There Will Be Blood: Vega

Although “There Will Be Blood” is typically acclaimed for its filmic brilliance, I was particularly impressed by the different strategies that the musical directors employed when composing the music. The film had its own, original score made specifically for the movie. This gave Jonny Greenwood, the musical composer, the liberty of mirroring exactly what was portrayed in every scene through different styles of music. In my mind, Greenwood’s final product is pure brilliance for any musician; to have the capacity to concoct the right sounds for the right moments is something I applaud him for. To begin with, the music matched the historical context (late 19th and early 20th centuries) of the film very well. The musical language that Greenwood creates is largely focused on orchestration and tonality, but also embodies the increasingly modernistic style of music of the time period, hence the genre: “contemporary classical.” Additionally, I thought the fluctuating intensity in the music added a dimension of terror in the film. Even in some of the establishing shots and scenes, Greenwood used minor keys and spine-chilling melodies to constantly keep the viewers anxious, entertained, and actively-engaged in the film. For instance, at the start of the movie, when the setting and certain characters were being established, not one character spoke a word in approximately the first 15 minutes of the film; this is musical entertainment at its finest. The plucking of the violins accompanied by the deep base line in the cello section absorbed every bit of the audience’s attention, as it waited in anticipation for something significant to happen. Essentially, the director of this film put a lot of trust in Greenwood because music contributes to the mood, suspense, and the overall delivery in any film. In "There Will Be Blood," the absence of dialogue and suspense captures the importance of the music in the film, music that was executed quite-perfectly by Greenwood.