The Sound of the Spider-Verse

when you think about spider-man into the spider-verse it's difficult to imagine this film without this particular scene [Music] in a way it is this movie's entire identity it has our hero making a name for himself which in turn is a reintroduction of a character that had historically played second seat to Peter Parker and on top of that it's a fantastic demonstration of the award-winning animation that permeates into the fabric of this film but what is it about this scene that makes it work so well well since you're on my channel the answer should be a little obvious it's the music now there are plenty of clever little musical moments in this film like if you noticed if spider-gwen shows up we start hearing rock music because she's in a band but each of the other spider heroes get their own stylized music spider noir gets that classic film noir jazz sound even black and white where is that wind coming from we're in a basement Penny Parker gets some of that anime inspired upbeat electronica vibe and we get some of that classic Karl styling inspired Looney Tunes material for spider pig can get weird I just wash my hands that's why they're wet and whenever we see the Prowler on screen we get this distorted elephant sound and if you actually go and check out Daniel Pemberton's Twitter account who just so happened to write the score four into the spider-verse you can see all the little tips and tricks he used to put this score together like putting newspapers on drums or composing a score and then recording a turntable scratching a recording of that original score or perhaps my favorite little trick was how the high hats are actually the sounds of the spray paint cans that Myles uses in essence infusing the soundtrack with Myles his character or you can even spot some of the extra TLC that we into this film when the music cuts out because mouths his headphones fell off his head but all these little tips and tricks pale in comparison to the story being told in the music all these little musical moments serve as a backdrop for how the Miles Morales Spider Man comes together see when you listen to this scene at first you might notice one thing that no other superhero theme has ever really emphasized and that is that hip-hop element now it isn't necessarily unusual to have rap and hip-hop in a film soundtrack but I can't remember the last time I saw it during a superhero apotheosis scene or that one big moment when the superhero realizes their potential it tends to be that big brass sound that we might associate with Superman or Batman or even the Avengers [Music] but spider-verse establishes how and why this music is so critical to miles as identity when we're first introduced to miles we hear him singing along with sunflower this is an instance of diegetic music or music that exists within the world of the film miles can hear the music and is singing along the film then cleverly moves on to família demonstrating miles is half Puerto Rican identity but it's difficult to discern whether or not this music is diegetic at first that is until his headphones fall off now I'd really like to give you more examples but in my experience the YouTube copyright bot has a keen ear for soundtracks containing licensed music as opposed to an original score but I want to make it clear that this soundtrack treats us to an all-star cast of top talent on a phenomenal album so when we finally get to Mouse's ascension as a hero it's without question that we have his own musical identity put forward in the soundtrack but there's a little bit of trickery here listen to this in the context of the film and now listen to the studio version of what's up danger by black way and Black Caviar Pemberton actually included some of the score under the hip-hop sound which helps adhere this track to the film's journey but why well let's break Pemberton's editions apart and see what we can find first off I want to start with this little motif or a fragmentary musical idea although relatively simple it's really just an octave leap up and back down or at least that's what we're gonna focus on it develops a tremendous amount of storytelling potential throughout miles this journey we first hear it when Peter gives miles Lagoo bur in essence starting miles on his first step on his journey as a hero what if he turns the machine on we hear it when he's troubled or trying to confront his obstacles like after Spiderman dies and Myles runs to his family we get this you ever think about movement out of Brooklyn our family doesn't run food things miles and was trying to master his new powers and fails we hear it again we hear it when he's struggling with his identity as a spider character and teasing spider-man about a cape or what his uncle Aaron dies the only way just or when his responsibilities as spider-man keep him from its family it's the musical idea that defines Mouse's journey to become a spider hero in essence this is the light motif or a musical idea that represents a person place or thing for miles is story but going back to our iconic scene that isn't all we hear we hear this little motif as well [Music] it's just a small but with a different interval and a different identity and meaning entirely we first hear this idea when we're introduced to the first spider-man there's only one spider-man and you're looking at him and this is essentially his theme or I guess more accurately his light motif sorta see while Peter Parker is on screen it plays all the time did you know your shoes are tied I can help you if you stick around they really hammer home that this musical idea is directly associated with him but after he dies we end up hearing it again when were introduced to Peter B Parker you know the rest yourself I got married save the city because this isn't the light motif for a spider-man it's the light motif for the spider hero identity so as we would expect when we're introduced to all the other Spider characters it's all over the place [Music] my name is Peter Parker my name is Parker my name is Peter Parker or whenever the spider-man identity comes up in general and in terms of how it's played around miles we hear it when he lands his first web effectively showing us how he's becoming more like a spider hero [Music] or you can even hear it when Doc Ock acknowledges what miles has become [Music] and so we have these three musical ideas the licensed music that represents Mouse's identity as a kid from Brooklyn just trying to make his way in life a second idea that represents his personal journey through this story and a third and final idea that represents something from the spider-verse like a spider person or pig or Rubik's Cube fan or anything else that's been bitten by a radioactive spider and so when we get all three of these ideas on top of one another we get the musical climax of the story and the film and it makes for this great scene but that's not all there's so much more to it than just that see this film is a little more complicated than just miles become spider-man throughout the film we see issues with Miles fitting in he doesn't fit in at school he has unique spider powers that the other characters don't have which is actually hinted in the film when the spider that bites him changes colors depending on which paint can it's on shout-out to our slash movie details for finding that one but he's constantly juggling his various identities as a charter school student a kid from Brooklyn the son of a cop a superhero and even a graffiti artist and when you look at the theme of this film there's this notion of Myles carving his own path with the gifts that he's given even if it isn't necessarily what others want for him this is barking you it's amazing is why pushy but is yours whatever you choose to do with it you'll be great in 1949 Joseph Campbell wrote the hero with a thousand faces a book that outlined a story structure that function is an archetypal model for stories that people tended to tell one another it's a template for folklore in legends and you can fit a lot of stories told throughout human history into this model and although it's been through many iterations and criticisms the overall structure tends to be the same you can see how this film fits into this model relatively neatly there's the supernatural aid from the radioactive spider the mentor and Peter B Parker the many helpers the abyss when he can't control his powers and he can't become spider-man the subsequent rebirth when he gains control of his powers the apotheosis the return with a gift I'm not going to pretend like I'm super knowledgeable about story structure but I think you get what I'm trying to say but there's this notion in the hero's journey of passing between the known world and the unknown world when the hero leaves home goes off on an adventure and then completes their journey by coming back home and in his book assuming that I understood it correctly Campbell calls the first act of moving from the known world to unknown world as crossing the first threshold and this is in essence where the story begins Luke leaves home neo leaves the matrix the hobbits leave the Shire if I take one more step it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been and then midway through the third act the hero crosses the return threshold and returns to the known world with the power received from the unknown Luke blows up the Death Star and returns home after becoming a Jedi during the Death Star trench Ryan neo goes back into the matrix to fight Agent Smith and becomes the one and the hobbits literally return to the Shire after throwing jewelry into the volcano but the music in this critical scene guides us through miles his own hero's journey when we open the film we hear a veritable medley of miles of favorite music again unfortunately I won't be able to play much of it but mouse's musical identity continues to develop throughout the film but only when he's in his known world of Brooklyn when we need to see the people's reaction to spider-man's death we get scared of the dark when miles is stressed out he returns to what he knows by humming his favorite tune and when he's at his lowest and tries to return home we come back to the soundtrack with hide by juice world and after he returns home at the very end of the film the last thing we hear before the credits is sunflowers exactly how the film began in every respect the hip hop that we hear in this soundtrack represents the real world that miles comes from and returns to save now compare that to the spider hero motif a motif that represents everything that is alien to Miles this is a motif that is explicitly reserved to people and notions that pertain to the unknown world every spider hero and even miles gaining seemingly alien powers and skills all exists in the unknown and is the power he acquires before his inevitable return home whether it be the comic book world of the actual spider-man or the literal extra-dimensional creatures that he keeps bumping into this spider motif represents the unknown world and the only binding material between these two worlds as is in the story is Miles himself which is why his journey is given a motif that is exclusive to Miles and his story this is the motif that we hear during his journey it's the motif for miles as hero's journey so right before we have our big scene we have miles as apotheosis orb his ascension he develops the ability to control his powers and immediately following that we have Miles taking those powers and demonstrating his mastery over them and at this point in the story miles is crossing the return threshold returning from the unknown back to the known world which is why this entire scene not only takes place in Brooklyn but is a direct contrast to an earlier scene when miles was trying to understand his powers and failing and what we hear we hear miles is known identity with his spider hero unknown identity glued together with the musical idea that represents Miles his journey it wouldn't have been fitting to just have one theme for this film and give it to every spider hero and expect it to work the entire idea behind this film is Miles discovering himself yes he becomes spider-man but he becomes his own spider-man and in that moment we have a harmonious convergence of his two worlds predicated on the path that he took to get there there's a line I remember hearing in the theater and I found it in the special alternate universe kind of the film that came on the blu-ray and I think it's the most succinct way of explaining exactly how and why Miles became what he did because yeah he's just another kid from Brooklyn and yeah he's just another person that got bit by some kind of radioactive spider but in the end of the day he's greater than the sum of his parts exemplified by his journey and he's unique in what he became or as Peter be Parker put it honestly miles don't do it like I did you gotta do it like you thanks for watching I'd like to thank my patrons for making these videos possible with a very special thank you to AFN Matt Andrew Luke Billy Vasquez Clarke tan dr. Wu Donovan Hodges Hayden Elsa Jordan Adams Karen Rosa now Who am I anzo blue Tom and Emeril also thank you to everyone who requested that I do a spider-verse video I loved this movie and it was tons of fun putting this together if you'd like to request a video keep an eye on my patreon page if you like what you saw here be sure to check out my other videos if you really like what I'm doing then consider supporting the channel I'm teaching on but that's all I got for now thanks for watching

Channel: Sideways

Views: 2,246,068

Rating: 4.9825406 out of 5

Keywords: The Sound of the Spider-Verse, Spider, Spiderman, Soundtrack, Music, Theory, Music Theory, Miles, Morales, Film, Spider-Man, Spiderverse, Spider-verse, Journey, Hero's, Hero's Journey

Id: ozbKHKntpCc

Length: 12min 57sec (777 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 31 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/YOUREABOT]

I was really hoping for that one! There are so many great, beautiful, stylistic, and even outright shocking moments in that score. I absolutely love it!