The biggest movie on SVOD last week was Scoob!, Warner Bros.’ latest animated film, which brings together various characters from classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons into a shared universe story that centers on the relationship between a young Scooby-Doo and Shaggy. Tom Holkenborg, the beloved composer known for projects like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Mad Max: Fury Road, brought the score for the film to exciting life, and few things in film scoring are more interesting than seeing a significant contemporary talent asked to reimagine a property with some of the most instantly recognizable, iconic music of the last 50 years.
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The process was guided by filmmakers who had a fairly specific vision, but one that was open to Holkenborg’s input — and along the way he had to find a way to give a sonic fingerprint not just to Scooby-Doo and the gang, but to characters like Dirk Dastardly and Captain Caveman as well.
“Scooby-Doo is an iconic character for multiple generations. There are many unique layers in the original series, touching on the counterculture, surf rock and psychedelia; and it was really interesting to try and encompass some of these elements with more contemporary sounds for Scoob!” Holkenborg explained. “This isn’t a traditional score. It’s really out there – with nods to industrial, hip-hop and even gabber. The majority of the score is me blending a lot of hip-hop rhythms and beats with the zanier elements of the original series. We used players on surf guitars and Hammond organs, and it was a great chance for me to get my hands dirty on the bass guitar and iconic drum machines, like the Emulator SP1200. I had a blast working on this. Scoob! was really a lot of fun.”
In addition to debuting the video with us, which you can see above, you can check out a quick, five-question Q&A with Holkenborg below.
Was there pressure updating a theme as instantly recognizable as the Scooby-Doo theme, or was it like any other big property where you have to just put your head down and do the work?
Every time when I work on a property that has a history like Batman, Superman, or Mad Max I discuss with the director what their intention is with the new film. For instance, in the case of Mad Max, George Miller instructed me to do something completely new and not use any of the older music or themes.
In the case of Scoob!, the director asked me to do something new while honoring the original vibe of the TV series when it came out. We actually ended up fusing a lot of hip-hop beats with sixties psychedelic elements.
How soon after you signed on for this did you realize that you were going to have to update the music for a dozen recognizable characters instead of just the one?
When I met Tony he explained his vision for the movie and we went through each character one by one extensively. And since there are so many characters and the movie moves quickly we agreed that it would work really well if some of the characters can be grouped into one theme. I won’t go through everyone, as there were a lot, but…
–Scoob and Shaggy. There is a theme called the Coller theme. It’s an emotional piece that underscores their bonding and it comes back in various tones. There is also the shenanigans theme. That’s the music when they are goofing around.
–Mystery Inc. This is the theme for the group when they are on the go. But also for Velma, Daphney, and Fred when they are separated from Scoob and Shaggy. Dastardly and Muttley, have their own theme. Blue Falcon, Dynomutt and the Falcon Ship… they have a big heroic theme that develops through the movie. I also developed themes for Dusty, the robot with the vacuum nose, Cerrabus; the three headed monster and Caveman
Did you know right away how you wanted to score it in terms of what instruments and general tone?
Tony was super open-minded and incredible to work with! He would constantly push the edge of music in the film!
I came up with the idea of quoting 3 major times in hip-hop music and I wanted to infuse them with samples and sounds from the 60’s to give it that original vibe of the TV show. We had players using surf guitars and hammond organs. This became the sound of Mystery Inc. but also Scoob and Shaggy. For Dastardly it was also Urban beats but infused with gnarly industrial sounds. Distorted synths and growling bass sounds. For Caveman I actually quoted a dutch music style called Gabber! Very fast distorted house music that has now become popular again as hardstyle.
Was there a particular character who, when you got to see the final cut, you thought really interacted with your score better than you could have expected?
Yes, Dastardly! We had one preview where a kid also mentioned he loved the music for him. Cool and dark but funny at the same time. I was surprised seeing the final version of how well it all worked because it is a really interesting bag of all kinds of music styles!
It’s been a week now — are you still buzzing about the Zack Snyder’s Justice League announcement?
Who isn’t!
