Oscar nominee Hans Zimmer has revolutionized music forever with Dunkirk score
By Ryan Mekkes
Dunkirk is up for eight academy awards on Sunday. And among the nominees is Hans Zimmer for his incredible musical score. Many of us have seen the thriller, but some of its finest moments were crafted as a result of what we heard.
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He had already done it all, even before Dunkirk, it would seem. His many projects, including but not limited to The Lion King, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy had already sealed his place in history as one of the greatest composers of all time. But he wasn’t satisfied with that.
Even with all of his many, stunning musical scores already in the books, he still had a remaining goal, a vendetta to accomplish when he set out to write the music for the WW2 story — making the sound, and the visuals of the movie, one, singular, experience. He wanted to create more than just background music; he wanted to make it a full, integral part of what people would see with their eyes.
He wanted to write something that would not only aid in the understanding of the emotion in the movie — but something that would fill in some of the practical noises and effects as well.
This is something that he revealed in an exclusive interview with GoldDerby as being something that he and Christopher Nolan had striven to do from the beginning of their extensive working relationship. But referring to Dunkirk, he said, “I think we finally got there.”
And if you take a listen to the music, it’s hard to deny that. There are times when you think you’re listening to the creaking of a boat, but it was actually the orchestra. Alarm sirens come in from time to time played by strings, propeller noises, and even bullets played by percussion. Sometimes, it’s honestly hard to differentiate between Zimmer’s score, and what is naturally occurring sound-wise, and that was precisely the point.
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The music he created truly resonates with movie viewers and allows for a completely unique cinematic experience.
He also makes brilliant use of the music’s tempo, as it rises and falls to reveal the characters’ flux between all sorts of emotions such as terrorized, on-edge, apprehensive, calm, and everything in between. In turn, this allows viewers, to connect with the people in the story in a way that would otherwise be impossible — to, in a sense, experience what they are experiencing.
The score is very rhythm-driven. It’s not too eccentric, but that’s why Zimmer is so good at what he does; he is the king of subtlety. He doesn’t force elements of music, but rather, seems to let the story drive the writing process.
There are mysteries to his unconventional techniques.
Hans Zimmer is somewhat of an Einstein in the music industry. And then again, so is Christopher Nolan as a director. So when the two of them put their minds together… let’s just say, cool stuff happens.
For example, Nolan often utilizes an auditory illusion called Shepard tone, Something that, according to Business Insider, he originally worked on with the composer for The Prestige, David Julyan. It’s basically a never eclipsing sound bite of increased, perceived build relying on different frequencies (explained in the video below). It creates a strong sense of imminent danger but stays in a musical loop. It’s beyond mind-boggling. But as intriguing as this is — Zimmer and Nolan’s’s experimental methods went beyond this for Dunkirk.
There were mathematical strategies involved in the Dunkirk compositions that were the first of their kind — things that Zimmer and Nolan won’t reveal. “Nobody had ever done this before,” Zimmer told GoldDerby; something he went on to explain made the process a lot more difficult. He credited Christopher Nolan for keeping him motivated and pushing him not to “take the easy way out.”
We may never learn the extent of what those two mad scientists have come up with, as they won’t elaborate much on the topic. But rest assured, whatever it was, sounded good.
Will Hans Zimmer’s work on Dunkirk land him his second Oscar?
The score is nothing less than a masterpiece. But will Zimmer receive an Oscar on Sunday night to sit next to the one he earned for The Lion King? Voting for the Academy Awards has now closed, but he faced tough competition from Jonny Greenwood (Phantom Thread), Alexandre Desplat (The Shape Of Water), John Williams (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) and Carter Burwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri). We’ll find out who the winner is soon enough.
In all likelihood, though, with eight nominations, Dunkirk will win something regardless. And Zimmer’s work will have been one of the greatest contributing factors to its success.
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Oscar nominees for Dunkirk include:
Directing – Christopher Nolan
Cinematography – Hoyte van Hoytema
Film Editing – Lee Smith
Best Picture – Emma Thomas / Christopher Nolan / Producers
Production Design – Nathan Crowley / Gary Fettis
Sound Editing – Richard King / Alex Gibson
Sound Mixing – Greg Landaker / Gary A. Rizzo / Mark Weingarten
Music (Original Score) Hans Zimmer
What do you think? Will Hans Zimmer Take home an Oscar this Sunday night?