Composers Mychael Danna And Jeff Danna Utilize Alternative World Music Instruments For THE GOOD DINOSAUR Score

Disney•Pixar’s THE GOOD DINOSAUR features an original score by Academy Award-winning composer Mychael Danna and Emmy-nominated composer Jeff Danna. The soundtrack is available today.

THE GOOD DINOSAUR asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo (voice of Raymond Ochoa) makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of.

Directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Denise Ream (“Cars 2”), Disney•Pixar’s THE GOOD DINOSAUR opens in theaters on Nov. 25, 2015.

Mychael Danna is an Academy Award-winning film composer recognized for his evocative blending of non-western traditions with orchestral and electronic music. Among his body of work includes his Oscar-winning score for Ang Lee’s Life of Pi and his many Genie Award-winning scores for director and longtime collaborator Atom Egoyan.

Other celebrated collaborations include those with Bennett Miller on his multiple Oscar-nominee Moneyball (2011) and his Oscar-winning drama Capote (2005); with Terry Gilliam on his Oscar-nominated The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) and Tideland (2005); with Mira Nair on Vanity Fair (2004), Monsoon Wedding (2001) and Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996); and with Billy Ray on Breach (2007) and Shattered Glass (2003).

Danna’s credits also include the Oscar-winning Little Miss Sunshine (2006), for which he shared a Grammy Award nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album; Marc Webb’s acclaimed romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer (2009); and James Mangold’s Oscar-winning film Girl, Interrupted (1999).

Jeff Danna has created scores for a long and varied list of films. His credits include such diverse projects as the hit film adaptations of the video game/action franchises Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Silent Hill 1 & Silent Hill 2; the Ryan Gosling-Anthony Hopkins legal drama Fracture; The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus and Tideland, which were both directed by Terry Gilliam; Lakeview Terrace directed by Neil LaBute; a series of films for director Brett Morgen, including The Kid Stays In The Picture and Chicago 10; Closing The Ring for director Richard Attenborough; and the cult classic The Boondock Saints, among others.

Additionally, his collaborative Orchestral Celtic albums with brother composer Mychael Danna have enjoyed worldwide success and placed in the Top Ten on the Billboard chart in the United States.

Recently, Jeff scored Brett Morgen’s Kurt Cobain biopic Montage Of Heck which premiered in Sundance and was released on HBO in May 2015. He wrote the music for Tim Blake Nelson’s upcoming Anesthesia starring Kristen Stewart and Glenn Close.

“THE GOOD DINOSAUR takes Arlo – and the audience – on an emotional journey of self-discovery. Filmmakers opted to tell the story in a new way, relying less on dialogue, while leaning into the power of nature, compelling characters and music that captures the imagination. “It’s a dinosaur movie, so the music needs to be big,” says director Peter Sohn. “But it’s also that classic boy-and-his-dog story embarking on a journey home. That calls for a certain sensitivity to embrace the emotions. Mychael and Jeff are brilliant artists when it comes to setting up a theme that can be sweet and hopeful one moment and strong and powerful the next. And they do it in a unique way.”

“Pixar sets the bar for animation—they set the bar for imagination,” says Mychael Danna. “So we wanted to do something different, blending traditional instrumentation and a melody-centered approach with alternative world music instruments. We draw from everywhere—historically and geographically—to help tell this story.”

Instruments utilized range from classic strings, percussion and brass to the unexpected. “We used some pre-Colombian instruments that reflected the landscape around the characters,” says Jeff Danna. “We used a lot of unusual string-guitar instruments that are primitive or folky: a bouzouki, a long-necked Greek instrument that’s like a mandolin; the Turkish cumbus; the Iranian saz; and a Nordic instrument called a harpolek. They’re really interesting when placed into the refined world of the orchestra. Our approach to many of the things in the film was to take the expected or standard thing and, just like the movie did, turn it a little sideways.”

©2015 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

They found Spot challenging—his rough-around-the-edges character was tough to pair musically. They settled on a woodwind—a simple recorder—that is played with a guttural underpinning, creating a theme that reflects Spot’s wild ways and contrasts with Arlo. “We wanted a sound for Arlo’s fear,” says Jeff Danna, “so we used an instrument called a fujara which is a Slovakian shepherd’s pipe. It’s a big, long overblown flute that we found effectively dark and evocative in representing Arlo’s frame of mind in these fearful moments.”

The Dannas designed a theme for Arlo that remained intact throughout the film. “When he’s born, it’s delicate, plucked on a single instrument,” says Mychael Danna. “As he encounters fear, loss and then confidence – that theme evolves and develops, and is ultimately played by a full orchestra as he gallops with joy across the mountaintops.”

They utilized a toy piano purchased at a flea market and a deliberately out-of-tune upright piano. “We call it the church-basement piano,” says Mychael Danna. “It’s just an old, well-worn upright piano that I played, with a lovely hominess quality to it that is a wonderful fit with the film. It was very helpful in creating the music that evokes this beautiful, warm, love-filled place that is Arlo’s home, a place that he loses, and then eventually finds again, although as a different, grown-up dinosaur.

“We’ve got this incredible, mind-bogglingly beautiful setting,” continues Danna. “The landscape is such an important part of the storytelling—a world where dinosaurs are homesteading and humans are these little critters that live out in the bush. Even though it’s about a dinosaur and a boy who never speaks a word, it speaks to all of us. There’s a real human arc to this character’s story that we can all relate to. That’s what I love about Pixar, beyond all the bells and whistles, the stories speak to us and move us deeply.”

Spot and Arlo. ©2015 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.