A  Score  Analysis  of:     Written  By,   Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   For  the  Culminating  Experience  of  the  2014  Masters  in  Scoring  for   Film,  Television,  and  Video  Games  at  The  Berklee  College  of  Music,     Valencia,  Spain   Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   2   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     TABLE OF CONTENTS: Intro – 3 Story Synopsis – 3 Background Information – 4 Orchestration – 8 Main Themes – 9 Main Theme – 9 Le Festin – 12 Remy the Rat – 16 Ratpack/This is Me – 20 Anton Ego – 23 Linguini/Buddy – 25 Colette – 27 The Will - 29 Food Tasting – 31 Conclusion – 32 Cue Sheet – 33 Works Cited - 36 Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   3   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     INTRO: The musical score of Ratatouille, by Michael Giacchino, is a Grammy-winning, Academy Award nominee with a unique and eclectic sound that perfectly compliments the heartwarmingly peculiar story of Remy the Rat, who dreams of becoming a chef in Paris. The music takes on a great variety of styles and instruments, ranging from jazz, to orchestral, to the tango, and takes us on a musical journey alongside of the main character and his hopes and dreams. Throughout the musical telling of this story, Mr. Giacchino uses a number of different musical themes to represent certain characters and their emotions. He alters and manipulates these themes in a great deal of subtle ways to bring the audience into the emotional state of the characters on screen. This paper hopes shed some light on the creation of the music, its musical themes and instruments, and how they are used to tell the story of Remy the rat in Ratatouille. STORY SYNOPSIS: Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille is the story of a rat named Remy who has an uncanny sense of smell, a natural talent for cooking, and big dreams of being a chef in a five-star restaurant. Yet despite Remy’s dreams, the fact remains that he is indeed simply a rat living amongst his pack in the roof of a house of an elderly woman somewhere in the countryside of France. Yet the unexpected happens, and his pack is discovered by the elderly woman, and as they flee from their home, Remy is separated from the group and left stranded and alone in the sewer, with his only friend being an imaginary ghost of his hero, Chef Gusteau, whose slogan is “Anyone can cook”. We follow our protagonist as life leads him in an unexpected direction where, after he makes his way out of the sewer, he finds himself at the restaurant of his hero. Peering anxiously through the rooftop Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   4   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     window of the restaurant, Remy spies a bumbling garbage boy, Linguini, who happens to be accidentally ruining the soup of the day. In angst, Remy leans too far in, slips, and falls into the kitchen. This is where his adventure begins, leading him to a unique friendship with Linguini who he guides around the kitchen, and the chance to pursue his dream of becoming a chef in Gusteau’s restaurant. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Ratatouille is a Disney/Pixar film released in June of 2007. The story was by Jan Pinkava, with direction and screenwriting by Brad Bird, who worked to make the absurdsounding tale of a rat cook into one we can all relate to. He did this by creating characters with real, human emotions that we all share, despite their comedic animated form. “This film is personal to me in a way, because I think that we all have sort of impossible dreams and do what we can to pursue them. And this is the ultimate impossible dream” (movieweb). His choice in composers worked in his favor, heightening and enhancing these emotions throughout the story. Brad personally asked Michael Giacchino to score the project, as they had previously worked together on Pixar’s “The Incredibles”, and both came away feeling it was a very positive collaboration. According Giacchino, Brad, “is one of my best friends…and I had a great time working with him on the Incredibles” (Noyer). In a number of interviews, Giacchino talks of Brad with a great deal of respect, mentioning that he only wants to do something if it’s original and can tell a story in a slightly different way. His method is to be inspired by something you love and make something new and creative from that inspiration, which works well with Giaccino’s style, who enjoys trying to do something different stylistically with each story he scores Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   5   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     (Cooke). According to Giacchino, Brad Bird does a great job of energizing his team, and tends to bring out their creative best. As for the music of Ratatouille, he wanted the same from Giacchino, giving him basic ideas and explaining what he wanted, while allowing a lot of room for creativity in the compositional process. “He really leaves the construction of it (the music) up to me, which is really nice.”(Noyer). There was also next to no temp score when Giacchino received the movie. This was partially due to the speed in which they were working, and partially because Mr. Bird did not know what the film should sound like (Noyer). It is a very unique story and thus required an original sound, musically speaking. This led to Michael drawing on his many personal influences which range from classical to jazz as well as elements of the film including Paris, rats, food, animation, and some very human emotions. He crafted an eclectic sound including all of these elements, and created a score leaning towards the side of jazz for a great deal of it. Giacchino reminisced in an interview, comparing jazz to cooking in the sense that in both, “you’re just kind of throwing in different things and seeing what works. It’s all about that experimentation and the film’s score was very much like that.” (Noyer) For the composing process of Ratatouille, it was initially all done digitally. According to Giacchino, the last film he composed “traditionally”, with pen and paper was “The Incredibles”. He composes at a keyboard while watching the film, and makes sketches where he composes and orchestrates simultaneously. He then sends these nearly completed sketches off to his orchestrators, Jack Hayes, Larry Kenton, and Tim Simonec (who also served as conductor for Ratatouille) Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   6   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     to finish the work before moving onto the recording process. His team that he works with is generally a small group of people whom he trusts greatly and who have an enormous amount of experience. This list includes (aside from his orchestrators): music copyist Dave Wells, music editor Stephen M. Davis (imdb.com), and recording and mixing engineer Dan Wallin, who has worked on everything from “Up” to “Robocop 2” (imdb.com). For the music of Ratatouille, Giacchino worked with a group of professional musicians from Los Angeles. He has advertised that he has used a lot of the same orchestral musicians for the last 10 years, and holds the opinion that they are some of the very best in the world, and trusts fully that they can handle any style that he would write for them (“Music by Michael Giacchino…” michaelgiacchinomusic.com). For this particular project, he also worked with a number of extra non-orchestral musicians, such as legendary accordionist and musette player, Frank Marrocco (Doctor Zhivago, Schindler’s List, etc.), who Giacchino mentions helped a great deal in getting an overall tone and sound for the accordion that he wanted for the film (Noyer). Other musicians also included: Tommy Morgan on the harmonica, Abe Laboriel on electric bass, and Harvey W. Mason playing drums and additional hand percussion (http://www.imdb.com) For the recording of Ratatouille, this large group of musicians officially went by the name of “Le Rat Band”, while the smaller group who recorded the song “Le Festin” aptly named themselves, “La Bande de Le Festin” (“Ratatouille, Film Score”). Although not opposed to the use of synthesizers and electronics, Giacchino chose to write solely for live instruments. In his interview with animatedviews.com, he expressed how he felt that the story of Ratatouille was about real things, real people and emotions, and so for him, it Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   7   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     needed real instrumentation to express those things. He goes on to discuss how he also believes that recording instruments separately takes away from the natural energy and performance that happens when all of the musicians are together in a room (Noyer). He seems to be a bit of a purist when it comes to “true” orchestral sound when recording orchestra, and loves the magic created when everyone is playing together, and thus, the score for Ratatouille was recorded by live musicians playing in the same space (aside from the song “Le Festin”). Giacchino also wrote the music for the Ratatouille video game. He personally likes to stay involved as much as he can when his projects move on to the videogame world, as he feel it is important to have some sort of musical carryover in both versions of the project. He even gained the rights from Disney to use some of the same themes from the film, but not the original recordings. Instead, he used the same musicians to record new music in the same style and with some of the same themes. (Noyer). After the movie was released, Ratatouille won a Grammy and was later nominated for an academy award. Michael Giacchino was not actually present at the Grammies when he found out he had won. Instead, he was busy recording the soundtrack for the movie Speed Racer with nearly the same group of musicians as recorded for Ratatouille. When the news reached him, he got onto the loudspeaker in the studio and announced to his orchestra, “Hey guys! You just won a Grammy!” (“Music by Michael Giacchino”, www.michaelgiacchinomusic.com). Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   8   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     ORCHESTRATION: As stated in an interview, Giacchino largely orchestrates while composing, which means that most likely a lot of the choices about what instruments were playing and when, were left up to our composer. However, he also mentions that he has worked with the same orchestrator for years, one who he trusts very much: Jack Hayes, who was nearly 90 at the time of this film (van der Lugt). Any way around it, one could actually argue that what truly makes this score special and rather unique in its sound has a lot to do with the orchestration. The orchestration and instruments chosen for the film were rather unique and slightly atypical for your run-of-the-mill Disney/Pixar movie. But most all of the instruments and styles/genres heard throughout Ratatouille had a great deal to do with the where it was set. Giacchino drew a lot of inspiration from how he felt about Paris. He found that there were so many types of people there, along with numerous musical movements from jazz, to orchestra, to a “café” sound. He used these concepts as well as the emotions felt from the characters to select a diverse palette of tones that could be combined with the traditional orchestra (Noyer). Throughout the film, the various themes, melodies, and chord progressions are passed to a multitude of instruments. Even if the melodic or harmonic progression remains the same, the instruments playing it change often phrase by phrase, as if the orchestra were playing catch with musical fragments. It ranges from groups of highs to lows, to various woodwinds, brass, strings, pitched percussion, and modern instruments not typical of the orchestra such as: electric, acoustic, and slide guitar, electric bass, drumkit, saxophone, accordion, harmonica, mandolin, and even a ukulele. Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   9   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     Giacchino also changes and extends the colors of each of these groups of instruments to give them a unique character at various points. He uses a lot of muted brass (trumpets especially), flutter-tongued flute and trumpet, as well as a lot of doubletonguing in the flute, and a great deal of string techniques from pizzicato and staccato, to portamento, sul ponticello, tremolo, and harmonics. He also experiments a lot with the size of the group playing depending on the largeness of the scene, or the character we are dealing with at that point. All these groupings and techniques tend to create an elaborate dance, weaving throughout the orchestra. Sounds, textures, and musical genres that are traditionally used to represent characters, places, emotions, and even foods, all mix together seamlessly in an incredibly eclectic style that somehow fits this story perfectly. The orchestration gives such an interesting variance to the music, while subtly following what is happening in the picture. THE THEMES: Ratatouille Main Theme and “Le Festin” Giacchino mentioned in an interview with collider.com that when he begins writing for a project, he waits until something from the project connects with him emotionally, and then begins writing immediately after feeling this inspiration. As with the TV series “Lost”, he says he many times does not even watch an episode all the way through before beginning to write, and instead takes it bit by bit. With Ratatouille, the scene that he felt portrayed the true meaning of the film and gave him the greatest Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   10   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     inspiration for the music, came during the “reveal” at the end of the story. During this scene, the critic Ego has just met our rat chef and is narrating his critique out loud, re- analyzing his views, his former opposition to the idea that “anyone” can cook now torn asunder by having the best meal of his life created by the most unexpected of sources. It is a quiet moment where our “evil” character is left dumbstruck and pensive, realizing that the greatest creations can sometimes come from the smallest of sources (Frosty). This cue, in the soundtrack, is entitled “Anyone Can Cook”, and during this scene it takes the form of a quiet, and content, yet slightly wistful and romantic piece. It begins with a solo piano, and gradually expands with soft strings and melodic accordion to give it a more romantic Parisian feel. This emotional and soft theme eventually became the main theme for the entire film, and is meant to represent the hopes and dreams of our main character, Remy, while at the same time inspiring a feeling of romance in the “city of love”. This is one of two themes that are used for Remy; this one serving as both the main theme for the film, and the theme used to portray Remy’s inner dreams and aspirations. Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   11   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     The second theme associated with Remy is quite a bit different as it relates more to his “ratty” side, and will be discussed more later on. The main theme is brought to life in many different places throughout the movie, but is most commonly played in a romantic style featuring the string section. The very first time it is heard is a bit more subtle in cue #4, as a light melody in the piano which then hands itself off to a solo violin, all the while accompanied by a small legato string section. It is heard here as Remy narrates how humans use food while watching his hero, Chef Gusteau on the television. The theme is often associated with appearances of Gusteau throughout the film as he represents what Remy dreams of becoming. There is a subtle use of the chord progression from the theme without melody during the cue “Wall Rat” (00:14:26) while Remy converses with an imaginary Gusteau, who seems to be talking back. At the end of this same cue, the theme is brought back in full force in the string orchestra, melody and all, as Remy sees Paris for the first time and then turns to his left only to find Gusteau’s restaurant close by (00:17:04). The melody remains the same in the violins while the rest of the orchestra plays the chords in ascending lines to give a more “sweeping romantic” feel. The main theme is also brought in at points of where Remy has succeeded in some way at accomplishing his dreams. It is brought about in one of its most altered forms during the “Special Order” cue. At this point, Remy has just guided (forced, more like) his new friend Linguini to break the rules and alter a recipe before the food went out to a customer. After finding out that the customer loved it, the music changes to a fast dance tune in 4/4 (rather than the usual slower ¾) with the accordion playing the theme in Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   12   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     staccato quarter notes, as opposed to its usually legato quality. This is one of the most drastic changes heard to this theme in the movie. A couple of minutes later in the film, as Remy lays back to enjoy his success, we hear the theme played in a fashion we are more accustomed to by a romantic, legato harmonica accompanied by strings (00:52:52, Hello Brother cue). Le Festin: It is nearly impossible to discuss the main theme of the movie without discussing the song, “Le Festin”. For part of the telling of the film’s story, Giacchino was asked to write a song that had more of an old-fashioned, typically French sound for a section of the film (Noyer). However, Michael felt that this story in itself was very special, and needed something unique that specifically fit the film and could last a long time. He also hoped to avoid being overly cliché in terms of what Americans tend to associate with being French. With these things in mind, Mr. Giacchino tried numerous ideas and eventually chose to adapt his main theme for the film, which captures the feeling of an aspiring dreamer, and turn that into the melody for the song, “Le Festin” (Noyer). If one takes a close look at the melody and chord progression for the Main Theme and Le Festin, it is easy see and hear the similarities, the main differences being the keys they are in, slight alterations in rhythms found in the melody, the tempos used, and of course the instrumentation varying from orchestral to small band with a vocalist. Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   13   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     The title “Le Festin”, according to Giacchino is a French phrase with the meaning of getting together with your closest friends and family to have a great meal together, and essentially celebrate all that is good in life (Movieweb). This idea ties in closely with the theme of food carried throughout the film, while at the same time remaining true to the original musical theme, expressing a celebration of having and pursuing dreams, as well as an enjoyment of friendship and food. For the song, Giacchino wished to find a female French vocalist and wound up working with the singer, “Camille”. He actually found her by doing a Google search for “female French vocalist”, and going through multiple websites. After hearing her music, Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   14   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     he decided she was exactly what he was looking for and decided to simply call her out of the blue. They then collaborated in a studio in Vancouver to record the song and come up with the additional layered vocal harmonies heard throughout the second half of the song. She also helped Mr. Giacchino in some lyrical phrasing that would better fit in the song, as he not only wrote the music, but is credited on IMDB as the writer of the lyrics as well (imdb.com). Camille appreciated the song and enjoyed the fact that the language would remain the same even for audiences abroad. She later went on to act as the voice of the character “Colette” in the French language version of Ratatouille (Noyer). On the soundtrack, Le Festin is a single full-play song. However, in the movie, it is fragmented into parts and edited into different sections, making multiple small appearances, but never playing all the way through. This idea of using a song that captured the identity of the movie that would play during the middle and ending portions of the film came from director, Brad Bird. Initially it was meant only for the middle, and then, according to Giacchino, Bird decided, “why don’t we start the song earlier, and then finish it as a recap?” (movieweb). The editing of the song does seem to be in order, so that we hear the intro early on, the middle during the middle of the movie, and the end of it as the last scene closes into the credits. In fact, the very first thing the audience hears as the Disney logo flies into screen is the voice of Camille, accompanied by an accordion, singing the intro of “Le Festin”. This is just a small foretaste of the theme to come, as the music suddenly changes when the animated picture comes in.   Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   15   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille   On a slight side note from Le Festin, which leads us back to our main theme, the melody of this little intro appears in different instruments as a portion of the main theme a few other times in the film. The main example of this is at the beginning of the aforementioned final scene that inspired Giacchino at 01:38:44 on a solo piano (Anyone Can Cook cue), which leads into the ending summary of the film. A woeful adaptation of it also comes in at 1:26:59 while Remi is trapped in a cage, unable to help out in the kitchen, and uncertain of his fate. As for the rest of the song of “Le Festin”, it waits to appear (words and all) until the middle of the film. In fact, its first appearance is very subtle. It comes in as source music, playing from the car radio as the temporary chef of Gusteau’s restaurant is driving along (47:00). Later on, the majority of the song appears during a montage-like portion of the film depicting how things are starting to work out for both Remy and his friend Linguini (from 1:15:19 to 1:16:44); Linguini now owns the restaurant and has Colette as Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   16   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     his girlfriend and Remy is able to pursue his dreams, and has been re-united with his family. This fits well with the song’s theme as they are sharing life and dreams with those closest to them all the while making food. The song fades out nicely into a press conference where dialogue continue and the story changes. The last portion of “Le Festin” is saved until the very end of the film (at around 1:41:10), picking up where it left off, as Remy narrates, telling his story to a group of rats. The camera changes to show how everything worked out and is dream has come true. He is together with his family, his friends: Linguini, Colette, and now Anton Ego, and his impossible dream of being a chef has come true. The happy song fades out to the word “Fin”, concluding our tale of impossible dreams, and celebrating the best parts of life with our loved ones and good food. Remy, The Rat/Wall Rat: One of the best-known themes from the movie would be Remy’s second theme, which Giacchino uses to portray the more rat side of Remy. It is generally very quick, light, and playful in ¾, like a rat with a great deal of curiosity scampering through the walls to spy on humans and sneak food where he can. This theme, rather than being represented melodically, tends to be recognizable by its chord progression, and largely by its bass line. The main line of the progression moves down chromatically from tonic to the major 6th of the scale, which is uses as the 3rd of the a IV chord in the scale. The progression usually then moves back up by going between the ii and V chords of the scale, before repeating the same idea with slight variations. Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   17   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     That being said, there are a few variations on a melody that come in occasionally overtop the chord progression to give it variance and a more melodic feel. The melody during the first portion (the descending part of the bass line) of the progression often changes but has a similar feel to it. However, these melodies generally share the same second half during the ascending part of the chord progression before it repeats. Below are two examples of melodies used in the same cue that start out with something different from each other and end up playing the same thing during the second half of the chord progression of this theme: The Remy, the Rat theme appears in various forms quite frequently throughout the movie, as it seems to represent everything from Remy’s curiosity in food and humans, to him being a thieving rat. In an interview, Giacchino mentioned that this was more of a “ratty” theme, representing who he was (a sneaky thief) rather than who he wanted to be, Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   18   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     which was represented in the main/Le Festin theme (van der Lugt). That being said, the theme’s first appearances happen to be when Remy is excitedly describing cooking and various flavors to his brother Emille, making the theme feel like it represents Remy’s general curiosity and excitement about food, rather than him being a rat and a thief. Its very first appearance happens around 5:45 into the film, when Remy discovers that his brother has found some good cheese and begins to run around, excitedly pondering how to go about cooking this cheese with a mushroom. This first appearance happens at a much slower pace and feels like slower jazz, but keeps that same bass line. The theme returns again in pizzicato strings, gradually increasing in tempo and size of orchestra (adding accordion, pitched percussion, electric bass, and saxophone) as Remy grows exponentially more excited by his latest concoction. Perhaps the most famous musical cue in this movie is entitled “Wall Rat”, and is where Giacchino really explores this theme, featuring fast pizzicato and staccato string quartet as the backdrop, over which a very fast solo flute double-tongues staccato notes. This texture changes with the scene as Remy runs through the walls of a building, adding clarinet counter melody, a glockenspiel part, and then changing to add a full string section, electric bass, hand percussion, and acoustic guitar. Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   19   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     The sounds, textures, and playing styles Giacchino chose to use during this scene seem to be very important and representative of our main character and what’s happening during the scene. The fast tempo, use of pizzicato and staccato notes on a small ensemble of strings, plus the extremely fast, short notes played on the flute seem to strongly represent sounds associated with being a small, fast rat running through the walls of a house undetected. It sounds like quick, scratchy scampering of feet, lightly moving with great agility. Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   20   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     The orchestration also continually changes based both upon what Remy sees in the building, and grows ever-larger the closer he gets to the top. For example, as he spies a couple having a dramatic fight who then start kissing, he suddenly gives the melody to a romantically played acoustic guitar, supported by legato strings. The original fast flute returns as continues to run through the hall. As Remy finally approaches the rooftop, the string section take a larger roll until the tempo slows down to give way to the main theme of Ratatouille as he finally discovers he is in Paris, the city of his dreams. Rat Pack/This is me: One of the first recognizable themes in the entire film is in a cue entitled, “This is Me”. It comes very early on in the film as an introduction to the rat pack as Remy describes his present lifestyle and his family. The theme generally comes back into play when multiple members of Remy’s rat family are present. It is otherwise associated with Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   21   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     concepts of sneakiness and thievery. The music of this theme is quirky, rhythmic, and sneaky-sounding, and can be defined by 3 groups of slightly chromatic staccato bursts (two 16th’s and an 8th note in each group). These are generally pre-cursed by a quick group of four staccato sixteenth notes leading to the tonic of the scale (see example). This theme’s melody is generally dominated by the woodwind family, with its first appearance played in the bassoon, and second by the clarinet. Generally the background of this theme is rather rhythmic, either with steady 8th notes in either guitar or piano, or with emphasis on the off-beat, generally either by guitar or brass. It also can be easily characterized by the use of muted trumpet and its low register counter-melody, first heard in the piano, and later pizzicato upright bass. To add to the percussive and slight sneaky element of this theme, it often includes percussion instruments such as a shaker, guiro, and vibraphone. This theme in particular is very interesting in the way that Giacchino chooses to manipulate it. Its alterations in the film are sometimes so subtle that the average film viewer may never notice that it has any connection to the original theme. In fact, during Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   22   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     “This is Me”, the cue changes keys, tempos, instrumentation, and even metric pulse as it starts to swing rather than keep straight eighth-notes. The melody is then given to the guitar as it lazily plays up the scale in a slow swing style. It sounds completely different, though if one listens closely it sounds it still keeps the same general format at the mid section of this theme (with the three 16th bursts). It only slows it down, and takes away the chromatic fast notes, while still following a very general outline. It continues using the same general thematic material since we are still learning about the lifestyle of these rats, while changing mood entirely with the picture as it changes from sneaky, fast-paced thieves, to Remy lethargically sniffing the entire pack’s food for poison. Both iterations of this theme come back at points during the film. The original rat theme with the same instrumentation of bassoon and clarinet melodies and piano lower counter melody comes back at around 01:11:45 as Remy sneaks through the kitchen and into the chef’s office (“Heist to See You). It then changes to the lazy swing version as Remy frustratedly argues with imaginary versions of Gusteau in his head. Another very interesting and subtle use of this theme comes much later in the film during a giant party of the rat pack upon the safe return of Remy to the family. During the scene a sort of rat “jug-band” is playing a swing piece in the background in the style of Django Reinhardt. The chord progression sounds like a more typical fast swing song one could boogie to, but the guitar’s melody is actually playing a rhythmically simplified version of the theme, this time in a major key (Cue #29, 00:57:05). Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   23   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     The Ratpack/This is Me theme enters again in a form very close to the original during the cue “Remy’s Revenge” (01:20:46). During this scene, Remy leads his entire family into the kitchen where he works to steal food, and thus is a perfect time for a theme representing rats and thievery to come back in its full form. This cue is very similar to the first appearance of this theme, and simply continues the idea. Anton Ego: An animated Disney/Pixar film would not be complete without a good villain, and in this particular tale about the dreams of becoming a five-star chef, the ultimate villain is Anton Ego, the renowned, yet extremely harsh, food critic. For this gaunt, dark character, Giacchino chooses to construct an evil theme reminiscent of the sound John Williams used to represent the Syth Lords in Star Wars (at least in terms of the chord progression and orchestra voicing). Generally, there is a simple melody given to a reeded woodwind instrument, such as bassoon or oboe. This is accompanied by a dark chord progression usually in strings and other woodwinds. The progression and melody often remains very similar within cues containing this character. The main alterations tend to be changes in voicing, inversions, octaves, and keys that it’s played in. Giacchino generally moves from a time through this theme Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   24   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     in low register instruments, (bassoon melody with low cello) to higher register instruments (oboe melody with violins). Then a slightly altered version is played combining mid and low range instruments (English horn melody accompanied by violas, and low cello and bassoon). After running through different voicings of the same thing, he modulates and repeats the same chord progression with extended techniques and sometimes without the melody. The interesting part about this theme largely comes from the techniques and changes in instruments used. There is a great deal of portamento used in the upper strings between chords, sometimes with a sliding violin solo. At other moments he uses some string harmonics, and an interesting combination of high string tremolo with a quietly flutter-tongued flute, giving a peculiar sound that intentionally sounds like it’s slightly out-of-tune or phase shifting. These high techniques combined with some close intervals in very low-playing instruments, gives for a very eerie shimmer combined with a dark, muddy low. Seen below is an example during the theme where it takes away the melody after changing keys and uses an interesting combination of techniques to create a high, shimmering, and eerie effect. Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   25   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     Linguini/Buddy theme: The character of Linguini is that of an awkward, bumbling teenager who is just coming into a life on his own as a young adult after the recent death of his only parent. He happens upon Remy fixing the soup that he clumsily ruined and is charged with the duty of killing the rat by his boss…until Linguini discovers that Remy can both understand what he is saying and has a special talent for cooking. So instead, he takes him to his studio apartment overlooking Paris and a rather unique partnership has begun. The oddness of both Linguini and the peculiar relationship between himself and Remy is stated musically in a theme that sounds like a tongue-in-cheek mixture of something that could be found in an old western and a jazz piece from the big-band era. The first appearance of this happens when Linguini first brings Remy back to his apartment saying, “It’s not much but…it’s not much”. Giacchino captures the clumsiness and humorous side of this new friend by playing a with a slightly-sauntering cowboy-like swing in 4/4. He gives the melody to the accordion, while instruments like acoustic Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   26   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     guitar, softly-played drums (mostly hi-hat and rim clicks), electric bass, pizz. Cello and viola, harmonica, and even a mouth-harp take the rhythm. To give the song more of a jazzy feel, he has saxophones accent occasional syncopated off beats and double parts of the melody, and later hands this same idea off to muted trumpets. For the next appearance of this theme, Giacchino intentionally emphasizes his comedic reference to western movies. He specifically chose to do this, because this is the scene where Remy is learning how to steer and control Linguini’s actions by sitting on his head and pulling his hair. He wanted to give the audience the feeling of “breaking in your horse in”, since that is almost exactly what Remy was doing with Linguini (Noyer). This cue begins with an obvious comedic reference of a solo guitar playing the notes of IV-I-VI-VII (and repeating), over the top of hi-hat. He then adds bass and rhythm ukulele to thicken the “western” vibe, and occasionally uses a clopping cowbell to make it feel like a horse plodding along. The humorously cowboy-esque quality of the cue intensifies as soon as he brings in the main melody with a whistler. The whistle was actually performed by the orchestra’s flute player, who Giacchino had used before on a whistling piece for the TV show “Alias” (Noyer). Later this melody is handed off to a solo harmonica. The song continues to thicken and change texturally throughout to keep it very interesting and entertaining. It gradually becomes a bit more swing and jazzy in style by Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   27   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     using more woodwinds, muted trumpets, and by changing the chord progressions lightly to have more chromaticisms and 7ths. While doing this, he keeps it western by including a dramatically played slide guitar. The song later changes to textures very traditional to this story by giving the melody to the accordion and strings, but while adding some light mandolin in the background. During this scene the music generally flows like a song, with the exception of one very obvious sync point. At 40:07, after seeing a blindfolded Linguini, whose actions are being controlled by a rat in his hair, spill food and crash rampantly around his own apartment, raise a knife in preparation to slice a tomato. As the shot pauses on the raised knife, so does the music; a perfect use of silence to create a great deal of tension suddenly. And as the knife comes down safely, the lighthearted sound of the music resumes, allowing us to breathe again. The Linguini/buddy theme generally feels much more like a song than a traditional motif. He does not often use it throughout the film, and chooses not to manipulate or alter the melody very much at all during the two main appearances of it. However, the textures, styles, and orchestrations of the song change frequently, and interweave very seamlessly to create a very unique and intentionally humorous sound, adequately befitting the ridiculousness of the picture. Seen below is an example of the melody of the theme, as heard in the “Remy Drives a Linguini” cue. There is one exception to this in the film, during one scene where Linguini has fallen asleep in the kitchen and Remy is frantically trying to wake him (01:00:55). In this Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   28   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     scene, he turns their theme into minor, seemingly using different instruments to represent the two characters struggling against one another. The low bass clarinet seems to show the weight of the sleeping Linguini, while the glockenspiel melody overtop appears to represent the struggling Remy. Colette: The character of Colette also has a theme that feels much more like a song than a motif. In order to represent the strong, confident, and very direct (and slightly intimidating to Linguini, as he finds her rather attractive) side of Colette, Giacchino chose to write a tango. He felt that this suited her as tango dancers have to be extremely confident and sure of themselves while dancing (Noyer). The main musical entrance of this theme happens during the cue “Colette Shows Him ‘Le Ropes” (00:44:07). It sounds like a full-fledged tango song with guitars, drums, and muted trumpets serving as the rhythm section, while the accordion and pitched percussion take turns with the violins playing the melody. Overall, this cue feels very rhythmic and strong, but there is a bridge section with an alternate melody given to the strings, usually the viola section. This section, although still very tango-like, is meant to represent the softer side of Colette, or rather, the more human qualities of who she is on the inside. However, this could easily just be thought of as a melodic and sexy interlude within a very danceable tango. Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   29   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     Colette’s theme returns during the scene where a customer requests a special order and Linguini is put in charge of making what his boss knows is a terrible dish in order to purposely make him look bad (“Special Order” 00:49:05). As Colette is taking charge of having him make the recipe, her theme is playing in the background. Remy happens to disagree and forces Linguini to change the recipe in a bit of a struggle with Colette. It is as if Remy is (physically) pulling Linguini in one direction, while the character of Colette is pulling him in another. In this sense, it is very appropriate that Colette’s melody should remain very prolific to emphasize the physical versus emotional tug-of-war going on for the character, Linguini. Much of the music remains the same in this scene, but the instrumentation changes slightly, sounding a bit more like a live jazz performance at times, including piano and vibraphone parts that sound very soloistic. This all changes abruptly during what sounds like the middle of the vibraphone solo upon the waiter bursting through the door to exclaim that the customer enjoyed Remy/Linguini’s alteration of the meal. The music pauses briefly and resumes at the same tempo, except in major playing a straight 4/4 version of the “Le Festin” theme, as Remy has just created and served an original concoction to a very pleased customer. The will: Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   30   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     There is a small motif that we hear only a couple of times during the film during scenes where we hear about the will of Chef Gusteau and a letter from Linguini’s mother, stating that Gusteau is Linguini’s biological father. The motif feels almost like a play on the ratpack/this is me theme as it plays with similar chromatic intervals, simply without any rhythmic spacing. It remains as a constant rhythm, either in very fast straight 16th notes or in constant triplets The first appearance of this motif happens during one of the shortest cues of the movie (from 42:32 to 42:45), as our temporary chef-in-charge, Skinner, opens a letter from Linguini’s mother, showing that Linguini is in fact the biological son of Chef Gusteau. It starts as a single melody on the oboe, and adds clarinet, strings, and an additional harmony as we see Skinner grow exponentially more stressed and frantic. . Below is an example of “The Will” theme with an additional harmony. The largest example of this motif can be found in two consecutive cues. The motif begins to play in the middle of the “Heist To See You” cue at around 1:12:52, as Remy discovers Gusteau’s will, along with the letter from Linguini’s mother explaining their situation. The little motif gets played over and over, growing in dynamics, doing a little hand-off between groups of woodwind instruments. The tempo slows down to sync Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   31   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     dramatically with him being discovered by our replacement chef upon which “The Paper Chase” cue begins (1:13:26) This cue plays a great deal with motifs from multiple themes, but mostly with “The Will” motif. It could be argued, especially during this scene, that the “Will” motif is indeed just a play on the “ratpack/this is me” theme, particularly because of the fact that Remy the rat is currently stealing documents and running for his life with them through the streets of Paris. This would remain consistent with the overall idea of rats being talked about as thieves in the movie. That being said, this particular motif is used as the main element of “The Paper Chase” cue. It is played at a frantic tempo in 16th notes mostly in the violins, and sometimes by flutes. It is the rhythmic backdrop of the scene, played frequently here and there while other melodies and rhythmic emphasis play around it. At one point during the cue, Remy leaps dramatically to temporary safety as the trumpet section triumphantly sings out a 4/4 variation of the “Main/Le Festin” theme. Food Tasting: There is another part of the film that is not necessarily a musical theme, but is definitely worth mentioning as it is a very unique musical and artistic collaboration between the people working on this project. In general, director Brad Bird wanted Giacchino to musically express the taste of food, instead of relying solely upon images. He knew that it was a tricky film, since so much of it was about taste and smell, and the audience would not be able to smell or taste anything. He ended up drawing a connection between cooks experiencing texture, smell, and taste just the way a painter could Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   32   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     experience color and light. Thus, he decided to use sound and color to represent these things, asking Giacchino, “What would cheese sound like versus fruit? You know? Cheese is a rounder warmer sound, probably lower on the scale. Whereas fruit is probably a lighter brighter clearer sound, you know?” (Barbagello). So at two points in the film, while Remy enthusiastically describes the flavors of different types of food, the background turns to black as he depicts the various combinations between tastes. And as he bites into a type of food, a genre of music suddenly bursts forth from the dark, accompanied by spirals of colorful animated artwork, translating the flavors into sound and color (van der Lugt). The first occurrence of this happens very early on as Remy talks about food flavors being entirely unique. He first takes a bite of a piece of cheese, to which a light and rhythmic bit of danceable (Latin) Jazz comes in slightly from the right. Afterwards he takes a bite of a strawberry, which enters slightly from the left with a musical theme of a quiet and romantic-sounding melody on accordion, accompanied by strings. When Remy combines the flavors together, both musical elements come back in full force, sounding like a full-fledged disco piece now that the melody has gained new life with rhythm. This idea happens again later in the film as Remy tries to get his brother Emile to savor the flavors of food. As he describes them to his brother, Remy’s “ratty” theme comes first weakly in the bass, then grows stronger as Emile seems to begin to understand until he states, “I think…you lost me”, and the musicians trail off, sliding haphazardly out of tune. Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   33   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     CONCLUSION: Michael Giacchino’s score for Ratatouille is an incredible depiction of the story. The extraordinarily active soundtrack plays nearly from start to finish totaling around 86 minutes in music which is a very impressive feat for such an active score. The variance in musical styles and live instruments make for a very eclectic, expressive, and loveable sound that is unique to this particular story. The use of thematic melodies and songs and their alterations throughout prove to be an effective way to draw in the audience and subtly bring them to the emotional state of the characters. Like the story, Giacchino’s score is one that connects and resonates with all of us, attaching us to the characters, their hopes, and dreams. CUE SHEET: CUE TIME 1 00:00:0100:00:24 2 00:00:2400:01:00 3 00:02:0300:03:44 4 00:04:0700:06:32 5 00:06:5300:08:31 6 00:08:4400:12:49 7 00:10:5900:12:49 8 00:13:370017:39 9 00:17:400019:34 10 00:19:3900:23:54 TITLE Le Festin Intro* NOTES Disney Logo with “Le Festin” intro “Welcome to Gusteau’s” “This is Me” TV source music In the Kitchen* “Lightningy”* Bits of main theme, first “Food Tasting” scene, “Ratpack” theme, “Remy as a Rat” theme Remy’s rat theme “Granny Get Your Gun” “100 Rat Dash” Completely different, action-packed, full orchestra. Still different, action-packed, plays with a motif. “Wall Rat” “Cast of Cooks” Appearance of Main Theme, moves to largest appearance of Remy’s Rat theme. Classy kitchen jazz “A Real Gourmet Kitchen” Remy as a rat theme intensified with full orchestra and drama “Ratpack” theme   11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   34   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille   00:24:0300:24:50 00:24:5600:26:17 00:28:5600:29:26 00:31:1200:33:06 00:33:1400:34:03 00:34:2300:34:52 00:34:5700:36:02 00:36:2600:38:13 00:38:1300:40:36 00:42:3200:42:45 00:44:0700:46:59 00:47:0000:47:12 00:47:1200:47:31 00:49:0500:51:30 00:51:3100:52:21 00:52:5200:53:17 00:53:4300:54:09 00:55:1000:55:55 00:57:0500:59:01 00:59:3001:00:55 01:00:5501:03:42 01:05:3001:07:20 01:08:03- “Souped Up” Remy’s rat theme in full happiness/jazzy style. “Is it Soup Yet” Remy’s rat theme altered to sound foreboding To Kill or Not To Kill* “A New Deal” Dramatic orchestral Good Morning* A contintuation of the “Linguini/Buddy” theme Get In My Shirt* A little dramatic intro into the next scene A Rat in the Shirt* A comedic, song-like cue featuring tuba, clarinet, and accordion, and pizz. strings A childlike, yet jazzy interlude to show the smallness of Remy This biggest and most comedic (western) entrance of “Linguini/Buddy” theme First entrance of “The Will” theme In The Fridge* “Remy Drives a Linguini” The Will* “Colette Shows Him ‘Le Ropes” Le Festin source music* Restaurant Piano Music* “Special Order” Invited to a Talk* Hello Brother* Light Thievery* Emile Taste-Test* Rat Party* Dead Rats* Asleep in the Kitchen* “Kiss and Vinegar” “Losing Control” First appearance of “Linguini/Buddy” theme The first appearance of Colette’s main theme, showing her confident side via tango. “Le Festin” comes in as source music from the car radio Piano source music A version of Colette’s theme. Main theme enters at 50:37 upon success General animated music going with picture Main theme temporarily before the music becomes frightening and orchestral A subtle alteration of the “Ratpack” theme The second appearance of the “Food Tasting” concept. Plays with Remy’s Rat theme Jug-band style swing that changes the key of the “Ratpack” theme. Dark dramatic orchestral bits. Non-thematic Plays with the Linguini/Buddy theme in minor. Romantic orchestra leading into the Anton Ego theme Colette’s second theme in a danceable tune Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   35   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 01:10:12 01:10:1301:10:49 01:11:2501:13:13 01:13:2601:15:11 01:15:1901:16:44 01:18:0901:19:17 01:19:1801:20:04 01:20:4601:23:36 01:24:3701:25:35 01:25:3501:26:50 01:25:5001:28:17 01:28:1701:28:54 01:29:0601:32:24 01:32:4601:37:45 01:37:5001:40:56 Rat on the Street* Dramatic orchestra as Remy is frightened on the street “Heist to See You” “Ratpack” theme leading into the “Will” theme “The Paper Chase” A chase scene using “The Will” as a background “Le Festin” Pt.1 The first main entrance of “Le Festin” Enter Mr. Ego* Theme for Anton Ego Take a Break Little Chef* “Remy’s Revenge” Trapped in a Cage* Piano Source Music* Freedom* Dramatic orchestra with the emotion Chaos in the Restaurant* “Abandoning Ship” “Dinner Rush” Dramatic orchestra “Anyone Can Cook” “Ratpack” theme in full force Dramatic orchestra with the scene Restaurant piano music Alterations on the “Main” theme and more Hopeful, yet sad melody building Plays with “Linguini/Buddy” theme, “Colette’s” theme, and the “Main” theme (01:36:30) Main Theme here. This is the first theme Giacchino wrote and based the rest of the film on this. Le Festin returns for the rest of the song 01:40:56“Le Festin” Pt.2 01:42:59 49 01:42:59“End End credits using a variance of most of the 01:50:32 Creditouilles” themes, allowing room for jazz improvisation. -Anything marked with an asterisk* is not the official title from the score. Titles in quotation marks are known to be the official titles used in the score. -The total amount of music in the film is 86 minutes and 57 seconds.         Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   36   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille                         WORKS CITED: Van Der Lugt, Peter. "An interview with Michael Giacchino." Twitch. N.p., 11 Aug. 2009. Web. 30 June 2014. . 'Ratatouille' Michael Giacchino Interview. Movieweb. Michael Giacchino. , 2007. Film. "Ratatouille - Behind the music with Michael Giacchino." YouTube. YouTube, 5 Apr. 2009. Web. 30 June 2014. . Frosty. "Michael Giacchino Exclusive Video Interview |5917." Michael Giacchino Exclusive Video Interview |5917. Collider, 30 Oct. 2007. Web. 30 June 2014. . "Music By Michael Giacchino - Features - Interviews & Articles - The Overture Newspaper." Music By Michael Giacchino - Features - Interviews & Articles - The Overture Newspaper. The Overture, 7 Apr. 2008. Web. 30 June 2014. . Obadiah  Brown-­‐Beach   37   Score  Analysis  of  Ratatouille     Cooke, Emmett. "Michael Giacchino - Scoring Music For Pixar." . Film & Game Composers, 20 July 2012. Web. 30 June 2014. . Barbagello, Ron. "The Art of Making Pixar's Ratatouille." Animation Art Conservation | INSIDE ANIMATION ART. Animation Art Conservation, 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 30 June 2014. . "Ratatouille - Production Notes." Pixar Talk. Disney/Pixar, 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 30 June 2014. . "Full Cast & Crew." IMDb. IMDb.com, 1 Nov. 2007. Web. 30 June 2014. . Noyer, Jérémie. "Michael Giacchino cooks up tasty tunes for Ratatouille! - Animated Views." Animated Views RSS. Animated Views, 25 Feb. 2008. Web. 30 June 2014. . "Ratatouille, film score - Michael Giacchino | Credits | AllMusic." AllMusic. All Music, 1 Nov. 2007. Web. 30 June 2014. .