Table Of ContentHARMONY, ASSOCIATIVITY, AND METAPHOR IN THE FILM
SCORES OF ALEXANDRE DESPLAT
BY
EWAN ALEXANDER CLARK
A thesis submitted to Victoria University of Wellington
in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Victoria University of Wellington
January 2018
Abstract
The objective of this doctoral study is to develop and demonstrate a theoretical
framework to guide both the analysis and composition of twenty-first-century film
music. The compositional portfolio submitted as part of this thesis includes scores for
nine short films and for a feature-length docudrama. The thesis is based on analysis of
twenty feature film scores by Alexandre Desplat (b. 1961), with particular attention to
two: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2009) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).
Studying one composer’s output enables the observation of a compositional voice
articulated across multiple film genres. Desplat’s work has proven a relevant and worthy
subject, because the films he has scored exemplify a wide variety of styles and
approaches, including skilful integration of past styles and current trends.
The theoretical framework I use to discuss both Desplat’s film music and my own, draws
together selected concepts from semiotics, metaphor theory, narratology, and harmonic
analysis, especially transformational theory. I use the framework to explore how musical
objects – such as modes, chords, and their transformations through time – might act as
symbols, icons, or metaphors for one or more elements of the narrative – such as a
setting, character, characters’ emotions, events, or the attitude of the cinematic narrator.
It is argued that this combination of ideas provides a suitable framework – useful in both
composition and analysis – for understanding how music might expressively contribute
to filmic narratives.
It is argued that Neo-Riemannian triadic transformations – in Desplat’s work and mine,
at least – are often most usefully considered in relation to the scales and modes that they
articulate, transform, and/or subvert. This is a point of difference from other recent
transformational analysis of film music. Although my analyses focus primarily on pitch-
based features, I also consider how these elements accrue meaning in their interactions
with other musical features, such as tempo and orchestration.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................. 5
ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................................. 5
INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 6
0.1 HOLLYWOOD FILM MUSIC IN THE EARLY TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY .................................... 7
0.2 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ALEXANDRE DESPLAT .................................................................. 8
0.3 WHY STUDY DESPLAT’S FILM SCORES? ......................................................................................... 9
0.4 THE TWENTY CORPUS FILMS ........................................................................................................ 11
CHAPTER 1 METHODOLOGY AND LITERATURE REVIEW ................................. 13
1.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS .................................................................................................................. 13
1.2 METHODOLOGY OVERVIEW: A SYNTHESIS OF NARRATOLOGY, MUSIC THEORY,
SEMIOTICS, AND METAPHOR THEORY .............................................................................................. 13
1.3 NARRATOLOGY AND FILM MUSIC ................................................................................................ 15
1.3.1 Chatman’s Story and Discourse ................................................................................................... 15
1.3.2 Film music and narrative levels .................................................................................................... 18
1.3.3 Film music and agency ................................................................................................................. 20
1.4 MUSIC THEORY ............................................................................................................................... 24
1.4.1 Orthography of pitches, scale degrees, intervals and chords ............................................................. 25
1.4.2 Scale type nomenclature ................................................................................................................ 27
1.4.3 Mode nomenclature ...................................................................................................................... 30
1.4.4 Rarity of tonal interval classes, scale degrees, scale types, and modes ............................................... 32
1.4.5 Intervallic similarities between scale types ...................................................................................... 43
1.4.6 Similarity of modes’ structural features ......................................................................................... 47
1.4.7 Transformational Analysis .......................................................................................................... 50
1.5 FILM MUSIC, SEMIOTICS, AND METAPHOR THEORY ................................................................. 88
1.5.1 Peirce’s Trichotomies .................................................................................................................... 88
1.5.2 Musical associativity .................................................................................................................... 91
1.5.3 Music as iconic metaphor ........................................................................................................... 104
1.5.4 Mode, affect, and topic ............................................................................................................... 114
1.5.5 TTPC, affect, and topic ............................................................................................................. 118
CHAPTER 2 FINDINGS OF THE CORPUS STUDY ................................................. 122
2.1 TTPC CONTENT IN THE CORPUS FILMS ................................................................................... 122
2.2 DESPLAT’S EXPRESSIVE USE OF CHORD TYPES ....................................................................... 135
2.3 DESPLAT’S EXPRESSIVE USE OF MODES ................................................................................... 140
2.3.1 Uses of Aeolian mode (dia6) ...................................................................................................... 144
2.3.2 Uses of Dorian mode (dia2) ....................................................................................................... 152
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2.3.3 Uses of harmonic minor (hmin1) ................................................................................................ 157
2.3.4 Uses of melodic minor ascending (mmin1) ................................................................................... 161
2.3.5 Uses of Lydian flat 3 (hmaj4) ................................................................................................... 164
2.3.6 Uses of Phrygian mode (dia3) .................................................................................................... 170
2.3.7 Uses of chromatic Lydian inverse (cli1) ...................................................................................... 176
2.3.8 Uses of Phrygian flat 4 (hmaj3) ................................................................................................. 178
2.3.9 Uses of Ionian mode (DIA1) .................................................................................................... 179
2.3.10 Uses of Lydian mode (DIA4) ................................................................................................. 184
2.3.11 Uses of Mixolydian mode (DIA5) .......................................................................................... 188
2.3.12 Uses of Lydian dominant (MMIN4) ...................................................................................... 192
2.3.13 Uses of Mixolydian flat 6 (MMIN5) ..................................................................................... 194
2.3.14 Uses of harmonic major (HMAJ1) ......................................................................................... 196
2.3.15 Uses of whole-half diminished (oct2) ......................................................................................... 198
2.3.16 Summary of Desplat’s expressive use of modes .......................................................................... 201
2.4 DESPLAT’S EXPRESSIVE USE OF CHROMATICISM .................................................................... 203
2.4.1 Uses of bimodality ..................................................................................................................... 203
2.4.2 Uses of modal mixture ............................................................................................................... 207
2.4.3 Uses of chromatic TTPCs ......................................................................................................... 212
2.4.4 CoTCaS absolute progressions that change the scale using extra-triadic tones only ....................... 238
2.4.5 Tonic-preserving CoS progressions .............................................................................................. 242
2.4.6 Modulatory passages .................................................................................................................. 244
2.4.7 Expressive uses of linear chromaticism ....................................................................................... 253
2.5 DESPLAT’S MUSICAL EXPRESSION: A SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ............................................. 256
CHAPTER 3 CLOSE ANALYSES OF TWO DESPLAT SCORES ............................... 261
3.1 MUSIC OF THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON ......................................................... 261
3.1.1 Main theme ............................................................................................................................... 262
3.1.2 Benjamin’s theme ....................................................................................................................... 266
3.1.3 Daisy’s theme ............................................................................................................................ 267
3.1.4 Loss theme ................................................................................................................................ 269
3.1.5 Murmansk motifs ...................................................................................................................... 271
3.1.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 275
3.2 MUSIC OF THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL ............................................................................. 276
3.2.1 Music and Wes Anderson’s style ............................................................................................... 276
3.2.2 Music of Zubrowka ................................................................................................................... 281
3.2.3 Leitmotifs .................................................................................................................................. 282
3.2.4 Close analysis: “A Troops Barracks” ........................................................................................ 291
3.3 THE CLOSE ANALYSES: AN AFTERWORD .................................................................................. 296
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CHAPTER 4 THEORY IN PRACTICE IN MY FILM SCORING WORK ................. 297
4.1 UNIT 6 ............................................................................................................................................. 300
4.2 LONER ............................................................................................................................................ 303
4.3 OSMONDE ...................................................................................................................................... 305
4.4 GINA ............................................................................................................................................... 307
4.5 SHMEAT .......................................................................................................................................... 308
4.6 WELLINGTOPIA ............................................................................................................................. 313
4.7 DOUBT: THE SCOTT WATSON CASE ......................................................................................... 316
4.7.1 Music and the characterisation of Scott Watson .......................................................................... 317
4.7.2 Expressing mystery and unease .................................................................................................. 320
4.8 PIGS ................................................................................................................................................ 322
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ...................... 324
APPENDIX A: CUE BREAKDOWN FOR THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN
BUTTON ......................................................................................................................... 328
APPENDIX B: CUE BREAKDOWN FOR THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL ... 337
BIBLIOGRAPHY/FILMOGRAPHY ............................................................................. 345
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Acknowledgements
I wish to thank my supervisors for their tremendously helpful guidance and feedback.
Professor John Psathas, who was primarily responsible for mentoring me in my practical
composition work, was unwaveringly supportive and wise in his advice. His intervention
led to my involvement in a number of exciting film scoring projects, including Let Down
Your Hair, PIGS, and Doubt: The Scott Watson Case. Michael Norris gave valuable, detailed,
and meticulous feedback on the thesis, especially in regard to the music theory work. Dr
David Cosper replaced Dr Stephan Prock one year into my PhD study. Dr Prock’s
experience in film music studies was of great value in the early stages as I formulated my
topic. Dr Cosper, bringing strong expertise in narratology, interdisciplinary research, and
contemporary music, provided scrupulous feedback on many drafts. I would also like to
thank Dr Juan Chattah for offering important insights into some of my early ideas in
regard to metaphor theory. The three examiners, Dr Dugal McKinnon, Dr Gregory
Camp, and Dr Scott Murphy, all provided excellent suggestions for improvements to the
thesis, which have raised its value considerably. Finally, I would like to thank my wife,
Joelle, for her unwavering patience and support.
Abbreviations
CN Cinematic narrator
CoS Change of scale (TSPC category)
CoTCaS Change of tonal centre and scale (TSPC category)
CoTC Change of tonal centre (TSPC category)
ic(n) Interval class (n)
NRO Neo-Riemannian operator
NRT Neo-Riemannian theory
PTC Piece to camera
TAFM Transformational analysis of film music
TSPC Tonal scalar progression class
1
TTPC Tonal triadic progression class
VO Voice-over
1 After Murphy (2014a)
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Introduction
The prolific French composer Alexandre Desplat (b. 1961) is one of the most acclaimed,
and arguably one of the most important, film composers to have emerged since the turn
of the century. Very few studies exist that analyse one composer’s style and methods, and
fewer still focus on twenty-first century scores. This study aims to fill that gap, with a
study of an individual composer serving the greater task of describing the new century’s
changing practices. Desplat’s music exemplifies many of the film music trends of the
early twenty-first century, a period arguably characterised by a decrease in neo-Romantic,
symphonic musical styles and an accelerated increase in the influence of popular styles
and minimalism. Desplat has found means of reimagining past styles in ways that accord
with current trends. As I analyse his scores, various insights arise that relate to both these
“past styles” and “current trends”, lending the study relevance to the reader interested in
broader film music practices, beyond Desplat in particular.
Harmony and tonal invention are fundamental to Desplat’s support of cinematic
narrative. In this thesis, I analyse the ways in which he contributes to filmic narratives
through the associative and metaphorical utilization of scales, chords, and the
transformations from chord to chord and scale to scale. My analytical approach, founded
on transformational analysis, scrutinizes these elements hermeneutically, with reference
to semiotics, metaphor theory, and narratology. Although my analyses focus primarily on
pitch-based features, I also consider how these elements accrue meaning in their
interactions with other musical parameters, and within their narrative contexts. By
analysing a broad cross-section of Desplat’s work, focussing on his most successful
scores from the period 2003–2014, I develop a theoretical framework applicable across a
wide range of contexts, as well as a detailed portrait of this important composer’s style. I
then explain how this research has informed my own film scoring work, and apply the
same analytical thinking to shed light on the communicative functions of my own scores.
A secondary aim is to advance the emerging field of transformational analysis of film
music. In addition to its contribution to the scholarly, theoretical, and critical literature,
my study of Desplat’s practice and reflection on my own composition will, I hope, be
useful as a model for emerging film composers who, like me, are interested in becoming
more effective musical storytellers for tomorrow’s films. In the remaining sections of this
introductory chapter, I give an account of the era of film music in which Desplat and
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myself are composing, provide a brief sketch of Desplat’s film scoring career, and offer a
detailed rationale for studying his work. Finally, I introduce the twenty Desplat scores
selected for analysis.
0.1 Hollywood Film Music in the early twenty-first century
According to empirical data presented by film music scholar Vasco Hexel (2014, 9–11),
Hollywood film scoring practices underwent a significant change of direction around the
beginning of the twenty-first century. This can be summarised as a decrease in neo-
Romantic, symphonic styles and an increase in contemporary styles influenced by
minimalism and/or pop. The use of prominent melodies and recurring motives
decreased, while pattern-based figurations of harmonic progressions increased. Use of an
elaborate tonal language (“in terms of harmony, melody developmental technique,
2
tension and release”) decreased, while a “minimalist” tonal language increased.
Orchestral scoring decreased, while use of small bands and/or electronic resources such
as synthesisers and samples increased. Hexel (2014, 34) poses a hypothesis that Hans
Zimmer’s influence has been an important factor in this trend: “Zimmer’s former
apprentices and employees pursue similar strategies, resulting in a marked sameness in
tone and style across the output of dozens of recent Hollywood composers.”
Film critic Laurence E. MacDonald (2013, 429) titles a chapter of his film music history
“The Derivative Decade: 2000–2009”. Of course, Hollywood film music has always been
derivative and stylistically homogenous to some extent, however I concur with
MacDonald that the problem has intensified in the twenty-first century. MacDonald
points blame at the “temp score”, which composers are often asked to emulate, with
limited creative input. He identifies “a problem facing composers across many genres of
film [in 2000–2009]: how to succeed in a medium that frown[s] upon originality.” He
continues: “In the 2000s, film composers seldom had the same degree of freedom that
those of an earlier generation possessed.” This may be overstated, in that earlier
generations faced similar challenges, including the temp score. However, one situation
2 To clarify this distinction, Hexel offers John Williams’ score for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) to exemplify
what he means by an elaborate tonal language, and Philip Glass’s score for Koyaanisqatsi (1982) for a
minimalist tonal language. The latter is characterised by slow harmonic rhythm, cyclic chord progressions,
rare or absent modulation and relatively little dissonance.
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unique to twenty-first century film composers relates to directorial influence on the
score. This can be substantial due to a new process in which the director can offer
feedback on cues at the MIDI mock-up stage. This tends to result in scores optimised to
alleviate MIDI’s shortcomings and/or satisfy the director’s every wish, both of which
can stifle a composer’s creativity.
In a climate that tends to produce derivative scores and “sameness”, it is encouraging
that certain composers have gained stature and recognition in the industry by defying
these characterisations in various ways. Some composers, such as Howard Shore, James
Newton-Howard, and Michael Giacchino, have reimagined and breathed fresh life into
relatively traditional approaches to scoring, and have been highly successful in this
approach. Others have been celebrated and recognized for introducing, or further
developing, a musical language that is unique to them and/or refreshingly atypical of
earlier Hollywood film music. Such composers include Philip Glass, Thomas Newman,
A.R. Rahman, Trent Reznor, Gustavo Santaolalla, and Steven Price. Still others have
introduced new styles while balancing this with significant degree of continuity with
existing scoring practices. Broadly speaking, this is how I would describe the
contribution of Alexandre Desplat and three other European film composers: Jan
Kaczmarek, Alberto Iglesias, and Dario Marianelli.
0.2 Biographical Sketch of Alexandre Desplat
Desplat was born in 1961 to a Greek mother and French father, and grew up in France,
playing the flute and (more briefly) the trumpet. He studied composition with Claude
Ballif at the Paris Conservatoire and Hollywood-style orchestration in the United States
with Jack Hayes, whose film orchestration career spanned 1955–2009. In the 1990s,
Desplat rose to prominence in French and Italian cinema as a collaborator with Jacques
Audiard and others. Desplat scored nearly 75 cinema-released feature films in 2000-2015
alone. His unusually large output is evidence of a fast work rate, strong work ethic, and
the ability to maintain positive relationships with several directors, including auteurs such
as Roman Polanski, Wes Anderson, David Fincher, Stephen Frears, and Jacques Audiard.
Hollywood first noticed Desplat in 2003, when his score for Girl with a Pearl Earring
(2003) was nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe. Birth (2004) was also well
received the following year. Later notable successes, in chronological order, are: Syriana
(2005), nominated for a Golden Globe, The Painted Veil (2006), which won a Golden
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