UCLA

This monograph examines how minimalist techniques and the influence of rock music shape the film scores of the British film composer Clint Mansell (b. 1963) and how these scores differ from the usual Hollywood model. The primary focus of this study is Mansell's work for two films by the American director Darren Aronofsky (b. 1969), which earned both Mansell and Aronofsky the greatest recognition: Requiem for a Dream (2000) and The Fountain (2006). This analysis devotes particular attention to the relationship between music and filmic structure in the earlier of the two films. It also outlines a brief evolution of musical minimalism and explains how a composer like Clint Mansell, who has a seemingly unusual background for a minimalist, manages to meld some of minimalism's characteristic techniques into his own work, blending them with aspects of rock music, a genre closer to his musical origins. This study also characterizes the film scoring practices that dominated Hollywood scores throughout the twentieth century while emphasizing the changes that occurred during this period of history to enable someone with Mansell's background to become a Hollywood film composer.