Being a huge fan of the original TRON (1982), I grew skeptical when Disney announced they would be revisiting the world of TRON in an updated sequel reboot simply because I found the original film near perfect (plus, no one wants a formative filmic experience from childhood messed with). With an orchestral score by the legendary musician Wendy Carlos, the original film resonated with my budding technophilia at a critical moment in my childhood (I was about 7 years old when I first saw the film). The music became a critical part of what made the film particularly memorable, being intrinsically connected to the visual design of the movie. Disney, I thought, had crafted a beautiful and memorable picture, a beautiful example of the possibilities of the marriage between storytelling and technology. 1982’s TRON was a piece of art, a temporally informed game-movie that would spawn countless others. Its pioneering effects would become a reference point for all videogame movies to follow—its music would too serve the film’s intent as well, pointing to the ability of the simplicity of videogame acoustics to complement film narrative.
Fast-forward 28 years later after the original film. Enter the sequel, Tron: Legacy. Disney has again set out to refresh one of its definitive franchises for modern audiences today. In a revitalizing and stylish homage to its forerunner, Tron: Legacy’s music, which employs French electronic duo Daft Punk for the score, manages to successfully capture the high-octane energy and the treacherous terrain of the Tron’s digital world. Naturally, Daft Punk’s work with electronica (as well as in their 2007 film Electroma) proved fitting for a film about computer circuitry, electronic game dynamics, and beautiful compositions of lasers and light. As the story goes, Daft had already shown interest in working on Tron: Legacy, and the partnership between Disney and them was organically and seamlessly born. First-time movie director Joseph Kosinski, who worked on commercials for best-selling videogames such as Halo 3 and Gears of War, was himself an avid fan of Daft Punk’s music and found the prospect of working with them an exciting chance to create more than just a visually-stimulating and beautiful film, but one that entered into the more expressive and ethereal, one that blurred the distinctions between technology, image, music to concoct something masterful and worthy as a follow-up to the original TRON.
In a collaborative event put on by Disney and KCRW, Tron: Legacy music supervisor Jason Bentley presented selected cuts of the soundtrack in conversation with director of the film, Joseph Kosinski. The event’s main attraction was Daft Punk’s music whose fruition highlighted the intimate effect it had in the process of bringing the film to the big screen. Kosinski’s anecdotes, which demonstrated direct connections between the shooting of the film to the sonic environment, drew inspiration from Daft’s music which, at every stage in the process, contributed film’s mood and texture. The first track presented at the event was “Solar Sailer,” which according to Kosinski, became a roadmap to some sequences in the film by assembling a rhythmic logic which was then translated to the images onscreen. The theme of collaboration was stressed by both Kosinski and Bentley as being a central component to the scoring of the film.
In an attempt to unify the practical and the digital, Daft Punk sought to explore some of the microscopic elements of sound composition to more effectively craft the sound to complement Tron: Legacy’s beautiful and active images. The second cue presented was “Recognizer,” an expansive track that, for me (who hasn’t seen the film), evoked large landscape shots of the Tron world, in an intimate blending of traditional instruments (particularly the brass instruments which was recorded with a full orchestra at the London AIR Lyndhurst studios) paired with digital elements in a mind-bending and genre-pushing conversation between the different frequencies of the film’s acoustics. Following “Recognizer,” Jason Bentley transitioned to “Adagio for TRON” which he connected to a flashback that he described as accenting the complex storytelling of the melancholic sequence. Personally, at this moment I felt how Daft Punk’s tracks allowed the narrative to breathe, maintaining a healthy distance from the onscreen action and the emotive impetus characteristic of Disney films. The final two songs played were the relentless and drum-heavy “Disc Wars” and “TRON Legacy (End Titles).” These two songs, specifically the former, demonstrates the painstaking attention to detail by Daft, whom as suggested by Joseph Kosinski, at times carried the film singlehandedly. These musical segues, Kosinski commented were accentuated by Daft Punk’s score of varying frequencies, paralleling the emotions of the film’s image-track, mapping the film through its subtle emotional nuance.
The soundtrack for Tron: Legacy will be released on December 7th ten days before the film proper. From what was presented of the soundtrack, Daft Punk has done a great job in scoring the movie. In an impressive blend of electronic and classical instrumentation that serves as legitimate sonic narration for what appears to be an emotional, powerful, and at-times chaotic feature film, Daft Punk has succeeded in writing music to a movie while never compromising their distinctive and enjoyable sound. Thanks to Disney for taking a chance on the talented Daft Punk and pushing the expectations of film scoring—the result is truly unique. I can’t wait for the light cycle battles!
Below is a video of Daft Punk’s first single from the Tron: Legacy Original Soundtrack entitled “Derezzed.” This track was played before the beginning of the conversation between Jason Bentley and director Joseph Kosinski and is perhaps one of the more recognizable Daft Punk songs, as it incorporates elements and distortions characteristic of their unique musical aesthetic.
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