The Avatar soundtrack: A seven-year journey into the heart of Pandora
The music of Avatar: Fire and Ash is a testament to the epic scale of the Avatar films, with composer Simon Franglen revealing that the soundtrack for the third installment took a staggering seven years to complete. This dedication to detail is reflected in the 1,907 pages of orchestral score he wrote, and the invention of new instruments for the alien planet Pandora's residents. Despite the director's last-minute tinkering, Franglen only finished his final musical cue five days before the film's release, ensuring a seamless blend of music and visuals.
The Avatar soundtrack is four times as long as a standard Hollywood film, with almost every minute of the 195-minute running time requiring music. Franglen humorously notes that he got a 10-minute break for good behavior. The film's emotional depth is further emphasized by the grief of the main characters, Jake Sully and Neytiri, mourning the death of their teenage son, Neteyam. Franglen's score captures the growing distance between them, using dissonant and austere musical lines to convey their emotional disconnect.
In contrast, the Wind Traders' music is a wild and imaginative creation. Inspired by 1930s and 1940s action movies, Franglen's score features brand new instruments designed specifically for the three-meter-tall, blue-skinned inhabitants of Pandora. These instruments, including a long-necked lute and a percussion instrument with a drum head made from the same material as the ship's sails, were built by the art department and played by the actors on set.
Franglen's journey to becoming a composer began at the age of 13, when he wrote a letter to the BBC asking how to become a record producer. Mistakenly guided towards electronics, he studied at Manchester University in the early 1980s, coinciding with the opening of the Hacienda Club. He spent his free time booking bands for the college's concert venue, and eventually became a session musician and programmer, working on hits like Toni Braxton's Unbreak My Heart and Whitney Houston's I Have Nothing. His film scoring career began with Bond composer John Barry, and he later worked on David Fincher's Se7en, adding a dystopian edge to the score.
Franglen's collaboration with Avatar director James Cameron began with Titanic, a film initially dismissed as a white elephant. Despite the lack of budget, Franglen's innovative use of synthesizers and borrowed equipment contributed to the film's iconic score. This experience led to his work on Avatar, where he ensured the music was free from artificial intelligence and maintained the director's high standards. As the film prepares for release, Franglen celebrates a Golden Globe nomination for the theme song, Dream As One, and looks forward to the challenges of the next Avatar installment, with scripts already completed for Avatar Four and Five.
