Welcome to this ongoing soundtrack series where I analyze the musical score the greatest
movies, tv shows and video games.
It is here where I discuss how a soundtrack compliments it’s corresponding title, along
with how it came to be.
In this episode, I’ll be going over the award winning score of The Shape Of Water,
created by French composer, Alexandre Desplat.
Within the episode I’ll go over the score’s submerged tone, Desplat’s international
and supernatural themes, and how he shaped his music to form emotion on the screen.
Before we start, if you’re new to the channel, consider subscribing to find more soundtrack
analysis on other titles in the future.
Each week you can find a new analysis video.
Anyone that is coming back for another round, thank you greatly for your support.
With all that said, let’s begin.
Director Guillermo del Toro repeatedly proves his successfully capability of developing
the inconceivable.
Intertwining imagination into reality continuously pulls his audience into his creation without
effort.
And for The Shape Of Water, del Toro hired on Alexandre Desplat, who executed the best
possible score for Guillermo’s vision.
In January of 2017, after the film has been completely shot, del Toro presented his project
to Alexandre, knowing the composer would be paramount to the unusual love story’s tone.
There is always the question which comes first, the score or shooting, and it all depends
on the director, producer and their plan of action.
It’s always different.
In the case for producer/director/writer, Guillermo, he met up with Alexandre when he
had the initial idea for the movie, years before, and wanted to team up with the composer
for the first time.
Now Guillermo is a passionate filmmaker who understands the destination of each of his
films and his selection of this movie’s composer determined beforehand has allowed
the director to understand how he wanted the movie placed during production.
Desplat was motivated to work with Guillermo due to his respect for all his movies, especially
Pan’s Labyrinth.
In the end, he knew The Shape Of Water would be del Toro’s biggest movie yet.
What makes this movie and it’s score considerably different than del Toro’s other films is
how it’s represented.
Guillermo hits a horror element in the larger part of his career and if you were to guess
the atmosphere of a story with a underwater creature directed by that horror style director,
you’d be pleasantly surprised.
Even the music that Alexandre composes keeps the unknown specimen a creature rather than
a monster.
There isn’t a section in the score that breaches the thought that the sea creature
is unstable.
And it’s this important musical aspect that allows the audience to feel sympathy for this
character.
Alternatively the closest thing to a monster, in this film, is the evolution of Michael
Shannon’s character, Richard.
He is placed in a spot that has pushed his boundaries and the music shows his escalation
into lunacy.
Emotion is obviously imperative in a film score.
A story about a scaly water man and a mute is very precise, thus the music, in this case,
is essential to expressing the passion.
The main opening track of The Shape Of Water is a crucial motif of the film, with it’s
subtle introduction to the main protagonist Elisa and beaming melody that highlights the
romance theme.
Although unintentional, Alexandre wrote the opening scene’s melody with a consistent
waving arpeggio, or a series of notes from a chord played in succession.
The arpeggio can easily display a deeper meaning to the shape that water forms, and in this
case, a series of waves.
As I said, this tune wasn’t deliberate, but Alexandre composes his compositions in
a significant fashion that allows him to manifest his music by pure intellect.
Rather than simply playing a melody and distributing it thought out the score, he analyzes his
ideas based off the concepts, sounds and characters that are formed from the story.
With The Shape Of Water, he directed his sound to resonate the unconscious form of water
and how it can construct a series of elements that are critical to the film.
Therefore, Alexandre molded his score with waves of arpeggios and vibrant tones to hit
the sentimental value of romance and the film’s mystical descent.
Alexandre also wanted to influence a musical abstract with his score.
To him, The Shape Of Water is a musical that identifies as a fantasy adventure drama and
since a majority of the movie doesn’t involve the entire cast singing about how happy they
are, Desplat establishes that conception in his motifs.
Much like a musical, there are several climaxes that continuously keeps the storyline in a
plateau and Guillermo’s film is arranged in a similar matter with many build ups and
cool downs.
This is how Alexandre came up with the idea of running the music parallel to the story’s
accumulating timeline by keeping a serene emotion until the film’s many peaks, at
which point the orchestra can blast on their instruments and throw them in every direction.
Let’s move in a slightly different direction.
Let’s talk about the the motive power of this composition: water.
Instead of pointing the literal sense of water and explaining how it can shape into anything,
the soundtrack focuses on the figurative perception of it.
Much like the physical form of it, water symbolizes love in which it’s transparent and continuously
moving.
Although it’s impossible to physically see, it cannot be pulled apart.
In other words, the music envelops the sound of water
to immerse the audience to the events of the story.
One of the greatest aspects of The Shape Of Water is it’s approach to it’s time era.
Expressing music in a contrasting time period with an ingredient of the imaginable .
The film’s music would need to imitate the state of that setting: European within the
Cold War.
But there needs to be an fantasy facet underlining the score, with the film revolving around
water.
Desplat wanted to emphasize an underwater reverberation; a blurred and obscure effect
added in post production.
To implement the film’s foreign sound, Alexandre mixed, flutes, whistling and an accordion
within the orchestra.
Using the accordion, he mimicked the popular Bandoneon reed instrument, to signify that
the creature’s original habitat was somewhere near South America.
The whistle is the focal point for Elisa’s silence, which is actually actress Sally Hawkins
whistling in her scenes.
Another primary instrument besides the accordion that Alexandre presents is the flute.
With 12 flutes positioned in the orchestra, they eliminate the trumpet section altogether
to exhibit a calmer and clearer sound.
The orchestra used for the Shape Of Water is as unique as they come.
Before I give my final thoughts on The Shape Of Water, I want to give my thanks for everyone
that has been massively supportive of the series.
We have made 8 episodes of Score UnCovered now and the support I’ve received from many
of you have been incredibly generous.
I know this is what I have been working for since I’ve started YouTube almost 3 years
ago and I won’t forgot how you guys have motivated me through it.
Based on your interest for The Shape Of Water, I’ll be analyzing The Revenant and The Godfather
in the future.
Next week I’ll be releasing my Westworld Score UnCovered episode, releasing on April
20th.
Just in time for the second season premiere.
If you want to request a movie, tv show or video game for Score UnCovered, let me know
here on YouTube or on my Twitter page.
The Shape Of Water takes many forms throughout the film and it’s music helps introduce
the audience to Elisa’s fearless life.
The score is incredibly distinctive to the story’s design.
Whether it’s Elisa’s Theme or any other track, water is what shapes the soundtrack
and it’s water that Desplat aims to immerse the viewer through.
The arrangement of instruments used are also unique to the given moment of time, underwater
or not.
Whether we are believing what is happening on the screen is imaginary or not, it’s
the music that attempts to persuade us to interpret the shape of water.
I want to thank you for watching this episode of “Score UnCovered”.
I hope you guys enjoyed the episode and let me know what you think of this film and it’s
score.
Ending the episode here, once more, thank you greatly.