 04
sec
Rain Man 1988 16s
0 min 16
sec
Ralph Breaks the
Internet 2018 28s 7s 8s 20s
1 min 03
sec
Rambo 2008 38s
0 min 38
sec
Rampage 2018 41s
0 min 41
sec
Rango 2011 38s 52s
1m
30s 24s
3 min 24
sec
Rat Race 2001 52s 59s 17s 10s
2m
59s
1m
23s
6 min 40
sec
Ready Player One 2018 57s 14s 1m 32s
2 min 43
sec
Real Steel 2011 10s 38s 41s
1 min 29
sec
Red River 1948
2m
40s
1m
38s
1m
48s
6 min 06
sec
Revolt of Mamie
Stover, The 1956 1m 09s
1 min 09
sec
Ridiculous 6, The 2015 16s 1m 26s
1m
20s
3 min 02
sec
Robe, The 1953 3m 3s 56s 6m 38s 59s
1m
43s
13 min 19
sec
228
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Robin Hood 2010 2m 14s
1m
19s
1m
24s 1m 28s 37s
1m
11s 7s
8 min 20
sec
Robin Hood Men in
Tights 1993 2m 40s
2 min 40
sec
Rock a Bye Baby 1958 2m 2 min 0 sec
Rock, The 1996 3m 5s 48s 10s 48s
4 min 51
sec
Rocky III 1982 22s
0 min 22
sec
Rogue One A Star
Wars Story 2016 39s 29s 57s
2 min 05
sec
Ronin 1998 2m 50s 7s 11s
3 min 08
sec
Running Man, The 1963 1m 47s
1 min 47
sec
San Andres 2015 1m 54s 23s
3m
32s 57s
6 min 46
sec
Saving Private Ryan 1998
3m
24s
3 min 24
sec
Scorpion King, The 2002 4m 54s 47s 18s 53s 31s
1m
43s
9 min 06
sec
Secret of NIMH, The 1982 38s 26s 35s 2m 57s 23s
1m
39s
6 min 38
sec
See You Yesterday 2019 14s
0 min 14
sec
Selma 2014 2m 14s 4s
3m
32s
5 min 50
sec
September Affair 1950 15s
0 min 15
sec
Seven Pounds 2008 1m 3s 30s 4s 33s 14s
2 min 24
sec
Shazam! 2019 1m 23s 18s 7s 27s 8s
1m
16s 2s
3 min 41
sec
She Had to Choose 1934 35s
0 min 35
sec
Shine 1996
1m
31s
1 min 31
sec
Shrek 2 2004 13s 37s 4s 43s 48s 29s
2 min 54
sec
Shrek Forever After 2010 18s 5s 38s 14s 5s 47s
2 min 07
sec
Shrek the Third 2007 43s 22s 4s 17s 2s
1 min 28
sec
Sidewalks of London 1938 54s
0 min 54
sec
Simpsons Movie, The 2007 11s 27s 5s 25s
1m
24s 33s
3 min 05
sec
Sisterhood of the
Traveling Pants 2005 28s
0 min 28
sec
Skiptrace 2016 53s 41s 26s 49s
2 min 49
sec
Snow White and the
Huntsman 2012 3m 22s
1m
22s
1m
40s
1m
33s 17s 51s
9 min 05
sec
Snows of
Kilimanjaro, The 1952 5m 11s
5 min 11
sec
Social Network, The 2010 56s
0 min 56
sec
Solo: A Star Wars
Story

2018

36s

11s

34s

7s

1 min 28
sec

229
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Some Like it Hot 1959 26s 28s
0 min 54
sec
Song of Bernadette,
The 1943
2m
14s
10m
16s
12m
19s 22s
25 min 11
sec
Sophie’s Choice 1982 41s
0 min 41
sec
Sorcerer's Aprentice,
The 2010 5m 1s 28s 34s 22s 1m 55s 16s
8 min 36
sec
Space Cowboys 2000
1m
33s
1m
10s 9s
2 min 52
sec
Space Jam 1996 12s 5s 27s
0 min 44
sec
Spare Parts 2015 22s 8s
0 min 30
sec
Spectre 2015 23s 23s 5s
0 min 51
sec
Speed Racer 2008 37s
2m
45s 38s
2m
51s 15s 4s
7 min 10
sec
Star Trek Beyond 2016 2m 40s 2m 3s 40s
1m
18s 27s
7 min 08
sec
Star Trek into
Darkness 2013 40s 6s 2m 4s
1m
18s
4 min 08
sec
Star Wars VI Return
of the Jedi 1983 1m 45s 46s 1m 51s 1m 2s
5 min 24
sec
Star Wars VIII: The
Last Jedi 2017 14s 34s 17s 30s
1 min 35
sec
Star Wars: Episode II 2002 59s 44s 18s
1m
31s
3 min 32
sec
Star Wars: Episode III
Revenge of the Sith 2005 5m 54s 27s 59s 1m 5s 1m 15s
1m
22s
1m
38s
12 min 40
sec
Star Wars: Episode IX
- The Rise of
Skywalker 2019 1m 20s 26s 39s
2 min 25
sec
Star Wars: The Force
Awakens 2015 51s
0 min 51
sec
Star Wars: The
Phantom Menace 1999 1m 22s
1m
53s 53s 51s 50s
1m
30s
2m
7s
9 min 26
sec
Stardust 2007 1m 6s 33s 48s 7s 47s
3 min 21
sec
Starter for 10 2006 1m 1s
1 min 01
sec
Stranger Than Fiction 2006
1m
21s
1 min 21
sec
Strangers When We
Meet 1960 43s
0 min 43
sec
Street Scene 1931 1m 8s
1 min 08
sec
Sucker Punch 2011 2m 33s 13s 15s 1m 3s
4 min 04
sec
Suicide Squad 2016 3m 20s 50s 1m 41s 15s
6 min 06
sec
Sum of all Fears, The 2002
2m
46s 11s
2 min 57
sec
Sun Also Rises, The 1957 2m 48s
2 min 48
sec
Sun Shines Bright,
The 1953 55s 4m 32s 15s
5 min 42
sec
Superman Returns 2006 1m 42s
2m
59s 55s
1m
45s 1m 12s 1m 34s 20s
1m
10s 11s
11 min 48
sec
Tag 2018 33s 2s
0 min 35
sec
230
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Taxi 1932 51s
0 min 51
sec
Tears of the Sun 2003 59s 1m 41s 19s
2 min 59
sec
Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles 2014 3m 42s 28s 1m 2s
1m
18s 59s
7 min 29
sec
Ten Commandments,
The 1956 4m 7s
4 min 07
sec
That Hamilton
Woman 1941
3m
40s 33s
4 min 13
sec
Theory of Everything 2014 47s
0 min 47
sec
Thief of Bagdad, The 1940 2m 8s 27s 1m 34s 58s
2m
4s
7 min 11
sec
This Happy Breed 1944 15s 14s
0 min 29
sec
This is the End 2013 1m 22s 4s 1m 46s 4s 23s
3 min 39
sec
Thor Ragnarok 2017 55s 3s 5s 39s 29s
2 min 11
sec
Thor: The Dark
World 2013 4m 47s 1m 6s
1m
12s 6s 35s
3m
46s 15s
11 min 47
sec
Three Musketeers,
The 2011 20s
0 min 20
sec
Three Stooges, The 2012 13s
0 min 13
sec
Tomorrowland 2015 18s
1m
26s 15s
1m
46s
3 min 45
sec
Tommy Boy 1995 6s
0 min 06
sec
Total Recall 2012 5s 16s
0 min 21
sec
Transformers Age of
Extinction 2014 1m 5s 9s
1 min 14
sec
Tulsa 1949 56s
0 min 56
sec
Twister 1996 8s
0 min 08
sec
Two for the Road 1967 29s
0 min 29
sec
Ultimate Gift, The 2006 15s
0 min 15
sec
Unbreakable 2000 15s 32s 31s 22s
1 min 40
sec
Unbroken 2014 25s 34s 1m
1 min 59
sec
Uncle Drew 2018 10s
0 min 10
sec
V for Vendetta 2005 2m 30s 15s 2m 7s 41s
1m
7s
6 min 40
sec
Valkyrie 2008
2m
49s
2 min 49
sec
Wanted 2008 16s 17s 30s 9s 49s
2 min 01
sec
War for the Planet of
the Apes 2017 1m 6s 46s 27s
1m
18s
3 min 37
sec
WarCraft 2016 1m 16s 29s 24s 26s
2 min 35
sec
Waterworld 1995 3m 39s
3m
12s 26s 23s 28s
8 min 08
sec
231
Title Year Conflict
Travel/
Scenic Death
Love/
Friend-
ship
Pre-
conflict
Super-
natural/
Spiritual Diegetic Credits Other Total Time
Wedding Ringer, The 2015 11s 16s
0 min 27
sec
Whisperers, The 1967 2m 25s
2 min 25
sec
With Six You Get
Eggroll 1968
1m
52s 26s
2 min 18
sec
Wonder Woman 2017 1m 9s 1m 5s 37s 33s
3 min 24
sec
Wreck-it Ralph 2012 1m 6s 34s 14s 42s 18s
2 min 54
sec
X-Men Apocalypse 2016 4m 18s 49s 15s 22s 4m 49s 3m 9s 1m
14 min 42
sec
X-Men Days of
Future Past 2014 34s 51s 1m 12s 33s 3s
3 min 13
sec
X-Men: First Class 2011 1m 5s 21s 1m 8s 54s 23s
3 min 51
sec
X2: X-Men United 2003 3m 19s 9s 23s 47s
2m
16s 10s
7 min 04
sec
XXX Return of Xander
Cage 2017 2m 34s
2 min 34
sec
Yes Man 2008 6s 18s
0 min 24
sec
You're Never Too
Young 1955 4m 43s
4 min 43
sec
Zoolander 2 2016 2m 43s 34s 22s 6s
1m
10s
4 min 55
sec
Zootopia 2016
1m
4s
1 min 04
sec
Zulu 1964
11m
45s
1m
07s
12 min 52
sec

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This dissertation investigates the use of choral music in films disseminated in the United States between 1930 and 2019. To evaluate this choral incorporation, interviews were conducted with composers, ensemble conductors, vocal contractors, and singers. In addition, 800 films were analyzed and classified based on specific areas of musical interest. The overall results indicate that choral music has been regularly incorporated by composers throughout the past century, with some variation in this choral usage as film music has adapted throughout the decades. Methods of choral music incorporation were evaluated in order to identify common compositional trends. Choral music in the form of diegetic source music was found to be a common method of incorporation due to its necessity in the narrative. Additional methods of incorporation investigated include texture, non-traditional vocal elements, types and size of ensemble, approaches to audio mixing, synthesized choral singing, pre-composed or licensed music, and choral music in credits. Musically artistic reasons for the inclusion of a choral ensemble were also found to be a significant factor in a composer’s decision to incorporate a choir. Choral singing has been identified by composers as a highly effective way to heighten the emotive atmosphere of the film through its ability to express sentiments of grandeur, emotion, and diverse realities. This dissertation also investigates the various methods of choral incorporation of select composers, identifies the prominent choral ensembles and vocal contractors in the industry, and predicts the future and continued use of choral music in film.

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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

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Asset Metadata

Creator Bland, Micah David (author)

Core Title Choral music in film

School Thornton School of Music

Degree Doctor of Musical Arts

Degree Program Choral Music

Degree Conferral Date 2021-12

Publication Date 11/02/2021

Defense Date 11/02/2021

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Choral Music,film music,OAI-PMH Harvest

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Scheibe, Jo-Michael (committee chair), Carlin, Daniel (committee member), Grases, Cristian (committee member)

Creator Email mbland@usc.edu,mbland1613@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC16351959

Unique identifier UC16351959

Legacy Identifier etd-BlandMicah-10196

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Bland, Micah David

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

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Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

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