Nightcrawler (soundtrack)
| Nightcrawler (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Film score by | ||||
| Released | October 24, 2014 | |||
| Genre | Film score | |||
| Length | 51:04 | |||
| Label | Lakeshore Records | |||
| Producer | James Newton Howard | |||
| James Newton Howard chronology | ||||
| ||||
Nightcrawler (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the score album to the film of the same name featuring music by James Newton Howard.[1] The album was released by Lakeshore Records on October 24, 2014.
Development
James Newton Howard composed the film score. Instead of the large orchestral scores that previously defined his career, Howard composed edgy electronica pieces for the film, heavy influenced by 1980s synth music, similar to Cliff Martinez's score for Drive (2011).[2] He initially struggled writing a score that fit both the overall atmosphere of the film and Gilroy's expectations.[3] Instead of using what Consequence of Sound described as "the expected 10 strings and a nightmarish score", Gilroy wanted more uplifting and subversive music.[4]
Howard's ideas about how to solve a situation with the music turned out to not be the way that he wanted to go, so he had to indoctrinate himself into what the movie was about. Gilroy's approach was to use the score as a way to get inside Lou's mind, which meant that the music that sometimes seemed discordant with the action on screen.[3] He pointed that "It’s a bit of a magic trick: As the music is creeping into your own head, it’s creating this feeling of eagerness and climbing the ladder and succeeding and trying and not giving up, all while you’re watching this maladjusted behavior get rewarded — it cements you to the character and his quest." He called it as a surreal effect romanticizing Lou's ambitions.[4]
As an example, Howard cited a sequence when Lou moves a dead body to get a better angle, he played the score in a triumphant way instead of dark, as he wanted to see the scene from Lou's perception, which was meant to convey how he is excited about the shot. The cue becomes "an anthem of potential for his tremendous success".[3] Howard worked mostly in the electronic music with bits of orchestral vocals, as he wanted to sync the music with the film's visuals, that were shot in Los Angeles. He played the electronics in a subtle way as "people would be less able to draw an emotional conclusion based on what they were hearing" but when it came to Lou, he composed an orchestral, clarinet-driven theme: “It had to do with Lou’s lightness of touch. Because he moves through all of these situations so effortlessly and with a certain kind of intelligence, I thought orchestral music would best portray that."[3]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Nightcrawler" | 1:58 |
| 2. | "Lou's Inspired" | 2:10 |
| 3. | "Driving at Night" | 0:53 |
| 4. | "Sell the Bike" | 1:02 |
| 5. | "Loder Crashes" | 2:32 |
| 6. | "KWLA" | 1:27 |
| 7. | "The First Accident" | 1:49 |
| 8. | "Day to Night" | 0:43 |
| 9. | "Pictures on the Fridge" | 1:42 |
| 10. | "The First Night" | 1:37 |
| 11. | "Entering the House" | 3:02 |
| 12. | "Edit on the Hood" | 1:07 |
| 13. | "Lou and Rick on a Roll" | 2:08 |
| 14. | "Driving at Night, Again" | 1:04 |
| 15. | "Waiting" | 0:57 |
| 16. | "Mount Wilson" | 1:38 |
| 17. | "The Wrong Way" | 1:12 |
| 18. | "Watching the House Footage" | 1:03 |
| 19. | "Lou's Philosophy" | 1:53 |
| 20. | "Making the News" | 0:49 |
| 21. | "Search for the Plate" | 1:02 |
| 22. | "The Newscast" | 3:44 |
| 23. | "Moving the Body" | 1:52 |
| 24. | "Chinatown Express" | 4:16 |
| 25. | "Nina and Frank" | 1:01 |
| 26. | "The Shootout" | 4:35 |
| 27. | "Lou's Free" | 1:35 |
| 28. | "If It Bleeds It Leads" | 2:13 |
| Total length: | 51:04 | |
References
- ^ * Lattanzio, Ryan (December 15, 2014). "Nightcrawler Wins 7 San Diego Film Critics Prizes, Cotillard Takes Best Actress". IndieWire. Archived from the original on October 27, 2016. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
- Tapley, Kristopher (December 11, 2014). "'Nightcrawler' leads San Diego film critics nominations". HitFix. Archived from the original on August 10, 2016. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
- ^ Loring, Allison (November 13, 2014). "The Electric Side of James Newton Howard". Film School Rejects. Archived from the original on August 25, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ a b c d Murphy, Mekado (December 10, 2014). "Below the Line: Scoring 'Nightcrawler'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 25, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ a b Roffman, Michael (December 15, 2014). "Filmmaker of the Year: Dan Gilroy". Consequence of Sound. Archived from the original on May 20, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017.