Most overused film scoring tricks and licks......

[hoby12 0]

List all your way over used tricks and licks here.....

For Example this chord change:

Dm | Bbm| Gm | Em

and this lick

Up-------- Down--- Up----

G Ab C# D - C# Ab G Ab C# D ........Etc (repeat fast)

and

Female modal solo voice ad lib (Gladiator type stuff)

what else?

[pixie_twinkle 48]

Over-use of chromatic 3rd relationships,which is where the music moves from one chord to another by third, but retains the same mode. Examples of this include Hoby's first example above, but also CM to EbM, or CM to EM, or dm to fm etc. In standard common-practice music the mode typically changes when a chord moves by third, for instance in C major the chord one third above and below C are both minor (e and a respectively). Vaughan Williams made excellent use of chromatic third chords. However some film composers like to use them as a cheap trick, a quick and easy way to get that "other-worldly" effect. Howard Shore's Rings scores are full of them. The "Fellowship theme" for example begins with a chromatic third. CM, EbM, back to CM.

Good work Hoby! I love these theory threads!

[pixie_twinkle 48]

Another good one is piano (or keyboard or mallet-percussion) ostinati in horror films. This all started back in 1973 when director William Friedkin used the opening ostinato from Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" as the main theme for The Exorcist. The success of the hypnotic repetitive piano pattern in the horror film led to every horror composer since then using the same trick. All John Carpenter horror films use ostinatos, especially Halloween (perhaps the most famous of all) and The Thing. Many Italian horror films have music by the synth band Goblin, and these are based on ostinati too, especially Susperia and Tennebrae. The main theme from Phantasm also. The list is endless. Oh, and then of course there's Jaws. This was a doubly clever idea on John Williams' part as the ostinato not only has the chilling effect of telling us we are watching a scary movie, it also directly represents the single-mindedness of the shark as central character.

[jgraves 0]

...and let's all not forget the infamous tritone spacing of minor block chords = suspense!!

Other guys hack it out in such an uncreative manner, But Williams pulls the same trick and manages to do it in new, innovative ways. I believe the best use of this is the wonderful and mysterious Ark theme, especially in the cue "Map Room At Dawn," but of course the Death Star motive is pretty good too...

Jason

[ChrisAfonso 186]

I don't think most of those things are bad per se, just that they're used badly.

[Falstaft 2,132]

Good: I-V/V-I

Evil: i-bvi-i

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Good work Hoby! I love these theory threads!

We can always use more of these, but Harry Potter and Episode III anticipation threads get in the way all the time.

[pixie_twinkle 48]

I don't think most of those things are bad per se, just that they're used badly.

Exactly! When they are used as effects to heighten already good music they can be exciting and appropriate. It is when lazy composers use these tricks AS the music that I find myself getting annoyed. Mainly because these hacks are getting paid more than me!!!

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

Evil: i-bvi-i

I saw Tomb Raider 2 last year and heard that chord progression. I shouted out loud "Hey! He stole the Chamber theme!". Thankfully I wasn't in public, just my family giving me funny looks.

[A24 4,331]

The overuse of the symphonic orchestra in film and TV. Ya can't watch a film/program these days without a couple of bass trombones burdening your ear drums. The symphonic orchestra itself becomes a cliché.

----------------

Alex Cremers

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

This pop progression's the latest thing these days...

I-bVI-IVb-IVb

i.e. Man of Steel

i-bVI-iv or i-bVI-IV

i.e. Skyfall

Ludwig here dubs the 'Plagal Thirds Progression.'

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

2:19-2:25

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

There's a couple of moments like that in SKYFALL too. They make me think 'jheeze Tom, couldn't you think of something more interesting than an tutti unison octatonic ascent?'

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

And it ain't even the whole thing that bugs me. It's when it reaches that last scale step. It's fuckin' everywhere.