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'Braven': An Analysis of the Score

A Score About Strength

By Tube MediaPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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Braven 2018 starring Jason Mamao and Stephen Lang

The thing that I love about film scores from a wide range of genres is their ability to comprehend and convey a certain type of emotion. A lot of people think that writing a film score is simple and that it’s not a really ambitious job; but it is. Anyone can write music but if you make your music different then you could be climbing the ladder. Hans Zimmer, a leading composers of the 21st century, said in his masterclass advert that anyone can write a blockbuster score, even a kid in a garage with an iPad in the Bronx. Everyone has the music in their lives but some people know how to get what they hear and feel in their head through the fingers onto paper for others to hear as well.

The soundtrack for Braven is really different to other soundtracks that I have listened to. It’s not as sparse has the score for Widows by Zimmer. Doesn’t include a lot of layers like Time or Autobots Reunite, it also doesn’t have a large moving percussive section like The Maze Runner. I could go on and list the differences and absences that Braven has. When I could talk about why the score is good even if you don’t rate the movie.

As I said earlier the soundtrack of a film tells as much of the story as the pictures. If we travelled to a paradox where you had no sight and let’s say you watched The Grey with Liam Neeson and had no narration. You could rely on the score to tell a part of the story. Part is in bold because there isn’t music playing at every single frame of film but rather intervals. If you listen to "Into The Fray/John’s walk": the score starts of with sweeping cellos and synth as if to put you in a place of solitude added with the piano that plays a sombre yet slightly hopeful melody. This suggest that something bad is happening and you are alone, you have know to help you. The strings also add resignation as if the character is fighting but has resigned with their fate. If you haven’t seen the film, why don’t you watch the ending where this music appears and listen to the correlation between the score and picture. This is why I love soundtracks because they make a part of the story too.

The video above is from Braven and is the intro to the film where the credits appear. The use of strings and an almost piccolo sound, reveal that this is film is set in an outdoor place like the forest or the mountains and at the beginning it sounds sombre and still then it picks up rhythm and a few layers of sound get added to make it more dramatic. This may be the intro and doesn’t reveal much but you already get given a sense of the setting and potential plot line. Just from listening to the music you can tell a little bit about the film. It is a moving score that doesn’t seem to have a lot of layers or a large orchestra. This can also hint at the fact that you won’t encounter a lot of characters and the storyline won’t be from a range of different characters perspective. The score also carries a level calm which is then portrayed through our main protagonist Joe Braven played by Jason Mamoa while he goes through the climatic part of the film.

The are other connotations that you can gather from listening to the soundtrack; everyone will hear and interpret different things but with this skill you can learn to immerse yourself in the score and hear what the composer could have heard when composing the soundtrack or the purpose of the score.

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