Transcript Music in Film!! - wausaukeemusic

THE FOUNDATIONS OF
MODERN FILM
1908-1919
Rapid change in Film
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Length of films expanding from 1 reel shorts (12-15
min) to feature films with multiple reels.
Size of movie theaters grew- 1st large movie
palace built in 1912
Actors became stars
 Charlie
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Chaplin
U.S. becomes the dominant center of filmmaking
 Especially
in Hollywood; cheap land and sunshine
 Largely due to WW1
D.W. Griffith
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Elevated film to a sophisticated art form
Generally regarded as the single most important
figure in American film
Acted for Edison and Biograph
Directed his first film for Biograph in 1908 and by
the end of the year was doing all of their directing.
By the time he began work on The Birth of a Nation
in 1915, he had directed approximately 450 films.
 Most
1-reel, but some 2 and 4 reel
D.W. Griffith
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Explored a wide variety of effects:
 Close-ups
 Panoramas
 Moving
camera
 Crosscutting
Types of cuts
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Cut: the connection between two shots.
3 Principal types:
 Narrative
cut: vision is focused on different objects or
people in a continuous scene.
 2nd type joins different times (flashback or forward) or
places.
 Crosscut: moves quickly back and forth between two or
more related events.
D.W. Griffith cont….
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By using crosscutting, Griffith was able to build
tension and to show simultaneous action in a way
that is not possible on stage.
Worked with a permanent set of actors
Used extensive rehearsal time with actorsunprecedented for his time.
Created a new style of acting suitable for film.
Had a strong music background and worked closely
on the composition of original scores for his films.
Developments in Film
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Organ became the most common movie theater
instrument.
The size of musical ensembles in movie theaters
tended to expand
Compilation scores became common using 19th
century classics
Cue sheets and music anthologies provided help for
theater musicians
Original scores created for films
Musical Accompaniment
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Wurlitzer began producing organs designed for
movie theaters
 Additions
made so the organ could make sound effects
like a car horn, telephone or gunshot
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Size of theaters increased and became more
ornate.
Ensembles increased as well.
By the end of the decade, some theaters had full
orchestra ensembles of over 50 musicians.
Compilation Scores
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3 Types of music for silent films:
Adaptations of classical works
Arrangements of well-known patriotic, religious, or
popular tunes
Newly composed material
1.
2.
3.
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Musical scores based largely on borrowed
material are considered to be compilation scores.

Pg. 67
Cue Sheets and Anthologies
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Filmmakers became increasingly concerned with the
relationship between music and drama
Began to recognize the need for music to reflect the
action.
This led to two things:
1.
2.
Creation of guides to help theater music directors
select appropriate music
Composition of new scores for individual films.
Cue Sheet
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Sheet telling stage musicians what songs were to be
played where.
Accompanied a specific film
First appeared in 1909
Anthologies
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Books of original music written to accompany
general moods, settings, or characters.
Example: Agitated music, sad music, happy music,
wedding music etc.
Rather than picking random Theater pianists could
select passages from an anthology to fit the needs
of the film.
Original Music Scores
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Between 1910 and 1914, over 100 scores can be
documented.
Camille Saint-Saëns wrote one of the first
completely original film scores for a Paris film.
 He
was one of France’s most prestigous composers at
the time.