Mark Mancina

Before Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell composed their way out of Hans Zimmer's shadow, there was Mark Mancina. In the mid to late '90s, Mancina's style was as popular and influential as Zimmer's, but his music still retains its appeal today due to his strong sense of melody and his fondness for real orchestral sounds among all the synthetic beats. Although Mancina helped Zimmer on Millennium and True Romance, he played a vital role in producing the songs and arranging the music for The Lion King. Mancina went on to become the music supervisor for the stage show directed by Julie Taymor. Mancina soon established a powerful, exciting, tune-driven style for action, propelling films such as Speed, Bad Boys, Assassins, Money Train, and Twister. All of them have themes written in the Zimmer style, but tend to be more developed with more of an emphasis on the orchestra than on synthesizers. Mancina works often with director Antoine Fuqua, scoring Bait, Training Day, and Shooter. But Mancina isn't just a one-note composer, as he has written full, romantic scores for Moll Flanders, Return to Paradise, and August Rush (including a magnificent rhapsody "composed" by the film's main character). He has also established a relationship with Disney, composing Brother Bear, The Haunted Mansion, the percussive and wondrous Tarzan, the high-energy, anthemic Planes films, and the Walt Disney Pictures logo that debuted with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dean Man's Chest (incorporating Leigh Harline's tune "When You Wish Upon A Star"). A definite highlight is Mancina's score for the anime series Blood+, which features Mancina's trademark thunderous action, tender lyricism, grandeur, and an awe-inspiring aria.

Bad Boys

BLOOD+**

Brother Bear

The Haunted Mansion
Moana

Moll Flanders

Money Train
Planes
Planes: Fire & Rescue
Sorcery

Speed

Speed 2: Cruise Control

Tarzan*

Twister*

Andrew Lockington

Andrew Lockington has done about a dozen obscure scores and music for the TV shows Sanctuary and Missing, but he has gained popularity in the film scoring community for three major scores: Journey to the Center of the Earth with Brendan Fraser, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, and City of Ember. All feature expertly orchestrated music and deftly composed themes.

Journey to the Center of the Earth
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
San Andreas

Christopher Lennertz

Christopher Lennertz is a promising new composer who unfortunately has not scored many films of high quality. Lennertz worked for Basil Poledouris, and some of his works show that great composer's influence. One of his first assignments was for Clive Barker's Saint Sinner, but Lennertz really made an impact with his scores for the Medal of Honor games (Rising Sun, Pacific Assault, and European Assault), providing worthy counterparts to Michael Giacchino's brilliant originals. On the film side, Lennertz has mainly scored silly lightweight comedies such as Alvin and the Chipmunks, Disaster Movie, Marmaduke, the Cats and Dogs sequel, Camp Rock 2, Hop, and Horrible Bosses. Meet the Spartans and Vampires Suck are abysmal movies that Lennertz nevertheless scored with class and panache, featuring dramatic melodies and dead-serious themes in the best Elmer Bernstein tradition. His scores for these spoofs are better than many of those accompanying the movies they parody (300, Twilight, etc.) Given a serious film of quality, there is no doubt that Lennertz would deliver.

Medal of Honor: Rising Sun

Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault

Medal of Honor: European Assault

Meet the Spartans
Sausage Party* (with Alan Menken)

Vampires Suck

Tim Larkin

Tim Larkin has been the official composer for game company Cyan Worlds since the departure of Robyn Miller. He created atmospheric and ethnic music for the games Uru, Myst V: End of Ages, additional music for realMyst, and sound design for Riven (scored by Miller). He has done sound design and music for other video games and has played trumpet for artists such as James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, and Huey Lewis.

Myst V: End of Ages

Abel Korzeniowski

Abel Korzeniowski is a new and dynamic force in film scoring, with a short but already impressive CV. Korzenioski was born in Poland and studied under experimental composer Krzysztof Penderecki. After scoring several Polish films, Korzenioski got his big break in Hollywood with his emotional and tender score for A Single Man. Madonna's W.E. features a similarly expressive score. He also wrote a thunderous, adventurous score for the animated film Battle for Terra and a glittering, Renaissance-flavored soundtrack for Copernicus' Star. His score for Romeo and Juliet was one of the best of the year, a sumptuous, romantic masterpiece written in his inimitable style. Korzeniowski's career is only getting started, and he deserves continued success.

Battle for Terra*
Copernicus' Star
Escape from Tomorrow
Nocturnal Animals
Penny Dreadful
Romeo and Juliet**
W.E.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Erich Wolfgang Korngold was unappreciated in his time, but he is now rightfully seen as one of the first composers to bring musical legitimacy to film scores. Born in 1897 in what was then Austria-Hungary, Korngold was a musical prodigy who garnered praise from none other than the great Gustav Mahler. Korngold started as a concert composer before coming to Hollywood to write some of the most influential film scores of all time. His brassy, lush, style features exciting fanfares and distinct use of thematic material. He was a great influence on John Williams, whose scores for Star Wars and Superman exhibit Korngoldian stylings. Korngold only wrote about 20 scores, but many of them are classics, from The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Sea Hawk to Kings Row and Anthony Adverse. Following his incomparable career in Hollywood, Korngold went back to scoring concert works, leaving behind a batch of brilliant and groundbreaking film scores.

The Adventures of Robin Hood**
Kings Row**
The Sea Hawk**
The Sea Wolf

Michael Kamen

Michael Kamen was one of those rare composers who could both compose in the classical vein and collaborate with pop musicians without sounding cheesy. Early in his career, he provided arrangements for Pink Floyd, Metallica, and Queen, which led to later collaborations with musicians such as Bryan Adams, Eric Clapton, and David Sanborn in his film scores. Kamen had a wonderfully whimsical style suffused with clever musical gestures and bold melodies. His music for the New Line Cinema logo depicts his lilting style perfectly. For a while, Kamen's style for action writing became de rigueur for the genre. This is typified by his scores for the original Die Hard trilogy, the cues of suspense balancing the furious orchestral pyrotechnics. Similar music can be found in Tony Scott's Last Boy Scout, the James Bond film License to Kill, the first X-Men, and Richard Donner's Lethal Weapon films. The latter series also features electric guitar work by Eric Clapton and saxophone performed by David Sanborn. Despite his acumen in this genre, Kamen had a particular strength for more romantic films. He collaborated with Terry Gilliam, providing colorful melodies for Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves features a masterful fanfare and a sweeping love theme used as the melody for Bryan Adams's hit "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You." Adams also sang in Kamen's scores for Disney's Three Musketeers and Don Juan De Marco. Kamen, like the best composers, scored films of many genres, from the melodrama of What Dreams May Come and the unsettling strains of The Dead Zone to the flighty adventure of 101 Dalmatians and the beautiful elegies of the TV miniseries Band of Brothers. One of Kamen's best scores is for Brad Bird's debut feature The Iron Giant. Although the score features plenty of enchantment and wonder, it also features unexpectedly dark and dramatic action material as well as one of the most emotionally cathartic musical finales in modern film scoring. Especially close to Kamen's heart was his score to Mr. Holland's Opus, for which Kamen composed a transcendent symphony for the title character. Following this, Kamen founded the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, providing funds for musical education and instruments to underprivileged schools. Sadly, Kamen passed away in 2003 at the much too young age of 55.

Adventures in Babysitting
Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Back to Gaya

Band of Brothers*

Brazil
Concerto for Saxophone

The Dead Zone

Die Hard
Die Hard 2: Die Harder
Die Hard with a Vengeance

Don Juan De Marco

Frequency
Guitar Concerto*

The Iron Giant**
The Last Boy Scout

Lethal Weapon*

Lethal Weapon 2

Lethal Weapon 3
Lethal Weapon 4
Lifeforce (Additional Score)

Mr. Holland’s Opus**
Renegades
Road House

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

The Three Musketeers

What Dreams May Come

X-Men (synths by Klaus Badelt)

101 Dalmatians

Trevor Jones

Trevor Jones was born in South Africa and obtained a Masters degree in film scoring in England. One of his first and finest scores was for Jim Henson's fantasy epic The Dark Crystal. While certainly a lush and rich score, The Dark Crystal is elevated by Jones's complex writing and assured use of thematic counterpoint. His next project for Henson was Labyrinth, where he provided a more pop-flavored score to accompany David Bowie's songs. Jones has scored other popular films, including Mississippi Burning, Arachnophobia, Cliffhanger, Ridley Scott's GI Jane, Notting Hill, Thirteen Days, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Many of his scores feature soaring, expansive themes and busy action motifs. His score for Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans is the most well-known to the public, although Jones ran out of time on the project, and minor cues were written by Randy Edelman. The bulk of the thematic and dramatic material, however, was adeptly scored by Jones. Dark City features an unrelentingly brutal action climax followed by a massive finale. Jones has also scored for TV movies and miniseries, including Merlin, Cleopatra, and Dinotopia, each featuring music fit for a feature film. Jones has not scored a major feature since Disney's remake of Around the World in 80 Days in 2004, and he definitely deserves a higher profile.

Cleopatra

Cliffhanger

Dark City

The Dark Crystal*

Last of the Mohicans (with Randy Edelman)
Nate and Hayes

Ron Jones

Ron Jones has primarily composed for television, bringing creativity to a medium that often features banal scoring. He scored half of the episodes for the first few seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as for Disney's DuckTales and The Smurfs. Most recently, he has been the composer for Seth McFarlane's Family Guy and American Dad.

Superman Animated Series

Henry Jackman

There are many composers who have gone through Hans Zimmer's Media Ventures/Remote Control facility, but only Mark Mancina, Harry Gregson-Williams, and John Powell have surpassed their former master to create interesting scores. Henry Jackman is well on his way to becoming the next member of this exclusive group. Jackman was classically trained in England and dabbled in Drum and Bass as a youth before becoming a programmer and producer for pop artists. Eventually, he created three of his own eclectic albums: Utopia, Transfiguration, and Acoustica. On the MySpace page for the Transfiguration album, Jackman writes, "I was subconsciously synthesizing 500 years of musical influence from Renaissance church music to modern electronica... I love Mahler as much as Aphex Twin, and Brian Eno as much as Thomas Tallis." Many of his interviews reveal his wide range of musical knowledge and enthusiastic approach to film scoring. Zimmer took notice of Jackman and gave him his first film scoring assignments. Jackman was soon writing additional music for The Da Vinci Code, The Holiday, Vantage Point, The Simpsons Movie, and Hancock. He wrote the music for the tense ferry scene in The Dark Knight, the majestic "Oogway Ascends" cue in Kung Fu Panda, and composed the riotous, rollicking "Up is Down" cue from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End based on Zimmer's theme. Unsurprisingly, Jackman was soon given his first solo assignment, for Monsters vs. Aliens. He was one of the four composers for Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass, composing the main theme; he and John Murphy wrote the best cues of the score, including "Flying Home." Vaughn hired him for X-Men: First Class, where Jackman's initial orchestrally dense approach was toned down to a more streamlined, electronics-heavy, but still highly accomplished final score. Jackman  enjoys relationships with both DreamWorks Animation and Disney, having scored Monsters vs. Aliens, Puss in Boots, and Turbo for the former and Winnie the Pooh, Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6, and the Toy Story short Small Fry for the latter.

Electronics feature heavily in his groove-based scores for Man on a Ledge, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, GI Joe: Retaliation, Paul Greengrass's Captain Phillips, and Marvel Studios's Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with his scores for Turbo, Big Hero 6, and Captain America: Civil War fusing the composer's talents for orchestra and electronica admirably.  Jackman's scores for Gulliver's Travels, Winnie the Pooh, and Puss in Boots, on the other hand, are pure orchestral delight, showcasing the composer's technical and dramatic chops. His score for the self-aware comedy This Is the End features full-blooded, Gothic horror music complete with gargantuan choral forces. With Kick-Ass 2, Jackman revisited his work on the first score, expanding upon his fantastic main theme alongside new themes written by the score's co-composer (and frequent orchestrator) Matthew Margeson. He also brought Margeson along for Vaughn's Kingsman: The Secret Service, providing exhilarating music and catchy themes for the outrageously entertaining film. Wreck-It Ralph is one of his best scores, combining orchestra, 8-bit tunes, and more modern synthesizers into a cohesive and stunningly emotional package.  I hope Jackman will continue to score artistically rewarding assignments and we will get to hear more of his music.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Big Hero 6*
Birth of a Nation
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Captain America: Civil War
Captain Phillips
GI Joe: Retaliation
Gulliver’s Travels
The Interview
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Kick-Ass** (with John Murphy, Marius De Vries, Ilan Eshkeri, Danny Elfman)
Kick-Ass 2 (with Matthew Margeson)
Kingsman: The Secret Service (with Matthew Margeson)
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (with Matthew Margeson)
Kong: Skull Island
Man on a Ledge

Monsters vs. Aliens
Pixels
Puss in Boots
This Is the End
Toy Story Toons: Small Fry
Transfiguration (Album)
Turbo
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Utopia (Album)

Winnie the Pooh (Songs by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez)
Wreck-It Ralph**

X-Men: First Class
The 5th Wave