E.T.

The music in E.T. is mostly instruments that are in an orchestra, although some times the whole orchestra isn't used, the woodwinds seem to play a huge role in many of the themes. They tend to use the whole orchestra for more dramatic and overwhelming scenes, where a particualar message is trying to be conveyed. The mood of the music is more childlike and instead of using a bunch of different themes for each scene Williams does an excellent job of focusing on a single theme and using it in multiple ways, only changing it a little bit to give it it's own uniqueness. There is some Micky-mousing sound effects, for example when they are running away from each other at the beginning of the movie. There is a lot of underscoring in this movie, whether it be portrayed through the television, or a raidio it is often heard throughout the entirety of the film. There is what seems to be wall to wall music but there are scenes that do not have any music at all, and these scenes are trying to isolate a certain emotion that without music is better portrayed. For example when Elliot is sitting at the dinner table and he feels lonely because he just found out that his father had run off to mexico with another woman. With the sequencing, the underscoring, and the micky-mouse sound effects Williams work in E.T. can be comparable to the work of Steiner and the music in the film King Kong.