Great Soundtrack, Shame About the Film

Recorded in the mosquito-infested fields of Latitude Festival, Mark and Jack dig into film music to mark the paperback release of Mark's book Surround Sound: The Stories of Movie Music, co-written with Jenny Nelson.

They talk composer-director shorthand including John Williams and the "shark" scene from Jaws, Hans Zimmer and Christopher Nolan's one-page brief for Interstellar; they discuss the "great soundtrack, shame about the film" phenomenon referencing S. Darko, Cannibal Holocaust, Exorcist II: The Heretic; and how Jack worked with composer Benjamin Squires on his own short film The Second Time Around.

Mark also talks about Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells and the eerie 15/8 time signature that makes The Exorcist's theme feel so wrong, and gives some hard-won advice on sticking with a creative career when nobody's paying you yet.

Titles mentioned in this episode include:

Spider-Man

The Social Network

Drive

Interstellar

Man of Steel

Superman

The Lord of the Rings

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

The Wolfman (2010)

Jennifer 8

S. Darko

Donnie Darko

Cannibal Holocaust

Exorcist II: The Heretic

The Exorcist

Don't Look Now

E.T.

Jaws

Jurassic Park

You Were Never Really Here

There Will Be Blood

The Zone of Interest

Wicked / Wicked: for Good

Mary Poppins (Blunt-era)

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

Blade Runner

Drive My Car

Psycho

Suspiria

The Shining

The Odyssey

The Second Time Around (Jack Howard's brilliant short film, now available on Channel 4)

This episode was produced by Hedda Lornie Archbold and Nicki Glossop, and edited by Jack Howard.

Recorded by Richard Gay.

Kermode on Film and MK3D are HLA Agency productions.

© HLA Agency

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