《天兆》是詹姆斯·纽顿·霍华德继《第六感》、《惊心动魄》后，第三度为奈特·沙马兰的影片担任音乐创作，奈特·沙马兰在影片开拍前邀集所有工作人员观赏希区柯克的经典片《鸟》，詹姆斯·纽顿·霍华德观后体会到导演不想太倚重旋律来制造惊吓效果的意思，于是，就在不乾扰影像惊吓效果的指导原则下，非常节制的从人物的感受寻找音乐的切入点，开场主题旋律《Main Titles》运用大、中、小提琴乐器百弦齐发的起伏、流转运动，外加鼓乐、巴松笛，融汇成惊弓之鸟一般的狂乱效果，霍华德以提琴乐器作为贯穿影片惊吓效果与命运议题的主要配器，而潺潺的琴音不时点出主角身陷迷离幻境的不安，霍华德向来极为摩登且华丽的管弦乐，更在极为细腻的酝酿与精巧的布局下，掌握住深沉的惊惧影音气氛，也懂得加注深层的人性情感，随着剧情的推展，冷不防的击中惊吓的神经，同时也逐步推向戏剧的高潮，而整体乐器的亮度与运动感的拿捏也十分得宜，堪称2002年颇为优异的惊悚影音手笔。With Signs, composer James Newton Howard again joins director M. Night Shyamalan for their third collaboration following The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, and clearly the film presents another thrilling encounter with the supernatural. From his opening Main Theme, Howard ratchets up the tension, and his music thereafter alternates only between the ominous and the suspenseful. He overloads his lower tones, employing eight basses, five percussionists, and even a tuba, but also uses a large string section for short, fast, repetitive figures meant to keep viewers on the edges of their seats. This is not particularly imaginative music, just good old Saturday afternoon scary movie fare, the only distinguishing characteristic about it -- consistent with Shyamalan's style -- that it is so relentless. There's just no let up; dread pervades every moment of the director's films, to the point of emotional exhaustion for some, and the score has to have the same uncompromising approach, which can make it a little hard to take when listened to all the way through.