Movie Scores with Unusual Time Signatures thread

[Garrett 153]

Quintuple Meter (upper number of 5):

• Saruman's theme (from Lord of the Rings)
• Gotham's Reckoning/Bane's theme (from The Dark Knight Rises)
• Mission Impossible main title

 

Septuple Meter (upper number of 7):

• The Tide Turns (0:15-0:55) (from The Phantom Menace)
• Ant Man theme
• 160 BPM (from Angels and Demons)
• Wonder Woman theme (Hans Zimmer)
• Themyscira (from Wonder Woman 1984)
• Fantastic Beasts main title (1:04-1:35)

 

Undecuple Meter (upper number of 11):

• Book of Boba Fett theme (0:00-0:20)

 

Tredecuple Meter (upper number of 13):

• Song of the Sisters (7:53-16:11) (from Hans Zimmer's Dune)

 

What are some other examples you guys can think of?

[Mr. Who 919]

Fun Thread!

 

160BPM from Angels and Demons, Themyscira from Wonder Woman 1984 and the Fantastic Beasts Main Title "Fanfare" (7/8) and the Mission Impossible theme (5/4). I don't have time stamps though.

[Garrett 153]

Interesting. I never realized that 160 bpm was in 7/8 until you mentioned it just now.

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

4 hours ago, Garrett said:

What are some other examples you guys can think of?

 

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

9 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

What I was going to say! About half of everything Jerry Goldsmith ever wrote?! Probably the most famous (and obvious) would be the opening to Capricorn One which I think is effectively in 11/8, although according to a thread on FSM the actual score is written as alternative 3/4 and 5/8 bars. The (slightly similar) opening to Night Crossing is (I think) also in 11/8. So much of his action music is in unusual time signatures. I've posted it before, but this analysis of The Hijacking from Air Force One (below) is a masterclass in using unusual time signatures and mixing them up keeps the momentum going. Those higher, odd numbered time signatures are great at keeping the energy up as the last beat (to make it an even number of beats in the bar) is missing and the beats almost "trips" into the next bar unexpectedly. Having 7 or 9 or 11 beats in your bar usually means the notes are grouped into 2s and 3s and you can group these in different ways to provide different emphasis (or keep the listening slightly off balance, much like the famous pulsing rhythms near the start of The Rite of Spring where Stravinsky deliberately avoided the down beat hitting the same point in each bar so you never quite know what's coming next.

 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,528]

There's a whole bunch for 5/4, 7/8, and 11/8 all over RUNAWAY.