Henry Mancini

I watched many films over the holiday and during each one I would hear a song and think to myself this film is really beautifully scored or I wonder who wrote this theme song. Everytime I checked the credits at the end it was Mancini, Mancini...Mancini!!! It must be nice to be so good at what you do, not just creating one hit song but memorable soundtrack after memorable soundtrack that still lives in the history of cinema. His songs are just as famous as the movies. A genius you might say...


I of course knew Mancini's name from the classics such as Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Pink Panther, perhaps the two most widely known of his works. However I had no idea he wrote so many film scores that I love until I had checked. He wrote the catchy theme for the ultra cool TV series of Charlie's Angels and one of my favorite films of all time, The Great Race starring Jack Lemon and Tony Curtis.

Mancini album covers, showing the vastness of his work, and the range of projects. 

What I found interesting about looking further into Mancini's music was how much he really has got his own style and tone. If his music were paintings I think I know what colours they would be, and what style. I found this interesting because it makes me wonder, is it merely the fact that I associate his music with the types of films he's composed for? My mind does keep some of the visual stills from the movies he's composed for and when one of his songs plays I do automatically think of them, but not always. It doesn't happen this way to me for all film composers however. It made me think more about this discipline and how they can't just compose music, they need to combine the two. It's the great mix of music and visuals that work so well for us as an audience. All this seems very obvious to me as I write it but I think I easily forget their job because if they have done it well then the two merge seamlessly. I have always realised that there is a relationship between music and picture, everyone who watches movies know this. However it's only after discussing in class about the advances in sound and music that I am beginning to really understand why this relationship is so important to me as an audience member. It's how the emotion is carried to you.

We have looked at sound from the silent period to Talkies, but I don't think that's where the advancements stop. I don't mean in technology, or how we hear sound (these machines will keep advancing) but why we use certain scores and music and what effect we wish them to have on our audiences. 

Films seem to have been used to test all our senses at some point, we 'see' the visuals, we 'hear' the music and dialogue. Smell-O-Vision didn't work and the next step appears to be 'touch' with this interactive idea we've discussed with Adam. To me, at the moment (never say never) the last two will never be necessary in cinema. I was trying to put my finger on why? I think the nature of films is not to give the audience a physical experience but a mental one. The last two senses I mentioned can be created in your mind as you watch, as long as you are provided with the first two as stimulus. Watching a visual of a freshly cut lawn, everybody in the cinema knows what that smells like and when watching they won't smell it it in reality but they will get the same emotional response to the visual as they would if they really had. The real smell or touch of a lawn would not enhance this movie as it's a different kind of experience. The mind doesn't need reality to fuel emotional response in cinema but it does need the other two stimulus.  

When I think of Mancini I think of that sweet retro typeface that was used on many of his album covers and (the type that is reminiscent of Bewitched and I dream of Jeannie, you know the one)
This style of typeface from one of Mancini's albums perfectly encaptures his music, it's sweet, light and twinkly -it couldn't be more 60's.  

"If it can be said that I had any influence, I think it was this -- using good musicians to give personality to the music and having those musicians well recorded." Henry Mancini

I think the same could be said for any aspect of a films production not just music. Mancini, like many of the greats held onto quality and never deterred from producing the best possible standards. As we are learning how much of film is collaborative, every aspect of the team must strive for quality. No-one needs the biggest budget, it doesn't have to be full of famous people but it does have to be cared for and show a great standard of quality.


And thats what I have learnt from the great Henry Mancini...