Danijela Kulezic-Wilson
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- November 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190855314
- eISBN:
- 9780190855352
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190855314.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, Western
Sound Design Is the New Score explores film soundtrack practice that blurs the boundary between scoring and sound design, subverting long-established hierarchical relationships between dialogue, ...
More
Sound Design Is the New Score explores film soundtrack practice that blurs the boundary between scoring and sound design, subverting long-established hierarchical relationships between dialogue, music, and sound effects. The new methods associated with this practice rely on the language and techniques of contemporary popular and art music rather than traditional Hollywood scoring and mixing practices, producing soundtracks in which it is difficult to tell the difference between score and ambient sound, where pieces of pre-existing musique concrète or electroacoustic music are merged with diegetic sound, sound effects are absorbed into the score or treated as music, and diegetic sound is treated as musique concrète. The book argues that the underlying principle that binds together all the different manifestations of this practice is a musical approach to soundtrack conceived as an integrated whole. The aesthetic concerns of this practice, demonstrated in a resistance to the familiar tropes of classical narrative and scoring, are illuminated through the concept of the aesthetics of reticence, which encourages an intellectual, affective, and sensuous engagement with film. The sensuous aspect of this practice is theorized using the concept of the erotics of art, arguing that the sensuousness of film form—its sonic and visual textures, composition, rhythm, movement, and flow—is much more complex and sophisticated than simply being an emphasis on excessive sensory stimulation facilitated by the use of digital technology or the aesthetics inspired by it.Less
Sound Design Is the New Score explores film soundtrack practice that blurs the boundary between scoring and sound design, subverting long-established hierarchical relationships between dialogue, music, and sound effects. The new methods associated with this practice rely on the language and techniques of contemporary popular and art music rather than traditional Hollywood scoring and mixing practices, producing soundtracks in which it is difficult to tell the difference between score and ambient sound, where pieces of pre-existing musique concrète or electroacoustic music are merged with diegetic sound, sound effects are absorbed into the score or treated as music, and diegetic sound is treated as musique concrète. The book argues that the underlying principle that binds together all the different manifestations of this practice is a musical approach to soundtrack conceived as an integrated whole. The aesthetic concerns of this practice, demonstrated in a resistance to the familiar tropes of classical narrative and scoring, are illuminated through the concept of the aesthetics of reticence, which encourages an intellectual, affective, and sensuous engagement with film. The sensuous aspect of this practice is theorized using the concept of the erotics of art, arguing that the sensuousness of film form—its sonic and visual textures, composition, rhythm, movement, and flow—is much more complex and sophisticated than simply being an emphasis on excessive sensory stimulation facilitated by the use of digital technology or the aesthetics inspired by it.
Todd Decker
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520282322
- eISBN:
- 9780520966543
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520282322.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Hymns for the Fallen listens closely to forty years of Hollywood combat films produced after Vietnam. Ever a noisy genre, post-Vietnam war films have deployed music and sound to place the audience in ...
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Hymns for the Fallen listens closely to forty years of Hollywood combat films produced after Vietnam. Ever a noisy genre, post-Vietnam war films have deployed music and sound to place the audience in the midst of battle and to stimulate reflection on the experience of combat. Considering landmark movies—such as Apocalypse Now, Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, Black Hawk Down, The Hurt Locker, and American Sniper—as well as lesser known films, Todd Decker shows how the domain of sound, an experientially rich, culturally resonant aspect of the cinema, not only invokes the realities of war, but also shapes the American audience’s engagement with soldiers and veterans as flesh-and-blood representatives of the nation. Hymns for the Fallen explores all three elements of film sound—dialogue, sound effects, music—and considers how expressive and formal choices on the soundtrack have turned the serious war film into a patriotic ritual enacted in the commercial space of the cinema.Less
Hymns for the Fallen listens closely to forty years of Hollywood combat films produced after Vietnam. Ever a noisy genre, post-Vietnam war films have deployed music and sound to place the audience in the midst of battle and to stimulate reflection on the experience of combat. Considering landmark movies—such as Apocalypse Now, Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, Black Hawk Down, The Hurt Locker, and American Sniper—as well as lesser known films, Todd Decker shows how the domain of sound, an experientially rich, culturally resonant aspect of the cinema, not only invokes the realities of war, but also shapes the American audience’s engagement with soldiers and veterans as flesh-and-blood representatives of the nation. Hymns for the Fallen explores all three elements of film sound—dialogue, sound effects, music—and considers how expressive and formal choices on the soundtrack have turned the serious war film into a patriotic ritual enacted in the commercial space of the cinema.
Pamela Burnard
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199583942
- eISBN:
- 9780191740671
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199583942.003.0009
- Subject:
- Psychology, Music Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter investigates an understanding of user-generated and collective creativities, which are related to how audio designers work with musicians. It presents accounts of two audio designers who ...
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This chapter investigates an understanding of user-generated and collective creativities, which are related to how audio designers work with musicians. It presents accounts of two audio designers who create video game soundtracks and music scores for well-known computer games. This helps show how the many forms of creativity co-exist in their work, as well as its interplay between individual and social creativities.Less
This chapter investigates an understanding of user-generated and collective creativities, which are related to how audio designers work with musicians. It presents accounts of two audio designers who create video game soundtracks and music scores for well-known computer games. This helps show how the many forms of creativity co-exist in their work, as well as its interplay between individual and social creativities.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Daniel Goldmark (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691198293
- eISBN:
- 9780691198736
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691198293.003.0013
- Subject:
- Music, Opera
This chapter provides some insight into the steep learning curve Erich Korngold faced when he first arrived in Hollywood. Korngold points out that, though no one questioned his abilities as a ...
More
This chapter provides some insight into the steep learning curve Erich Korngold faced when he first arrived in Hollywood. Korngold points out that, though no one questioned his abilities as a composer for the stage and concert hall, he essentially knew nothing about the integration of music into film from a technical standpoint. He quickly mentions the composer's “most hated rival,” the film's dialogue, as being distracting to the creation of the score, not to mention the sound effects, both of which typically end up dominating the music in traditional Hollywood soundtracks. As a composer of opera and operetta, Korngold had much experience in writing music that would express and articulate drama that was not yet realized. Not so with cinema, in which Korngold received a largely completed record of a performance—the film itself—for which he would have to create a musical illustration of what he saw. No surprise, then, that he extols the virtues of writing music without needing to be tethered constantly to the restrictions of a click track or even the finished film.Less
This chapter provides some insight into the steep learning curve Erich Korngold faced when he first arrived in Hollywood. Korngold points out that, though no one questioned his abilities as a composer for the stage and concert hall, he essentially knew nothing about the integration of music into film from a technical standpoint. He quickly mentions the composer's “most hated rival,” the film's dialogue, as being distracting to the creation of the score, not to mention the sound effects, both of which typically end up dominating the music in traditional Hollywood soundtracks. As a composer of opera and operetta, Korngold had much experience in writing music that would express and articulate drama that was not yet realized. Not so with cinema, in which Korngold received a largely completed record of a performance—the film itself—for which he would have to create a musical illustration of what he saw. No surprise, then, that he extols the virtues of writing music without needing to be tethered constantly to the restrictions of a click track or even the finished film.
Kiri Miller
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199753451
- eISBN:
- 9780199932979
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199753451.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This chapter focuses on musical experience in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. By withholding conventional soundtrack music and giving players control over an in-game radio system, the game designers ...
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This chapter focuses on musical experience in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. By withholding conventional soundtrack music and giving players control over an in-game radio system, the game designers draw attention to music’s capacity to channel emotional experience, match or clash with narrative situations, and alter the passage of time. The radio invites players to explore the role of music in their navigation of an unfamiliar landscape and their occupation of a foreign persona. A web of interconnected songs writes the history and shapes the cultural landscape of San Andreas, reaching beyond the borders of the gameworld to make connections with real-life songs, cities, and musical canons. While the radio system puts forward “classics” in many genres, it is African-American music (especially hip-hop) that receives the richest, most thorough, and most historically-aware treatment.Less
This chapter focuses on musical experience in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. By withholding conventional soundtrack music and giving players control over an in-game radio system, the game designers draw attention to music’s capacity to channel emotional experience, match or clash with narrative situations, and alter the passage of time. The radio invites players to explore the role of music in their navigation of an unfamiliar landscape and their occupation of a foreign persona. A web of interconnected songs writes the history and shapes the cultural landscape of San Andreas, reaching beyond the borders of the gameworld to make connections with real-life songs, cities, and musical canons. While the radio system puts forward “classics” in many genres, it is African-American music (especially hip-hop) that receives the richest, most thorough, and most historically-aware treatment.
Peter Franklin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195383454
- eISBN:
- 9780199897032
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383454.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, Western
The “history” of film is reengaged through music, specifically the symphony and its modes of internalized and visualized reception in the nineteenth century. The argument hinges upon an extended ...
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The “history” of film is reengaged through music, specifically the symphony and its modes of internalized and visualized reception in the nineteenth century. The argument hinges upon an extended critique of the implications of Carolyn Abbate's notions of narrative, referentiality, and what she calls the “normal musical state,” specifically at a point in her argument in Unsung Voices where she invokes film. Examples of nineteenth-century “programmatic” description of symphonies are examined for their visual and protofilmic character. It is proposed that “epic” narrative films retrospectively illuminate the fissures and fabrications of so-called symphonic argument. The chapter closes with three extended film(-musical) analyses: Anthony Adverse (Korngold 1936), Gone with the Wind (Steiner 1939), and Kings Row (Korngold 1941), referring to the novels on which these films were based and the CD “soundtrack” recordings that have more recently become available.Less
The “history” of film is reengaged through music, specifically the symphony and its modes of internalized and visualized reception in the nineteenth century. The argument hinges upon an extended critique of the implications of Carolyn Abbate's notions of narrative, referentiality, and what she calls the “normal musical state,” specifically at a point in her argument in Unsung Voices where she invokes film. Examples of nineteenth-century “programmatic” description of symphonies are examined for their visual and protofilmic character. It is proposed that “epic” narrative films retrospectively illuminate the fissures and fabrications of so-called symphonic argument. The chapter closes with three extended film(-musical) analyses: Anthony Adverse (Korngold 1936), Gone with the Wind (Steiner 1939), and Kings Row (Korngold 1941), referring to the novels on which these films were based and the CD “soundtrack” recordings that have more recently become available.
Craig Hatch
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780748693528
- eISBN:
- 9781474421997
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748693528.003.0012
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Audio is perhaps the most vital component in the construction of horror films; from the child’s lullaby in Profondo rosso/Deep Red (Dario Argento, 1975), Bernard Herrmann’s use of stingers in Psycho ...
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Audio is perhaps the most vital component in the construction of horror films; from the child’s lullaby in Profondo rosso/Deep Red (Dario Argento, 1975), Bernard Herrmann’s use of stingers in Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960), to the musique concrète of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974), the canon of great horror films are inextricably tied and indebted to their soundtracks. And yet despite the importance of this audio-visual synchronicity, Italian horror soundtracks in particular have endured not only as part of the films they were made to complement, but also independently of them. With Goblin embarking on their first US tour as a band as late as 2013, to being sampled by contemporary electronic and hip hop acts such as Justice and Madlib, the work of Goblin and other composers such as Fabio Frizzi has received a continued level of interest both with and without the context of their accompanying images.Less
Audio is perhaps the most vital component in the construction of horror films; from the child’s lullaby in Profondo rosso/Deep Red (Dario Argento, 1975), Bernard Herrmann’s use of stingers in Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960), to the musique concrète of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974), the canon of great horror films are inextricably tied and indebted to their soundtracks. And yet despite the importance of this audio-visual synchronicity, Italian horror soundtracks in particular have endured not only as part of the films they were made to complement, but also independently of them. With Goblin embarking on their first US tour as a band as late as 2013, to being sampled by contemporary electronic and hip hop acts such as Justice and Madlib, the work of Goblin and other composers such as Fabio Frizzi has received a continued level of interest both with and without the context of their accompanying images.
Nathan Platte
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- November 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199371112
- eISBN:
- 9780199371136
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199371112.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, American
Making Music in Selznick’s Hollywood explores the network of musicians and filmmakers whose work defined the sound of Hollywood’s golden age (c. 1920s–1950s). The book’s central character is producer ...
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Making Music in Selznick’s Hollywood explores the network of musicians and filmmakers whose work defined the sound of Hollywood’s golden age (c. 1920s–1950s). The book’s central character is producer David O. Selznick, who immersed himself in the music of his films, serving as manager, critic, and advocate. By demonstrating music’s value in film and encouraging its distribution through sheet music, concerts, radio broadcasts, and soundtrack albums, Selznick cultivated audiences’ relationship to movie music. But he did not do it alone. Selznick’s films depended upon the men and women who brought the music to life. This book shows how a range of specialists, including composers (Max Steiner, Dimitri Tiomkin, Franz Waxman, and others), orchestrators, music directors (Lou Forbes), editors (Audray Granville), writers, instrumentalists, singers, and publicists, helped make the music for Selznick’s films stand apart from competitors’. Drawing upon thousands of archival documents, this book offers a tour of American cinema through its music. By investigating Selznick’s efforts in the late silent era, his work at three major Hollywood studios, and his accomplishments as an independent producer (including his films with Alfred Hitchcock), this book reveals how the music was made for iconic films like King Kong (1933), A Star is Born (1937), The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Gone with the Wind (1939), Rebecca (1940), Spellbound (1945), The Third Man (1948), and A Farewell to Arms (1957).Less
Making Music in Selznick’s Hollywood explores the network of musicians and filmmakers whose work defined the sound of Hollywood’s golden age (c. 1920s–1950s). The book’s central character is producer David O. Selznick, who immersed himself in the music of his films, serving as manager, critic, and advocate. By demonstrating music’s value in film and encouraging its distribution through sheet music, concerts, radio broadcasts, and soundtrack albums, Selznick cultivated audiences’ relationship to movie music. But he did not do it alone. Selznick’s films depended upon the men and women who brought the music to life. This book shows how a range of specialists, including composers (Max Steiner, Dimitri Tiomkin, Franz Waxman, and others), orchestrators, music directors (Lou Forbes), editors (Audray Granville), writers, instrumentalists, singers, and publicists, helped make the music for Selznick’s films stand apart from competitors’. Drawing upon thousands of archival documents, this book offers a tour of American cinema through its music. By investigating Selznick’s efforts in the late silent era, his work at three major Hollywood studios, and his accomplishments as an independent producer (including his films with Alfred Hitchcock), this book reveals how the music was made for iconic films like King Kong (1933), A Star is Born (1937), The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Gone with the Wind (1939), Rebecca (1940), Spellbound (1945), The Third Man (1948), and A Farewell to Arms (1957).
Scott D. Lipscomb and David E. Tolchinsky
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198529361
- eISBN:
- 9780191689628
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198529361.003.0018
- Subject:
- Psychology, Music Psychology
This chapter explores musical communication in a cinematic context. It presents empirical and theoretical models of film music perception and the role of music in film. It illustrates some of the ...
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This chapter explores musical communication in a cinematic context. It presents empirical and theoretical models of film music perception and the role of music in film. It illustrates some of the ways in which a film's soundtrack can not only contribute towards but also expand upon the meaning of a film's narrative, and on what it communicates to the audience.Less
This chapter explores musical communication in a cinematic context. It presents empirical and theoretical models of film music perception and the role of music in film. It illustrates some of the ways in which a film's soundtrack can not only contribute towards but also expand upon the meaning of a film's narrative, and on what it communicates to the audience.
Jennifer O'Meara
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781474420624
- eISBN:
- 9781474449564
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474420624.003.0004
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter considers dialogue in relation to the film soundtrack as a whole, arguing that careful approaches to dialogue in American independent cinema extend to include a creative strategy when ...
More
This chapter considers dialogue in relation to the film soundtrack as a whole, arguing that careful approaches to dialogue in American independent cinema extend to include a creative strategy when combining dialogue, music and sound effects. Analysis of the interaction of music and sound effects with dialogue includes: how musical choices made by characters are verbally contextualised, and how indie filmmakers blur the boundaries between sound effects and dialogue. It is argued that by incorporating portions of inaudible dialogue, American independent cinema can position audience members as eavesdroppers rather than sanctioned listeners – calling on us to listen selectively, and engaging us in the process. The chapter extends Claudia Gorbman’s concept of ‘melomania’ by thinking about characters’ discussion of music as related to her focus on music loving directors. The examination of the integrated soundtrack also considers lyrical speech in relation to polyglot (multilingual) cinema and repetition. Through a case study of Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), the chapter also theorises the links between both language and music as markers of time.Less
This chapter considers dialogue in relation to the film soundtrack as a whole, arguing that careful approaches to dialogue in American independent cinema extend to include a creative strategy when combining dialogue, music and sound effects. Analysis of the interaction of music and sound effects with dialogue includes: how musical choices made by characters are verbally contextualised, and how indie filmmakers blur the boundaries between sound effects and dialogue. It is argued that by incorporating portions of inaudible dialogue, American independent cinema can position audience members as eavesdroppers rather than sanctioned listeners – calling on us to listen selectively, and engaging us in the process. The chapter extends Claudia Gorbman’s concept of ‘melomania’ by thinking about characters’ discussion of music as related to her focus on music loving directors. The examination of the integrated soundtrack also considers lyrical speech in relation to polyglot (multilingual) cinema and repetition. Through a case study of Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), the chapter also theorises the links between both language and music as markers of time.
Annabel J. Cohen
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199230143
- eISBN:
- 9780191696435
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230143.003.0031
- Subject:
- Psychology, Music Psychology
This chapter aims to support the argument that music is one of the
strongest sources of emotion in film and open doors to further empirical
work that explains why this is so. The chapter is divided ...
More
This chapter aims to support the argument that music is one of the
strongest sources of emotion in film and open doors to further empirical
work that explains why this is so. The chapter is divided into five
sections. Section 31.1 briefly establishes a context for discussing
emotion in music and film. Section 31.2 focuses on music in film, first
establishing a historical perspective and then examining the role of
music at the interface of the fictional and non-fictional elements of
film. It continues with empirical studies of music as a source of
inference and structure, and then summarizes functions that music serves
for film. Section 31.3 presents a cognitive framework for understanding
musical soundtrack phenomena previously described. Section 31.4
considers the role of the composer as the origin of the source of
musical emotion for film. Conclusions are drawn and future directions
are suggested in Section 31.5.Less
This chapter aims to support the argument that music is one of the
strongest sources of emotion in film and open doors to further empirical
work that explains why this is so. The chapter is divided into five
sections. Section 31.1 briefly establishes a context for discussing
emotion in music and film. Section 31.2 focuses on music in film, first
establishing a historical perspective and then examining the role of
music at the interface of the fictional and non-fictional elements of
film. It continues with empirical studies of music as a source of
inference and structure, and then summarizes functions that music serves
for film. Section 31.3 presents a cognitive framework for understanding
musical soundtrack phenomena previously described. Section 31.4
considers the role of the composer as the origin of the source of
musical emotion for film. Conclusions are drawn and future directions
are suggested in Section 31.5.
Danijela Kulezic-Wilson
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- November 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190855314
- eISBN:
- 9780190855352
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190855314.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, Western
The introduction argues that blurring the line between score and sound design represents an important new trend in contemporary soundtrack practice. It contends that the one factor that connects all ...
More
The introduction argues that blurring the line between score and sound design represents an important new trend in contemporary soundtrack practice. It contends that the one factor that connects all the different cultural, aesthetic, and technological influences, and all manifestations of the present shift in practice, is a musical approach to film soundtrack conceived as an integrated whole. The chapter explains how the notions of an integrated soundtrack and the musicality of the soundtrack relate to this trend and looks at how they have been addressed in the existing literature. This chapter also provides an outline of the content, arguing for an approach that addresses the interdependency of intellectual, affective, and sensory stimuli in the film experience.Less
The introduction argues that blurring the line between score and sound design represents an important new trend in contemporary soundtrack practice. It contends that the one factor that connects all the different cultural, aesthetic, and technological influences, and all manifestations of the present shift in practice, is a musical approach to film soundtrack conceived as an integrated whole. The chapter explains how the notions of an integrated soundtrack and the musicality of the soundtrack relate to this trend and looks at how they have been addressed in the existing literature. This chapter also provides an outline of the content, arguing for an approach that addresses the interdependency of intellectual, affective, and sensory stimuli in the film experience.
James Buhler
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- November 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780199371075
- eISBN:
- 9780199371105
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199371075.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, American
This book is concerned with summarizing and critiquing theories of the soundtrack from roughly 1929 until today. A theory of the soundtrack is concerned with what belongs to it, how it is effectively ...
More
This book is concerned with summarizing and critiquing theories of the soundtrack from roughly 1929 until today. A theory of the soundtrack is concerned with what belongs to it, how it is effectively organized, how its status in a multimedia object affects the nature of the object, the tools available for its analysis, and the interpretive regime that the theory mandates for determining the meaning, sense, and structure that sound and music bring to film and other audiovisual media. Beyond that, a theory may also delineate the range of possible uses of sound (and music), classify the types of relations that films have used for image and sound, identify the central problems, and reflect on and describe effective uses of sound in film. This book does not provide an exhaustive historical survey but rather sketches out the range of theoretical approaches that have been applied to the soundtrack over time. For each approach, it presents the basic theoretical framework, considers explicit and implicit claims about the soundtrack, and then works to open the theories to new questions about film sound, often by putting the theories into dialogue with one another. The organization is both chronological and topical: the former in that the chapters move steadily from early film theory through models of the classical system to more recent critical theories; the latter in that the chapters highlight central issues for each generation: the problem of film itself, then of image and sound, then of adequate analytical-descriptive models, and finally of critical-interpretative models.Less
This book is concerned with summarizing and critiquing theories of the soundtrack from roughly 1929 until today. A theory of the soundtrack is concerned with what belongs to it, how it is effectively organized, how its status in a multimedia object affects the nature of the object, the tools available for its analysis, and the interpretive regime that the theory mandates for determining the meaning, sense, and structure that sound and music bring to film and other audiovisual media. Beyond that, a theory may also delineate the range of possible uses of sound (and music), classify the types of relations that films have used for image and sound, identify the central problems, and reflect on and describe effective uses of sound in film. This book does not provide an exhaustive historical survey but rather sketches out the range of theoretical approaches that have been applied to the soundtrack over time. For each approach, it presents the basic theoretical framework, considers explicit and implicit claims about the soundtrack, and then works to open the theories to new questions about film sound, often by putting the theories into dialogue with one another. The organization is both chronological and topical: the former in that the chapters move steadily from early film theory through models of the classical system to more recent critical theories; the latter in that the chapters highlight central issues for each generation: the problem of film itself, then of image and sound, then of adequate analytical-descriptive models, and finally of critical-interpretative models.
Ian Conrich and Estella Tincknell
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748623440
- eISBN:
- 9780748651115
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748623440.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The scope of this collection is indicative of the breadth and diversity of music's role in cinema, as is its emphasis on musical contributions to ‘non-musical’ films. This book brings together ...
More
The scope of this collection is indicative of the breadth and diversity of music's role in cinema, as is its emphasis on musical contributions to ‘non-musical’ films. This book brings together chapters that are concerned both with the relationship between performance, music and film and the specificity of national, historical, social and cultural contexts. The book is organised into four sections: the first which is about music, film and culture focuses on cinema representations of music forms; the second explores stars, fan cultures and intertextuality; The third section considers the importance of popular music to contemporary cinema; and the final section looks to specific national contexts. Chapters detail jazz and animation, the country and western biopic, cult musicals and fandom, the importance of the soundtrack movie, and musicals from the former East Germany.Less
The scope of this collection is indicative of the breadth and diversity of music's role in cinema, as is its emphasis on musical contributions to ‘non-musical’ films. This book brings together chapters that are concerned both with the relationship between performance, music and film and the specificity of national, historical, social and cultural contexts. The book is organised into four sections: the first which is about music, film and culture focuses on cinema representations of music forms; the second explores stars, fan cultures and intertextuality; The third section considers the importance of popular music to contemporary cinema; and the final section looks to specific national contexts. Chapters detail jazz and animation, the country and western biopic, cult musicals and fandom, the importance of the soundtrack movie, and musicals from the former East Germany.
Estella Tincknell
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748623440
- eISBN:
- 9780748651115
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748623440.003.0010
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter explores the relationship between musical performance and popular culture, where nostalgia can be central to the construction of meaning. It considers some of the cultural implications ...
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This chapter explores the relationship between musical performance and popular culture, where nostalgia can be central to the construction of meaning. It considers some of the cultural implications of the emergence of the soundtrack as a vital element in contemporary popular cinema. With specific reference to three films from the 1990s, Forrest Gump (1994), Pulp Fiction (1994) and Boogie Nights (1998), it examines the ways in which such films mobilise their soundtrack to produce particular cultural associations and a preferred history of the late twentieth century. The chapter points out that the soundtrack film has been part of a wider process whereby the canon of ‘classic’ pop has been raided and repackaged. Finally, it argues that borrowed music can create meanings that exceed the initial level of the narrative.Less
This chapter explores the relationship between musical performance and popular culture, where nostalgia can be central to the construction of meaning. It considers some of the cultural implications of the emergence of the soundtrack as a vital element in contemporary popular cinema. With specific reference to three films from the 1990s, Forrest Gump (1994), Pulp Fiction (1994) and Boogie Nights (1998), it examines the ways in which such films mobilise their soundtrack to produce particular cultural associations and a preferred history of the late twentieth century. The chapter points out that the soundtrack film has been part of a wider process whereby the canon of ‘classic’ pop has been raided and repackaged. Finally, it argues that borrowed music can create meanings that exceed the initial level of the narrative.
T. Austin Graham
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199862115
- eISBN:
- 9780199332748
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199862115.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
This chapter studies F. Scott Fitzgerald and the concept of “the literary soundtrack”—that is, a series of identifiable, well-known pieces of music that punctuate literary plots and are intended to ...
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This chapter studies F. Scott Fitzgerald and the concept of “the literary soundtrack”—that is, a series of identifiable, well-known pieces of music that punctuate literary plots and are intended to be listened to in conjunction with the reading act. Fitzgerald was fascinated by the ways that music could intrude upon or harmonize with narrative, and his novels often seem to emulate the method of the Broadway stage, the techniques of silent film, and the musically allusive, magpie-like aesthetic of James Joyce's novels. The resulting textual experience can be ecstatic, insidious, immediate, or ineffable in Fitzgerald's hands, but in all cases his fiction is strikingly audible, existing in states of cross-aesthetic tension that demand to be physically heard and responded to as well as read.Less
This chapter studies F. Scott Fitzgerald and the concept of “the literary soundtrack”—that is, a series of identifiable, well-known pieces of music that punctuate literary plots and are intended to be listened to in conjunction with the reading act. Fitzgerald was fascinated by the ways that music could intrude upon or harmonize with narrative, and his novels often seem to emulate the method of the Broadway stage, the techniques of silent film, and the musically allusive, magpie-like aesthetic of James Joyce's novels. The resulting textual experience can be ecstatic, insidious, immediate, or ineffable in Fitzgerald's hands, but in all cases his fiction is strikingly audible, existing in states of cross-aesthetic tension that demand to be physically heard and responded to as well as read.
Norie Neumark
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780262036139
- eISBN:
- 9780262339834
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262036139.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
This chapter introduces the figure unvoice to listen to works where the usual relationship between soundtrack and image track is disturbed and disturbing. As unvoicing breaks the usual ...
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This chapter introduces the figure unvoice to listen to works where the usual relationship between soundtrack and image track is disturbed and disturbing. As unvoicing breaks the usual synchronization and hierarchy of image over sound, their very relationship becomes audible. The chapter works with the figures of ‘un,’ medianatures, minor aesthetics, and ekphrasis, bringing them into conversation with works ranging from YouTube lip-syncing remixes to artful animations, from machinima to cat videos, from video artworks to installations. It encounters unvoicing in works of portraiture and subtitling. Whether accidental or purposeful, unvoicing thinks the relations of voice, soundtrack and imagetrack anew.Less
This chapter introduces the figure unvoice to listen to works where the usual relationship between soundtrack and image track is disturbed and disturbing. As unvoicing breaks the usual synchronization and hierarchy of image over sound, their very relationship becomes audible. The chapter works with the figures of ‘un,’ medianatures, minor aesthetics, and ekphrasis, bringing them into conversation with works ranging from YouTube lip-syncing remixes to artful animations, from machinima to cat videos, from video artworks to installations. It encounters unvoicing in works of portraiture and subtitling. Whether accidental or purposeful, unvoicing thinks the relations of voice, soundtrack and imagetrack anew.
Todd Decker
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520282322
- eISBN:
- 9780520966543
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520282322.003.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The introduction lays out the structure of Hymns for the Fallen in broad strokes, noting the chronological scope of the study (35 war films made after the close of the Vietnam War), the subgenre ...
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The introduction lays out the structure of Hymns for the Fallen in broad strokes, noting the chronological scope of the study (35 war films made after the close of the Vietnam War), the subgenre (prestige combat films) and the book’s larger approach to film sound and film music. The three elements of the soundtrack—dialogue, sound effects, and music—and their relationship analytically within the book are also introduced. The book’s larger analogy between serious war films and war memorials, such as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, is drawn by comparison of scenes from Hamburger Hill (1987) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). The formative impact of the Vietnam War on Hollywood combat film production is also noted. The figures of the American soldier and veteran are presented as central both to combat film narratives and to the target audiences for these films.Less
The introduction lays out the structure of Hymns for the Fallen in broad strokes, noting the chronological scope of the study (35 war films made after the close of the Vietnam War), the subgenre (prestige combat films) and the book’s larger approach to film sound and film music. The three elements of the soundtrack—dialogue, sound effects, and music—and their relationship analytically within the book are also introduced. The book’s larger analogy between serious war films and war memorials, such as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, is drawn by comparison of scenes from Hamburger Hill (1987) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). The formative impact of the Vietnam War on Hollywood combat film production is also noted. The figures of the American soldier and veteran are presented as central both to combat film narratives and to the target audiences for these films.
Todd Decker
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520282322
- eISBN:
- 9780520966543
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520282322.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter describes the large-scale narrative and musical patterns of serious Hollywood combat films made after Vietnam. Two larger narrative shapes are identified: two-part forms (such as ...
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This chapter describes the large-scale narrative and musical patterns of serious Hollywood combat films made after Vietnam. Two larger narrative shapes are identified: two-part forms (such as training camp followed by battlefield) and alternating action-reflection forms. Then, the overall shape and content of combat film musical scores are described in a comparative context. Four strategies for the use of music in war films are described: films with very little music of any sort, films which alternate between scored and unscored scenes (Saving Private Ryan), music-laden films with music noticeably present much of the time (Born on the Fourth of July), and films with almost continuous music. The frequently blurry distinctions between sound effects and music, the role of popular music (Full Metal Jacket), the importance of diegetic silence, the ambiguous authorship of some film scores (Apocalypse Now, The Hurt Locker), and the shifting nature of the soundtrack mix are also considered.Less
This chapter describes the large-scale narrative and musical patterns of serious Hollywood combat films made after Vietnam. Two larger narrative shapes are identified: two-part forms (such as training camp followed by battlefield) and alternating action-reflection forms. Then, the overall shape and content of combat film musical scores are described in a comparative context. Four strategies for the use of music in war films are described: films with very little music of any sort, films which alternate between scored and unscored scenes (Saving Private Ryan), music-laden films with music noticeably present much of the time (Born on the Fourth of July), and films with almost continuous music. The frequently blurry distinctions between sound effects and music, the role of popular music (Full Metal Jacket), the importance of diegetic silence, the ambiguous authorship of some film scores (Apocalypse Now, The Hurt Locker), and the shifting nature of the soundtrack mix are also considered.
Carol Vernallis
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199766994
- eISBN:
- 9780199369010
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199766994.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, American
This book argues that we’re on the crest of a new international, intermedial style in which sonic and visual parameters become heightened and accelerated. This audiovisual turn, driven by digital ...
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This book argues that we’re on the crest of a new international, intermedial style in which sonic and visual parameters become heightened and accelerated. This audiovisual turn, driven by digital technologies and socioeconomic changes, calls for new forms of attention. Post-classical cinema, with its multiplot narratives and flashy style, fragments under the influence of audiovisual numbers and music-video-like sync. Music video, after migrating to the web, becomes more than a way of selling songs. YouTube’s brief and low-res clips encompass many forms and foreground reiteration, graphic values, and affective intensity. All three of these media are riven by one another: a trajectory from YouTube through music video to the new digital cinema reveals structural commonalities, especially in the realms of rhythm, texture, and form. Music video, YouTube, and post-classical cinema remain undertheorized. This book describes the current audiovisual landscape across media and platforms—it characterizes the audiovisual swirl. Unruly Media provides both new theoretical models and readings of many current multimedia works. It also includes several chapters devoted to the oeuvre of popular directors, including their films, commercials, and music videos. The book further argues that attending equally to the soundtrack and the image can show how these media work as well as the ways they both mirror and shape our experience.Less
This book argues that we’re on the crest of a new international, intermedial style in which sonic and visual parameters become heightened and accelerated. This audiovisual turn, driven by digital technologies and socioeconomic changes, calls for new forms of attention. Post-classical cinema, with its multiplot narratives and flashy style, fragments under the influence of audiovisual numbers and music-video-like sync. Music video, after migrating to the web, becomes more than a way of selling songs. YouTube’s brief and low-res clips encompass many forms and foreground reiteration, graphic values, and affective intensity. All three of these media are riven by one another: a trajectory from YouTube through music video to the new digital cinema reveals structural commonalities, especially in the realms of rhythm, texture, and form. Music video, YouTube, and post-classical cinema remain undertheorized. This book describes the current audiovisual landscape across media and platforms—it characterizes the audiovisual swirl. Unruly Media provides both new theoretical models and readings of many current multimedia works. It also includes several chapters devoted to the oeuvre of popular directors, including their films, commercials, and music videos. The book further argues that attending equally to the soundtrack and the image can show how these media work as well as the ways they both mirror and shape our experience.
