There are an incredible amount puzzle pieces that go into making a film great but one of the aspects that isn’t talked about as much as it probably should is music. There are upward of a thousand examples I could give when it comes to iconic musical moments in films like the music over the opening text crawl in every Star Wars movie or the Indiana Jones theme or the first ten minutes of the film “Up” (Docter, 2009) that made everybody cry but, for this discussion, I’d like to use one specific example to talk about storytelling through music.
“How to Train Your Dragon” (Sanders, DeBlois, 2010) is, for those unfamiliar with it, an animated DreamWorks film about a viking boy, Hiccup, who is expected to kill a dragon in order to complete his tribe’s initiation into adulthood. Instead of doing that, he befriends the deadly Night Fury, who he names Toothless. The specific scene that I would like to discuss is about midway through the film. Hiccup has nursed Toothless back to health and the two have become tentative friends despite the fact that Hiccup was the one who originally injured the dragon. Although Toothless is healthy again, his tail fin is missing on one side, meaning he cannot steer himself in the air. Hiccup, feeling guilty for the part he played in the injury, builds Toothless a prosthetic tail fin. The only problem is that Toothless cannot control it on his own. He needs Hiccup to help him fly and thus, Hiccup becomes the first dragon rider.
The scene below is the first time that Hiccup and Toothless have tried to fly freely since the dragon was injured. When the scene opens we hear bagpipes playing Toothless’ theme, established earlier in the film (0:00:00 – 0:00:38). As Hiccup tests out a few maneuvers using his cheat sheet, his theme joins in on the horns(0:00:39 – 0:00:58). Both themes are audible during this segment but they aren’t working together. It feels as though on is always overpowering the other.
Next, Hiccup makes a few mistakes with his maneuvers, causing Toothless to bump into some stone pillars (0:00:59 – 0:01: 03). The two established themes continue to move back and forth, never really coming together, symbolizing that while they are working together, Toothless and Hiccup are not truly in synch with Toothless not used to needing help from someone else to maneuver and Hiccup relying too much on his cheat sheet.
As Toothless begins to climb upward, toward the clouds Toothless’ theme builds and builds until Hiccups cheat sheet slips out of its holder and begins to flutter to the ground (0:01:04 – 0:01:20). As Hiccup grabs for the sheet and his harness becomes unhooked from the saddle leaving Toothless unable to fly and Hiccup plummeting back to earth and we hear some peril music. It is discordant and tense, intended to evoke anxiety and anticipation in the audience as both Hiccup and Toothless struggle to right themselves (0:01:21 – 0:01:52). It culminates in the moment where Hiccup manages to hook himself back into the saddle and he lets his cheat sheet go as he finally starts flying on instinct. We get a key change with both Hiccup and Toothless’ themes finally working together as the characters find their synchronicity (0:01:53 – 0:02:27).
During this whole scene there is very little dialogue but you can tell everything that these characters are thinking and feeling through the music. Partially, this works so well because of the fact that the themes for these characters are strongly established very early in the film. Having themes that are so strongly associated with certain characters means that a composer can manipulate those themes in order to evoke different feelings from the audience. In “Up” the “Married Life” theme, a fairly short and sweet melody, is used over and over during those first ten minutes with the main alteration being tempo and that changes the entire mood of the piece but it appears again much later in the film and the audience associates it with those first ten minutes all over again. This is a big part of the reason that music can be so effective when used in an interesting way. It allows the audience to make connections back to other characters or moments that were established earlier and can be just as effective at drawing emotion from an audience as the acting or the dialogue, even on a subconscious level.
If you find this subject interesting at all, I would recommend going back and watching your favourite movie again, paying particular attention to the music. You might find some interesting connections that you’s never noticed before.
I have seen this movie so many times with my kids, but never once did I clue in to how well the music translates their feelings. The scene you described goes beautifully from tense and chaotic, to controlled, to celebratory. I had thought about music becoming iconic (like star wars) or not (avengers theme), but never really about how it can convey emotion. Thanks for a great blog post!