“Rubaru” – Theme Breakdown
Now that I’ve released Rubaru’s original score, I wanted to make a blog post with some additional information about the themes found within the film because my approach to the score was very theme-heavy. There are melodies and orchestrational choices that are associated with specific characters or ideas and when those characters or ideas come into play in the film, the music would reflect those elements found within the story. The full score for Rubaru is available through any of the links below.
The first theme I want to touch on is the love theme. The love theme is made up of two separate melodies; a melody representing Charles (played on solo clarinet), and a melody representing Elizabeth (played on solo violin). These melodies could be played separately if they needed to represent just one of the characters or could play together when the characters were functioning together and ‘in harmony’.
The first half of Just Shut Up is a good example of both melodies playing together; Charles’ melody is in the clarinet and Elizabeth’s melody is in the violin. Open Bar demonstrates the two themes being played separately, starting with Charles’ before moving to Elizabeth’s. A playful rendition of the themes is found in Help Me! when the clarinet plays both of the themes in succession during a moment of playful levity that the two main characters share. Contrasting that, the theme is sometimes presented in a much darker and somber tone. This can be found in tracks like the opening of Cut Me Some Slack. This track uses Charles’ part of the love theme played by clarinet and doubled with piano. The orchestration and presentation of the theme in this context is much closer to the material that represents Charles and his depression than it does the other presentations of the love theme.
Another theme I use in the film is the family theme, representing exactly that: family. It is mostly tied to Elizabeth’s family and their acceptance of her and Charles. This theme tends to play with full strings and has a warmth and togetherness that one would expect from family. The theme ties closely to Elizabeth’s part of the love theme, allowing the solo violin to easily join into the family theme.
It’s About Time is the first presentation of the theme within the film, and also demonstrates Elizabeth’s theme joining in on solo violin. The latter half of Open Bar uses the family theme again, as well as a more dramatic version in Yellow Binoculars. One of my favorite uses of this theme is in Give Thanks; this time, the theme is especially dark and ominous as it plods forward uncomfortably. Perhaps the fullest presentation of the family theme is when it appears in the End Credits Suite.
Primarily found in the latter half of the score, there’s also thematic material that represents Charles and his depression, loneliness, and isolation. There are multiple different elements that make up this material; both thematic melodies, as well as orchestrational choices. Contrasting the love themes and the family theme, the themes for his depression play in a somber clarinet and plodding or isolated piano with high, thin strings in combination with low, dark strings. The rest of the score makes use of warmth and richness within the orchestral palette, while this material intentionally contrasts those pleasing elements with the previously mentioned high & thin strings, low & dark strings, or somber clarinet and isolated piano.
The opening track of the film, I Want You to Know My Story, gives an immediate look into this darker thematic material with the plodding piano, high and thin strings, and solo clarinet. It also introduces all of the melodies found in this material; the opening clarinet figure, the descending line found in violins (often playing on piano in the rest of the score), and a dramatic rhythmic figure.
Cut Me Some Slack opens by using the orchestration of the darker material, paired with Charles’ part of the love theme, and then uses the rest of the track to show some of the other darker thematic material. Just Doesn’t Add Up is one of the first times we hear the darker thematic material utilizing the low and dark strings element of the score; this track very intentionally combines the darker score elements with the thematic associations the violin and clarinet have with our main characters, along with pulling in their respective love themes into this new orchestrational context. Forget Your Keys? is another track that uses the low, dark strings, and makes use of a dramatic build up to the isolated piano thematic element before eventually opening up with a bit of warmth in the love themes at the end of the cue.
Closing out the Rubaru score album is the End Credits Suite, which is actually exclusive to the album release of the score. The film used the song Be Someone to Somebody, written for the film by Isaac Meza, during the end credits sequence and my end credits suite never appears in the film. This suite is a good presentation of all the themes I’ve discussed here.
It opens with a piano-only version of Elizabeth’s part of the love theme before bringing in full string orchestra playing Elizabeth’s theme and Charles’ theme together. It then transitions into the fullest version of the family theme before doing a solo clarinet version of Charles’ theme with string pizzicato accompaniment. This takes us into a dramatic build up and has the orchestra drop out so the solo piano can play the thematic material associated with Charles and his depression. This then leads us into the rest of the track which continues to use the darker material until the end of the score.
I hope you enjoyed this theme breakdown! You can listen to Rubaru’s original score on all major platforms, many of which are linked here, or you can read more about the score release in my previous blog post.
Until the next time!