Hans Zimmerby Jacelyn Epperson

Early Life

• Born September 12, 1957• Grew Up in Frankfurt, Germany• Father died very young, so he turned

to Music• Moved to London as a teenage to

study at the Hurtwood House• Studied Film Music in College in

London as well

Starting his Career

• Worked along side famous composer, Stanley Myers

• Scored music for Rain Man, later received him an Oscar for Best Picture of the Year

• Worked as Head of the film music division at DreamWorks studios

• Later worked on The Lion King in 1994

Acclaimed Awards • Academy Awards

• Nominatd for Inception, Sherlock Holmes, Gladiator, The Prince of Egypt, The Think Red Line, As Good as It Gets, The Preacher’s Wife, The Lion King, Rain Main

• Won for Best Music, Lion King

• Golden Globes• Nominated for 12 Years a Slave, Inception, Frost/Nixon, The Da Vinci Code,

Spanglish, The Last Samurai, Spirit, Pearl Harbor, Gladiator, Prince of Egypt, The Lion King

• Won for Gladiator, and The Lion King

Songs of His I Picked• 160 BPM- Angles and Demons

• 6:42- Released May 12, 2009

• Discombobulate- Sherlock Holmes• 2:23- Released January 12, 2010

• Solomon- 12 Years a Slave• 3:33- Released November 1, 2011

• Terraforming- Man of Steel• 9:49- Released June 11, 2013

160 BPM- Angels and Demons• :00 The song begins with only drums and slight choral voices. Slow crescendo with choir and

percussion instruments. Strings are added in about :25. There becomes more of an emphasis on the singers around :35 seconds. It is difficult to determine what they are saying. Around :50 big drums pick up and add to the song every 6 counts. The song appears to be in 6/8 time.

• 1:15 This is when the song really bursts, becoming very forte, and very creepy. I am assuming creepy is the feel they were going for, since the song is for the Angels and Demons soundtrack. It is definitely working. The melody changes and goes to a scale down. At 1:22 it is quiet for about 3 seconds before bursting again. It repeats the scale.

• 1:57 There are more bells at this part of the song, but it very repetitive of the beginning. Around 2:13 it repeats the beginning, only more intense and more forte. Bells come in around 2:35.

• 2:41 There is silence with only a faint organ playing. Slowly bells come in, with faint choir voices again. Strings begin to build and then stop.

• 4:25 Drums build to a large crescendo to repeat the beginning again until the end of the song.

Discombobulate- Sherlock Holmes

• :00 The song begins very quiet. There is only strings at the beginning. It sounds like plucking.

• At :21 The song bursts with 4 big clashes. The song then goes into marching like music with the added strings. The strings play a big part in this song. There is classical violin strings, but there is also some that sounds like a more folk like string instrument.

• 1:02 The music changes to a harmonica or horn like for about 20 seconds. Around 1:20 the music focuses its emphasis to the strings, and then at 1:37 it is focused back to a folk like string instrument. The song is pretty repetitive from there on out.

• 2:11 Strings are emphasized in different pitches and at the very end, there is 3 notes that end on the folk like string instrument.

Solomon- 12 Years a Slave• :00 Begins very piano with only high string instruments. One of the notes extends for

about 10 seconds before moving on. • :38 The strings begin to crescendo and build with the melody staying very similar and

repetitive. It grows until it is about mezzo. • 1:16 Some layers are added in and we start to see cello and bass come in instead of the

just the violin. It continues to grow.• 1:49 The music is louder and the melody is focused on a cello instead of the earlier violin.

The music for Solomon is described to be very peaceful and different form Hans Zimmer’s other work. From here on out, it is very repetitive like the beginning, only louder.

• 3:05 It becomes silent and goes back to the very beginning with only a couple long extended notes playing until the very end.

Terraforming- Man of Steel• :00 Music begins with the same note being played over and over in a specific rhythm on

the cello. There is added violin, but it is very piano. • :32 There are some more strings and there is a slight crescendo, as well as the pitch

rising and lowering so there is some differences in notes.• 1:15 There is added horns and the music is building up to be broader, and more like

superman. At 1:30 there is a loss of everything except and eerie noise, and a few drums. This continues until

• 1:55 There is added horns as well as deep drums. This is repetitive until 2:25.At this point it goes silent with only that eerie noise again. This repeats throughout the whole song.

• At 8:40 Choral voices begin to form and crescendo until 9:00 when they really start to appear. The music become more resolved, and seems clearer. There is no drums or heavy beats, only strings, horns and vocals until the end when a string is the last few notes.