Original score vs soundtrack in film

revoltub

revoltub

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Which do you prefer? Collection of great songs put into the film a certain way or an original composed score all the way through?
 
It depends on the movie and the moment. Even movies with an excellent sound track usually have some amount of scoring in them.

I generally prefer a great soundtrack (e.g. guardians of the galaxy, Forrest Gump, Baby Driver) but I wouldn't want to see the shark in Jaws set to Split Enz Shark Attack, or Darth Vader set to Man in Black. A lot of moments just work better set to a score.
 
Depends on the movie and how important the score is vs how important the songs are in the movie. For instance, if it's a Quentin Tarantino movie, I prefer the songs because I know he puts together great songs to convey emotions in certain scenes. If Hans Zimmer or Ludwig Goransson are writing the score for a movie, I pay attention to that.

Spider-Man 2: I prefer the songs soundtrack over the composer's soundtrack.
 
If they are going to use a known song dont use a cover version. Original soundrracks are hit or miss, covers are always a miss.
 
It depends on the type of film. Some films absolutely need a score such as lotr or jurassic park. In any case, when done right, music can really bring films to another level.

One of my favorite scores is Michael Nyman's Gattaca. Just beautiful to listen to!
 
Usually an original score. Films and shows nowadays seem to rely too heavily on songs to try to compensate for weak writing. And for some reason, they insist on blasting the shit out of those songs. I have to turn the volume down every time. Hate that.
 
Usually a great score, like Rocky or Young Guns 2 or Braveheart. I'm not as big on collections of old songs for a soundtrack like Forrest Gump or Casino but I am big on them when it was put together at the time the songs came out, when they were searching for value in unknown contemporary songs like Teen Wolf or The Breakfast Club.

Once in a blue moon the perfect mix of score and soundtrack comes along like The Terminator or Rocky 4 or Highlander. The Miami Vice TV show also did this very well.

There are also many great scores that work fantastically for the movie - Jaws, Psycho, The Godfather, Star Wars - which I wouldn't actually listen to independently, whereas I would with the ones I named above. If I were going to actually listen to anything from Star Wars on its own, it would actually be the one thing that would qualify as soundtrack...



Max Rebo could funk it out like George Clinton.
 
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depends on the film and i'm sure that many films just pack everything together. I always thought the Batman film had a great score which was way better than the Prince soundtrack which was hardly even included in the movie anyways. I always thought that, Prince fan that I am, he just threw that album together with leftovers or unused tracks laying around. I didn't consider it a strong Prince album but it sold better than any album since his heyday just off of the batman association.
 
revoltub said:
Which do you prefer? Collection of great songs put into the film a certain way or an original composed score all the way through?
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There's too many variables fir me to pick one or the other.
If I answered fully I'd be writing a novel sir lol.

I'll just say both to save everyone the hassle of reading my shit :)
 
favorite score is probably The Natural by Randy Newman, phenomenal, Coplandesque score. Rocky was great of course and there are many others, Last of the Mohican's was great as well. Probably should mention the masters of film scoring Bernard Hermann and the like.
 
This is a big fat depends.
But I will say movies may become much more iconic with a good original score compared to a soundtrack.

Jaws, Star Wars, Halloween, etc.

Over time, songs in a soundtrack may become associated with other things.
 
mozfonky said:
depends on the film and i'm sure that many films just pack everything together. I always thought the Batman film had a great score which was way better than the Prince soundtrack which was hardly even included in the movie anyways. I always thought that, Prince fan that I am, he just threw that album together with leftovers or unused tracks laying around. I didn't consider it a strong Prince album but it sold better than any album since his heyday just off of the batman association.
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It was weird that he wrote an entire damn album and, off the top of my head, I remember Joker dancing in the museum to Partyman and then dancing in the parade to Trust. I wonder if he was pissed about that lol
 
Whatever Interstellar had.

Or this jam from Inception
 
RollSonnenRoll said:
It was weird that he wrote an entire damn album and, off the top of my head, I remember Joker dancing in the museum to Partyman and then dancing in the parade to Trust. I wonder if he was pissed about that lol
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I got the impression that it was more like Jon Bon Jovi with Young Guns 2...just a side project to accompany the film rather than part of it. But who knows, Prince did have an ego.

The Purple Rain soundtrack was all through the film, though, and remains the stuff of legend.
 
RollSonnenRoll said:
It was weird that he wrote an entire damn album and, off the top of my head, I remember Joker dancing in the museum to Partyman and then dancing in the parade to Trust. I wonder if he was pissed about that lol
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well, I think Burton only wanted a song or two, not sure if that's correct but Prince being Prince always overdelivered. I don't think Prince was too upset about it, Batdance was a hit, the album brought him back to the pop audience, a group he was getting ever further away from. In fact, his previous album, Lovesexy, was a flop for an artist of his stature, barely selling a half-million and he lost money on the tour. Some people think Batdance is brilliant, one thing for sure, the vids he made for that music were his best by far as well as his acting, the mugging for the camera during that period was him at his most comfortable and accessible. I just think some of the music sounds underdeveloped.

Either way, it gave him the clout to go ahead and make a Purple Rain sequel the next year, which was an unmitigated flop but he wouldn't have gotten that chance without the Batman clout I don't think.
 
BisexualMMA said:
I got the impression that it was more like Jon Bon Jovi with Young Guns 2...just a side project to accompany the film rather than part of it. But who knows, Prince did have an ego.

The Purple Rain soundtrack was all through the film, though, and remains the stuff of legend.
Click to expand...

Ya, I don't know how I could not mention the Purple Rain album, it changed my life profoundly. There was score music in that one too, I don't think it was ever released and I forget who the composer was, I know Prince's music was mostly used though. But for scenes where movie music typically goes, he needed something else.

Anyway, names like Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancini and even Quincy Jones should get a mention.
 
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