Screen Time

This week, Lynne Warfel pays tribute to James Garner, an actor she knew back in Los Angeles. Garner, Warfel says, was one of Hollywood's truly nice guys.

For those who may be new to Burnett, who has had a long and rich career, here are ten things to know.

There's a new Planet of the Apes film out today - and with it a new score by Michael Giacchino. He's just the latest in a long and, perhaps surprisingly, distinguished line of composers who have written music for these dystopian simians.

Composer/editor/director John Ottman is no stranger to film, and no stranger to director Bryan Singer. The two have worked hand-in-hand crafting some of the most important Hollywood productions of the last few decades, including The Usual Suspects (1995), X2: X-Men United (2003), and Superman Returns (2006). This year they returned to the world of X-Men, with Ottman both scoring and editing Singer's acclaimed new film X-Men: Days of Future Past. I spoke with Ottman about his work, both past and present.

Hans Zimmer is arguably the most recognized film composer in contemporary cinema. His work ranges from big-budget blockbusters like Man of Steel and quieter fare like Frost/Nixon; and his sound now pervades what we've come to expect from the majority of Hollywood, influencing contemporary scores by all composers, especially his students Harry Gregson-Williams, Steve Jablonski, and Henry Jackman.

While John Barry's Oscars and Oscars nominations came from love stories and epics, Barry's first big movie break came when a fellow composer was struggling to find a theme for a movie's main character. Bond. James Bond.

Collaborative composition is not typical in the classical repertoire, but in film and television it's becoming an increasingly popular way of working. In part, this is because an increasing number of film and TV composers are coming from a pop music background, familiar with collaborative music making and shared credit.

Every Monday morning at about 9:15, I’ll be joining John Birge on Classical MPR to discuss some of the fun and fascinating stories we’re featuring on our site.

As generations of kids who grew up playing video games mature and become a market force, some composers are looking to give game soundtracks the full symphonic treatment - in the same way composers before them sought to elevate and validate folk tunes.

2013's film scores surprised me. Typically there are a couple of big-budget productions that speak to the qualities one can and should expect from a film score, while the majority of the highest achievements are on the edges, where composers for indie films can take greater risks and break boundaries. However, last year, there were many great scores across the board; much of what I heard and valued came from the least likely places.