Bill Wrobel's DVD - Film Score Rundowns

did not overly impress me beyond thinking he was a competent composer. He got more
of my attention with Sixth Sense but especially a few cues from Unbreakable really got
my attention. And then immediately after that in 2000 was Vertical Limit that I liked too.
But Signs is probably the most impressionable score for me. I’ll have to revisit
Dreamcatcher and other scores to see how I personally rate them. King Kong did not
move me so much. I haven’t yet seen the latest M. Night movie, The Last Airbender that
Howard scored for. I’ll rent it this week at Red Box. ……
[8:36 pm Tuesday. Yes, I rented The Last Airbender. It probably should’ve been
called, The Omega Raspberry. For some reason this movie reminds me somewhat of
Dune--how uneven and episodic it was, but it is a masterpiece compared to this movie.
Even the awful recent Prince of Persia is better than it. Some of Howard’s music caught
my attention such as when the Avatar was rescued first from the Fire nation ship. Good,
competent music for this flop, but not necessarily noteworthy except for a few cues. Signs
is a far better M. Night movie, and a much better score.
Incidentally, I really liked M. Night’s Lady in the Water flick as well, although it
is a weaker movie than Signs and The Sixth Sense. Paul Giamatti was an enormous plus
in that movie.
“Main Titles” for Signs (1M1, V. 4) really impressed me. Terrific cue that
really puts you on edge, playing on soft eerie passages to loud brassy staccato ones. The
cue starting at 00:33:24 when the kids try to get a better radio signal on top of the car (a
communication from the aliens!).
In Bar 1 of the Main Titles we have the time signature initially of 3/4 time but no
tempo-marking. The orchestrator is Pete Anthony. Initially there are two soli violins, 1
solo viola, and two soli celli. Cello II sounds pppp Line 1 D dotted half note tied to dotted
half notes next two bars. After an 8 th rest in Bar 1, cello I sounds pppp and also Harm.
Sounding Line 1 A 8 th tied to half note and tied to dotted half notes next two bars. After
an 8 th rest, the solo viola plays Harm. Sounding Line 2 Eb 8 th tied to half note and tied to
dotted half notes thru Bar 3. Solo violin II plays Line 1 D 16 th tied dotted quarter note and
to half note and to dotted half notes next two bars. That violin also plays the A dotted
quarter note tied to half note, and so forth. Violin I, after an initial 8 th rest, plays Line 2
Eb 8 th tied to half note and tied to dotted half notes next two bars. This is repeated in Bars
4-6 (Bar 6 in4/4 time being a tied whole note). Repeat also in Bars 7-9 in 3/4 time. In Bar
7, after an 8 th rest, two Ocarinas join in with the D/Line 2 Eb 8ths tied to half notes and
tied to dotted half notes next two bars. In Bars 10-12, the two soli violins are silent. Note
that it is 5/4 time in Bar 12 so that the tied notes are dotted half notes to half notes and
also now tied to (Bar 13 in 4/4 time) whole notes and tied to the full Bar 14--supposedly
still 4/4 time but the violas and two celli show a tie to dotted half note (instead of,
correctly, whole notes). You can also see a misalignment of the staves here, so obviously
it was meant to be an earlier version not corrected in version 4 (bad cut & paste job from
what I can tell, or else a simple case of bad proof-reading or double-checking).
In Bar 13 (when the “Signs” title card appears) the music erupts with a series of
repeat staccato three-note figures (two 16ths to an 8 th ). Flute I sounds mf Line 2 D up to
G staccato 16ths up to Line 3 Db staccato 8 th (followed by two quarter rests) to another
109