Copyright Deadline
James Cameron continues to invent new technology to make films, and that does not end with the third installment of the Avatar saga. Even the composer of Avatar: Fire and Ash got into the act, with Simon Franglen revealing he invented some instruments that were used in his score for the film. Fire and Ash refers to two new tribes of Na’vi introduced in the film. The Windtraders are a flying tribe with magnificent crafts to soar above Pandora. “The Windtraders are like the Phoenecians of old,” Franglen said on a panel at Deadline’s Sound & Screen, appearing virtually while he completes the score for the 20th Century Studios film that opens December 19. “They are sophisticated and I wanted the music to have a sophisticated air. They also travel in these phenomenal ships that are 800-feet tall so they needed a signal that was grand but had scale but also flew and floated.” No Earth-based instruments fit the bill for Franglen, so he made up new ones. He began back in 2018. “For that, I designed the instruments for the Windtraders to play,” Franglen said. “I sketched out instruments, gave them to Dylan Cole, the production designer. He then made them into something useful. Then the prop master 3D-printed them. So we have real instruments that are played.” The Ash are a vicious tribe. “The Ash, on the other hand, are chaos agents,” Franglen said. “They want to burn the world down. This allowed me to completely change the textures that we’ve always had as part of Avatar.” For the Ash, Franglen did know instruments he could use, utilizing old synthesizers and a regional instrument he discovered during his travels. “I had been lucky enough to spend some time in Inner Mongolia about a decade ago,” he said. “There’s an Instrument called the morin khuur which is carried on your back and is a sort of strong viola played with two strings. It can be played with a real frenzy, and that became the core sound of the Ash.” Franglen said Cameron is waiting on the reception to Fire and Ash to move forward with Avatar 4 and Avatar 5. A Miley Cyrus song for Fire and Ash will be released later this month, Franglen said. He also wanted to highlight that the score was recorded in Los Angeles. “I’m very much a part of the Los Angeles music community and I’m very proud they were able to put together such a beautiful score,” he said. Check back Monday for the panel video.
