Hans Zimmer

Hans Zimmer-Born in Frankfurt, Germany on September 12, 1957-Mother was very musical-Father was an Engineer/Inventor-Used Father’s death as a way to escape in music

-Mastering of keyboard and synthesizer-Wrote jingles for Air-Edel Associates-Wrote various works for different bands and groups

-Joined forces with Stanley Myers in the 1980’s-Combining of traditional orchestra sounds with electronic instruments-Co-founded Lillie Yard recording studio

-Zimmer and Myers-My Beautiful Laundrette, 1985-Moonlighting, 1982

-Zimmer’s first solo scores, 1987-Terminal Exposure-The Last Emperor

-Zimmer composed theme song for popular United Kingdom television show -Strong, well-known work in United Kingdom

-Zimmer’s personal think tank

-Film score mentoring

Klaus Badelt Mark Mancina John Powell Nick Glennie-Smith Harry Gregson-Williams

-Some famous composers that benefited from Zimmer’s film score mentoring

-Success started for Zimmer with the scoring of Rain Man

-Academy Award for Best Score and Best Picture in 1989

-Some of Zimmer’s early scores consisted of:

-The Lion King, 1994-The Preacher’s Wife, 1996-As Good As It Gets, 1997-The Prince of Egypt, 1998

-Some of Zimmer’s more powerful scores include:

-Thelma & Louise, 1991-A League of Their Own, 1992-Pearl Harbor, 2001-Matchstick Men, 2003

-The Last Samurai-Zimmer’s 100th film score, 2003

-27th Annual Flanders International Film Festival-Zimmer’s first time performing his film music live-100 piece orchestra/100 person choir

-Hans Zimmer was awarded the 2,426th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

-Zimmer has received many awards including:-Lifetime Achievement Award-Frederick Loewe Award-ASCAP’s Henry Mancini Award-Numerous Golden Globes, American Music Awards, and Grammys, Oscar, and Tony Awards

More recent notable works-Pirates of the Caribbean movies

-Sherlock Holmes movies-Batman movies

-2012 Aurora Benefit-Zimmer composed the track “Aurora” to raise money for victims of the shooting

-84th Academy Awards music with Pharrell Williams-ABC World News theme music-”The Bible” score

-The Dark Knight Rises-Zimmer originally composed with James Newton Howard-Zimmer scored movie solo-Released July, 17th 2012

References

"Hans Zimmer - Biography." IMDb - Movies, TV and Celebrities. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001877/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm>.

"Hans Zimmer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Zimmer

"Hans-Zimmer.com - Biography." Hans-Zimmer.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. <http://www.hans-zimmer.com/index.php?rub=bio>.

"Hollywood in the News." Official Hollywood Walk of Fame 323-469-8311. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.<http://www.hollywoodchamber.net/index.php?blog_id=30&module=blogs>.

"The Dark Knight Rises (soundtrack) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_Rises_(soundtrack)#Recurring_Motifs>.

References"Hans Zimmer - Biography." IMDb - Movies, TV and Celebrities. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.

<http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001877/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm>."Hans Zimmer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct.

2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Zimmer"Hans-Zimmer.com - Biography." Hans-Zimmer.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. <http://www.hans-

zimmer.com/index.php?rub=bio>."Hollywood in the News." Official Hollywood Walk of Fame 323-469-8311. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.

<http://www.hollywoodchamber.net/index.php?blog_id=30&module=blogs>."The Dark Knight Rises (soundtrack) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_Rises_(soundtrack)#Recurring_Motifs>.

Listening GuideDespair:0:00 – This track immediately starts off with a dark foreboding sound of deep drum beats and fast thrills from what sounds like violins that fade out as the brass makes their entrance.0:22 – The bass opens with a defining background beat that continues as the brass makes a powerful dark crescendo over top and fades out and repeats that once more, all along the violins are playing a simple back and forth pattern.0:52 – A change in lead happens here with the synthesizer taking over with a rhythm that sounds like a ricochet with the drums playing a strong trill 1:07 – The brass enters again with the same dark minor crescendo but this time it is drawn out finishing with a synthesizer effect at the end with a quick fade out1:38 – After the fade out, an eerie shriek sound is set with a slow drum beat, then it starts to build and the drum beats get faster with some synthesizer effects and a brief sound of screaming static pulses2:18 – The drums start their dominant rhythm they had in the beginning then quickly follows the rest of the instruments for the climax of the piece – the brass carry the ominous melody while the drums, violins, and synthesizer fill in with the undertones that lead to another fade out just leaving the synthesizer for a few moments2:53 – The strings slowly fade in with the synthesizer – then the brass fades in one last time very mildly ending quickly with the synthesizer

Rises:0:00 – This starts very strong with the drums and brass – the rhythm is very fast and intense with the slight crescendo in the brass0:38 – The brass, strings, drums, and synthesizer work together here to create an intense build in the music with the brass having the melody1:00 – All instruments drop out except for a low rumbling synthesizer background as a choir boy sings 1:25 – The strings enter softly as the choir boy fades out with the brass quietly joining and building2:33 – The bass takes over the melody with some drums beats to emphasize building into a beautiful melody that is taken over by the violins and the brass are harmonizing and synthesizer effects are added4:50 – The melody changes to the brass with the rest of the instruments providing the harmony and background5:18 – The bass takes over the lead at this point very briefly6:03 – The violins play the melody as the whole piece builds to a beautiful climax6:35 – The drums, brass, and synthesizer come back in with their dark, powerful, fast-paced rhythm and melody that has been presented before7:00 – Fade out of instruments with a brief close of the choir boy’s voice