The Academy Awards, or the Oscars as they are commonly known, nominate great musicians every year for the music they contribute to films. There are two important awards given for music. The first award is for the best musical score, which is the entire musical composition written for a particular film. The second award is for the best song in a movie. The awards are not only based on the quality of the music, but how well the music corresponds with the film and its story. This year, the award for best musical score was given to Dario Marianelli, who wrote the music for the movie Atonement. The best song award went to Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova for their song “Falling Slowly” featured in the movie Once. Read below to find out more about each award, and to listen to the selected music. ATONEMENT Atonement is set during one day in the summer of 1935 during wartime. It tells the story of two sisters, Briony and Cecilia Tallis, and their’s housekeeper’s son Robbie. A series of misinterpreted events causes a tragedy that centers on 13-year-old Briony. Dario Marianelli, the composer of Atonement’s musical score, became well-known in Hollywood after writing the music for Brother’s Grimm and Pride and Prejudice in 2005. A critic said that the music in Atonement contains two main ideas: minimalism for Briony’s character, and sad romance for the separated lovers (Cecilia and Robbie). In addition to the piano and string instruments, Marianelli includes the sounds of a typewriter in the music because one of the protagonists frequently uses a typewriter in the story. The sound of the typewriter is used as an intense percussion instrument, creating an emotional connection between the film’s viewers and its characters. [Atonement: Music From The Motion Picture] ONCE The film Once is about an Irish singer who performs on the streets. He meets a young Czech immigrant who sells flowers on the street to support her mother and child. The pair begin a musical collaboration and in the process they start to fall in love. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova not only wrote the winning song, “Falling Slowly,” but they are the main protagonists of the film Once. Hansard knows a lot about the character he played in the film, because he used to play music in the streets. Now he is part of a band called The Frames and has collaborated with Irglova, an independent musician. Once is an independent, low-budget movie (it was made with little money), and it was filmed in only 17 days. Neither Hansard nor Irglova had experience acting before the movie. John Carney, the director, chose the pair because he thought is was more important to have “singers that can half act, than actors who can half sing.” Because the Hansard and Irglova knew each other before the film, their connection is felt in the movie. What’s more, Irglova’s character speaks very little English, so music is important to how the characters communicate. “Art and music is a whole other form of communication,” Carney said in an interview. “I find it quite amazing.” |