Music Is My Weapon

Since Brad talked about his favorite score-composer, Danny Elfman, I wanted to talk about my favorite, Hans Zimmer. As his famous tagline reads, "They Shoot, He Scores."

German born Hans Zimmer is a pioneer in the use of digital synthesizers, advanced computer technology, electronic keyboards and their successful integration with the traditional orchestra in music for film and television. Hans began by composing composing jingles for "Air Edel Associates" in London, where he teamed up with Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes as "The Buggles" to produce the worldwide hit, "Video Killed the Radio Star" and subsequent album "The Age of Plastic." By 1980 Hans was pioneering the use of computers live on stage. These methods are still used by mega-groups like Crystal Method and Orbital in their live electronic performances.

As a boy, I loved action adventure movies. As John Woo started rising to the top with his genre-defining ballet's of violence, who better to compose than Hans Zimmer. Woo picked Zimmer for movies like "Face Off" and "Broken Arrow," and more recently, "Mission Impossible II." The reason behind Woo's choice was simple: when turning action into beauty, he figured he needed music sitting in the forefront of the movie, and not just in the background. As music took a hold and acted like another cast member, Woo needed perfection: he called on Hans Zimmer.

Zimmer goes from award winning "Lion King" to award winning "Face/Off", without skipping a beat. His studio is jammed full of electronics to produce peaceful music for the Sahara Desert, to instense music for action scenes shot in L.A. He seems to have no limit on his ability or talant.

Most of his work is post-production, but he has boundry stepped, and sometimes does pre-production work, allowing directors to film their scenes around his music; an obvious compliment to the music man.

Where else have you heard him recently? Gladiator, Batman Begins, Shark Tales, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Last Samuri, and Black Hawk down, just to name a few. He has written scores for 51 movies since the year 2000, comprising not even a quarter of his work.

And don't plan on booking him in the near future. He's currently working on the untitled Batman Begins Sequel (2008), Shadow Divers (2007), Dodo, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), and The Da Vinci Code (2006).