Transcript Sound and Music In Film

In 1878, Thomas Edison invented the
phonograph. The word phonograph was the
trade name for Edison's device, which played
cylinders rather than discs. The machine had two
needles: one for recording and one for playback.
When you spoke into the mouthpiece, the sound
vibrations of your voice would be indented onto
the cylinder by the recording needle. This cylinder
phonograph was the first machine that could
record and reproduce sound.
Replica of the original phonograph
Between 1889 and 1892 Scottish-English immigrant William
Kennedy Laurie Dickson who joined Edison’s staff in 1883 created
the Kinetoscope – which is an early motion picture exhibition
device.
 It was designed for films to be viewed individually through the
window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope
creates the illusion of movement by conveying a strip of
perforated film bearing sequential images over a light source
with a high-speed shutter
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Films released to the public were storyless vignettes,
lasting 30 seconds at most, predominantly featuring
vaudeville performers athletes, and others who were
brought to Edison’s studio
When did they add sound?
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Sound in film begins with the invention of film itself. At no period in
the history of films has it been customary to show them publicly
without some sort of sound accompaniment. In other words, the
silent film never really existed.
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“Sound was always present in film projections. Through piano
accompaniment, a gramophone record, someone talking to
the audience... the early films were surrounded by sounds. But in
the early days music was the main source of film sound. The
musicians were there to enhance action, create an
atmosphere, reinforce drama. Duplicating the presence of the
image through sound was a common practice. Film music of the
silent days was highly coded: one motif representing water,
another trains, yet another explosions and so on. Editors
published little scores with these motifs along with melodic lines
for different situations: chases, battles, duels, and so on. Thus
music was mostly there to make audiences hear the absent
sound effects and help them understand the dramatic situations
involved.” http://www.filmsound.org by Gustavo Costantini
Film music during this period was seen as secondary to the visual
aspects of the film
 The compositions that were played were light and popular music
to traditional classical and had no relation to the subject of the
film!
 The first step in using music to evoke or enhance emotion in films
came some years later (directors had finally began to realize
that unrelated music detracted from the movies in which they
were used) and drew on Wagner's leitmotif principle.
 These themes were categorized by general names such as
"Nature," "Nation and Society," and "Church and State," as well
as more specific ones, like "Happy," "Climbing," "Night:
threatening mood," and "Impending doom: 'something is going
to happen.'"
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh3z89u1NtY
– The Kid, Charlie Chaplin 1921
http://www.archive.org/details/dicksonfilmtwo
Never officially titled, but known as the
Dickson Experimental Sound Film, it is the earliest known surviving
experiment at creating sound film (see below).
The idea was based on its apparent 1889 predecessor: shoot motion picture
film while also recording the live sound using another Edison invention, the
wax cylinder phonograph.
Lasting only 21 seconds, the film depicts two men dancing together as a third
— Mr. Dickson — plays violin into the recording horn of the phonograph.
Ultimately, the music was identified as being from Les cloches de Corneville,
an 1877 operetta by Robert Planquette. It was a huge hit in its day.
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In 1927, The Jazz Singer - the first movie with
talking sequences, ushered in the era of
"talkies“ – talking pictures.
By the 1930s, the new development was
treated with suspicion by many filmmakers
and critics, who worried that a focus on
dialogue would undermine the unique
aesthetic virtues of the soundless cinema and
also the belief that there must be a logical
reason for music appearing in a film.
Yet, over the next 20 years, production
developments helped producers overcome
music and dialogue challenges which
enabled films to be produced at a rapid
pace.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkyvstNrkHo
– The Jazz Singer, 1927
The
root of music in film goes back to the Greek melodramas - a cross
between a play and opera in which spoken word is accompanied by
music.
Melodramas
developed into opera, giving rise to types of
performances known as number opera (those composed of a collection
of closed pieces) and continuous opera (those including nonstop
music), divisions that film soundtracks would later echo.
Famous
composer Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813 –1883) supported
this new idea of program music (music for a purpose—often, telling a
story), as opposed to the absolute music (music for the sake of music)
that had previously reigned supreme, which resulted in his invention of
leitmotifs -first used in his Ring Cycle, or themes recurring throughout a
work that were meant to suggest associations with an idea, character,
or place.
First things, first... What is a
leitmotif?
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According to Grove’s Dictionary of Music,
leitmotif (leading motif) is “a theme, or other
coherent idea, clearly defined so as to retain
its identity if modified on subsequent
appearances, and whose purpose is to
represent or symbolise a person, object, place,
idea, state of mind, supernatural force or any
other ingredient in a dramatic work, usually
operatic but also vocal, choral or
instrumental”.
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A leitmotif is a melody that is associated with a person, place or idea. The composer tells the story through the
music using leitmotifs
Leitmotifs you may know:
Star Wars – Darth Vader http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys5NWmyS3MA&feature=related
The Lord of the Rings – characters
Mary Poppins – characters http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx4hxQrnGiQ
James Bond – character http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii1tc493bZM
Jaws – a.k.a here comes the shark.
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Video games often make use of leitmotifs as well, especially role-playing games. These games are of epic scale
and length, which lends well to the use of recurring themes, and a soundtrack can have several hours of music
with hundreds of different pieces, each drawing on the same leitmotifs in different keys or with different (often
synthesized) instruments.
Pink Floyd uses leitmotifs throughout several of their albums, including The Wall.
The leitmotif is in the melody to their biggest hit song, "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2." The vocal melody of each line
of the verses are comprised of the four-note leitmotif, that is a 3-notes-up, 1-note-down melody that repeats
itself throughout the verses.
Here, look at the notes on a musical staff and sing it to yourself. That 3-up-1-down leitmotif is all over the album.
Sometimes it's drawn out longer. Sometimes, the notes are transposed to a different key. Sometimes, it's buried
under vocal harmonies or instrumentation. Sometimes, the notes are rearranged slightly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub1j5UGl-1s
Can you think of any other Leitmotifs from songs/movies/television shows you know?
Wagner’s leitmotifs
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Wagner’s Ring Cycle: is a cycle of four epic operas.
The four operas that constitute the Ring cycle are, in the order of the imagined
events they portray:
Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold)
Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)
Siegfried
Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvA54D2Gz3E Wagner’s Ring Cycle
Leitmotifs, Explanation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bniQNm0eNeQ&playnext=1&list=PLC101325
6CE8520EF About Leitmotifs
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Wagner’s leitmotifs were both a complex form of codification and a
way of producing subtle sensations and associations in the listener. It
was not mere chance that film music opted so strongly for the
Wagnerian approach.
Putting the pieces together…or
solving the “Who done it?”
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One of the first uses of leitmotif was in Fritz Lang’s M (1931). And
there, we find an application of leitmotif that opens new
possibilities. Leitmotif is presented at the very beginning in the
title sequence. While we see a large “M” covering the screen,
we listen to a fragment of Edward Grieg’s Peer Gynt. The simple,
repetitive and effective rhythmic theme is immediately retained
in auditory memory, making it very easy to associate with the
mysterious murderer. But it is not the same music which
establishes the link: it’s the murderer’s whistling which tells us that
this man - whose face is not seen - is M. This example is interesting
because - despite its simplicity - it introduces the idea of
identifying or labelling a character by means of sound. Lang was
aware of it and it was not by chance that he decided to include
a blind balloon-seller. M buys a balloon for Elsie - the next victim and he whistles the leitmotif to indicate (us) the identity of the
killer. The blind man is telling us “you don’t have to try to see the
face, you have to listen to what I am able to recognise”. The
blind man will be the key to catching M, or to put it better, his
ears listening to the leitmotif will.
John Williams
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In recent decades, the composer who most clearly represents
the leitmotif tradition is John Williams. In “his” films, he uses a lot
of Wagnerian stuff, such as diatonic scales for hero-themes
(Indiana Jones, Stars Wars, Superman); chromatic scales or
themes for objects, things or negative elements (Jaws, the
Empire leitmotif); bright sounds for positive elements; darker,
obscure timbres (and located in the extremes of the register) for
negative ones. Although John Williams is one of the most
successful scoring composers, and one of the most respected, it
has to be said that his use of the Wagnerian leitmotif is, in some
ways, schematic. His approach is very direct and strong, and no
one in the theatre will fail to recognise any link between the
themes and the characters associated to them. His extraordinary
capacity to reach the audience like a classical composer makes
him the perfect choice for films dealing with mythical subject
matter, or for a kind of cinema that wants to resemble that of
the classical era http://www.filmsound.org by Gustavo Costantini
Lord of the Rings
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The "Fellowship theme ", a traditional balls-to-the-wall triumphant brass theme as heard over the montage of the
Fellowship traveling out of Rivendell towards Caradhras. Later used for the Three Hunters, Aragorn, Legolas, and
Gimli. Notable in that, according to the composer Howard Shore, it never quite makes a full reappearance after
the events in Moria; at least one note is off, or the rhythm is changed.
The "Hobbit theme ", a sort of jaunty flute piece with bassoons and oboes evoking pastoral countryside. Plays
over the "Concerning Hobbits" narration. Gets more and more wistful the more the hobbits, especially Frodo, go
through- only to be restored to full orchestral glory when everyone bows to the hobbits during Aragorn's
coronation.
The "Rohan Theme". Wistful when we first hear it on the Norwegian fiddle when the heroes arrive at Edoras, it
later appears in full-on brass mode for Helm's Deep. Plays over the charge of the Rohirrim at the Battle of
Pelennor Fields, with Norwegian fiddle and brass sections working together.
The "Gondor Theme" . Majestic, soaring theme that wouldn't sound entirely out of place in a pirate movie. Heard
as Gandalf and Pippin arrive at Minas Tirith and gallop up the city to see Denethor, as well as over the lighting of
the beacons. An early version of this theme is played on solo French horn as Boromir speaks at the Council of
Elrond.
The "Mordor Theme" . Dark and dramatic with lots of brass and ominous chanting when needed. Heard as
Gandalf witnesses the arrival of the Nazgul. Used to excellent effect first as a threatening sound when Sauron first
appears before the Allied Army, single-handedly stopping their attack with his very presence, and then blasting
into angry brass and choir as he sweeps away scores of soldiers with casual swings of his mace.
"Gollum's Theme" , appears all the way through the second film whenever Gollum is around, but most notably as
a song in the end credits sung by Emiliana Torrini.
The "Isengard Theme ," played with heavy brass and percussion in the Caverns of Isengard or when the Uruk-hai
are on the move. Unlike other themes, which are in more conventional timing, Isengard's theme is done in 5/4
time, which sounds a little bit off or unnatural (as most music these days is done in 4/4 or 2/4 time), to reflect the
twisting of nature and industrial methods of Saruman.
"The History of the Ring" , representing the power of the One Ring, especially when it changes hands or when
someone tries to take it — plays under the title card of each movie, so easily mistaken for the theme to the
trilogy itself — or perhaps it is, in a way.
The Leitmotif Challenge:
This will be created individually.
Step 1: Think of a short story you know with characters you could give a theme to, for instance
childhood stories like Little Red Riding Hood, the Three Little Pigs or any Disney fairytale work
well or you can use an existing plot from your favorite book or film.
Step 2: Make a list of the characters in the story. You must have a minimum of 3 characters.
Step 3: Decide on how you want the characters to be portrayed. (What emotive
characteristics do you want your audience to understand about the characters.) You may
choose to keep them similar to the film or change them altogether providing a different spin
on a familiar story.
Step 4: Write your own 2-4 bar leitmotif for each character. Each leitmotif can be a single-line
melody in any key, using rhythms you choose. You may also choose to use chords to
represent a character instead or in addition to the single-line melody. Similar to Peter and
the Wolf.
Step 5: Play or sing the leitmotifs for the class while re-telling the familiar story. You may
choose to use other classmates to help you perform your leitmotifs or to have them assist you
in the re-telling of the story.
Have fun with it and be creative!
Leitmotif Challenge: Marking Scheme
Due Wednesday February 13th, 2013
History of Music in Film: Analysis of How & Why Film Scores Enhance the Emotional Import of Films: Citizen
Kane http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/31632/history_of_music_in_film_analysis_of_pg3.html?cat=7
Film Score http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_score
Silent Film http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_film
Kinetoscope http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetoscope
The Pre-History of Sound Cinema, Part 1: Thomas Edison and W.K.L. Dickson
http://www.spencersundell.com/blog/2006/04/10/the_pre-history_of_sound_cinema_part_1/
Dickson Experimental Sound Film http://www.archive.org/details/dicksonfilmtwo