I'm a student in cinema at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), and since September I'm following a class which deals with movie soundtracks. This course is great, I'm really enjoying it. By the end of the semester, I would be asked to write a paper about a free topic of my choice. After a few thoughts and hesitations, I finally decided to work on Elliot Goldenthal's score for David Fincher's Alien 3. I'm a huge fan of both Goldenthal and Fincher works, so it appeared to be the perfect subject.
However, a major problem made its apparition: there is almost nothing - no source - dealing with this topic! Thus I was wondering if you had any ideas concerning a book or an article which talks about Goldenthal's work for Alien 3.
Otherwise, there isn't much, no. There's a lot of writing on ALIEN, a few bits on ALIENS, but practically nothing in-depth on ALIEN 3 or ALIEN: RESSURECTION. None that I'm aware of, anyway.
There was an in-depth interview with Goldenthal in FSM back when Alien3 was composed. It was published in the FSM mag back in '92, and there were followup interviews with him after 'Interview with the vampire", and "Batman & Robin". Check with FSM (lukas, or whoever) about backissues or online prints of those.
Royal S. Brown mentioned a press release that had a lot of comments by Goldenthal about the creation of the score (and even mentioned a few of the more odd acoustic effects) in his review of the soundtrack album. Unfortunately, he was lamenting that the material was not included in the CD booklet.
Alien3 remains the masterpiece by Goldenthal. It is just the SCAREST and at the same time SUBLIME film score. The strangled sounds from the orchestra are unlike anything I had heard before. The sequence: Candles in the Dark one could have a field day parsing out the orchestration that ends on the most bizarre uplifting crescendo for a blood splattered scene.
Listen to it and use your OWN words. Compare it to Goldenthal's other work. Ripley's attempted rape sequence is marvelous and Goldenthal lifted it and inserted it into his Batman score- which is also a stunner.
The man has done things with an orchestra that are unique unto himself.... and Alien3 was THE FINEST film score of its year.
Greatly recommended.
(Fincher was lambasted for this film and its downer ending- which had to be reshot in order to avoid comparison to the new Terminator film- but oddly enough I have enjoyed this third incarnation more than all the others.... naturally the fourth one is easy to avoid as a complete mistake. Today Fincher is held in high regard and his latest effort The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a fantastic fable of great worthiness)
One of my favourite cues is left of the album, namely the one when the Japanese crew lands, luckily the end titles start off with this cue so it's not a complete loss.
And yes, on the quadrilogy boxset Goldenthal's scoring has a short documentary.
That's good enough for messageboards or more informal fora, but it's obviously not enough in an academic setting. My suggestion to loval - in the case that few analytical articles exist on this score - is to use cross-disciplinary texts that may support whatever angle you're coming from.
Alien3 remains the masterpiece by Goldenthal. It is just the SCAREST and at the same time SUBLIME film score. The strangled sounds from the orchestra are unlike anything I had heard before. The sequence: Candles in the Dark one could have a field day parsing out the orchestration that ends on the most bizarre uplifting crescendo for a blood splattered scene.
Listen to it and use your OWN words. Compare it to Goldenthal's other work. Ripley's attempted rape sequence is marvelous and Goldenthal lifted it and inserted it into his Batman score- which is also a stunner.
The man has done things with an orchestra that are unique unto himself.... and Alien3 was THE FINEST film score of its year.
Greatly recommended.
(Fincher was lambasted for this film and its downer ending- which had to be reshot in order to avoid comparison to the new Terminator film- but oddly enough I have enjoyed this third incarnation more than all the others.... naturally the fourth one is easy to avoid as a complete mistake. Today Fincher is held in high regard and his latest effort The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a fantastic fable of great worthiness)
Hester: I totally agree with your assessments! I also thought the #3 score both scary and magnificent (the ending as she falls into the furnace really is sublime).
I found the 4th film somewhat interesting but also too strange. But then again...what isn't in this series?
(That's good enough for messageboards or more informal fora, but it's obviously not enough in an academic setting. My suggestion to loval - in the case that few analytical articles exist on this score - is to use cross-disciplinary texts that may support whatever angle you're coming from. )
Or he could use his own ears and his own vocabulary and astound people with his own learned observations unless one is assuming he is an uneducated gerbil... which I doubt.
You do not need a PHD to discuss and evaluate music. Just ears, heart, and a soul.
Thor: Thanks for the link! I will soon take a closer look at it!
neelyre: I have a radio interview with Goldenthal which comes from the Film Music Network... Have you heard of it? It's called "An Evening With Composer Elliot Goldenthal".
Swashbuckler: Aw, that's too bad! Isn't there a way to put our hands on it?
LeHah: It seems that Scoresalot gave an answer to that! Great! I will watch it tonight!
ryankeaveney: Wow, that's wonderful, thanks! Do you have the exact sources for that article? I looked for them on the website and on fangoria.com, but I didn't find anything!
Hester_Prin: Of course, I will use my own words! But as Thor pointed out, it's not enough for an academic essay. That's why I must have a strong bibliography, which will also help me to find a way to approach Goldenthal's score. If I talk funny, it's because I'm from Switzerland ;-)
Hester_Prin: Of course, I will use my own words! But as Thor pointed out, it's not enough for an academic essay. That's why I must have a strong bibliography, which will also help me to find a way to approach Goldenthal's score. If I talk funny, it's because I'm from Switzerland ;-)
No, no, no. I meant the guy who writes with a Norwegian accent... the poor dear. You are Swiss... so you are neutral (and NEVER EVER agree with Thor... the earth will tilt on its axis).
You do not need a PHD to discuss and evaluate music. Just ears, heart, and a soul..
No, you don't need a Ph.D., but you DO need to use scholarly methodology. It's not a stand-up show where you can go on a personal film music rant. We have the FSM Messageboard for that!
Indeed. What's the point of universities, eh? Let's demolish them all and replace them with McDonalds and shopping malls!
Why not? McDonalds and shopping malls are far more useful! LOL
There are only two people on the planet whos views on Alien 3 really matter. Elliot Goldenthal's and mine. I don't need some hokum intellectual telling me what Maestro Goldenthal was thinking on the morning of 4th September 1991 or whenever he put pen to paper. Or how I should feel about what he wrote.
Intellectually, the level of well written CD liner notes is sufficient (which, unfortunately, Alien 3 didn't get).
I think we should go further. Why not demolish schools as well? After all, who needs writing and reading as long as we've got Big Macs? Let's all be fat and dumb.
I think we should go further. Why not demolish schools as well? After all, who needs writing and reading as long as we've got Big Macs?
Don't be silly, schools are good. Schools set you up with the tools necessary to survive in the world (yes, including reading and writing!) perhaps even bettering you for the benefit of mankind, blah blah blah.
Universities are for people who want to drink lots of beer and live away from their parents for a bit.
