Hidden in Plain Sight
Throughout the history of Hollywood, many composers have gone on to become household names, recognized for both their distinct styles of music and the films that they scored. Composers like John Williams, Danny Elfman, and Hans Zimmer are all very well-known in the film industry. However, one such composer, one who’s been exceptionally active when scoring big-name films, is someone I don’t often hear mentioned by name that often. Maybe this is just a me problem, and I haven’t been listening to the right people, but for all the well-known films he’s scored, I don’t hear his name pop up nearly as often as I’d expect it to. This particular someone is Michael Giacchino, an Oscar-winning American composer who’s been very active in the past couple of decades. Even if you’re not familiar with his name, there’s a very good chance you’ve heard his music.
Humble Beginnings
When Michael Giacchino was young, he would make stop-motion shorts, through which he realized that his favorite part of the creative process was adding music to his work. When he attended high school, an art teacher recognized his potential and suggested he enroll in New York City’s School of Visual Arts, which Giacchino gladly did. During his final year at the school, he applied for an unpaid internship at Universal Pictures, which he went on to work at for a short period of time after graduating in 1990. Finally, he got a job at Disney, moving to Los Angeles after the company relocated there.
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At the Disney Interaction Division, Giacchino took a job as a producer, hoping he could hire himself for the games he would produce. The games that he worked on at this time included ‘Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow,’ ‘Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse,’ and tie-in games for ‘Gargoyles’ and ‘The Lion King.’ A few years later, he scored the tie-in video game for ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park,’ but what was special about this composition was that it utilized a live orchestra, something that was barely done in video game soundtracks at the time. A few years later, J.J. Abrams discovered Giacchino’s talent, and hired him to compose the music for his show ‘Alias.’ He later went on to do the same for Abrams’ next show, ‘Lost.’ In 2004, Michael Giacchino was hired by Brad Bird to score his first big-budget Hollywood film, Pixar’s ‘The Incredibles.’ Giacchino began to score more and more films over the rest of the decade, in addition to a few more video games. In just the past several years, he’s scored several blockbusters, including the ‘Jurassic World’ films, the ‘Planet of the Apes’ prequel trilogy, several Disney films, be they Pixar, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or Walt Disney Animation Studios themselves.
Talent on Full Display
My family has always been big on Disney and Pixar movies, so when ‘The Incredibles’ came out on DVD, you can bet that we rented it as soon as possible. Ever since then, the film’s jazz-heavy score has always stuck with me, something most other Pixar scores at the time didn’t really do. The fact that Michael Giacchino was able to compose a score that ten-year-old me was able to appreciate and remember to this day speaks a lot about his talent, especially since again, this was his first major film score. As for the rest of the movies he’s scored, he usually does a great job. Quite a lot of the films I’ve seen from him, such as ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,’ ‘Zootopia,’ and ‘Jurassic World,’ all have music that works really well. Even outside the films themselves, the way he’ll often give his compositions humorous titles on soundtrack releases gives them an extra bit of personality that shows that he really does care about his work. Besides, it’s hard not to read track titles like “Our Rex is Bigger Than Yours” or “Far From Home Suite Home” and not at the very least crack a smile.
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While I’ve always valued composers who break from the normal type of orchestral compositions that are synonymous with film and offer more unique sounds in their scores, traditional-sounding film music is still a great way to go. Michael Giacchino’s music is more often than not very orchestra-heavy, which gives it a very mainstream appeal, and I think that’s part of what makes it work so well. A majority of the most well-remembered soundtracks in film history are orchestrated, and I respect Michael Giacchino for helping keep the tradition alive. It also makes the times he does branch out musically stand out all the more. I mentioned earlier that his score for ‘Zootopia’ is one that I thought stood out well, and it’s a score that features a heavily exotic sound to it. Heck, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve listened to the insanely catchy “Ticket to Write.”
A Success Story
On top of Giacchino’s talent, his story alone is incredibly (no pun intended) inspiring. The fact that he went from showing an interest in music at the age of ten years, all the way to scoring many of the biggest films to come from Hollywood for the past decade and a half, is nothing short of admirable. There are countless people with dreams of reaching great success, and for such people, looking towards those who made it, as well as how they made it, is very important. One day, you could be a carefree preteen making stop-motion shorts featuring your homemade dinosaur puppets, and the next, you could have Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Star Trek, Batman, and Spider-Man on your resume.
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Conclusion
Coming off fresh from ‘The Batman,’ Giacchino will continue his inevitable mainstream success later this year, having scored the upcoming motion pictures ‘Lightyear,’ ‘Jurassic World: Dominion,’ and ‘Thor: Love and Thunder.’ Regardless of your feelings toward large corporations like Disney and Universal, it’s hard to deny how satisfying it is to see individual people following their passions and making it big in the industry through their own hard work. When someone goes from composing the music to a tie-in Jurassic Park video game early on in their career to scoring actual Jurassic Park movies, it’s hard not to be proud of that person in question. Michael Giacchino has scored so many big-name movies over the last decade alone, it’s almost a wonder why he’s not mentioned by name more in film discussions. Regardless, may his success continue throughout the rest of this decade and onward, and I, for one, look forward to hearing more of his music in films to come.
By Austin Oguri
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Austin Oguri is a screenwriter and has deep appreciation for the art of film in general, he aims to offer unique perspectives through his film reviews and feature articles. He also has a soft spot for lesser-known works, and enjoys spotlighting them whenever he can. Austin has always found it necessary for people to encourage and bring out the best in each other, and as a writer at The Hollywood Insider, he can combine that ideology with his ability to think outside the box and truly express his love for the arts in the best ways possible.
Austin Oguri is a screenwriter and has deep appreciation for the art of film in general, he aims to offer unique perspectives through his film reviews and feature articles. He also has a soft spot for lesser-known works, and enjoys spotlighting them whenever he can. Austin has always found it necessary for people to encourage and bring out the best in each other, and as a writer at The Hollywood Insider, he can combine that ideology with his ability to think outside the box and truly express his love for the arts in the best ways possible.
