Anyone getting tired of the Enya-like "Aaaaaaaah...aaaaaahhh..." scores? (1 Viewer)

Films like the LOTR trilogy, Gladiator, Troy rely on the Enya-like "Aaaaaaaaaah...ahhhh...aaaaaa...." backing score to indicate sadness and melancholy and to provoke such emotional responses from the audience to those scenes. Anyone else grown tired of it by now?

Short answer:

Yes. Absolutely.

no, not really.

Yes yes stop that freakin' incessant wailing which has blighted nearly every film of the last few years, I think it started with Gladiator. Even The Hulk had mournful wailing background noises. The Hulk for chrissakes! No more please!

Any device that is overused or used poorly will have bad results. Many composers overdo it when they basically dial the music to "sad", "suspense", "action", or whatever. Noone likes having their feelings manipulated. So this problem is not excelusive to "Enya-ish" vocals.

That being said, I have not seen "Troy" yet. But IMO the use of Lisa Gerrard's vocals in "Insider", "MI:2", "Gladiator" have all been very well done and appropriate. No complaints for me there.

Not really.

I think you have to look to Titanic for the start.

I don't mind it if it's done well and sparingly, but I think it's being overused.

I guess I haven't noticed it in enough films yet for it to bother me. The high quality films that use it (Lord of the Rings, Gladiator) would be just as good if the music was not there, but I don't think it hurts it to have it.

I guess I'm a sucker when it comes to that stuff because I love it, and it provokes the emotional response the director is looking for.:b

I thought it was effective in Gladiator & the LotR films (and there it was only one component in a whole host of vocal tools Shore used). But the technique is on the road from overused to cliche.

When James Cameron and James Horner couldn't convince Enya to participate in the Titanic score (she said then that "I don't do movies") they instead hired the Danish singer Sissel to sing the solo vocals on the score.

The sountrack went on the become the best selling sountrack album ever and the film didn't do too bad either. Enya has apparently seen the error of her ways as is evident by her FOTR Oscar nominated song contribution.

I think the proliferation of the Enya-like scores are a direct result of Titanic's success.

Well, I certainly thought it was overused in Troy. It felt too much that it was trying to ape Gladiator...

Jason

In general, yes. But of course it depends on the context and usage of it. Like other tools to make a movie, it just depends on one chooses to use it.

For example, the use of the wailing female vocal in Horner's score to Troy does not nearly have the emotional resonance of Yared's rejected score. In the final version of Hulk, Ang Lee still kept some of Danna's score as well as asking Elfman to write similar music, which also may have made it hard to be cohesive with Elfman's score/style.

I think it all depends on how it is used.

And it isn't really all the same, is it? Are all vocals in a movie soundtrack that are not in English to be lumped together as one "device". I wouldn't agree with that.

But I think I get what you are referring to, and I think it can be done well or not so well. Like anything else in film.

I personally like that "sound" when used well. I thought Troy was good, but I didn't like the use of this "sound" in the film. It actually pulled me out of the film when it was used.

Besides the "sound" in general having the potential to complement the emotion of a scene (and yes it can be and is used as a crutch by some), it also has the potential add little layers to a scene.

For example, the vocals we hear at the crack of Doom at the climax of The Return of the King. In my opinion, it really complements the emotion of what is going on. However, it isn't just meaningless humming for the sake of it. If you look at the soundtrack, the Elvish is translated:

Kind of SPOILERISH, so don't read it if you haven't seen the film.



Now, for 99.9% of the people who watch the film, they will just hear "the sound". But I think it is cool that additional "stuff" can be hidden in this "sound".

I liked the use of this in Gladiator, though I don't know if the singing was actual language or just wailing. I don't know if there was any language in what was used in Troy, but to me it sounded like wailing for the sake of wailing and just didn't work for me in this case.

I still think it can be used to good effect if the director/composer isn't just looking for a crutch.

Speaking on the subject, I think it would be pretty good if Sigur Rós did their own score for a film. It would be a lot different then Enya or James Horner/Sissel.

I love, love, love Lisa Gerrard's work. The Insider, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, etc., are all fantastic scores. The scene in The Insider when Crowe finally gets his interview is backed by some amazing music.
However, yes, I can see how people think it's overused (troy's terrible score, among others), but no, I'd rather have 'aaah-aaah' type stuff than standard John Williams fanfare. In time, though, aah-aah music will become overused and lose its impact; there should be a rule dictating that this type of music only be used in good films, as it works really well for me. I wouldn't want to see it become cliched, although it may be too late.

Perhaps it's hit critical mass, as signaled by P. Diddy's latest Bad Boy record by Mario Winans, featuring Enya, currently #2 on Billboard's Hot 100:

I Don't Wanna Know, Mario Winans Featuring Enya & P. Diddy
Bad Boy | ALBUM CUT | UMRG

...hence the oversaturation.

Sissel Kyrkjebø is Norwegian, Tino. NOT Danish