Fionn Fitzpatrick-
Upon recently being introduced to software called PaulStrech, that can slow any piece of music down by 1000% while still maintaining quality production (making Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ sound like a lost track from Kid A), I stumbled upon a 58 minute epic of the Jurassic Park theme. Sceptically putting on the headphones, I was amazed at how instantly the brooding, cosmic soundscape connected with me. It was like I had heard it a million times before, which of course I had. The familiarity of the Jurassic Park theme is a treasured thing for me. It simply sounds like nostalgia; sitting a foot from the television at 5 years old as Sam Neill gazed wisely out the plane window at a flock of pelicans, pondering the brilliance of evolution (when really he should have been in a straitjacket rocking furiously back and forth, suffering horribly from post-traumatic stress).
Jurassic Park is one of maybe two films that I feel uniquely belong to me. When I was young, it was challenged only by Tim Burton’s Batman. My memories of watching these two masterpieces of cinema from aged 4 or 5 are quite hazy. After all, at that age you only watch TV for the pretty colours. Movies are just slightly more complicated pictures. However, whenever I hear the main theme from Jurassic Park or Batman, from John Williams and Danny Elfman respectfully, I remember how much I enjoyed those sounds as a child. It’s probably why at 19 I dig for fossils in the day and fight crime at night. But I’ve said too much.
Great directors know the value of a great film score. Woody Allen’s Manhattan is remembered as much for its Gershwin soundtrack as it is its “Why is life worth living?” scene. Think of Speilberg’s classics alongside Jurassic Park; E.T, Indiana Jones, Shindler’s List, Catch Me If You Can. All of them have instantly recognisable scores that drop the audience into those worlds. Listen to the Catch Me If You Can theme as you’re walking to college in the morning and you’ll instantly start to feel stealthy; the Gladiator theme and you would fist-fight a tiger. This is what great film scores can do. They allow us escape from ourselves and live a different life, if only for a few minutes (a few more with help from PaulStretch).
Feel free to post your favourite film scores below!
