在为sci-fi Arrival 配乐之前，作曲家Johann Johannsson 已经凭借《万物理论》和《边境杀手》两度获得奥斯卡最佳配乐的提名，他也与中国导演娄烨合作过电影《推拿》以及《浮城谜事》。这个有着大胡子和实验精神的冰岛音乐家终于在今年因科幻电影《降临》而悄然进入大众的视野，而“实验音乐”和“极简音乐”这些微微超前的音乐流派也以鲜明的形式出现在大家眼前。这篇乐评将会浅谈Johann Johannsson在电影《降临》里的音乐以及相关流派，希望能让大家对这部电影以及配乐有更好的理解。
1. 定义实验音乐和极简音乐
何为实验音乐？何为极简音乐？
实验音乐（Experimental Music) 是一种“大体上来说由完全反对且质疑机构化音乐创作表演和传统美学的、具有探究性的鉴赏力和运动所定义的创作方式” （a compositional practice defined broadly by exploratory sensibilites and movement radically opposed to and questioning of institutionalized musical compositional, performing, and aesthetic conventions），意在追求一种高度纯粹的、不负载任何意义的聆听。实验音乐的先锋人物John Cage说到“任何实验的行为都具有不可预测的结果”（"an experimental action is one the outcome of which is not foreseen"），所以大多数实验音乐也带有即兴（Improvisation）的色彩，即未经编排的音乐。用人话来讲，实验音乐就是一帮音乐人打破传统，用各种奇奇怪怪的工具和声音制作出来的音乐。它们也许不会悦耳，但会让人产生”啊，原来还可以这样搞“的感慨。
极简音乐（Minimalist Music）是一种兴起于20世纪60年代美国东北部的音乐形式。极简音乐的主要特点是运用尽可能少的动机（motif）或主题（subject）并不断重复（repetitive melody），强调和谐的和弦（consonant harmony），和肌肉运动般有规律的节奏（motoric rhythms）。用人话来讲，如果古典音乐（classical／art music）是一本跌宕起伏、详略得当、有情节有人物的书，那极简音乐就是一首只重复一个字的诗。示例如下：
我
我我
我 我 我 我
我我
我我我我我我我我我
我
我我
2. “实验音乐”与“极简音乐”在《降临》中的应用
《降临》作为一部科幻电影，突出了两个主题：一是未知，二是语言和沟通。极简音乐和实验音乐的应用刚好很成功地分别对应了这两个主题。
极简音乐：科幻电影通常通过描绘未知的事物而达到让人思考的目的，《降临》也不例外。所以本片的配乐会趋向于简洁，以达到不浓墨重彩而分散了观众的注意力，却又不悄无声息而没了存在感。我问了和我一起观影的同学，也看了一些影评，绝大多数观众对那些“几乎像音效一样，很突然，很厚重，很惊悚”的配乐印象深刻。可以说，Johann Johannsson对于配乐的应用在这部电影中是很成功的。 以电影中的原声举例：在电影前半段女主初见“shells”以及七肢桶的时候，Johann Johannsson运用了大量的持续低音（drone），由钢琴或铜管乐器发出的低音持续地向观众输出隐隐的紧张感。这样似乎没有声音却又在耳边小声嗡嗡的表现手法从听觉预示着未知事物的降临（具体曲目：《Shells landing》、《Approaching the shell》等）。Johann Johannsson解释说：“在这部电影里，停顿和留白极其重要。在需要音乐的时候，它自然会出现，并且有着目的。(In Arrival, the use of space and silence is extremely important. When music is needed, it’s really there and it serves a purpose.)”。同样是在这几首里，由处理过的人声发出的巨大声响被随机地穿插在寂静而紧张的氛围中，似乎像是有某种巨型的生物在移动。《Heptapod B》则运用了一个短小的motif“我的脑袋呢”（没错这非常中文）。这句中文空耳被反复地重复，几乎贯穿了整首乐曲，就着背景里节奏性极强、仿若心跳声的打击乐（percussion），制造出首次和未知生物沟通的紧张感。
实验音乐： Johann Johannsson在访谈中谈到他对于此片配乐的尝试时说：“我知道我会用人声去诠释一部主要关于语言和沟通的电影。但我想要用一种不同的方式去运用它，所以我与“Theatre of Voices”这个乐团有了合作。他们在古代音乐（early music）和当代音乐（contemporary music）上有着很深的造诣，因此他们精通异国的发声技巧。我还与Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe合作；他没有经历过学术上的训练，却有着惊人的声音，是强有力而柔韧的乐器 (I knew that I wanted to use voices as one of the prime instruments in the score of a film that is primarily about language and communication. But I wanted to use the voice in a different way, so I worked with an ensemble called Theatre Of Voices. They’re masters of both early music and contemporary music, so have a very good command of exotic vocal techniques. I worked with Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe; he is not academically trained, but his voice is an amazing, powerful and flexible instrument.)”。《Heptapod B》则是在听过美国人声实验音乐家Joan Le Barbara的专辑《Sound Paintings》里一首"Erin"后受到启发而作。（可以听听这首Erin，你会发现它的主题和Heptapod B几乎一样。链接：http://www.kugou.com/song/）
3. 《降临》配乐制作过程
在整个配乐的制作过程中，导演给了Johann Johannsson音乐上的全权，让他大胆去做。他们总会在还未开拍之前就讨论剧情，读剧本并探讨其中的情感和音乐的运用。Johann Johannsson总会很早就开始工作，因为“需要时间去找到带有角色色彩和独立性的、但却不因为怪异而怪异的情感 (It takes time to find a mood and feel that has some character and individuality, and is not weird for weirdness’s sake.) ”。关于新颖的音乐制作方式，这位作曲家在采访中给出了详细的介绍：“在柏林的工作室，我们把用16轨的带子做成了环形，即把2英尺的16轨带子连接在一起从而让它待在一个永恒的环状里。这意味着我们可以把声音不断叠加，在原有声音的基础上录制并保留原有声音。所以我们一遍一遍地用这个方法录制，最后得到了一整带非常厚重有力的钢琴连续低音(I did a session here in Berlin in a studio with 16 track tape loop, which basically means that you take 2 inch 16 track tape and you glue it together so it runs in a circle forever, which means that you can record loops on it, and you can also record over the original sounds while keeping the original sounds. So we did that over and over and over and over and over, until we had a whole tape full of this very strong, thick piano drone.)”。而那些穿插的巨大声响则是由Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe的人声经过处理得来的。Johann Johannsson说，这是他让Robert尝试唱了几个音后得到的”神奇的东西(something magical happening)”。
4. 电影原声现状
随着当代电影业和娱乐业的迅速发展，电影原声音乐正在逐渐变得独立并逐步自成一体。人们也不仅仅满足于悦耳但稍显乏味的通俗歌曲，转而寻找更加新颖刺激的新式音乐。Johann Johannsson本人则在采访中称这是因为“人们不仅渴望新的声音，还渴望听到与平日在广告与电视节目中的音乐不一样的音乐 (people are hungry for new sounds, and for the experience of listening to unfamiliar music that you don’t hear on commercials and in every TV show)”。对于我个人而言，电影原声可以很好地作为一种代入情境或情感的媒介，例如想恋爱的时候可以听听Juno，
学习不下去了则可以听听Fletcher的怒吼，
生活有了电影和音乐多么美好，是吧。
6. Johann Johannsson配乐制作过程采访原文
The film Arrival starts with the landing of 12 spaceships on earth. The movie is directed by Denis Villeneuve, and the main protagonist which is played by Amy Adams is a linguist, and she is hired by the government, by the armed forces, to communicate with the occupants of the spaceships.
I felt that since this is a film that is largely about language and communication, one of the main instruments should be the voice. So I collaborated with several vocalists, on the score, mainly the vocal ensembles Theater Voices which was conducted by Paul Hiller. We decided not to use words; it’s more sounds, like the vowels, and nothing that can be tied to any meaning. So the voice is an important initial element, but there’s also a lot of percussion, there are some orchestra, and there is also more intimate pieces. There are a lot of other elements, a lot of processed sounds.
When I work with Denis, I usually start very early on in the process before they start shooting, as soon as I’ve read the script, I start writing. Denis was generous enough to give me quite a lot of freedom in terms of the sound. I did a session here in Berlin in a studio with 16 track tape loop, which basically means that you take 2 inch 16 track tape and you glue it together so it runs in a circle forever, which means that you can record loops on it, and you can also record over the original sounds while keeping the original sounds. So we did that over and over and over and over and over, until we had a whole tape full of this very strong, thick piano drone. And then I asked Robert, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, a frequent collaborator of mine, I asked him to sing a series of notes over this drone. When Rob was singing those, at first idea, those first few notes, I really felt that there was something magical happening, so I took out my iPhone and recorded it and I sent it to Denis. It was only like ten seconds, and Denis responded almost immediately, saying: “This is fantastic. You have to send me a 5 minute version of this.” And he listened to this music throughout the process of filming.
I tried to send things very early on, and I do this partly to have enough material for the editor to work with. This is to avoid any use of tap tracks. So everything is specially made for that particular film. When I create the soundtrack album, for me it’s always a very special thing. I always try to make the album work as a listening experience on its own. I very often make special versions of the cues, extend them, change, you know, some arrangements. They are all sorts of things that you can do with a soundtrack album which are very creative and very interesting and I like to spend time on them.
5. 参考资料
-wikipedia
-http://www.joanlabarbara.com/bio.html
-www.bing.com
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