Tron Legacy's Orchestral & Electronic Score

When you hear the name Daft Punk, the first thing you think of is decades of amazing electronic music. Well think again, French producers Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter has touched new ground with their roles as film score composers for the movie Tron Legacy. Coming from producing electronic music in a small bedroom to having their music performed by a 90-piece orchestra has proved to be an intense and challenging experience for the French Duo. 

In an interview with KCRW.com Daft Punk was asked if translating electronic music to a 90-piece orchestra was difficult, Daft looked over to Joseph Trapanese who is the arranger and orchestrator for the film. Joseph stated that it seems complicated, but at the end of the day it was rather simple to translate. The collaborative process of Daft Punk and Joseph Trapanese has even reached beyond the recording studio to help the cast grasp a feel of some of the fictional characters. Actress Olivia Wilde needed help to develop a feel for Clue, a CG character whom she had never seen before. Joseph Kosinski played Clue’s theme for Olivia and the story behind the music helped her understand Clue. From the start Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo knew that there was no way to do the film score with two synthesizers and a drum machine. Daft Punk was introduced to many composers but ultimately decided to score the film without the help.

Thomas experience of the Tron movie was a good example of minimalism, which is what Daft liked about the direction of the new film. Tron is a massive film with a minimalist approach that can be appreciated artistically; less meant more when it came to composing for Tron Legacy. A lot of times there was no need for the dialogue during the film, the score spoke volumes of what was needed for the characters.  The score for the film had a minimal approach to scoring but was huge with electronic elements and rich textures of strings that hits straight for the heart and tell an amazing story. Tron Legacy received an award for "Best Original Score" from the Austin Film Critics Association and was nominated for Best Score Soundtrack Album for Visual Media at the 54th Grammy Awards. This goes to show that all of Daft Punks hardships during the scoring of the Tron Legacy film paid off immensely.