SAE Magazine 13-2

esentation for film we can particular pattern and their help the story inside the s or methods can be de- ys and a composer should ain! potting the theme is in its or rather its recurrence. appear in tandem with the er interplay and even with he film’s ending. ci-fi thriller Signs in which uses a simple three-note ut the film’s suspenseful e three-note theme from lines to roaring full ast confrontation by nd the hostile aliens. Williams has used a rk on 1982’s E.T. the e gives multiple hints of the theme’s melody and finally reveals it with full force in the iconic flying scene. However themes don’t need to be banged on full force near the end of the film, but rather carefully applied in scenes to make a clear coherent statement and drive the overall music experience in a consistent direction. This however brings us to the question of where exactly do we put the themes and why do we want them there in the first place? Do I follow the character or what’s happening? We defined the idea of repeating the theme for both clarity and coherency but there are specific variation to what do we owe assigning a specific theme. Well we can look at it from two variation points: First, do we have a specific character? A protagonist, antagonist, major or minor characters, do we have someone hidden but crucial charac- ters, is it human or is it just an inanimate object? Themes that follow answering these questions can be called character themes; while themes specifi- cally designed to represent recurring events we’ll call event themes. These two variations are of crucial importance when dealing with theme assigning. ➤ Index event-based theme for Lost series. The three-note (showed in the Piccolo staff) motif dominates in all of the cues from 2002’s Signs.

SAE Magazine 13-2

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