There are countless TV series that have rushed to the big screen, but few have been as long-lasting as the [Mission Impossible] series. Soundtrack artist Lalo Schifrin composed a household name for Mission Impossible, which began airing in 1966, and is arguably one of the greatest title songs for a TV series.
Decades later, the film adaptation, although the style and level of the series are uneven due to the change of soundtrack artists, which greatly reduces the overall sense, but the Siflin theme song that must be used at the beginning of each work continues the iconic symbol of this series of matches to light the fuse.
Unquenchable matches and fuses
As soon as the opening song written by Siflin sounded, the opening piece of the match lighting the fuse came to mind. In today's common music, pop songs, dance music, etc. are mostly four beats, and for the public who do not understand music in depth, four beats have become the default value of music. People have always mastered the four beats the easiest, in large part because they can synchronize with the pace of walking or dancing.
However, there are countless atypical beats in the music. The opening song of [Mission Impossible] created by Siflin was filmed on May 4, which was very outstanding in the beat first, and Siflin himself joked that it was for five-legged people to dance. The song, and even the entire soundtrack, is in the light Latin American jazz style.
▲ The episodic version of "Mission Impossible" was born in the 1960s when the spy theme was blowout, and the popular jazz bloodline at that time disappeared from [Mission Impossible 5].
Jazz and spy movies seem inseparable. From the [Pink Panther] series to the Secret Agent and Mission Impossible episodes, the jazz style is somewhat influenced by the 007 movies.
During the Cold War, when spy-type films and television were in full swing, the story of [Dr. 007 No no Noir] took place in Jamaica, where composer Monty Newman was willing to take charge of the soundtrack after producer Salzman promised him to go to Jamaica with the crew.
When Monty Norman returned from a public trip, he used the Calypso elements of surf rock and Latin America that were popular throughout the country at the time. Collaborator John Barry's jazz-inspired arrangements were even more profound, inadvertently making this type of music the hallmark of spy cinema for the second half of the century. Guitar and saxophone, trumpet and Bongo drums, these instruments are essential elements. [Mission Impossible] has more or less kept up with this trend.
The first four films with very different styles
The first "Mission Impossible" directed by Brian de Parrama, with Danny Eifman as the soundtrack, is most loyal to Siflin's original in terms of instrumental texture. Eifman's score as a whole favors small compositions, not pursuing the grandeur of orchestral music, but focusing on the individual timbre texture of each instrument. He added layering to the soundtrack through clean and neat strings, the piano's low-pitched monotony, and extensive use of finely fragmented percussion instruments.
Wu Yusen's "Mission Impossible 2" has a slightly lower reputation. By this time, the series had drifted more and more away from the style of TV dramas and embarked on the road of large-scale action movies. The composer who composed the soundtrack for it was Hans Zimmer, who excelled at big productions.
However, Zimmer's mixed score, as unpopular as the film, has become a low point in his historical works. In addition to having the new metal band Limp Bitzkit play the classic theme song, it is a heavy use of synthetic symphonies similar to [Daredevil Island]. In addition, flamenco-style themes are attributed to a collaboration with another composer, Heitor Pereira.
▲ Soundtrack artist Michael Giacino laid the stylistic foundation for large orchestral music from the third part, and the opera house passage in [Mission Impossible 5] can also be felt
J.J.· Abrams took over the third part, greatly salvaging the reputation of the series. The soundtrack of the film was naturally composed by Michael Giacchino, the royal composer of Abrams.
This duo, in a way, is a younger version of Steven Spielberg and John Williams. The Williams-style soundtrack by Giachino also finalized the direction of the "Mission Impossible" series of soundtracks: the traditional orchestra in the epic style.
Gialkino has since composed the soundtrack for the fourth film directed by Brad Bird, further cementing this trend. This transition is very similar to the transformation of the 007 soundtrack: when 007 changed from a plot-oriented to a tough guy-style big-scene action movie, the soundtrack also became more and more detached from the original jazz style and shifted to a large orchestra.
Write a Siflin-style soundtrack
Joe Kraemer, the composer of [Mission Impossible 5], is not well-known in the soundtrack industry, and his own works are few, but judging from the soundtrack of "Kidnapping Point" and "Detective Jack", his skills cannot be underestimated.
[Mission Impossible 5] gives Kramer a great space to develop his talents, and he gives Siflin's originals a new lease of life in a large orchestra. Kramer has said that it is a work that pays homage to Siflin in the 1960s, and his idea is to imagine how Siflin would have scored the work.
Kramer's soundtrack is similar in sound texture to Giachino's two works, with heavy orchestral notes of non-stop strings and sharp brass. His soundtrack has a strong sense of integrity, and he has a steady grasp of the rhythm of the film, and Giacino's two works are too fragmented and cluttered compared to them.
Because Kramer's compositions have a distinctly minimalist style, he also admits that the minimalist music master Philip Glass had a profound influence on him.
▲ [Mission Impossible 5] Soundtrack artist Joe Kramer borrowed heavily from the "legacy" of his predecessor Siflin, deconstructing first and then transposing, simple but not simple
This time, the soundtrack quotes The theme of Siflin the most in the five film scores, but it is not easy to do it without tediousness with a single theme song throughout the film, which is the point of Kramer's great success.
The first three composers applied the theme song almost completely, while he decomposed the theme song into three parts according to the part, each part with structure, instrumentation or rhythm variations, so that the iconic melody and rhythm really came alive, and filled the whole film in a subtle way.
When the film opens with the logo of the studios, Kramer has already used several sets of crescendo repetitive single tones to make the atmosphere tense in an instant, and declares the minimalist style of the soundtrack. This monophonic repetitive pattern not only supports the deconstruction of later theme songs, but also serves as transitional music between scenes and passages, which is a simple but effective way to maintain rhythm and camera coherence.
Giacino is also fond of this technique, in addition to the two [Mission Impossible], his [Star Trek], [Jurassic World] and other soundtracks this single-tone repetition technique is also very common. But his handling is obviously not as skillful and flexible as Kramer's, and the flood is like a bear child pressing a button, making people physically uncomfortable.
Kramer's mastery of rhythm is even more dexterous. In order to make the music and the film similar in speed, and even play a role in guiding the rhythm of the film, the soundtrack often uses the method of converting the speed of music travel and the orchestration to achieve the goal. And Kramer, in several major action scenes in the film, unobtrusively allows the music to change flexibly between four, five, six and seven beats, which greatly enriches the rhythm.
The theme music of the characters
With new characters, it is natural that new themes are indispensable. The second biggest theme in the soundtrack is "The Plot", which is heavily used when the action group is on mission. The theme was first revived in the third soundtrack created by Giachino, still as a soundtrack for mission execution.
In Mission Impossible 5, Kramer decides to give this theme to Benji, a military master played by Simon Peggy. This did succeed in getting Siflin's score to be used frequently again, but the direction of the suspenseful music did not quite match Bangui's character, who shouldered most of the laughter of the film.
▲ Ilsa's theme music is based on the opera "Turandot", almost throughout her literary plays
The theme of Irsha, played by Rebecca Ferguson, is adapted from "The Princess Stays Up All Night" in Puccini's opera Turandot. I believe that many people have a deep feeling for such a scene: an old summer, a street corner, chatting with someone left a lingering impression. The smell of that moment, or the music you hear, inadvertently breaking into your presence again in the future, can evoke that memory.
Kramer conceived the heroine's theme from this phenomenological point of view. Ethan Hunter, played by Tom Cruise, is in an opera house drama, and when he first sees Ilsa, the singer sings this passage. In several subsequent conversations with Irsa, Kramer brings the melody back, recreating the memory of her in the opera house from Hunter's perspective.
What Kramer did not take into account, however, was the extent to which Pucheni's aria was so widely disseminated. Whether it's the World Cup, the chocolate commercial, or Sarah Brightman's concert, it has given the song too much cultural connotation, weakening the cohesive effect he envisions on the audience's thoughts.
▲ The theme music of the villain Solomon Lane has been carefully polished by Kramer, setting off the mystery and danger of the characters
Sean Harris plays the villain Solomon Lane, whose theme music is one of the few originals in the film and the best melody of the soundtrack. The same single phrase theme behaves very differently on different instruments. Through the transformation from flute to violin to trumpet, from low-volume single instrument playing to the symphony of the hairy orchestra, the mysterious, sinister and intimidating character characteristics are fully displayed and full of tension.
In the film, Ryan's themes emerge from time to time in a low-key form, subtly shaping his and his agency's sense of uncertainty and pervasive intrigue.
The soundtrack created by Kramer for [Mission Impossible 5] can be described as a new high in the series, whether it is the quality of the music itself or its performance in the film, it lives up to expectations, and also makes people see the future direction of the soundtrack of the [Mission Impossible] series.
All major spy movie series have unique musical logos. Bond had his jazz symphony and Bourne had his electronic orchestra. After exploring the first two films, since [Mission Impossible 3], Giachino has let the handsome and scummy Ethan Hunt regain his voice with two loud orchestras in a row, while Kramer's soundtrack for [Mission Impossible 5] has made this sound shine.
(This article was originally published in the movie watching APP mobile client)