film music 3344 final
Alexandre Desplat
- playful style, persistent accompaniments - admiration of John Williams is audible
James Horner
- prolific film composer - often uses electronic elements, choral or solo vocal music - often uses "Celtic" and other world music elements
new compilation
by the late 70s, a _____ _________ score practice emerged, challenging the sound, purpose, and authorial control of a conventional orchestral score
imitating
independent and international filmmakers have developed a WAY OF ______________, IGNORING, OR SIDESTEPPING THE MAINSTREAM Hollywood style
exotic
outlandish, barbarous, strange, uncouth. also, having the ATTRACTION OF THE STRANGE OR FOREIGN, GLAMOROUS
modernist (music)
this type of dissonant, atonal music has a special expressive power
exoticize
to make something exotic
Wong Kar-Wai
- "wanted to break the structure of the average Hong Kong film" - films display a mix of influences: modernist novels, narrative, visual and aural motifs - pre-existing songs are of the essence in his cinema, they retain their identity as independent, already constituted artifacts
Baz Luhrmann
- Australian auteurist writer and director - pioneering VIOLATOR OF "PERIOD MUSIC" RULE IN MOVIES
Bollywood
- Hindi language film - about 200 films per year - popular 'masala' cinema vs art cinema - sourced from Mumbai
Sofia Coppola
- frames moments AS IF TAKING A STILL PHOTOGRAPH, films seem more DRIVEN BY TONE than by mechanics of getting from A to B - MASTER OF STYLE from an early age: interned with Chanel in high school, created a fashion label, started a line of sparkling roses
Philip Glass
- literally my man - American composer - pioneer of minimalism - i love him
Hans Zimmer
- my other man - began in pop music (video killed the radio star!) - uses pseudo-orchestral approach, largely with synthesizers and sampling - has also included steel drums, slide guitar, Japanese instruments
minimalism
- pared-down means of composition - no sense of time oriented direction - a reaction against modernism; it is tonal, rhythmically regular and continuous - NONMELODIC, does not allow leitmotifs
Howard Shore
- wall to wall scoring - wide orchestral palette - uses repetitive themes - scored Lord of the Rings films - scores include full orchestral and choral parts - also complex combos of music and sound effects
Altered States
1980; dir. Ken Russell; mus. John Corigliano - a scientist hallucinates and tests the boundaries of consciousness
Koyaanisqatsi
1982; dir. Godfrey Reggio; mus. Philip Glass - unusual genre of non-narated documentary - both FILM AND MUSIC REQUIRE A NEW KIND OF AUDIENCE INTERACTION
Stranger than Paradise
1984; dir. Jim Jarmusch; mus. John Lurie - Eva plays and replays a tape of Screamin' Jay Hawkins's "I Put a Spell on You" - Lurie's score is for string quartet
Blue Velvet
1986; dir. David Lynch; mus. Angelo Badalementi - features song by Bobby Vinton sharing a title - object of film's title becomes Frank Booth's fetish and the song changes meaning because of it
The Mission
1986; dir. Roland Joffe; mus. Ennio Morricone Morricone creates a soundtrack that exoticizes both European and South American indigenous musics
The Last Emperor
1987; dir. Bernardo Bertolucci; mus. Ryuichi Sakamoto, Cong Su, and David Byrne Sakamoto: techno star, composer, glitch, orchestra Su: conservatory trained composer of art music Byrne: art-pop composer, spearheaded new wave - uses traditional Chinese instruments such as erhu, pipa, and gu zheng (generally used by Cong Su)
The Thin Blue Line
1988; dir. Errol Morris; mus. Philip Glass - documentary about a guy on death row and the crazy witness girl that got him convicted
Do the Right Thing
1989; dir. Spike Lee portrays intense race relations in New York with a predominantly aural style - RADIO RAHEEM'S BOOMBOX, critical to the narrative, connects the visible to the audible
Goodfellas
1990; dir. Martin Scorcese - highly influenced by music video techniques but not interruptive to narrative - SATURATED WITH MUSIC ; 46 separate pieces!!
Mo' Better Blues
1990; dir. Spike Lee centers on jazz trumpeter Bleek Gilliam and his obsessive, self-centered temperament - utilizes jazz as diegetic "set pieces" but the "cool" style functions as an extension of Bleek's personality
Pulp Fiction
1994; dir. Quentin Tarantino shows a music video aesthetic where "musical moments not only break narrative continuity, they are also frequently self-consciously non-realist in style
Fallen Angels (Do Lok Tin Sai)
1995; dir. Wong Kar Wai; songs by Laurie Anderson, The Flying Pickets, etc. - "hinges on songs... the film turns out upon close scrutiny to feature music in a rigorous and provocative fashion" - "Because I'm Cool" by Nogabe Randriaharimalala - "Speak My Language" by Laurie Anderson
Romeo + Juliet
1996; dir. Baz Luhrmann - soundtrack reached no. 2 on Billboard 200 chart - used pop music because Shakespeare used pop music when his plays were performed
The Red Violin
1998; dir. Francois Girard, mus. John Corigliano - a violin made amidst tragedy in 1681 is handed through the centuries - Anna's Theme
Magnolia
1999; dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, songs by Aimee Mann - the film "came out" of Mann's songs - at the denouement, all of the movie's characters sing Mann's "Wise Up" metadiegetically
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2000 (2001 in notes for some reason); dir. Ang Lee, mus. Tan Dun - won Oscars for best foreign language film and best original score - film ends with Jen reuniting with her lover Lo and then leaping from the mountain (score features a SOLO FOR CELLIST YO-YO MA)
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
2000; dir. the Coen brothers (imagine this is all in caps lock) - soundtrack makes extensive use of folk and bluegrass music - T-Bone Burnett credited as "musical archivist" - the songs become museum pieces in the movie - 1950's bluegrass song "I'll Fly Away" helps to recreate setting - "Down in the River" plays as the three stumble upon a river baptism - "I am a Man of Constant Sorrow" by the Soggy-Bottom Boys recorded with Tommy Johnson (a reference to Robert Johnson)
Bridget Jones' Diary
2001 - popular songs correlate with Bridget's narration - songs reveal her feelings to the audience - aligns with conventions of introduction, breakup, and conclusion - "All By Myself" by Jamie O'Neal establishes her fear of being alone
Moulin Rouge!
2001; dir. Baz Luhrmann - wanted to bring the feeling of this place from 1899 to modern audiences and EXPRESS THAT SAME THRILL AND EXCITEMENT IN A WAY CONTEMPORARY MOVIE-GOERS CAN RELATE TO - "Your Song" by Elton John is sung by Christian declaring his love to Satine
The Hours
2002; dir. Stephen Daldry; mus. Philip Glass - about Virginia Woolf writing a novel - takes place in 3 different time periods
Better Luck Tomorrow
2003; dir. Justin Lin; mus. Myles of Destruction, Semiautomatic, Budge, etc. - hard rock songs become emblematic of bad-boy rebellion for a group of "model minority" Asian-American students who take up crime
Lost in Translation
2003; dir. Sofia Coppola; music supervisor Brian Reitzell - karaoke scene: Charlotte sings The Pretenders' "Brass in the Pocket", Bob picks Costello arrangement of Nick Lowe's "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding" - ending: Bob and Charlotte kiss, inaudible conversation, "Just Like Honey" by The Jesus and Mary Chain plays
Kill Bill 2
2004; dir. Quentin Tarantino - music from old spaghetti westerns, country songs, Bernard Herrmann scores, etc.
Marie Antoinette
2006; dir. Sofia Coppola - ball scene where "Hong Kong Garden" by Siouxsie and the Banshees plays
Slumdog Millionaire
2008; dir. Danny Boyle - essay in mainstream Hindi cinematic themes - a rags to riches story, brothers on opposite side of the law
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
2008; dir. Peter Sollett; mus. a lot of people music in movie is music that played while shooting the film, the music is only really there because the director liked it there
Avatar
2009; dir. James Cameron; mus. James Horner - quasi-minimalist style, Horner uses drumming and ethnic elements to portray the forest dwelling Na'vi people
Inception
2010; dir. James Nolan; mus. Hans Zimmer - a very electronic score - one of the finest examples of the minimalist approach to scoring for an action film - uses "Non, je ne regrette rien" by Edith Piaf
The Great Gatsby
2013; dir. Baz Luhrmann - Luhrmann on hip hop: "it's blindness to pretension gets me going" - Jazz age is represented by the modern Hip Hop age and "WANT VIEWERS TO FEEL THE IMPACT OF MODERN DAY MUSIC THE WAY FITZGERALD DID FOR READERS"
The Grand Budapest Hotel
2014; dir. Wes Anderson; mus. Alexandre Desplat - score uses a "Hungarian goulash of ethnic and traditional instruments" - avoidance of computer effects; set miniatures
La La Land
2016; dir. Damien Chazelle; mus. Justin Hurwitz - a nostalgic revisiting of the "extinct" genre of the jazz musical
Sorry to Bother You
2018; dir. Boots Riley; mus. The Tune-Yards - especially intriguing contribution to the buddy-film-in-"post-racial"-America genre - i watched this movie literally 30 minutes ago
cultural stereotypes
American commercialist values have been IMMENSELY INFLUENTIAL AROUND THE WORLD, not least in creating _______________ ________________
John Corigliano
New York composer of modernist-cinematic-phantasmagoric concert works and film scores, and in the case of The Red Violin, it has actually become a concert piece
(California) surf music
Tarantino loves using this kind of music; becomes signature sound for Pulp Fiction
situational
Tarantino's "__________ use" of music: he has characters choose and celebrate songs - i.e. music for torturing Marvin in Reservoir Dogs
early
_______ compilation score examples: - The Last Picture Show: variety of pop music from 50s - American Graffiti: early rock n roll - Easy Rider: iconic 60s counterculture film
millenial
___________ trends: - minimalist styles in film and tv - more electronic music in film and tv
shifting
____________ movie genres from Hong Kong: - Cantonese opera - detective Charlie Chan movies - martial arts films - 60s and 70s: rise of the superstars (Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan) - 80s: action films - 90s: stylized art-house movies by Wong Kar-Wai and Ann Hui
subculture
a group or class of lesser importance or size with specific beliefs, interests, or values different from those of the general culture
counterculture
a radical culture, esp. amongst the young, that rejects established social values and practices; a mode of life opposed to the conventional or dominant
hip hop
arises in mid-70s from a culture rife with street gangs, but much of its early stuff is party-themed and lighthearted in content
fantasy
at the turn of the millenium, science fiction and ____________ themes become more popular, bringing with them a return to orchestral scores in late 1930s "golden age" Hollywood style
Tan Dun
composer "swinging and swimming freely among different cultures" - EAST-WEST HYBRIDITY reflects the impact of western art music
Spike Lee
countered New Hollywood filmmakers who were exploiting utopian visions and promising cozy, formulaic musical affinities. "USES THE NEW HOLLYWOOD MERCHANDIZED SOUNDTRACK TO CONFRONT IS AUDITORS"
opposition
famous people's definitions of indie films: - "independent films are made in ____________ to the studio system" - "if it's personal to the director, then it's independent" - "always dependent on money" - "free to say what you want" - "people making films the way they want to make them"
romantic comedy
film score genre that relies consistently on compilation soundtracks
independent film
films by filmmakers independent of the dominant, established film industry - tend to be avant-garde and counter-cinematic - give an alternative voice to dominant ideology - mostly low-budget
musical
in filmic and ________ terms, indie movies often: - fragment narrative and eschew narration - accentuate lower production values, discontinuity, DIY aesthetics - emphasize whimsicality and quirkiness - stress single moments over an overall story - shun non-diegetic scoring - rely on popular music - emphasize mediated materiality of music
world music
in the 1970s, this becomes an important marketing term for commercially available MUSIC OF NON-WESTERN ORIGIN AND CIRCULATION
music videos
in the 1980s CINEMATIC STYLIZATIONS ARE MUSIC-INSPIRED AND MUSIC-BASED under the influence of _________ ________
cinematic experience
in the 1980s and after, music is involved with widening the gap between script and ____________ _____________
individualized
in the 1980s filmmakers start bringing more VARIED, DEEPLY ROOTED, AND __________________ KINDS OF NON-SYMPHONIC MUSIC into the narrative, breaking the old practice of using popular music as a sort of non-diegetic "source music"
indie
independently produced, uncommercialized
ambiguity
music-video-inspired auteurs' new AV techniques: - SPEED of event raised or lowered - DE-EMPHASIS OF THE TRADITIONAL ASPECTS OF NARRATIVE AND CHARACTERIZATION - obliterating TIME AND PLACE - a new concentration on SITUATION, MOOD, TIME, AND PERFORMANCE - heightening of IRONY AND ___________
melodrama
popular Hindi films tend toward _________: sharp oppositions of good and evil, obvious emotion
orientalism
process whereby Western culture constructs the "Orient" as a negative inversion of itself
1960
reasons for reemergence of compilation soundtracks in late _____s: - studios aim for the underdeveloped youth market - recruit a young "film school generation" and give them a new degrees of artistic license
Martin Scorsese
rejects cinema verite uses of music (to locate a scene correctly in a particular place and time)
compilation soundtrack
selecting and gathering music from preexisting, often varied, sources
contrasting
starting in the 1970s, musical styles become more representative of ____________ identities, classes, and social-ethnic groups
exoticism
the charm and allure of the unfamiliar; "THE REPRESENTATION OF ONE CULTURE FOR THE CONSUMPTION BY ANOTHER"
(the) gaze
the visual manifestation of power; one who looks in a position of power over one who is looked at
(the) Coen (brothers)
use music: - ironically, for winking reference to pop culture - sincerely, for its traditional narrative significance - warmly, to LEND HUMANITY AND EMOTIONAL WEIGHT TO THEIR COOL VISUAL STYLE AND DARK MISANTHROPIC STORIES - affectionately, to HONOR SPECIFIC AMERICAN MUSICIANS AND STYLES
David Lynch
uses popular music not simply as an old-fashioned cue for fantasy but as a screen upon which fantasy is projected - relies heavily on SOUND, sends a lot of STUFF TO THE SUBWOOFER