In a new episode of Kinotes, we explore the music of the “Master of Suspense”, Alfred Hitchcock, in part one of a two-part series entitled “Hitchcock: The Music of Suspense, Obsession, & Murder".

There’s been so much discussion about Hitchcock’s use of visuals in the movies, but less so his soundtracks. In this first part, we’ll talk about Hitchcock’s use of music before his collaboration with Bernard Herrmann (with one exception), beginning with his first sound film BLACKMAIL and including films like THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, REBECCA, SUSPICION, SHADOW OF A DOUBT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS, ROPE, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, REAR WINDOW, and many others.

We’ll talk about his early sound and music innovations, his constant return to the waltz as a musical form, his technique of threading a song throughout a story, and his collaboration with a variety of accomplished composers including Franz Waxman, Dimitri Tiomkin, and Miklos Rozsa.

Show Notes:

0:00:00 - Introduction

0:02:36 - Advent of Talkies: BLACKMAIL, MURDER, JUNO & THE PAYCOCK

0:21:00 - The Waltz & Development of a Song: WALTZES FROM VIENNA, REAR WINDOW

0:26:48 - Public Performance, Music for Life and Death: THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH ('34 & '56), SECRET AGENT

0:40:58 - Earworms: THE 39 STEPS & THE LADY VANISHES

0:48:14 - Musical Performances & Guilt: YOUNG & INNOCENT, ROPE, STAGEFRIGHT

0:55:43 - Waxman's Seductive Feminine Themes: REBECCA, THE PARADINE CASE, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, SUNSET BLVD

01:06:04 - Piano Symbolism: PARADINE CASE, WESTWORLD, SABOTEUR

01:09:00 - Themes for Villains: SUSPICION, SHADOW OF A DOUBT, & STRANGERS ON A TRAIN

01:21:08 - Ticking Tiomkin: HIGH NOON, DIAL M FOR MURDER, Boris Gudonov

1:24:56 - The Two Sides of Love: SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS

1:32:30 - Outro / Sources / Social Media / Suite from REBECCA

Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at [email protected]. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle).

All episodes are written and produced by Nick Nylen.

Sources:

After a hiatus, we're back with an episode about my favorite film of all-time: Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 paranoid thriller, THE CONVERSATION. 

THE CONVERSATION has a special relationship with two other films: Antonioni's BLOW UP, which preceded and inspired it, and Brian De Palma's BLOW OUT, which is influenced by both movies. 

This episode explores the interconnection between the three through their music, sound design, and especially their thematic interests which include reality, perception, truth, and privacy. 

Naturally SPOILERS for the three movies, which do have some surprising twists and turns. I'm also including a spoiler warning for Hitchcock's VERTIGO as that film's plot has a special relationship to BLOW OUT. 

Show Notes:

0:00:00 - Introduction

0:03:00 - Blow Up Intro

0:04:15 - Herbie Hancock / Music as Setting & Counterpoint

0:08:28 - The Blow Ups: Narrativized Reality

0:11:58 - Persona Music: Bullitt, Pelham, Dirty Harry

0:13:30 - The Conversation Intro

0:16:00 - Harry Caul's Theme

0:20:45 - The Assignment Theme

0:22:00 - Theme Melding / Filtering and Processing

0:25:27 - Amy's Theme: Harry & Relationships

0:31:13 - The Ending & Legacy

0:36:30 - Blow Out Intro / De Palma & Hitchcock

0:39:35 - Coed Frenzy: Disco & Rock

0:43:40 - Recording & Conspiracy / National Mood

0:51:03 - Suspense Music: Burke Materail, Psycho

0:53:48 - Tragic Love: Jack & Sally's Theme, Vertigo

1:03:45 - Truth & Perception in the Trio

1:05:05 - Outro / Sources / Social Media / "Theme from The Conversation"

Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at [email protected]. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle).

All episodes are written and produced by Nick Nylen.

Sources:

Available on Amazon: "David Shire's The Conversation: A Film Score Guide" by Juan Chattah. 

Available on Amazon: Film commentaries from THE CONVERSATION (Francis Ford Coppola & Walter Murch, on Blu-ray),  BLOW-UP (Peter Brunette, DVD only). David Forgac’s essay “BLOW-UP: In The Details” included in the CRITERION COLLECTION release of BLOW-UP. 

Podcasts on iTunes: The Canon (episode & commentary on BLOW OUT), Soundtracking with Edith Bowman (James Mangold interview about LOGAN), Steven Benedict (BLOW UP, THE CONVERSATION, BLOW OUT episodes)

Interview with David Shire for ZODIAC at Film Score Monthly (subscribe at their website)

If you liked this podcast, check out The Discarded Image video essay on THE CONVERSATION entitled “Who’s Tracking Who?” on YouTube. https://youtu.be/dgAdI4pxlTM

You might also check out Drew Morton’s video essay on Vimeo, entitled CROSS-CUT, which connects BLOW UP, THE CONVERSATION, and BLOW OUT, entirely with visuals. https://vimeo.com/109405354

In this episode, we’ll explore the music in BLADE RUNNER and in BLADE RUNNER 2049 through films noir as well as electronic movie music. We’ll talk sound design much more than usual as its so tightly integrated into the soundscapes of these films.

Also related is a discussion on some of the social issues inherent in the music of the BLADE RUNNERs and noir, specifically race and gender politics.

SPOILERS for most of the major plot points in BLADE RUNNER and BLADE RUNNER 2049.

Show Notes:

0:00:00 - Introduction

Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at [email protected]. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle).

All episodes are written and produced by Nick Nylen.

Sources:

Noir Music Books (all on Amazon):

Other Noir Sources:

Essay “Crossing Musical Borders: The Soundtrack to Touch of Evil” by Jill Leeper from the book “Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Pop Music” (available on Amazon).

Essay “Notes on Film Noir” by Paul Shrader, published 1972 (http://intelligentagent.com/noir/Schrader.pdf)

Podcasts (all on iTunes):

Electronic Music Books (all on Amazon):

Blade Runner Specific Sources:

Michael Giacchino! Part III of our PLANET OF THE APES series!

Spurred by this year’s release of WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, we kick off Kinotes in a big way with an epic three-episode series on THE PLANET OF THE APES. Part I will tackle the original PLANET OF THE APES, Part II: RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, and Part III: DAWN & WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES.

In this episode, Part III, we'll explore Michael Giacchino’s scores from DAWN and WAR. We’ll discuss what Giacchino brings to the series as well as the major musical themes and influences.

SPOILERS for the major plot points of DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES! — and by extension, RISE. Actually let’s throw the ’68 film in there too.

Show Notes:

00:00 - Intro & Recap of Episodes 1 & 2

You can find a playlist of all the music used in this episode on our Spotify page - kinotespodcast.

Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at [email protected]. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle).

Sources:

“Music for Apes” featurette on the WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES Blu-ray. You can buy the Blu-ray on Amazon.com

“Simian Symphony: How Apes Music Evolved from Man” by Scorekeeper, from Birth.Movies.Death Magazine's Planet of the Apes Issue. You can buy the magazine at www.mondotees.com

The Soundcast & Cinematic Sound Radio podcast episodes on WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, which connected me to Morricone’s La Moglie Piu Bella score. You can subscribe to both these podcasts on iTunes.

Rebel Force Radio - Star Wars Oxygen: The Music of John Williams gave me much insight on the music of Star Wars. You can subscribe to Rebel for Radio on iTunes.

Shake The Box’s video on comparing the Mario music to WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES: https://youtu.be/Q-AUFoBSgn0

Special Thanks to Julie Popelka.

Part II of our PLANET OF THE APES series!

Spurred by this year’s release of WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, we kick off Kinotes in a big way with an epic three-episode series on THE PLANET OF THE APES. Part I will tackle the original PLANET OF THE APES, Part II: RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, and Part III: DAWN & WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES.

In this episode, Part II, we'll explore Patrick Doyle’s score from the first entry in the new APES trilogy, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. We’ll discuss how and why it’s radically different than Jerry Goldsmith’s 1968 score, but also which elements they share in common.

SPOILERS for pretty much all the major plot points of RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES!

Show Notes:

00:00 - Intro & Recap of Jerry Goldsmith Score

You can find a playlist of all the music used in this episode on our Spotify page - kinotespodcast.

Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at [email protected]. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle).

Sources:

“Composing the Score with Patrick Doyle” feature on the RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Blu-ray. You can buy the Blu-ray on Amazon.com

The Film Music Foundation’s interview with Patrick Doyle. Found on YouTube at https://youtu.be/_e2H7nOw1fk

Filmtracks.com editorial review of the RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES score.

Special Thanks to Dustin Painter, Julie Popelka, Linnea Snyder.

Spurred by this year’s release of WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, we kick off Kinotes in a big way with an epic three-episode series on THE PLANET OF THE APES. Part I will tackle the original PLANET OF THE APES, Part II: RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, and Part III: DAWN & WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES.

In this episode, Part I, we'll talk Jerry Goldmith's score from the original 1968 film, the part it has to play in film music history, his unorthodox approaches to composing and recording it, and tons more.

SPOILERS for only the 1968 PLANET OF THE APES in this one! Also, sorry, we won’t be talking about the original sequels, the television series, or Tim Burton’s remake.

Show Notes:

00:00 - Introduction

You can find a playlist of all the music used in this episode on our Spotify page - kinotespodcast.

Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at [email protected]. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle).

Sources:

Special Thanks to Dustin Painter, Julie Popelka, Linnea Snyder