My 5 Favorite MIDI Movie Themes

This is a follow up of my past article about My 10 Best MIDI TV Themes.

Just like most TV shows, movies are most often identified with their main theme - that usually catchy tune that are either played at its opening or end credits or sometimes accompanies its most thrilling scenes. When I say movie theme, I don't mean the theme song that usually comes with the movie - although some movie main themes are sometimes based on the song. For example, Ghost's main theme is a moving orchestral arrangement of its theme song Unchained Melody, and you can hear a hint of Can You Read My Mind in the Superman theme. Ever since I was a child, I was captivated by movie themes and most often they are retained in my mind. Most people never really care about the music - they don't usually distinguish if a certain music was from Dances With Wolves or from Lord of the Rings. They just think of them as just ordinary musical background for the movie. But for me, the main theme give a movie a unique "personality". Try watching the Oscars and you will notice that if a certain movie is given an award, the movie's score is played by the orchestra while the recipient goes to the stage.

So what is my criteria for choosing the movie themes listed below? Honestly, I am not quite sure. I just find them catchy, melodious, and sometimes epic in scale just like the movie they represent. It doesn't necessarily mean that I chose them because these are my favorite movies. Believe me, I love Lord of the Rings so much but I can't seem to retain its main theme. Maybe because I find it too dark and abstract, unlike the magnific main theme of Indiana Jones. I narrowed my choices to just 5. If I am to discuss all my favorite themes, this blog space may not be enough. Also, I used an unordered list because I did not arranged them in any particular order. So here they are.

• Back To The Future (Listen) Alan Silvestri employed a fast paced style of music in this movie's main theme - apt for its fast paces non-stop action and equally exhilarating subject of time travel. Listening to this music, I could almost see the DaLorean (this was the time machine used in the movie) accelerating to 88 miles per hour and zooming across the time barrier to its destination at an unknown point in time. Of all the time travel movies that I watched, this I think is the best one - even better than the adaptation of H.G. Wells' Time Machine. The reason - aside from its irreverent comedy - is its ability to incorporate complex theories of time travel without confusing the audience. I lost track of how many time I watched the trilogy and until now I still could not find any flaw in the movie's intertwining events. But then, this article's topic is about the music and not the movie itself. So just enjoy listening to the MIDI file I provided.


• Schindler's List (Listen) In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this film #9 on the list of Best 100 American movies of all time. Needless to say, I think this is the most moving and powerful movie you and I have ever watched. And a moving and powerful movie deserves an equally emotionally stirring score to go with it. John Williams really did a great job at that. Proof? He went on to win an Academy Award in Best Score for his work in this movie. A story goes that Williams hesitated at first saying that the immensity of this movie deserves a better composer. Steven Spielberg replied : "I know. But they are all dead." There is a piano version of this music played by Williams himself. But Itzhak Perlman's "wailing" violin solo version sounds more intense and uncannily captures the movie's subject about one of the darkest periods of history.


• Star Wars (Listen)
George Lucas contends that much of these trilogies' success relies not much on advanced visual effects, but on the simple, direct emotional appeal of its plot, characters and, importantly, music. And who else can accomplish such a feat other than John Williams?
In the films, Williams revived a technique called "Leitmotif", which is used in modern film scoring to mentally anchor certain parts (or characters) of the film to the soundtrack.
The main anthem of the saga, easily its most recognizable melody, is considered one of the greatest movie themes of all time. The main theme is variously associated with Luke, heroism and adventure. It is heard in full Korngoldian splendor over the opening crawl at the beginning of all the films, and forms the basis of the end-title as well. Another imposing part of the score is the Imperial March or Darth Vader's theme easily distinguished by its ferocious martial rhythm and dark, non-diatonic harmonic support.(The MIDI file attached here contain's an excerpt of the march.) William's clever use of "leitmotif" was evident in one of the scenes in Episode 1 where Anakin was presented by Obi Wan to the Jedi council (headed by non-other than Yoda) on which the score began to show subtle hints of the Darth Vader's theme, a premonition of the dark person this "young-ling" (did I spell it right?) would eventually turn into. Listen to the Stars Wars medley included in this article which features various part of the score and be impressed by the genius of Williams.

• Harry Potter (Listen) Some critics argue that the Harry Potter music is one of John William's inferior movie scores, comparing it to the successes of his other works like Star Wars. But who cares what these critics think? When Sorcerer's Stone was released it cracked the top 10 albums in sales! I myself am a Harry Potter fan, both of the books and the films - although in my case, I had watched the first Harry Potter movie before I was drawn to the books. (I was not even aware that the Sorcerer's Stone was based on a book before I've seen the movie!) Since then, I always anticipated the next installment of the movie, and almost always amazed at how the film makers bring to life the scenes in the book. I am equally thrilled at how Williams brought those scenes to life, and how closely he captured the magical nature of the film by means of his distinctive movie scoring style. Just by listening to the movie's prologue music (also called Hedwig's theme, included in this article), one would be drawn to it's mysterious quintessence (augmented by its extensive use of the celesta, bells, and wordless female choir). True, some part of the film's score, are somehow reminiscent of William's score for Hook. This is understandable since both films both explore a magical world. But for me the Harry Potter theme has its own unique personality, which seem to linger in my mind long after I left the movie theater.


• Superman Theme (Listen) The majestic horn ensemble heard at the intro of the Superman theme exemplifies heroism, bravery, and invincibility. This intro is also ofter heard within the movie when Superman appears in a quick-cut on-screen - or when he arrives just in time to save the day. (I could almost hear - echoing in the background - the phrase: "Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! No it's a plane! No, its...you know who...) This phrase or "fanfare" also appears many times in the main theme. After this intro comes a series of musical phrases, subdued at first, then gradually crescendos into a relentless and thrilling full orchestral ensemble leading into the main theme. No doubt, its a fitting introduction for one of the best loved if not everyone's favorite superhero. And who else could magnificently carve this chef-d'oeuvre other than the master himself, John Williams. (Him again?)
  

  John Williams composed the "Superman March" as well as the score for the 1978 Superman. Although he did not wrote the score for the succeeding 4 films, the main theme that he wrote continued to be adopted on these sequels, with John Williams cited in the credits.

  I think the Superman theme is the most iconic of all the superhero movie themes and had the most impact. Well, I could recognize or distinguished the themes from Spiderman or Batman or any other hero movies once I hear them, but I couldn't quit retain their main melody. One reason maybe is that Superman is my favorite of all the super heroes. I couldn't explain it any better than the comment of David Carradine's character in Kill Bill 2 about Superman. He said that of all the super heroes Superman was the most unique of them all. He added that unlike other super heroes like Batman or Spiderman (who woke up in the morning as themselves and later assume superhero identities), "Superman didn't become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he's Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red "S", that's the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears - the glasses, the business suit - that's the costume..."

Well that's it folks, my 5 favorite MIDI movie themes. Too bad I had space for just 5 in this article. Hundreds of movie themes in MIDI format are available throughout the web. Just google for your favorite and you'll sure to find one.

Sources:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378194/quotes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_the_Future_trilogy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_music

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_music

http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/harry_potter.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_(film)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_music