Both the Fantastic Mr. Fox film score and the film itself were quite different from any of the others that we have encountered in this class. This particular film was an example of stop-motion animation, which is unlike any of the other films that we had watched. The opening credits began with a variety of plucked string instruments, which included guitar, mandolin, and string bass, to name a few of them. The primary style of music in this film is an example of “pizzicato,” which is a musical name for a specific style of plucked strings. I recall hearing brass instruments only a handful of times, including when he looks out the tree window to see the Boggis, Bunce, and Beans farms. There were also a few times in which the composer used muted trumpets, which were present in a couple of places during the heist scenes.
The radio that Mr. Fox wore was a good example of diegetic music, which reoccurred a number of times during the film. There were occasionally bug or cricket sounds used during scenes that took place outside as well. It seemed to me that nearly every time that the Fox family was in their home, both underground and in the tree, there was a radio playing diegetic music in the background of the scene. In some cases, this “radio music” was purely diegetic, while in others it may have sounded like the music was coming from the radio, yet a radio could not be seen anywhere in the scene. This music displayed examples of both diegetic and nondiegetic music. A good example of Alexandre Desplat and the director blurring these lines came when a song began as diegetic music, coming from Mr. Fox’s radio. This music remained diegetic, but changed where it was coming from as we see that a band of humans is actually playing the music. Also along those lines, the mole is playing a piano underground after the animals have stolen nearly everything that the Boggis, Bunce, and Bean families own.
The music is primarily composed of string instruments, with percussion being used to keep a solid beat as scenes would progress. One of the most interesting and noteworthy aspects of the music in this film was the correspondence of noise in the film to the music. An example of this would be when the Fox family is moving into their house and there is nondiegetic music playing. The hammers hits of people working on the house match up perfectly with the drum beat of the tune. This is not the only place that this occurs either. There are scenes with humans stomping on the ground to the beat of this nondiegetic music, or people snapping their fingers to it. I particularly liked this aspect of the film because this had not really been present in any of the other films that we had watched.
Desplat’s music typically had an upbeat and lively feel to it with only a few exceptions. During the scene where Felicity takes Mr. Fox into the mineral deposit to have a few words with him, the music takes on a much lighter and sappier mood as we experience a lighthearted moment between the two of them after he is scolded. The music also takes on its first real resemblance of a traditional film orchestra as they attempt to make it out of the Boggis farm near the end of the film. We hear more instruments, and the instruments that were plucked before played much more legato. This is also one of the few places that we hear brass instruments. The scene where we see the wolf off in the distance is another example of a “full orchestra” scene. This seemed fitting here because the Canis Lupus is off in the distance in a sort of majestic sense.
Another interesting aspect of the film was the use of outside music. Here I am referring to the film’s use of music by the Beach Boys, The Rollingstones, and a few others that I couldn’t quite recognize. This was also unlike anything that we have been exposed to in any of the other films. A few times, I felt as though the music closely resembled that of a Western style film. I recall finding some familiarity in this music with that of the animated film Rango, which is in fact a Western style film.
I was slightly skeptical of this film, particularly because of the stop-motion animation. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed it’s humor and change of pace musically. Certainly a great way to conclude our watching of films!
ruehro01 
Nice job. I hadn’t noticed the use of a “film orchestra,” but now that you mention it, I do remember the music with the wolf seeming a lot different than the rest of the score. I too agree that the music seemed upbeat and lively for the most part.
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I thought it was interesting that there was that much use of outside music in the film. this is pretty unique among the films we have watched. I noticed there was a different kind of music used for the wolf scene but i didn’t know what to call it. Good job identifying that and going a bit more in depth about it.
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