A leitmotif or Leitmotiv is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of idée fixe or motto-theme. The spelling leitmotif is an anglicization of the German Leitmotiv, literally meaning "leading motif", or "guiding motif". A musical motif has been defined as a "short musical idea ... melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic, or all three", a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition: "the smallest structural unit possessing thematic identity".
Hans Florian Zimmer is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Oscars and four Grammys, and has been nominated for three Emmys and a Tony. Zimmer was also named on the list of Top 100 Living Geniuses, published by The Daily Telegraph in 2007.
James Roy Horner was an American film composer. He worked on over 160 film and television productions between 1978 and 2015. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements alongside traditional orchestrations, and for his use of motifs associated with Celtic music.
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is a 2002 American animated western film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook from a screenplay by John Fusco, based on an idea by Jeffrey Katzenberg, who produced the film alongside Mireille Soria. The film combines traditional animation and computer animation.
Klaus Badelt is a German composer, producer, and arranger of film scores. He is known for his collaborations with Hans Zimmer, helping to write scores for dozens of critically acclaimed films including The Thin Red Line, The Prince of Egypt, and Gladiator. Independently, he is known for his work on Hollywood blockbuster films such as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Equilibrium, K-19: The Widowmaker, Basic, and TMNT, and for his work in French and Chinese cinema as well as a number of films by Werner Herzog.
Batman Begins: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack album to Christopher Nolan's 2005 film Batman Begins. It was released on June 15, 2005. The soundtrack drew from the film score, composed by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, as well as contributions by Ramin Djawadi, Lorne Balfe and Mel Wesson.
The Simpsons Movie: The Music is a soundtrack album for the 2007 film The Simpsons Movie. It was composed by German film composer Hans Zimmer. The soundtrack was released on July 24, 2007, by Adrenaline Music Group and peaked at number 108 on the Billboard 200 chart. A limited edition version was released on July 31, 2007. Critics have given the album generally positive reviews.
Over the course of its history, media adaptations of Batman have generated a wide variety of music produced in connection with both live-action and animated television series, and with the many Batman films.
Kung Fu Panda (Music from the Motion Picture) is the score album to the 2008 film Kung Fu Panda. The album features original score composed by Hans Zimmer and John Powell, and a cover of the classical song "Kung Fu Fighting" performed by CeeLo Green and Jack Black (who also plays Po, the lead character). The album consisted of traditional and orchestral score, infused with Chinese music, where Zimmer visited China to study the traditions and culture. As a process, the score was recorded with mostly Chinese traditional instruments, and the China National Symphony Orchestra also performed the score. The 17-track album was released by Interscope Records on June 3, 2008.
Lisbeth Scott is an American composer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter of Armenian origin, born in Boston, Massachusetts. She is featured on the soundtracks for the films Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, Concussion, Shrek, The Passion Of The Christ, Transformers, The Big Wedding, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Munich, in which she sings a 3 minute solo specifically written for her by John Williams. In addition she is featured in Iron Man 2, Disney's Wings of Life, Spider-Man and many more. She co-wrote and performed the songs "Where", and "One Breath" for Narnia. She also co-wrote and performed "Good To Me" in the movie Shutter, "Edge of Heaven" with Joel Douek for the film The Wildest Dream, "Real Love" for the film Domino and countless others. Her songs and vocals have been featured in hundreds of Hollywood blockbusters, many of them Oscar and Grammy winners and nominees. As a composer she has scored both television and film.
John Powell is an English composer best known for his film scores. He has been based in Los Angeles since 1997 and has composed the scores to over 70 feature films. He is best known for composing score for films, including Face/Off, the Bourne film series, the Happy Feet films, United 93, X-Men: The Last Stand, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, Migration, Drumline, The Call of the Wild, Bolt, eight Blue Sky Studios films, and nine DreamWorks Animation films.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the official soundtrack from the 2014 film of the same name composed by Hans Zimmer and a supergroup called The Magnificent Six, consisting of Pharrell Williams, Mike Einziger, Junkie XL, Johnny Marr, Andrew Kawczynski, and Steve Mazzaro. It was released on April 18, 2014, through Columbia Records and Madison Gate Records.
Spirit is an American media franchise owned by DreamWorks Animation, which began with the 2002 animated film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron written by John Fusco from an idea by producer Jeffrey Katzenberg. The franchise follow the adventures of a Kiger Mustang stallion named Spirit.
The Lion King: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack for the 2019 Walt Disney Pictures remake film of the same name, a live-action photorealistic computer-generated remake of Disney's 1994 animated feature film of the same name. It features songs from the original film written by Elton John and Tim Rice and performed by the film's cast. It also features the score composed by Hans Zimmer, the original film's composer, and two new songs: "Spirit," written by Beyoncé, Labrinth, and Ilya Salmanzadeh and performed by Beyoncé, and the end-credit song "Never Too Late", written by John and Rice and performed by John. Beyoncé also produced a curated soundtrack titled The Lion King: The Gift, which features new songs performed by multiple artists. The Lion King: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was digitally released on July 11, 2019, and both the soundtrack's CD and Beyoncé's album were released on July 19, 2019.
Spirit Untamed is a 2021 animated adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation, and Dentsu, and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film was directed by Elaine Bogan and co-directed by Ennio Torresan Jr., from a screenplay written by Aury Wallington and Kristin Hahn, making this the second theatrical film release of the Spirit franchise and is both a spin-off and a stand-alone sequel of the traditionally animated Academy Award nominated Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) and loosely based on the characters from its Netflix animated spin-off television series Spirit Riding Free, developed by Wallington.
No Time to Die: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 25th James Bond film of the same name. Released by Decca Records on 1 October 2021, the music was composed by Hans Zimmer, making him the sixth non-British composer after Marvin Hamlisch, Bill Conti, Michael Kamen, Éric Serra and Thomas Newman to score a film in the series. The film's theme song of the same name performed by Billie Eilish, was composed with her brother Finneas O'Connell. The 12" vinyl album version features an additional four short music cues listed only as Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4.
Amie Doherty is an Irish composer, conductor, and orchestrator for film and television. She is the first woman to score an animated feature for DreamWorks.
The music for the 2021 American film Dune was composed, conducted, and produced by Hans Zimmer. Zimmer wrote several soundtracks of music for the film, including for its sequel, and heavily utilized choir—specifically female voices—percussion, and strings in the score's instrumentation, as well as acoustic and wind instruments. New, hybrid instruments were fabricated to conceive the "otherworldly" tonal desert sounds heard in the film. The music has been described as the composer's most "unorthodox" and experimental yet. In addition, the score for the film earned Zimmer his second Academy Award for Best Original Score. When Dune: Part Two was announced for a 2023 theatrical release, it was revealed that Zimmer had begun work on the film's music and had over an hour of music to assist the filmmakers in planning the film.
Rise of the Guardians: Music From The Motion Picture is the score album to the 2012 of the same name, composed by Alexandre Desplat. The film marked Desplat's maiden score for a computer-animated film as well as his DreamWorks' film, not to be scored by either Hans Zimmer or his Remote Control Productions family of composers. The score was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and AIR Studios in London and features collaborations with London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices performing. In addition to Desplat's score, an original song "Still Dream" written by David Lindsay-Abaire and performed by soprano singer Renée Fleming, was featured in the film's end credits. Both Desplat's score and Fleming's original song was included in the film's score album, released by Varèse Sarabande on November 13, 2012 and received positive response praising Desplat's compositions.
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is the soundtrack to the 2023 film Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, featuring musical score composed by Stephanie Economou. The album also accompanied two original songs: "This Moment" by Mimi Webb and "Rise" by Freya Ridings. The former was released as a single on June 23, while the latter was released along with the soundtrack by Back Lot Music on June 30, 2023.
