DJ Jimmy Neutron here, I wanted to take the time to talk about some of my favorite film composers/artists. On my show, “Adventures through Music,” live on WOCR, I often play film scores and/or instrumentals from films like Transformers and Inside Out. In addition to films, I also play soundtracks from popular TV shows, such as HBO’S A Game of Thrones. Below I will list my top five composers, along with background information regarding some of their most famous film scores and/or instrumentals.
5 - Zack Hemsey. Zack Hemsey is an American composer, best known for his work in film scores, along with movie trailers. Some of his more notable work was featured in The Equalizer, featuring Denzel Washington. “Vengeance,” from the album The Way was an intense, action packed score, used during a fighting scene. The album The Way, by far is my favorite album by the young composer.
4 - Michael Giacchino. Giacchino is an American composer. He is the composer of several hit films and television shows including The Incredibles, Mission: Impossible III, Jurassic World, Inside Out, Zootopia, Rogue One and more. The list of Giacchino’s work could be found by a simple Google search. Giacchino is what I would like to call; composers of composers, ranking above him in that category would be Hans Zimmer, Steve Jablonsky, among many others. I always thought of Giacchino as Disney’s guy for Kid films, with that being said, my favorite score is from the Disney film, The Incredibles, “Off to work.”
3 – Steve Jablonsky. Steve Jablonsky is an American composer, he is best known for his work in Transformers, Battleship, Ender’s Game, and Friday the 13th. Other notable musical scores by Jablonsky include the video game, “The Sims.” Jablonsky’s work is well known in the industry. He also collaborates with big name artists like Hans Zimmer. My favorite score by Jablonsky is featured in the film Battleship, “The Beacon Project.”
2 – Hans Zimmer. Hans Zimmer is a German composer and record producer. Zimmer, master of film scores, has composed music for over 150 films. I refer to Zimmer as a master of film scores because at 60 years of age, he is still actively composing film scores, some include: The Lion King, Pirates of the Caribbean, Inception, Interstellar, and Man of Steel. It was hard placing Zimmer at number two, hard only because I enjoy so many of his film scores, “No time for caution,” featured in Interstellar, “Time,” featured in the film Inception, the list is pretty extensive. I think another reason why it was difficult to place Zimmer at number two, had to do with the fact, he was the first composer I searched as a child. However, ultimately, I decided that my favorite score composed by Zimmer is “The Interstellar Medley.”
1 –Ramin Djawadi. Ramin Djawadi is a German-Iranian composer, and receives my vote for the number one slot of top five composers. Djawadi is most commonly known for his work in the HBO original series, A Game of Thrones. A Game of Thrones is currently approaching its eighth and final season. Each season, I am mesmerized by the work of Djawadi. He is one of the only composers whose album, I would listen to completely, without interruption. Djawadi mostly composes music for television, while film only occasionally. The composer is also known for his work in the films Pacific Rim, Iron Man, and Deception. Instead of picking one song, I have decided to select an entire album/season for my favorite score of Djawadi. The scores for season six of A Game of Thrones are just over an hour long in its totality, and is my favorite season of scores composed by Ramin Djawadi.
I want to thank you for checking out these talented film score composers, I hope you check out some of their music and tune in to my show, “Adventures through Music,” only on WOCR 89-1 The One.