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Look + Listen: The 2013 Grammys’ Film-Centric Nominees

While the film world braces for the onslaught of all-Oscars ephemera, we salute The Grammys for honoring one of the best unions in cinema: great movies and excellent music.

Please stop for a moment to ponder a time when movies were exclusively silent. No dialogue. No score. No foley. Just the thought makes us wince—and not because we can’t appreciate a good silent film once in a while. Rather, the realms of audio and visual seem to have been intrinsically born as one, fused right at the hip. Just behold the common phrases that echo their inherent union: sight and sound, audio/visual, scene and heard…

From sound effects, to scores, to dialogue—music completes a movie, plain and simple. It lends nuanced audible cues to pinpoint the exact moment your heart should break in half. Music is the anxiety-inducing sequence before a not-really-dead zombie springs back to flesh-eating life. Better yet: how funny could a movie possibly be without an insular drumbeat to punctuate perfectly crafted one-liners?

If you couldn’t tell, here at The Credits, we’re excited about The Grammys. It’s one place we’re guaranteed to catch the magnificent marriage of music and film, and to honor the union properly.

One need only look at this year’s film-centric nominations for proof of perfect A/V pairings at work: Trent Reznor’s haunting hand in scoring noir thriller The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo; Arcade Fire for the eerily beautiful The Hunger Games score, and Ludovic Bource for the enchanting score of The Artist. And yes, for those wondering: the movies might have come out in 2011, but the distinct soundtracks nominated for this year’s Grammys were all released in the last twelve months.

Check out this year’s terrific film-centric Grammy nominations, and scope out our iPod playlist for a sampling of the goods:

Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media

The Grammys noms for best visual media compilation soundtracks of the year.

The Descendants (Various Artists)

  • Producers: Dondi Bastone and Alexander Payne
  • Label: Sony Classical/Fox Music
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Marley (Bob Marley & The Wailers)

  •  Producers: Chris Blackwell & Barry Cole
  •  Label: UMe/Island/Tuff Gong
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Midnight In Paris (Various Artists)

  • Label: Madison Gate Records, Inc.
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The Muppets (Various Artists)

  • Producers: Kaylin Frank & Mitchell Leib
  • Label: Walt Disney Records
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Rock of Ages (Various Artists)

  • Producers: Adam Anders & Peer Astrom
  • Label: WaterTower Music
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Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media

The Grammys noms for the best original score from the year’s movies and visual productions.

The Adventures Of Tintin – The Secret Of The Unicorn

  • Composer: John Williams
  • Label: Sony Classical
  •  

The Artist

  • Composer: Ludovic Bource
  • Label: Sony Classical
  •  

The Dark Knight Rises

  • Composer: Hans Zimmer
  • Label: WaterTower Music
  •  

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

  • Composer: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
  • Label: Null/Madison Gate
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Hugo

  • Composer: Howard Shore
  • Label: Howe Records
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Journey

  • Composer: Austin Wintory
  • Label: Sony Computer Entertainment America
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Best Song Written For Visual Media

The Grammys noms for the best song from the year’s movies and visual productions.

Abraham’s Daughter (From The Hunger Games)

  • Songwriters: T Bone Burnett, Win Butler & Régine Chassagne (Arcade Fire)
  • Label: Universal Republic; Publishers: Régine Chassagne, Absurd Music, Win Butler, Henry Burnett Music, Baffle Music
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Learn Me Right (From Brave)

  • Songwriters: Mumford & Sons
  • Label: Walt Disney Records/Pixar; Publisher: Pixar Talking Pictures
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Let Me Be Your Star (From Smash)

  • Songwriters: Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman
  • Label: Columbia; Publishers: Winding Brook Way Music, Walli Woo Entertainment
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Man Or Muppet (From The Muppets)

  • Songwriters: Bret McKenzie
  •  Label: Walt Disney; Publisher: Fuzzy Muppet Songs
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Safe & Sound (From The Hunger Games)

  • Songwriters: T Bone Burnett, Taylor Swift, John Paul White & Joy Williams
  • Label: Big Machine Records/Universal Republic; Publishers: Sony ATV Tree Publishing, Taylor Swift Music, Sensibility Songs, Absurd Music, ShinyHappy Music, Baffle Music, Henry Burnett Music
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Want to listen for yourself? Here’s an iPod playlist of some of this year’s excellent film-related Grammys nominations:

Featured Image: "BRAVE" (L-R) Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford, Birdy, Country Winston Marshall and Ted Dwane. Ph: Jonathan Prime ©2012 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

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