My final week in Film Music was the most exciting of Jan. term. I had a "Close Encounter" with the third kind, a run in with a few demon's, dodged a few bullets in slow motion and discovered my sweet tooth for chocolate. A few of my classmates also presented clips from movies of their choice. By far this was the best week ever. I guess you can say I really enjoy watching movies from my generation rather than the "classics."
On Monday I watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind which I wasn't too fond of. The movie confused me and left me with loads of unanswered questions. I did enjoy the music the aliens used to communicate with the humans, such as their five note motif and twelve tone music, because it was different. The five note motif was very catchy. I found myself humming the five notes throughout the rest of the day.
Tuesday, things got really exciting. I watched the horror, Poltergeist in 1982. I had seen it before when I was younger but seeing it on the big screen with my new appreciation for film and music made my experience more thrilling. The wonderful film score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith. His music kept me on the edge of my seat because it brought a sense of anticipation. Poltergeist was one of the scariest films I have seen in the past two years. I actually slept beneath the covers later that evening. I usually sit at the end of the row when I watch movies, but for this one, I was smack in the center of the front row. I enjoyed this film tremendously.
Also on Tuesday, a few of my classmates presented a foreign film to the class as their final. I'm not too sure the exact name of the movie but I do believe it was an Italian film. It was about a little boy that enjoyed film, who found a father figure in a dear friend to him. The film seemed pretty interesting. I vaguely remember the music from the clips I watched, therefore I am going to purchase the film.
I was extremely anticipating watching The Matrix on Wednesday. I fell in love with the film all over again. I also found out information or fun facts that I never knew about The Matrix.
As another final, more of my classmates presented movies of our generation. This particular group presented Disney and Pixar's Wall-E which was composed by Thomas Newman who is the son of a major American composer of film music. My most memorable clip from Wall-E was its reference to 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey. In both films the computer takes over the ship and the captain saves the day. Wall-E uses the main title music of 2001: A Space Odyssey as over coming an obstacle form of music. I've never seen the either film, Wall-E or 2001: A Space Odyssey but I will definitely check them out to be able to say I've seen these films.
300 was also a film selected by my classmates to present. The movie is based on a true story of the Persian and Spartan war, but the movie was a huge exaggeration. 300 used bullet-time just as The Matrix. The music for 300 was by Tyler Bates who used heavy metal most of the film. I own 300 and like it a lot. It's an action packed movie that I can watch over and over.
Memoirs of a Geisha came out in 2005 and is based on a novel by Aurthur Golden. The movie was directed by Rob Marshall and the music was composed by John Williams. The score uses actual Japanese instruments that brings the movie to life. I will also be watching this film, the presentation sold it for me.
The last presentation of the week was Pan's Labyrinth written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. The film came out in 2006 in Spanish. Javier Navarrete was the composer. I've seen the movie but I did not like it at all. Science fictions are not number one on my list. Except for The Matrix.
On my final day of class, we were able to choose our final film. We had quite a few to choose from but the class decided on 2000's Chocolat. It was our first movie to watch that had been composed by a woman. Rachel Portman composed and orchestrated the music for this film. I think this was the perfect film to end the class with. I was drawn to the screen the entire film. The music was great and I enjoyed the way the class reacted when Johnny Depp appeared on screen. Almost everyone except for Josh was excited to see Mr. Depp on screen. As you should know that I attend Converse College, which is an all girls school, so basically Johnny Depp is a big deal. On the other hand, I left my last day of class on a good note and satisfied I took the course. I had an awesome teacher and learned something new everyday.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
In my third week of Film Music we discussed music and film from the 50's to the present. I watched numerous clips as well as four great movies. In these clips and movies, I noticed the transition from Jazz music to Rock music. There was also a decline in the usage of a studio system and popular music rose. The new era came with versatility, compilation and jazz scores.
The first clip of the week was from 1939's Gone With the Wind. During the Golden Age, 1939 was considered the Golden Year, making Gone With the Wind the best of its time. The film contained a compilation score of a few popular songs in 39'. In the scene where the wounded are being aided and the main character is walking through all the chaos the compilation of Taps, Maryland O' Maryland and many other songs was used as the underscore.
Second and third clips were from the Wizard of Oz and Hunchback of Notre Dome. The clip of the Wizard of Oz showed the use of bright colors in the film. When there were happy and friendly scenes in the film the colors were bright and vibrant. The darker scenes contained black and green to represent evil. For the Hunchback of Notre Dame we listened for the glissando in a scene which was used for an erie sound as if someone was wacky.
Now we are entering the 50's where we notice the decrease in orchestras and the use of different instruments. In The Last Weekend the theramin was introduced. The theramin was used for the wacky effect as well.
Our first full-length film of the week's music was composed by one of the God Fathers, Dimitry Tiomkin. He did the score for High Noon which did not contain any violins. High Noon was considered a b-movie and an adult western. The film had a symphonic score. The title music was performed by the late John Ritter's father, Tex Ritter. The song was very popular in its time. It was even played over the radio. The piece was a very dissonant motive.
The title music was also used as a leitmotif for the Marshall in the film.
Second film of the week's music was composed by Elmer Bernstein. He composed the music for To Kill a Mocking Bird. His music was very smooth, yet, dissonant. For the scary scenes he used piercing, shrieking music that created an uncomfortable feeling as well as made my heart race. Especially in the chasing scene through the woods, I felt the scene, listening to the music. Bernstein used percussion and piano to compose his score. Also in the courtroom scene I noticed there was no music in the scene at all. No music made the scene seem more intense and realistic.
Our next clip we watched was from The Forbidden Planet. The score for that film was all electronic. All the music composed for the the film was done electronically, there were no sting instruments, piano or wind instruments. We then watched a clip from Psycho which was composed by the playing of string glissando or the sliding of the fingers. The famous shower scene's music and jump cuts caused the tension that the audience feels during the scene.
Third movie of the week was The Heat of the Night that was composed by Quincy Jones. Ray Charles, long time friend of Quincy, performed the title music for the film. Quincy used rock for the underscore along with percussion and recordings of sounds made with the mouth.
The last film of the week was the best film of the week. This film was the one of the first films to have a compilation score of popular pop songs. The name of the film is American Graffiti. It contains a lot of source music that transitions into the underscore throughout most of the film. It was very interesting that I knew a few of the songs in the film. I did not notice that some of the music was as old as it was. American Graffiti was also one of the most controversial films because of copyright. The score for the film was the popular music of the time for which the composer did not have permission to use. He was not able to cut any of the songs out because he had put to much work into the film already to cut anything. He wound up being sued for copyright infringement.
The first clip of the week was from 1939's Gone With the Wind. During the Golden Age, 1939 was considered the Golden Year, making Gone With the Wind the best of its time. The film contained a compilation score of a few popular songs in 39'. In the scene where the wounded are being aided and the main character is walking through all the chaos the compilation of Taps, Maryland O' Maryland and many other songs was used as the underscore.
Second and third clips were from the Wizard of Oz and Hunchback of Notre Dome. The clip of the Wizard of Oz showed the use of bright colors in the film. When there were happy and friendly scenes in the film the colors were bright and vibrant. The darker scenes contained black and green to represent evil. For the Hunchback of Notre Dame we listened for the glissando in a scene which was used for an erie sound as if someone was wacky.
Now we are entering the 50's where we notice the decrease in orchestras and the use of different instruments. In The Last Weekend the theramin was introduced. The theramin was used for the wacky effect as well.
Our first full-length film of the week's music was composed by one of the God Fathers, Dimitry Tiomkin. He did the score for High Noon which did not contain any violins. High Noon was considered a b-movie and an adult western. The film had a symphonic score. The title music was performed by the late John Ritter's father, Tex Ritter. The song was very popular in its time. It was even played over the radio. The piece was a very dissonant motive.
The title music was also used as a leitmotif for the Marshall in the film.
Second film of the week's music was composed by Elmer Bernstein. He composed the music for To Kill a Mocking Bird. His music was very smooth, yet, dissonant. For the scary scenes he used piercing, shrieking music that created an uncomfortable feeling as well as made my heart race. Especially in the chasing scene through the woods, I felt the scene, listening to the music. Bernstein used percussion and piano to compose his score. Also in the courtroom scene I noticed there was no music in the scene at all. No music made the scene seem more intense and realistic.
Our next clip we watched was from The Forbidden Planet. The score for that film was all electronic. All the music composed for the the film was done electronically, there were no sting instruments, piano or wind instruments. We then watched a clip from Psycho which was composed by the playing of string glissando or the sliding of the fingers. The famous shower scene's music and jump cuts caused the tension that the audience feels during the scene.
Third movie of the week was The Heat of the Night that was composed by Quincy Jones. Ray Charles, long time friend of Quincy, performed the title music for the film. Quincy used rock for the underscore along with percussion and recordings of sounds made with the mouth.
The last film of the week was the best film of the week. This film was the one of the first films to have a compilation score of popular pop songs. The name of the film is American Graffiti. It contains a lot of source music that transitions into the underscore throughout most of the film. It was very interesting that I knew a few of the songs in the film. I did not notice that some of the music was as old as it was. American Graffiti was also one of the most controversial films because of copyright. The score for the film was the popular music of the time for which the composer did not have permission to use. He was not able to cut any of the songs out because he had put to much work into the film already to cut anything. He wound up being sued for copyright infringement.
Friday, January 16, 2009
My Exciting Week in Film Music
I started my week off with the "Golden Age" of music and film. I had a few laughs watching Silly Symphonies and a snazzy time with Top Hat. The Silly Symphonies contained a lot of mickey mousing, which is the music that follows or mimic almost every move of its characters. Top Hat on the other hand was a musical. The source music remained in the background throughout the majority of the film. I can recall seeing the band performing in one scene. In my opinion, Top Hat was not better than Singing In the Rain but it did grab my attention.
Second film, King Kong was a tad more interesting due to its special effect. They were not the best that I have scene but in that time period that is what they had to work with. The most exciting part of the film was Kong's theme music. A few times during the movie I closed my eyes and listened to the music, listening for the darker music to know that Kong was on the screen. During the most intense scenes of the movie when Kong attacked to music became louder and a little uncomfortable to the ears. Max Steiner's score illustrated the effect a custom score could have on the impact of a film. I enjoyed King Kong and the ability to see the transition special effects have made in the past twenty years.
The Adventures of Robin Hood introduced the usage of Technicolor, also the use of color in a film. In the restored version of Robin Hood the colors are not as bright and piercing to the eyes. The original color of the film reflected too much color. I have not personally watched the original version but I did see a clip of the film, which is where I made my observation. However, The Adventures of Robin Hood was exciting, captivating and enjoyable. It was pointed out to me, in the forest fighting scene, the mickey mousing used. While the men were falling from the trees the music reflected "falling notes" that brought the excitement to the scene. Yet, the music for the fighting scene was not the typical dark music. The music was more friendly as if the men were having fun fighting.
In the final of the week, The Best Years of Our Lives, I was introduced to Americano. True American music was used to bring the captain, sergeant, and sailor home to Boone City. Sorry to say that was only music I noticed in the film. I was caught up in the story of the movie I forgot to listen for the music. But, I was told that the best music score goes unnoticed so I guess I shouldn't feel as guilty as I do.
Second film, King Kong was a tad more interesting due to its special effect. They were not the best that I have scene but in that time period that is what they had to work with. The most exciting part of the film was Kong's theme music. A few times during the movie I closed my eyes and listened to the music, listening for the darker music to know that Kong was on the screen. During the most intense scenes of the movie when Kong attacked to music became louder and a little uncomfortable to the ears. Max Steiner's score illustrated the effect a custom score could have on the impact of a film. I enjoyed King Kong and the ability to see the transition special effects have made in the past twenty years.
The Adventures of Robin Hood introduced the usage of Technicolor, also the use of color in a film. In the restored version of Robin Hood the colors are not as bright and piercing to the eyes. The original color of the film reflected too much color. I have not personally watched the original version but I did see a clip of the film, which is where I made my observation. However, The Adventures of Robin Hood was exciting, captivating and enjoyable. It was pointed out to me, in the forest fighting scene, the mickey mousing used. While the men were falling from the trees the music reflected "falling notes" that brought the excitement to the scene. Yet, the music for the fighting scene was not the typical dark music. The music was more friendly as if the men were having fun fighting.
In the final of the week, The Best Years of Our Lives, I was introduced to Americano. True American music was used to bring the captain, sergeant, and sailor home to Boone City. Sorry to say that was only music I noticed in the film. I was caught up in the story of the movie I forgot to listen for the music. But, I was told that the best music score goes unnoticed so I guess I shouldn't feel as guilty as I do.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Reflections of History Through Film Music
The broader term for film music would be film score. With a film score being all of the music that accompanies a film, my experience in my film music course entail film and music. Beginning the class watching films with no dialogue such as The Battleship Potemkin and Siegfried, the appreciation for music was more profound. In there is no spoken dialogue, just facial expressions and expression through music. During the frantic scenes the tempo of the music is fast and gives the audience a sense of urgency. Then, the scene relaxes and the music is softer because a young boy has been killed. The film intensifies and relaxes the pace throughout the production, which The Battleship Potemkin definitely uses the first function in film scoring. I will add that The Battleship Potemkin was one of my favorites, I felt as though there was hardly a plot just a piece thrown together. As for the second film, Siegfried I was not too fond of it as well. The acting seemed too slow and drawn out or a little over dramatic. The music reflected the emotion which also gave me the notion of the over dramatics. In the film it was clear there was a written script but still in the age of no sound. You could actually see their lips moving in the film, at times I was able to read their lips. But the one thing that strikes me is that there were no women in this film. There were men dressed as women, but it was very evident that they were men. Within every film I noticed that technology was emerging. The Jazz Singer happened to be the first film that used dialogue that could be heard. Although the voices and music were not cued in during the shooting of the film, which is mostly what we do today, it was a successful transition. Also, in the film there was a specific part in the end where we see the father's ghost behind his son who is singing for the Atonement. That is where I noticed the special effects being introduced. In this time period the voices of the actors and actresses were very loud and high pitched. I believe that was due to the excitement of there voices being able to be heard for the first time in history. The Jazz Singer was one of the better films of the class. For me, the most memorable scene of the movie is the argument between the father and son while the song being played has a love theme to it. At the time of argument I expected the consonance and dissonance to be evident, but during the intense scene the music was soft and not abrupt and thunderous as an argument is. Moving on the last, yet, my favorite film, or shall I say musical, Singing In The Rain. It was astonishing and I was moved by it. I first noticed that it was in color as the credits rolled at the beginning of the film. The main title music just so happened to be the actual title of the musical. Singing in the rain contained a lot of program music for the reason that every song had its own scene as well as number. I felt at times throughout the film that there was a lot of audio and dialogue replacement. I watched the mouths of the actors and actresses as they were singing but it did not always match up. Also some of the tap dancing scenes did not match the tapping I heard. Especially the singing in the rain scene and the house dancing scene where Don, Kathy and Cosmo danced together. Other than that I was truly amazed and soaked up every second of the film. Now, I find myself hearing every piece of music in television and movies and its starting to drive me a little nutty. I enjoy being able to recognize and appreciate it now. I'm ready to see what else is in store.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Jan Term
When I hear all this talk about Jan term I get a little confused. I can't believe that I will only have one class in one month. That sounds outrageous. Yet, it is a big bonus for me because I will be in the start of my basketball season and it will help keep things mellow. My adviser and I discussed taking the spanish course in Jan term. I really don't mind taking it because I enjoy it and I think it would be an easy A. I've never experienced such thing as Jan term and quite frankly, I am excited for this as well. I'm really starting to enjoy college life and can't wait to see what else it has in store for me. I would have loved to travel for Jan term, but I don't think my coach would like that too much. So that might not be the greatest or smartest decision to make for Jan term.
Over the past two weeks, I have chosen to re asses my time management. I've created a chart that helps me prioritize as well. Over the weekend I get ahead in all of my classes and on the week days I do Tuesday's work on Monday and so forth. I was having a lot of complications with managing my time so I got a little bit of help from the school's resources. Everyone has their own different way about approaching time management and I find all methods to be extremely helpful. Currently on fall break, I have gotten two weeks ahead in all of my classes that I could. I've completed articles that are due, book work as well as study. It was not a smooth process but with a little bit of encouragement and help I can know be on track and less stressed. I wasn't having fun and fun keeps things relaxed and easier to handle. I am excited to get back to classes so that I can show my teachers how much of an improvement I have made.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Honestly, I stopped by the fair this week but I did not look around. It was too hot! I did notice a lot going on out there. Even though I'm not too sure of what I could get involved in, I do know what I want to get involved in. The piano and guitar amaze me. My great-grandfather has a few guitars. I never heard or saw him play them though. I would often sneak a strum or two when he walked out of the room. Now I'm trying to get one of my own so I don't have to sneak.
Pianos also have an ever-lasting effect on me. I'm always watching movies where everyone but me knows how to play the piano. I want to learn soo bad! I could imagine me sitting down infront of one playing chopsticks or something no one would expect me to know how to play. I might even try to make up my own little song on the piano and call it, "Bet You Didn't Know I Knew How To Play The Piano."
Pianos also have an ever-lasting effect on me. I'm always watching movies where everyone but me knows how to play the piano. I want to learn soo bad! I could imagine me sitting down infront of one playing chopsticks or something no one would expect me to know how to play. I might even try to make up my own little song on the piano and call it, "Bet You Didn't Know I Knew How To Play The Piano."
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