My soundtrack

When it comes to the world of soundtracks, there are lots of great ones. But Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack for Interstellar is without a doubt my all-time favorite one. The following are some of the scenes where it is played. It might be a spoiler for those who haven't seen it though!

It is especially interesting how in this scene the music has got a kind of tick that sounds every 1.25 seconds, which corresponds to a full day passing on Earth while they are on that planet. That is an incredible achievement by Zimmer on putting that much attention to time!

I’ve chosen it because I think it’s a deep and beautiful soundtrack that I genuinely love, and that I see as one of the best soundtracks in terms of ‘doing its job’ in the film. What I mean is that it matches flawlessly with the whole theme of the film, it makes suspension and tension grow when it’s needed, just at the exact moment. This music achieves to do so by going at a speed of 60 bpm (most of the time), like a clock would do, adding a lot of emphasis on time, especially in those scenes where actors are running out of time. That is the reason why I think they used it. For example, in the wave scene they have to get back to the pod before they are hit by a tsunami, and in the docking scene they have to take control of the spaceship before it falls into that planet. And in those scenes I think the music is just on point.

What makes it so recognizable and memorable is the deep feeling that it transmits, rather than other thing. Put it this way: our main protagonists are travelling through the immensity of space, lost in a sea of planets, darkness, stars, wormholes and blackholes, while having to face several challenges for making it out alive. It will also stick easily in your mind when it’s the only thing you can hear in a suspense scene filled with beautiful scenearies, and mixed with some short dialogues.


I also asked my family what their favorite soundtracks were and this is what they answered:

My dad's favorite: Love Story

My mom's favorite: The Mission https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LypWv1TmhoM&t=48s

My brother's favorite: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yfuo-VomlY

TEMP MUSIC

Temp music is when you are editing a film and you take music from another movie and use it temporarely in your cut. It is supposed to be replaced by a composer's original score, but sometimes directors or producers will tell their composers to imitate the temp.

These are some examples of temp music in movies:

John Williams - "Imperial Attack" from Star Wars (1977) and "Mars, The Bringer of War" by Gustav Holst, from The Planets (1914).

Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson - "Rescuing Harry" from Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) and Bear McCreary's "Hazmat Suit" from 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016).