Composer Thomas Newman Talks Scoring Pixar’s ‘Elemental’
Composer Thomas Newman is no stranger to the magical world of Pixar. With 93 credits to his name, and having worked on movies such as WALL-E and Finding Nemo, Newman is used to exploring new environments.
In order to create a score for a film, Newman tries to find a connecting thread between the imaginary worlds of Pixar’s films, and the real, human world.
Photo: Disney/Pixar
For Elemental, Newman zeroed in on the theme of “otherness,” a feeling that not only plagues Ember, but us as humans too.
“I looked for similar issues of otherness and how that could be reflected in music, and how we would identify with that through our human ear,” says Newman.
Photo:Disney/Pixar
“Musical Color”
The other inspiration to hit Newman was the idea of using “musical color” to bring the elements that makeup Elemental City to musical life. Looking at the vibrant colors used throughout the film, Newman asked what did his ears hear sonically, and did that match what his eyes were seeing.
Elemental tells the story of a young fire element named Ember and a water element named Wade who fall in love despite their obvious differences. The film is set in Elemental City, a place where fire, water, earth, and air elements live together.
Photo: Also Disney
To emphasize the different characters, Newman leaned into their personalities when creating motifs.
“Ember has a fiery temper so there was more pluck with her sound. There was a zizzi-style bowing. In contrast, for the water element-based Wade (Mamoudou Athie), it was cooler sounds. I used metals and a vibraphone percussion.”
Photo: totallythebomb.com
Scoring The Opening Sequence
According to the composer, the hardest scene to score was the film’s opening sequence. The scene depicts Ember’s family immigrating from their homeland and finding a place in Element City.
“That’s a long montage. The issue was where does this begin, and how was I going to place it?” Newman recalled.
Photo: Also Disney/Pixar
Eventually, Newman came up with a cue titled “Across the Ocean”, which opens the film, and “Elemental,” which follows Ember as she grows from baby to young teen.
The composer pulled on cultural influences from around the globe, including using Chinese and Indian instruments to reflect the global nature of the story.
Photo Credit: Pixar
Elemental is in theaters now.
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