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Mood Motif (view source)

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** Fox Hunt
** Imminent Danger
*** You can hear these in the ''[[Die Hard (Film)|Die Hard]]'' movies every time John McClane is doing something daring/crazy/stupid that nearly gets him killed.
*** The trombone act-out frequently used on ''[[Lost]]''.
** Triumph
*** ''[[Rocky (Filmfilm)|Rocky]]'': ''[[Training Montage|Gonna Fly Now]]''
*** The triumphal march from Verdi's ''[[Aida]]'', various others.
** Heroism
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*** As heard on ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' soundtrack
** The Tuba of Overweight Awkwardness or Ponderous Size
*** Heard extensively in {{spoiler|Porky's Theme}} from ''[[Mother 3 (Video Game)|Mother 3]]'' and ''[[Super Smash Bros]]. Brawl''.
*** [[Star Wars|Jabba the Hutt]]
*** Parodied in ''[[Family Guy]]'', where Stewie gets a job following fat people while playing a tuba.
*** The mothership from ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]''
** Battle Crescendo
*** The Mutara Nebula sequence in ''[[Star Trek II: theThe Wrath of Khan (Film)|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]''
** Spy/Secret Agent
*** Used to marvellous effect in Disney/Pixar's ''[[The Incredibles]]''
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*** Also heard on ''[[Sesame Street]]'' when a skit ends with Muppets who shake their heads and sob, such as when the Beautiful Day Monster ate the ukulele Ernie had just repaired..
** [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Proud Warrior Race Guys]]
*** The Klingon Theme from ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Film)|Star Trek the Motion Picture]]'' is mostly elegant horns.
** Wacky
*** ''[[The Three Stooges]]''
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*** The harmon mute, when played with a hand opening and closing over the bell. Wah wah waaaaaaaah. May also indicate failure.
** High Adventure
*** The ''[[Indiana Jones (Franchise)|Indiana Jones]]'' movies all share the same musical motif under the umbrella of Indy's theme.
** [[Spinning Paper]]
** News program opening and closing
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* '''Bongos and Congas of:'''
** Sexy rhythm.
*** Especially during the 60's. As seen on ''[[Star Trek: theThe Original Series (TV)|Star Trek the Original Series]]'', and parodied in ''[[Mars Attacks (Film)]]!''.
** Jungle settings (such as [[Darkest Africa]])
** Ritual Combat
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** Great importance
** Epic
*** ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (Film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'''s main theme, "Also Sprach Zarathustra"
*** Played with in ''[[Spaceballs (Film)|Spaceballs]]''. When Spaceball One transforms into <Bom Bom Bom Bom Bom> Mega Maid, Colonel Sandurz gives a dramatic pause for [[Sorry I Left the BGM On|the Timpanist who is standing right next to them]].
** Scariness
*** When [[The Government]] shows up in ''[[ETE.T. the Extra -Terrestrial]]''
*** When something big and dangerous is approaching, rather like ''[[The Terminator]]''.
** A timpani glissando may be used for an [[Incredibly Lame Pun]] or other joke too corny to deserve a rimshot.
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** ''[[Master and Commander]]'' uses them on its soundtrack to evoke the sound of cannons.
** ''[[Gaia Online|zOMG!]]'' has taiko drums that [[Everything Trying to Kill You|attack you]] (lending a new meaning to "percussion battery"), either by ramming you or using some sort of earthquake attack.
** ''[[War CraftWarcraft]] 3'' had units with big taiko drums, that caused various area-effect status changes when used. Buffs and debuffs, to use the lingo. Also used in a couple of the cutscenes for the mood-setting.
** "The Battle Drums" from the ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'' soundtrack.
** Used for most space battles in ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]''.
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** Warning
*** The British are coming!
*** The sky is falling! (Disney's ''[[Chicken Little (Disney)|Chicken Little]]'')
*** A storm is upon us! (Though sometimes sirens are used instead.)
* Ominous Bells
** "Tubular Bells" from ''[[The Exorcist (Film)|The Exorcist]]'' is widely considered creepy. So, oddly enough, is the all-bells instrumental version of "Carol of the Bells"
*** Funny, because the intro is what's famous from ''[[The Exorcist (Film)|The Exorcist]],'' and it's mostly piano and glockenspiel. When the aforementioned bells kick in, ''Tubular Bells'' is thrusted quite firmly in the "Joy" section mentioned above.
** Church bells herald Arthas' triumphant return home in ''[[War CraftWarcraft]] III''. Of course, at this point he's already been thoroughly corrupted by the Frostmourne.
* Funeral bells (small bells rather than the usual deep chimes; rarely heard nowadays)
** While not actually funereal, "For Whom The Bell Tolls" from ''[[Zombieland (Film)|Zombieland]]'' has some bells of funeral.
* Sleigh Bells of Christmas (and/or the Wintertime)
* '''The Xylophone of:'''
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*** See any old cartoon, such as [[Walt Disney]]'s "The Skeleton Dance", where skeletons are [[The Dead Can Dance|dancing]] or the skeleton's ribcage is used as a xylophone.
*** "[[The Dead Can Dance|Danse Macabre]]" by Saint-Saens may be the [[Ur Example]]. The same xylophone motif was reused in "Fossils" from "Carnival of the Animals".
*** "Remains of the Day", from the ''[[Corpse Bride (Animation)|Corpse Bride]]'' soundtrack.
*** ''[[The Simpsons]]'' is aware of this:
{{quote| Homer: I share your xylophobia!<br />
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** Childhood Innocence.
** Warped Childhood Innocence.
*** see: a lot of Danny Elfman-scored movies (''[[Edward Scissorhands]], [[Corpse Bride (Animation)|Corpse Bride]], [[Charlie and Thethe Chocolate Factory]]'', etc.)
* '''The Piano of:'''
** [[Lonely Piano Piece|Loneliness]]
*** The piano theme from ''[[The Incredible Hulk (TV series)|The Incredible Hulk]]'' was meant to underscore how sad and lonely David Banner's life was, and that he could never settle and find a home while the Hulk dwelled within him.
** Introspection
** Nostalgia
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*** "Funeral March"
** Heartfelt confession (tinkly)
** The Dead- piano is often used in mood pieces in zombie media- examples include ''[[Dawn of the Dead (Filmfilm)|Dawn of the Dead]]'', ''[[Resident Evil]]'' (particularly the 2nd one) and ''[[Left 4 Dead]]''.
 
 
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**** ''[[Lost]]'' works the [[Psycho Strings]] frequently.
** Tense Suspense: when there's a moment hanging in the balance, the strings will crescendo and then hold a long note.
*** The [[I Know You Are in There Somewhere Fight]] in the "Sister Sledgehammer" episode of ''[[My Life Asas a Teenage Robot]]''
*** The "Here goes no mercy" moment at the end of "Slipping" in ''[[Dr. HorriblesHorrible's Sing -Along Blog]]''
*** The moment in ''[[Deep Impact]]'' where Jenny hits the net to find out what ELE is -- and discovers it stands for Extinction Level Event, thus making her understand why the White House willing to go to extremes to keep it secret.
** Romantic Strings
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*** Also invariably features in the middle portion of any 70s procedural TV show opening theme
** Strings that sound like animals
*** ''[[Batman (Comic Book)|Batman Returns]]'' had the [[Mood Motif]] of strings evoking cats for Catwoman.
*** Flight Of The Bumblebee is the definitive string riff on invoking insects.
** There's a shrieky, staccato violin riff for 'ahh, get it off me, get it off me' creepy crawlies that are coming to do terrible things to us.
*** As when Neo encounters the burrowing thing in ''[[The Matrix]]''
*** Seen in the "Dark Heart" episode of ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]''.
*** ''[[Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom (Film)|Indiana Jones and Thethe Temple of Doom]]'' has it in the bug chamber.
** [[Playing the Heart Strings|Strings of Emotion]]
*** See also [[Cherubic Choir]], Piano of Tragedy (above).
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** [[Badass]]
** Battle
*** See ''[[Three Hundred|300]]'' for an example.
** Asskicking
*** [[Autobots Rock Out|Especially if said ass belongs to a final boss]].
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*** You are required to use a wah-wah pedal here.
** Hero Under The Gun
*** "The Eye of the Tiger" by [[Survivor (Musicband)|Survivor]], from ''[[Rocky III]]''.
** Spy mysteriousness
*** The ''[[James Bond (Filmfilm)|James Bond]]'' theme (requires baritone guitar and tremolo pedal).
*** ''[[Kim Possible]]'' given it's an [[Affectionate Parody]] of James Bond.
*** ''[[The Middleman]]'', also an [[Affectionate Parody]] of the spy and superhero genres.
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* '''[[Ominous Latin Chanting]]'''
* '''[[Cherubic Choir]]'''
** The eerily dreamy [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LLHUQQ9cmM chanting] prominently featured in ''[[Coraline (Filmanimation)|Coraline]]''. The composer, Bruno Coulais, is known for extensive usage of choirs in his works, and it shows extremely well.
* '''[[Opera]] Singer of:'''
** Epicness / Artiness
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*** There's a ''[[Pink Panther]]'' cartoon in which the titular cat is bedeviled by ghosts. So the Pink Panther's theme music is played on theremin to illustrate the spooky ghosts.
** [[Mad Scientist|Mad Science]]
*** [[Dr. HorriblesHorrible's Sing -Along Blog]] has the theremin of [[Mad Scientist]] in Horrible's theme music.
* '''The Synthesizer of:'''
** Impressive echoes
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** The Night Before the Battle
* '''[[Ominous Music Box Tune]]'''
** ''[[The Woman in Black (Filmfilm)|The Woman in Black]]'': all the music boxes in the nursery were creepy and ominous-sounding.
* Twangy Mouth Harp of country
* Rainstick of Rainforest Situations
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* [[Danny Elfman]]
** [[Mood Motif]]: Ominous, Spooky, Wacky
*** ''[[Batman (Filmfilm)|Batman]]'', ''[[Beetlejuice (Film)|Beetlejuice]]''
* [[John Williams]]
** [[Mood Motif]]: High Adventure
*** ''[[Star Wars]]'', ''[[Indiana Jones (Franchise)|Indiana Jones]]'', and... ''[[NBC]]''(as well as [[Seven Network|Channel Seven]]) News
*** [[Two Words]]: ''[[Steven Spielberg]]''. Basically every single movie he has done has been scored by [[John Williams]]!
* [[James Horner]]
** [[Mood Motif]]: Battle Crescendo, Heroism
*** ''[[Star Trek II: theThe Wrath of Khan (Film)|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]'', ''[[Krull]]''
* [[Randy Newman]]
** [[Mood Motif]]: Whimsical
*** The ''[[Toy Story]]'' movies, and several other [[Pixar]] vehicles.
*** ''[[Princess and The Frog]]''
*** ''[[Monk (TV)|Monk]]'' Series 2 onwards.
* Guy Moon
** [[Mood Motif]]: Whimsically Thematic Retro
*** ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]'', retro fifties
*** ''[[Danny Phantom]]'', ghostly rock with rap
*** ''[[Yin Yang Yo (Animation)!|Yin Yang Yo]]'', [[wikipedia:Asian Riff|Asian Riff]] with rock
* [[Hans Zimmer]]
** [[Mood Motif]]: Battle Crescendo, Heroism
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