Download Thomas Newman - Arkansas Tech University

Thomas Newman
A composer of our time
Presented By:
Kelsey Boyd, Whitney Freeman, Matthew
Marcotte, and Matt Wilkins
THE BEGINNING
• Thomas’ father, Alfred Newman, was a
legendary composer, conductor, and music
director.
• Thomas’ brother David and his cousin Randy
are also film composers. David is best
known for Anastasia , while Randy is known
for composing for Toy Story, The Natural,
and Meet the Parents.
• Thomas’ sister, Maria, is a well-known
concert violinist and violist, credited as
being the concert mistress for The Rapture
and Fried Green Tomatoes.
• Thomas has three uncles who are also well
known in the music industry, one who was
the former head of music at Fox, and one
that was the former vice-president at
Goldwyn.
EDUCATION
• Newman attended University of Southern
California for two years, then went to Yale
where he earned his masters in music.
• After college, Newman played around in
bands and did some small work for
theatres.
• Newman played keyboards with two groups,
The Innocents and Tokyo 77.
• Newman also watched his uncle who at that
time was the head of music at Fox, where he
got the chance to orchestrate one of the
cues from Return of the Jedi.
GETTING DISCOVERED
• In 1984, a long time friend of Newman’s,
Scott Rudin, asked Thomas to help him with
the music for a film that he was producing.
This turned out to be Reckless, which would
be Newman’s first movie to provide music for
and his first step in his father’s shadow.
• Newman’s breakthrough movie was
Desperately Seeking Susan, in which he
wrote, “based upon picking up certain kinds
of rhythms and making them groove in the
most interesting way possible.”
• The score that got him real recognition as a
film composer was The Rapture.
MUSICAL STYLE
• Mainly graceful,
serene melodies
• Triumphant, bold
orchestral works
• Piano with
accompanying
strings
– Little Women
– Meet Joe Black
– Pay It Forward
MUSICAL VARIATIONS
–Dark, serious dramas
• The Green Mile
• The Shawshank Redemption
–Playful comedies
• Finding Nemo
• Unstrung Heroes
–Simple, orchestral scores
• The War
• Fried Green Tomatoes
INFLUENCES
• Father, Alfred
Newman
– The King and I
– The Grapes of Wrath
• Brother and
Uncles
• Cousin, Randy
Newman
– Toy Story
– Monsters Inc.
– The Three Amigos
FAVORITE COMPOSERS
• Charles Ives
–Strictly orchestral works; no
soundtracks
• John Cage
– 4’33” composer
• Bernard Herrmann
– Psycho
– The Twilight Zone
AWARDS
BMI Film Music Awards- won 6 and
included Fried Green Tomatoes
Emmy Awards- nominated for
Against the Law and won for Six
Feet Under
Academy Awards- nominated for 5
but never won, one of which was
Little Women
Grammy Awards- nominated for 2
and won the award for Best Score
Soundtrack Album for American
Beauty
Saturn Award- nominated for
2 which were Meet Joe Black
and The Green Mile
AFI Award for the Best
Original Music Score- for
Oscar and Lucinda
Golden Globe nomination for
Best Original Score- for
American Beauty
BAFTA Award for
Achievement in Film Musicfor American Beauty
DIRECTOR’S THOUGHTS
Frank Darabont: “What he does is
equal to what the actors do
and what the writer has done.
He really is a co-storyteller. He
manages to elicit an enormous
amount of the emotional
content of the film without
being obvious.”
Joan Avent: “He creates a kind of
vicseral situation whereby
you’re able to experience the
narrative. You won’t see in
Tom’s music a lot of ‘stings’
about hits and ‘look at me’.
Instead, you’ll see a kind of
airy weave that allows you to
feel what’s going on.”
•
American Beauty: Sam
Mendes says, “Tom’s
exquisite score added a
dimension to the movie I
could not possibly have
imagined.”
CAREER HIGHS
• One of his first gigs in
Hollywood was orchestrating
one of the cues from Return of
the Jedi in 1983.
• The first movie he scored was
Reckless in 1984
• His breakthrough did not come
until 1985 with the Movie
Desperately Seeking Susan
OUR THOUGHTS ON THOMAS
NEWMAN
• Writes in a wide range of music using
some different techniques such as
rock and techno
• His does well in adapting to the
movies story line and creating music
that flows along with it.
• He gets credited along with his
family but most of his work is original
and should be credited alone.
QUESTIONS
• Name one movie Thomas Newman
scored.
• Name one famous musician
relative of Thomas Newman’s.
RESOURCES
•
•
•
•
http://users.pandora.be/obelisk/tnc/
http://moviemusic.com/composer.asp?id=newmant
http://www.soundtrackmag.com/thomas_newman.html
http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/features/200006/tne
wman.asp
• http://users.pandora.be/obelisk/tnc/biog.htm
• http://www.musicfromthemovies.com/