This month’s Music Discovery Blog comes from one of our Associate Music Supervisors, Kalla Vavra who has highlighted three movie scenes brought to life by music. You can peep these tunes below and be sure to check out the new addition of the September BrandRadio playlist, brought to you by our music team to refresh and impress your ears.
LISTEN TO THIS MONTH’S PLAYLIST >
Music supervisors have a pretty cool job. On a daily basis, we take a deep dive into the right side of our brains, the side that sparks creativity and enhances the artistic senses, to create an emotional connection and reaction through the power of music. At PlayNetwork, music supervisors use music to enhance a brand’s identity through custom-curated playlists.
This month, I’m highlighting key scenes that have struck a chord with me (pun intended) due solely to the music placement. Whenever and wherever I hear the following songs, their corresponding scenes instantly play in my mind. Whittling my choices down to just three songs was no easy feat as a flood of examples had entered my mind when this idea was born. However, as they say in Hollywood, the show must go on!
Artist: Echo & The Bunnymen
Track: The Killing Moon
Twitter: @thebunnymen
The first song-scene match-up is from the movie Donnie Darko, a cult-classic favorite starring the Gyllenhaal siblings, Drew Barrymore, and the late Patrick Swayze. In the opening scene, we see Donnie Darko awaken on a road next to his bike in the middle of nowhere. Cue “The Killing Moon”. I’ve always loved how Raval managed to choose a song where the opening guitar lick directly reflects the feeling of waking up, out of sorts and eventually easing into consciousness, much like Donnie on his bike ride home.
Artist: Simon & Garfunkel
Track: The Only Living Boy In New York
Twitter: @TheSandGstory
“Half of the time we’re gone, but we don’t know where.” If this isn’t the theme of Garden State, I don’t know what is. Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Only Living Boy In New York” is placed at the pinnacle of the movie, when the main character finally releases years of repressed emotions by yelling into a rock quarry. The song then crescendos to the aforementioned quote. My high school self-loved this scene because it seemed to state that although we may be lost in our lives, at least we’re all lost together. Now I just need to find a rock quarry…
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Track: Immigrant Song
Twitter: @ledzeppelin
Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” was made for Thor: Ragnarock. At least, that’s what you’d think after watching the final battle scene. When the villain asks our hero, “What were you the God of again?” we see a slow-motion Thor ascend upon the bi-frost with the thunder and lightning of the Gods behind him as Jimmy Page’s guitar riff and Robert Plant’s vocals play over the scene. The imagery from director Taika Waititi and the song placement from Dave Jordan makes this my favorite scene from any Marvel movie. And for that, you too are also superheroes.
