Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity marks the second high budget film of composer Stephen Price's career. With 11 years experience in the industry and a C.V. that includes music editing work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, GRAVITY is perhaps the first glimpse of what may become a very bright future for the as yet young Englishman. As is evident in his first big work Attack the Block (2011, dir. Joe Cornish), Price is completely at home editing and creating electronic music. GRAVITY seems to be an extension of this, with Price being based primarily in the studio and with orchestrator David Butterworth on board to translate Price’s themes into a large scale orchestral sound. The style of the score thus combines large scale orchestrations (with the exception of some brief moments of intra/inter-personal tenderness) with modern electronic sound engineering resembling Hans Zimmer’s recent composition style in films such as Inception. The quality brought to the table by live instrument recording in conjunction with the variety and innovation of the sound textures and effects Price creates electronically makes for an interesting and very professional overall sound. The score thus resonates with a tone that walks the precarious tightrope between stereotypical "space music" and action score.
The “spaciness” of the score finds itself through some undoubted influence from the ambient composer Brian Eno, as well as minimalistic composers such as Philip Glass. Some such elements evident in the score include sustained use of a simplistic two note motif, predominance of pedal notes both upper and lower, often static harmonies and the focus on developing modulating sound textures to create and sustain interest. The resulting mix of ambient, minimalism and normal action writing provides a unique feel to the score which I feel reiterates the main idea of the film- that of a character redefining herself through adversity. The scoring helps misplace the viewer just like the main character, often keeping you swimming in a sea of sound that supports you but offers no obvious direction much the same as being adrift in space. It accomplishes this whilst simultaneously supporting the fast-paced energy of the action scenes.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the score in my view is the main “theme”, a Jaws-esque two note motif- E flat to F. Used throughout the film, it not only unifies the score but very effectively illustrates several factors of the story and setting. Firstly, I find its resemblance to the Jaws theme very apt. Like Jaws, where the characters are fighting in an environment they are not designed for i.e. the sea, GRAVITY’s main characters are left even more so, stranded in space where almost every law of physics as they know it no longer applies. The interval of a tone in this case accomplishes exactly that of a John William’s iconic semi-tone; the creation and maintenance of tension. However, the more oblique sonic pull inherent in the tone conveys for me the fact that danger in space is not only below you but everywhere. Given that space is such a highly inhospitable place, you simply never know when disaster may hit or what form it may take. This banality and saturation of danger to me finds perfect expression in the tone rather than the semi-tone which is more suitable for a sense of immediate danger as illustrated in Jaws.

Other interesting features include the fantastic use of crescendos coupled with rising slides often ending in abrupt silence. In one instant in particular I felt this technique was very astutely employed: Ryan Stone, played by Sandra Bullock starts to panic inside an escape pod having realized she is out of fuel. Her unrestrained anger and fear is underpinned by a rising sea of sound which eventually becomes sonically overwhelming before cutting abruptly to silence as the camera cuts to a shot of the pod from the outside silhouetted against the beauty and tranquility of the earth. The result is a heart breaking collision of two viewpoints- that of Stone’s, her fear fuelled rage and emotional attachment to her life, and that of the universe’s, its expanse and complexity tempering her significance with the additional significance of everything else in creation. It succinctly underlines how huge and engrossing our own lives seem to us from within whilst giving the higher perspective; the fact that we are little cogs within a very large machine.

I also enjoyed Price’s decision to emulate life inside a space suit by simulating a heartbeat using low instrumental sounds and some percussion. This musical representation of physicality is mirrored in other musical sound effects. For instance, its possible to hear several instances where percussive sound files have obviously been tweaked to resemble mechanical noises such as suctioned air or electrical sparks.

In general, I felt the score fulfilled all cinematic requirements and had a certain sound and approach all of its own. Although its lack of melodic elements would probably render it somewhat boring to be listened to when detached from its accompanying images, I would none the less recommend investigating it and look forward to seeing what new ideas Price may bring forward in the future.24/30