Music and the Fictive Dream - Alan Silvestri

    Back to the Future is one of the most successful sci-fi movies of all time, and personally, one of my favorite movies of all time. Although the story, characters, and cinematography are all amazing, the music and song choices are what make these films even better. We will be discussing the original music score of Back To The Future and the composer, Alan Silvestri.

Back To The Future (from Back To The Future) by Alan Silvestri - USA, 1985

Click HERE for the entire, 46-minute, original score, composed of 10 songs from Back To The Future by Alan Silvestri.

Biography

    Alan Anthony Silvestri is an American composer of many popular movies and tv shows. He was born in New York City on March 26, 1950, and grew up in New Jersey (Silvestri). When he was in high school, he attended Berklee, where he wanted to be a jazz guitar player (Silvestri). After 2 years at Berklee, he moved to Southern California where he was asked to score a film due to a mix-up, "The Doberman Gang", at the age of 22 (Berklee). 

    After studying a book on scoring films in one night, he ended up successfully scoring "The Doberman Gang"(Berklee). This established his career in film scoring. Ever since this happened, he has been composing numerous popular movies and shows like Stuart Little, The Night of the Museum, Predator, The Polar Express, Forest Gump, and more recent films like Avengers Infinity War, Avengers Endgame, and Ready Player One (IMDB). However, Back To The Future, was Alan's major breakthrough in his career in film scoring (Broxton). Before this, he has never written a score with a large orchestral ensemble.

    He has scored hundreds of films in Hollywood and he has been awarded 2 Oscar nominations, 2 Golden Globe nominations, three Grammy awards, two Emmy awards, and much more (Silvestri).

Alan Silvestri

The Role and Purpose

    This score helps tell and enhance the story of Back To The Future throughout the whole film. It highlights important moments of the film while also conveying the emotions of the characters. For example, if you listen to the famous Skateboard Chase while watching the movie, you might notice how the score synchronizes with what happens on screen.

    You hear the tension in certain parts where he is getting chased and about to get caught, and it resolves with the main melody when he seems to be escaping them. Watch the video below to visualize and hear how the score matches the movie.

Skateboard Chase (from Back To The Future) by Alan Silvestri - USA, 1985

Social Commentary

    Back To The Future connects with the audiences through its story, comedy, nostalgia, and characters (Broxton). Although Back To The Future's score does not contain any lyrics, it connects to its audience with its 1950s nostalgia, its catchy melody, and its comedic elements. This score allows the audience to understand the emotions of "What if time travel is possible?" and "What would it be like?"

    Throughout the film, Marty is faced with numerous situations where he knows what will happen in the future and where he can change the outcome. This film teaches us that many of our actions, whether it is big or small, can have a dramatic outcome in the future. This score helps portray this message.

Musical Elements

    The melody in this score is the main highlight. Although it is part of the main theme song, you can still hear it in many of the other parts of the score. If you listen to the entire 46-minute score, you might notice that the main melody repeats throughout various parts of the film like in Einstein Disintegrated and '85 Twin Pines Mall. However, he does vary it slightly by instrument, volume, rhythm, and tempo, to avoid repetitiveness. This is what makes this score memorable for the listeners.

    Another notable element in this score is the rhythm and dynamics. This score is known for its jumpy and unpredictable rhythm. Sometimes, Alan like to build tension through his music through the rhythm. There are moments in the score where the music seem to randomly jump out to you. This is to convey the emotions of the characters and the situations in the film. He also uses rhythm to give a slight comedic effect to the audience at some points.

My Opinion

    I think film scores can have an enormous impact on the success of a movie or show. These scores allow us to remember a film in a different way instead of the story or visuals. Most popular films usually have a memorable theme song that allows us to immediately recognize the movie or show.

    Additionally, film scores can enhance the emotions or situations portrayed in the film. I even think it is a necessity because a bad score can make a scene, or an entire film, feel less meaningful to the audience. If a score does not match the film it represents, I think it can ruin it or become distracting.

    Alan Silvestri did an amazing job in Back To The Future. From a person who had little history with film scoring before this point, this is extremely surprising to me. This movie is definitely one of my favorite movies of all time and this score is one of the reasons why. I really like how catchy and melodic it is and how it repeats the main motif throughout various points in the movie. Also, I like how it matches exactly what happens on the screen and the emotions of the characters.

Bonus: My favorite music scene in Back To The Future:

Sources

Berklee College of Music. “Alan Silvestri | Berklee.” College.berklee.edu, college.berklee.edu/people/alan-silvestri. Accessed 4 Apr. 2023.

Broxton, Jonathan. “BACK to the FUTURE – Alan Silvestri.” MOVIE MUSIC UK, 9 July 2015, moviemusicuk.us/2015/07/09/back-to-the-future-alan-silvestri/. Accessed 4 Apr. 2023.

IMDB. “Alan Silvestri.” IMDb, www.imdb.com/name/nm0006293/.

Silvestri, Alan. “StackPath.” Alansilvestri.com, 2019, www.alansilvestri.com/biography.htm. Accessed 4 Apr. 2023.