Frankenstein: Anger as a Result of Social Influence
Clint Mansell is described as a method composer, an English musician/composer and a former lead singer/guitarist/keyboard player for the band “Pop Will Eat Itself”, from 1986 to 1996. His trademark is combining orchestral music with electronic instruments. Mansell was introduced to film scoring when director Darren Aronofsky, hired him to score his debut film PI. He states he has spent the past 15 years establishing one of the most critically lauded bodies of work in the industry. His style encompasses “Electronica” a broad group of electronic-based style such as techno, house styles, intended not just for dancing.
It is a type of music using electrical instruments such as synthesizers, electronic percussion and samples of recorded music or sound. 1 Mansell states that, “Perseverance and discipline are the keys to beginning to compose a film score. “Trial and error is really the thing.” He feels that finding a sound or a melody that connects with the film is what he is looking for when he composes.
Mansell was nominated and won for Best Original score at the 64th Annual Golden Globes Awards for the film score for “The Fountain”, 2007. 2
Moon- A science-fiction drama was widely praised for its scientific realism, 2009. The film's soundtrack features a leitmotif that surfaces for air during a particularly pivotal moment. Pounding drums, accompany a piano riff.
The scene is of the astronaut (Sam Sheppard) who is beginning to psychologically deteriorate as his three-year stint on the dark side of the moon is coming to an end. The loneliness, fear and hallucinations, he is experiencing is captured by the soundtrack and movie score. Mansell uses elements from classic music, 70’s electronic music, and post-rock to carry out the major themes in the touching powerful film. The film's music captures the loneliness, mystery, awe, and inspiration this astronaut is feeling throughout the film. A wide range of notes captures the man’s human side.
Black Swan is a Physiological drama, 2010. The movie revolves around a dancer by the name of Nina (Natalie Portman) in the New York Ballet company who is experiencing psychosis, hallucinations, and paranoia. She is consumed by a controlling mother, a need for perfection in her dancing, and rivalry between other dancers in the cast.
The film was scored based on Tchaikovsky’s ballet of Swan Lake with radical changes to the music. Minimalistic lyrics amplify the film’s ideas and themes. Nina is dancing in the scene, with red and green lights flashing. Psychologically she is in her mind with psychotic thoughts of perfection and abuse of her cast members. The music was classical Tchaikovsky, but Mansell had to break it up looping certain things to create themes. Classical scores go up and down, they are kind of hysterical in a way. The movie score drives and pushes the movie forward. Time repetitive beat, sounding like a light brush on symbols but rushes into an entrancing melody that feels otherworldly, creating the strange state of mind that she is in. Momentarily, the electronic dance music lets up, replaced by Clint Mansell’s atmospheric and tense nightmare lullaby ( which is Tchaikovsky’s “Swan lake played in reverse at a slower tempo), and Nina looks around in disbelief after coming out of what seems like a trance. The score displays the psychological changes she experiences in the scene.
