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Superheroes and franchise sound

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Genre

Superheroes and franchise sound · Danny Elfman, singer of the band Oingo Boingo, wrote a dark, gothic march theme for Tim Burton's Batman (1989). That became the model for superhero music: one recognisable motif, big brass, choir and heavy percussion. Shirley Walker developed that sound for Batman: The Animated Series (1992) into full orchestral music for every episode. With the Marvel film series from 2008, the franchise sound became important: music has to remain recognisable across many films. For The Avengers (2012), Alan Silvestri wrote a fanfare that returns in later films. In Black Panther (2018), Ludwig Göransson combined a Western orchestra with Senegalese singing and African drums, and won an Oscar for it. Pinar Toprak wrote the music for Captain Marvel (2019).

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the main motif: how many notes does it have, which instrument plays it, and at what moment does it return when the hero springs into action?

In School of Rock

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See also

Categories: Genres