Keeping Score Between 'Dune' and Creative Drought
From “The Sound of Dune” via YouTube
Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 film Dune is a film made out of the love of Frank Herbert’s universe, originally portrayed in the writer’s 1965 book. Both Villeneuve and the film’s composer, Hans Zimmer, were enamored by the story from a young age. In their youth, both individually developed a vision for Dune, and in Zimmer’s case, a sound for what the final, realized universe could be. The unification of their concepts paid off tremendously with the film’s success at the 94th Academy Awards, where Zimmer was awarded his second Oscar for Best Original Score, 25 years after his win for 1994’s The Lion King.
Film music has existed for about as long as film itself. Even in the silent era, films were never truly silent, as they often had an accompanying piano, organ — even a whole orchestra. Naturally, as these were Western instruments, the standard for film scoring that emerged was heavily based on Western classical music conventions. Today, the number of instruments and techniques is vast, but the standard remains. Deviations are reserved for when you want to make it explicitly clear that the setting is “different,” which in most cases means not in America.
There’s an unspoken rule: while the European orchestra can be used with any story regardless of setting, you cannot do the same with any other type of music from around the world. It is okay to hear a sitar while looking at Chennai, but not Chicago. This type of thinking becomes extremely detrimental to the film composer’s creativity. Many scores are not memorable because they draw from the same well of aural cues: booming low brass means a large threat; velvety violins suggest a certain tax bracket, and discordant fiddles mean everything is not what it seems. There’s nothing inherently wrong with these cues, but it feels as though we have been drawing from this well forever, and now it has run dry.
Ideally, a score should be as unique as its film, which means developing an aural language as authentic as the visual language.
What the score for The Lion King and Dune have in common is reflecting their film’s distinctiveness. The Lion King was particularly unique for being Disney’s first animated feature not based on pre-existing intellectual property. The story was vastly different from the typical European princess tale, and it’s easy to tell from the second the score kicks in at the beginning of the film. While it is still evident that the score is based on the Western orchestral standard, elements are incorporated from the African continent, especially in terms of rhythm, which help establish the setting and immerse the viewer into that part of the world.
Unlike Africa, the world of Dune is not as familiar. The space saga is set about 20,000 years in the future, when humans have colonized various planets and developed new distinct cultures on each of them. Zimmer utilized instruments specifically invented for the film in the spirit of immersing the viewer in this world. This invention comprised mixing elements of the past and using new technologies to create something new. The best example of this is the horn-like sound that emerges when the House Atreides leaves Caladan. The real-world instrument that was played was a cello, but with the help of electronic chamber resonators, it got to a stage where it was mimetic of a Tibetan longhorn. The sounds of Dune are not easily identifiable, an intentional decision, considering the world in which the story takes place.
Villeneuve described Dune as being “about the triumph of human spirit.” That vision also comes to light through the score, where the most important feature, according to Zimmer, is not the new sounds — but the human voice. While instruments may evolve or fade out of use, the human voice remains. The full range of its capabilities is exploited in the film, echoing the world of the story itself, one in which human capabilities are truly tested. Dune’s nuances are communicated well through the Sardaukar chant to the Bene Gesserit whispers, and other instances where the human voice is used. As a result, it is not just the setting communicated through the score, but also the story.
While linguist David J. Peterson introduced new spoken and signed languages to this universe, Hans Zimmer introduced a new, distinct musical language, making his score for Dune deserving of all the recognition it received. Hopefully, Zimmer’s Oscar win will reinvigorate the approach to film scoring. It shouldn’t take a futuristic space saga for composers to start thinking out of the box. We experience stories told in all sorts of ways through film, so there’s no reason why scores can’t be approached the same. ♦