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Beasts of the Southern Wild (soundtrack)

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Beasts of the Southern Wild (Music from the Motion Picture)
Soundtrack album by
Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin
ReleasedJune 26, 2012
Studio
GenreFilm score
Length36:11
Label33⅓rd

Beasts of the Southern Wild (Music from the Motion Picture) is the soundtrack to the 2012 film Beasts of the Southern Wild directed by Benh Zeitlin, who co-composed the film score with Dan Romer. Released on June 26, 2012 through 33⅓rd Records, the score met with critical acclaim and received several accolades.

Development

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Beasts of the Southern Wild marked Romer's feature film scoring debut, as was Zeitlin's. Both Romer and Zeitlin worked at the short film Glory at Sea (2008) and shared a good rapport.[1] According to Zeitlin, he thought of writing music even before scripting the film, as comparing to integrating the film's music within the completed script, he found writing the story from a musical place made it very easier and could integrate themes, melodies and chord progressions within the screenplay.[2] The score was written in Hushpuppy's (Quvenzhané Wallis) point of view where the voice-over eventually takes the quality of the lyrics in a song, and they eventually took that direction to explore Hushpuppy's internal world. The music is played when Hushpuppy analyses herself and when she is unstable, Romer and Zeitlin refrained from the use of music as "she is not in a space to contemplate and analyze the world."[3]

Initially, Romer and Zeitlin wanted to score the film in a way of traditional Cajun music, but as the character's thoughts did not really come from Louisiana culture and the score should showcase her mystical side of her personality. The Cajun music is played live with the musicians playing onscreen and as Hushpuppy thought about it, the actual score re-voices the song into her type of music. Zeitlin gave him the song "The Balfa Waltz" ("Off the Wall/Valse de Balfa") where the song goes at one chord and traverses into the second for a moment. When the Cajun song is played, the orchestra appears and re-harmonizes in the way she hears things. He wanted the score to have a grandeur but should be also liked by children, hence the film's music had been influenced by modern pop owing to Wallis' taste of music and eventually wrote a song that Hushpuppy dances in the end credits. Zeitlin and Romer listened to Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love" and "This Woman's Work" during the production, where the strings and melodic themes eventually served as the basis of that song. Other influences of the musical score were Michael Nyman and Damon Albarn's score for Ravenous (1999), Caleb Sampson's score for Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997) and works from Carter Burwell and John Williams.[3][4]

The orchestra consisted of folk instruments, banjo, fiddle, accordion, guitar, strings, horns, piano and percussion sounds—created from the sounds of table and chair which provided a rickety and swinging sound—as a part of the large musical texture accompanying the score. However, the celeste and bell piano were used as the sounds representing Hushpuppy as these being most foreign to other instrumentation and textures in the film. The celeste served as the voice for her cosmic philosophies, which was reminiscent of The Nutcracker. Romer textured French jazz chords for her mother's character, and used traditional themes that represent the Bathtub as well as apocalyptic set of chords.[3]

Reception

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Sean Wilson of MFiles listed it in their best score of the year, writing that "Romer and Zeitlin's music never cheapens the experience or reduces it to rank sentimentality, enhancing the film without ever stooping to tired convention."[5] IndieWire ranked it in both its year-end and decade-end lists of best film soundtracks which summarised it as "it's hard to deny that Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin's rich and ecstatic score did much of the heavy lifting for that movie".[6][7] Adam Chitwood of Collider also ranked it in the decade-end lists of best film scores, admitting that "it remains a triumphant piece of music that's emblematic of how just the right score can elevate the entire scope of your film."[8]

Track listing

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Beasts of the Southern Wild (Music from the Motion Picture) track listing
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Particles of the Universe"Heartbeats1:35
2."The Bathtub"Lost Bayou Ramblers3:37
3."Momma's Song" 1:11
4."I Think I Broke Something" 1:33
5."The Smallest Place" 1:40
6."Les Veuves de la Coulee"Leroy "Happy Fats" Leblanc2:38
7."End of the World" 1:36
8."Until the Water Goes Down" 1:39
9."Mother Nature" 1:51
10."The Survivors" 1:56
11."Particles of the Universe"Elysian Fields0:56
12."Strong Animals" 1:51
13."La Danse de Mardi Gras"The Balfa Brothers2:21
14."The Thing That Made You" 2:24
15."The Confrontation" 1:50
16."Death Bed" 1:01
17."Once There Was a Hushpuppy" 6:32
Total length:36:11

Accolades

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Accolades for Beasts of the Southern Wild (Music from the Motion Picture)
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipients and nominees Outcome
7th Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award[9] January 7, 2013 Best Film Music Or Score Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin Won
13th Black Reel Awards[10][11] February 7, 2013 Outstanding Score Dan Romer & Behn Zeitilin Won
23rd Chicago Film Critics Awards[12] December 17, 2012 Best Original Score Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin Nominated
6th Houston Film Critics Awards[13] January 5, 2013 Best Original Score Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin Nominated
9th International Film Music Critics Awards[14] February 21, 2013 Breakout Composer of the Year Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin Nominated
38th Los Angeles Film Critics Awards[15] December 9, 2012 Best Music Score Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin Won
17th San Diego Film Critics Society Awards[16] December 11, 2012 Best Score Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin Nominated
17th Satellite Awards[17] December 16, 2012 Best Score Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin Nominated
10th St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Awards[18] December 17, 2012 Best Score Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin Nominated
Best Scene Beasts of the Southern Wild Nominated
11th Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards[19] December 10, 2012 Best Score Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin Nominated

References

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  1. ^ Buchanan, Kyle (July 5, 2012). "Beasts of the Southern Wild: Inside the Year's Best Score". Vulture. Archived from the original on March 13, 2013. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
  2. ^ Team, The Deadline (December 5, 2012). "OSCARS: 'Beasts Of The Southern Wild' Score". Deadline. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Ellison, Victoria (February 7, 2013). "'Beasts of the Southern Wild' Director and Composer: 'We'd Cry Together, Then Write Songs' (Q&A)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 18, 2021. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
  4. ^ Stone, Rolling (July 6, 2012). "Exclusive: The Music of 'Southern Wild'". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 30, 2024. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
  5. ^ Wilson, Sean. "Best Film Scores of 2012 – Our Top 10 Film Soundtracks of the Year". Mfiles. Archived from the original on April 3, 2015. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
  6. ^ Lange, Maggie (December 31, 2012). "The Best Movie Soundtracks and Cuts of 2012". IndieWire. Archived from the original on May 30, 2024. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
  7. ^ Nordine, Michael; Ehrlich, David; Erbland, Kate; O'Falt, Chris (July 26, 2019). "The 20 Best Movie Scores of the Decade". IndieWire. Archived from the original on May 7, 2023. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
  8. ^ Chitwood, Adam (September 28, 2020). "The Best Film Scores of the 2010s, Ranked". Collider. Archived from the original on December 21, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
  9. ^ "2012 EDA Award Nominees". Alliance of Women Film Journalists. Archived from the original on January 9, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2012.
  10. ^ "Black Reels Embraces Diverse Group of Films". Black Reel Awards. December 19, 2012. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  11. ^ "Critics Wild About "Beasts!"". Black Reel Awards. February 8, 2013. Archived from the original on February 22, 2013. Retrieved February 9, 2013.
  12. ^ ""The Master" rules 2012 CFCA Awards with 10 Nominations". Chicago Film Critics Association. December 14, 2012. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2012.
  13. ^ "Lincoln leads Houston Film Critic Society Awards with eight nominations". AwardsDaily.com. December 16, 2012. Archived from the original on May 8, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  14. ^ "IFMCA Nominations 2012". International Film Music Critics Association. February 7, 2013. Archived from the original on October 17, 2014. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  15. ^ "38TH Annual Los Angeles Film Critics". Los Angeles Film Critics Association. December 9, 2012. Archived from the original on December 10, 2013. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
  16. ^ "San Diego Film Critics Select Top Films for 2012". San Diego Film Critics Society. December 10, 2012. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  17. ^ "17th Satellite Awards Nominations". International Press Academy. Archived from the original on August 31, 2013. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
  18. ^ "St. Louis Critics Announce 2012 Award Winners". Indiewire.com. December 18, 2012. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
  19. ^ "The 2012 WAFCA Award Nominees". Archived from the original on September 1, 2013. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
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