I loved "Oblivion" but have never seen "Dark City". I guess I'll have to check that out on Netflix.

Other things that seem to have become very irritating / popular of late.......
 
female vocalists at some point in the song going..........uh-oh
 
and repetition of lines to the point where by the end of the song you feel like smashing the radio into tiny pieces....... yes beyonce and rihanna I'm looking at you, amongst others.
 
Again, not a new concept by any means. Hey Jude was at least 3 minutes longer than it really needed to be, but they got away with it by being the beatles.
 
 

This pre-chorus thing ( I think they call it a lift) is pretty common alright. I think that Gaga song Bad Romance was one of the ones that really kicked it off.

Gotta watch me some Dark City... Didn't expect to get movie ideas from this thread haha!

Someone suggested to me that dubstep might have some influence which I think is quite plausible.

I agree that, given in the current situation you have about as much chance of making it as winning the Powerball lottery three years running, you might as well just ignore convention and do something unique to yourself. Not that you can't do something fairly typically once in a while if it feels good, or all the time if that's the kind of music you like. But structuring your songs in typical fashion out of some delusional belief that it's going to make you famous by following a formula is a waste of time.

One option that's sort of halfway between is to use a fairly standard sectional structure but change the form of the sections considerably each time. Not necessarily completely different, but variations on a theme or something. It keeps it from being so obviously formulaic, without completely losing the proven benefits of repetition on the human brain.

Haven't seen Oblivion yet, it's on my Netflix saved list. Gattica I definitely agree with as a modern sci-fi classic. I'd put Inception on that list as well. In terms of a movie that I noticed makes exceptional use of music for mood, the Miami Vice movie is one to check out. It has some amazing atmosphere, much of it created or heavily enchanced by excellent choice of music.

mattplaysguitar

...Intro:Verse:Chorus:Verse:Chorus:Bridge:Chorus:Chorus...

 ...Intro:Verse:Pre Chorus:Chorus:Verse:Pre Chorus:Bridge:Chorus:Chorus...

I use the terminology a bit different.

What you call a "pre-chorus", I call a "bridge".  What you call a "bridge", I call a "middle-eight".

Who's right?  I don't know.

+1 Droddy
+1 Kev
+1 Lawajava, Jimbo, Makeshift, G_Hacker, and all.

I'll add, structure, arrangement, and all 'might' evolve as the song progresses.

Under 4 minutes?  Well, I'm always embarrassed to submit a song over 3:55 minutes!  I know humans don't have patience and curse themselves to have to listen past 3 minutes, especially on 1st listens.

Concerning Dark City, Inception, Oblivion, etc. ... as astonishing cult productions, not commercial pop (per the Op) (except for Inception)

... we might emulate cult movie producers ... somewhat in our songs ... by violating the formulaic structures ... in favor of the onion-peeling hooks these movies employ.  

Like when you think its dub-step, it becomes classic-rock, or some other genre cloaked within.

... again, not commercial pop ... but perhaps quirky (like Oblivion) yet enticing and mind-blasting.  I dunno.

It's all chorus!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oojzmjJ3ugE

I agree with your music structure. Not having commercial aspirations gives the artist much freedom. Like you, I write songs that have no chorus, sometimes repeat verses, other times my songs have verse verse verse outtro, etc.