Test Drive - Musical Analysis #2

 Test Drive, by John Powell, is a track from the movie How to Train Your Dragon, which has one of my favorite scores. The movie was released in 2010 in the U.S. I really love how the movie, and this piece in particular, tells a story through through the music. While the characters are good and all, the music in this film, and many films, is what really evokes the emotion, and sets the scene. Every choice in the music contributes to telling the story. This movie is particularly good at that. I embedded a video of just the soundtrack, as well as linked the scene from the movie.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LECmyZB-cgM

Leitmotifs

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, a leitmotif is a musical idea that is associated with a certain character or element in a movie or play. In this case, the leitmotifs in this movie are associated with each character. In the beginning of the film, there is a leitmotif established for each of the main characters or group of characters, and in this section of the score, the leitmotifs for Hiccup and Toothless are used, since they are the characters in the scene. The first theme you hear as you start the track is Toothless', then the second distinct part is Hiccups theme.

Storytelling

As I stated, the track starts with Toothless' theme and then moves to Hiccups, to musically tell the audience that they are becoming a team. When they run into trouble, the music directly conveys that, with the strings mirroring the sound of falling faster and faster through the air, and the music becoming much more ominous. The music then builds back up as they recover and abandon the plan, finally coming to a crescendo with the combining of the two themes in a new key.

Key Change

Right after the two recover from their fall, the music builds up, then changes key from D major to E major. This change drives the music forward, and gives us as an audience the feeling of everything coming together, as well as musically conveying the start of something new and good. It really emphasizes the fact that Hiccup and Toothless are now working together as a team instead of trying to go by a piece of paper, and sets the stage for the rest of the movie.

Tone

Up until this point in the movie we almost exclusively heard Toothless' theme in a minor key. As a contrast to this, Hiccups theme is almost always in a major key. This is because Hiccup is the main character, and Toothless is an outsider, an unknown, and possibly a danger. The music conveys this to the audience. In this track however, both of the themes are in major. This symbolizes the two coming together and Toothless becoming a friend.

Instrument Choice

The instrument choice in the scene is also something that differs from the rest of the movie. Prior to this track, Toothless' theme was almost exclusively played by instruments that have a more ominous sound, such as bagpipes or an organ. Every other theme was played by the typical orchestra, and this helped convey that Toothless was an outsider. In this track, Toothless' theme is finally played by the full orchestra, showing that he is accepted as part of Hiccup's life, and musically conveying that they are a team now.

 

I have included two written sources that I took some information from, but the bulk of the information came from the youtube video that I have linked.

References

Sideways. “Why How to Train Your Dragon Has the Best Opening Ever.” YouTube, 30 Sept. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UUJQH7GLms.

Singham, May. “How to Train Your Dragon’s Best Sequence Is Defined by Its Music.” cbr.com, 21 May 2022, www.cbr.com/how-to-train-your-dragon-test-drive-scene-music-importance. Accessed 19 Feb. 2023.

TheHof125. How to Train Your Dragon 2 Score Review. 20 Feb. 2023, entjunkie.blogspot.com/2014/06/how-to-train-your-dragon-2-score-review.html.