Office Rocket Assignment

By Michael Farnell

COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY CMM1108

CM1108 MUSIC IN FILM AND VIDEO

INTRODUCTION 2

HISTORY 3

HISTORY (CON‘T) 4

FILM COMPOSERS 5

FAMOUS FILM COMPOSERS 5

JOHN WILLIAMS 5

HOWARD SHORE 6

THOMAS NEWMAN 7

DESIGN RATIONALE 8

REFERENCES 9

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INTRODUCTION
Film and video relies on music to help captivate an audience and get them emotionally involved.
While some films and video productions use popular music as their soundtrack, the bigger budget,
more ―epic‖ productions will use original music written specifically for certain scenes, known as a film
score. Film scores are generally instrumental, and
performed by an orchestra, allowing for a more dramatic
and emotional experience for the audience. The
following report looks into the history of film scores, and
famous composers and the movies they were involved
in.

Film music can be defined as music either directly
composed or expressly chosen to accompany motion
pictures. As a practice, it is as old as cinema itself – the
very first projected images in many places around the
globe either captured a musical performance or was
accompanied by one. Even in those places where
accompaniment did not initially attend motion pictures,
it would soon do so. Film music has been both live and Image Retrieved from:
http://splodinpandas.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/c
recorded, both newly composed and compiled from onducting.jpg
existing sources, both meticulously orchestrated and
produced spontaneously through improvisation. It does not operate in exactly the same way across
time, across culture, and sometimes even within cultures. Across the board, however, it is
characterized by its power to define meaning and to express emotion: film music guides our response
to the images and connects us to them.

(Kalinak, 2010)

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HISTORY
The root of music in film harks back to the Greek melodrams (the precursor in both literal language
and event to the melodramas of today), a cross between a play and fledgling opera in which spoken
word is accompanied by music. As time passed, melodrams 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.
Wagner's full-fledged support of program music at this time, as opposed to the absolute music that
had previously reigned supreme, resulted in his novel invention of leitmotifs (first used in his Ring
cycle), or themes recurring throughout a work that were meant to evoke associations with an idea,
character, or place. Wagner also put forth his idealistic notion of pairing all of the arts together in an
opera - for example, music (the score), poetry (libretto), and painting (scenery) - without giving
precedence to any of them. He called the finished product a total work of art, or Gesamtkunstwerk,
which was seen as a revolutionary idea at the time, but did not become enormously popular.

Almost three centuries later, Eadweard Muybridge's invention of high speed photography (moving
pictures that captured motion) eventually led to the production of silent films. The first known pairing
of music with film, however, did not occur until December 28, 1895, when a Parisian family, the
Lumieres, gave a screening with piano accompaniment to test public reaction to their films.

Muybridge's High Speed Photography.
Retrieved from: http://www.visualphotos.com/photo/1x7588583/high-speed_sequence_of_a_man_doing_the_high_jump_v8000024.jpg

The idea caught on quickly, and less than two months later entire orchestras were accompanying
films in London theaters. The exact reasoning behind using music in conjunction with the silent film is
the subject of much speculation. Popular opinion among music theorists holds that its purpose was
manifold: to cover up the sound of a noisy projector, and later, when technology quieted the latter, to
alleviate uncomfortable silence.

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HISTORY (CON’T)
Hanns Eisler even proposed that music was used to reassure the
film's viewers of life and take their mind off of their own mortality in
the face of the ghostly presence silent actors onscreen might seem
to represent.

Whatever the case, music at the time was surely not intended to
affect the film's emotional import. Film music during this period
was unanimously seen as secondary to the visual aspects of the
film itself; thus, the compositions played ranged from light popular
music to traditional classical, with no relation to the subject of the
film whatsoever.

The first rudimentary step in using music meant to evoke or
enhance emotion in films came some years later (directors had
finally began to realize that unrelated music detracted from the Hanns Eisler.
movies in which they were used) in the form of music handbooks, Retrieved from: http://userserve-
ak.last.fm/serve/252/526581.jpg
compendiums of musical themes meant to suit a particular action,
style, scene, or mood, drawing 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.'"

Although audiences were not always aware of the exact names of these themes, the action onscreen
usually gave viewers ideas to associate with them, making the music programmatic by default.

In the next 20 years, production developments enabled films to be produced at breakneck speed,
necessitating speedy score composition. Sometimes there was simply not enough time to compose a
unique score, so film composers began to rely on "a large number of habits, formulas, and clichés . . .
[including] the brass-blasting Main Title . . . the love theme, and the glamorizing of heroines by the use
of 'beautiful' string motifs . . . the underscoring of natural cataclysms such as earthquakes and forest
fires."

(Shipon, 2006)

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FILM COMPOSERS
The process of composing a film score depends upon a number of factors; institutional practices and
the circulation of power within them (large studio systems like Hollywood, where composers are part
of an assembly-line mode of production, versus Bollywood, where music directors developed
considerable freedom in the production of the score, and many enjoy celebrity status); the
relationships at work on a given film (longtime collaborations between directors and composers, for
example, Steven Speilbery and John Williams, or Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Per Raben); the
power of the director and his or her interest in determining the musical score (Akira Kurosawa, John
Ford, Jean-Luc Godard, and Wong Kar-wai are just a few directors who have had an active hand in
shaping scores for their films; and the individual personalities and proclivities of the composers
themselves (Such as the notoriously prickly Bernard Herrmann who insisted, ―I have the final say
about my music otherwise I refuse to do the music for the film‖).

(Kalinak, 2010)

Famous Film Composers
John Williams
If you asked most people to name one movie composer,
they would probably pick John Williams. Perhaps no
other composer is so well identified with his work, be it
the theme from Star Wars, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost
Ark, or any number of other blockbusters. Williams'
long, productive, and rewarding career (five Academy
Awards) can certainly stand on its own merits. Yet his
success is tightly interwoven with the many fine films of
director Steven Spielberg, no slouch himself in the
awards department (three Academy Awards). This
crisply-recorded collection of Williams' music from
Spielberg films has a wide dynamic range and full
presence, due to the excellent acoustics of Boston's
Symphony Hall and an outstanding performance by the
Boston Pops Orchestra, conducted by Williams himself.

There's a wide selection of music in this collection,
ranging from an energetic rendition of "The Raider's John Williams.
March" from Raiders of the Lost Ark to the lush Retrieved from
melodies of the http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
b/b8/John_Williams_tux.jpg

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"Theme" from Always, as well as the soaring "Adventures on Earth" from E.T. To get a

crash course in the craft of this fine composer, go directly to "Out to Sea" and "The Shark Cage
Fugue," from Jaws. Sit down and hold on tight as a light and airy nautical

tune transforms itself into a dark and predatory fugal theme that swirls through the entire orchestra
before resolving into a crashing climax.

If there is any problem with this recording, it's that it can't cover all of Williams' many fine scores, in
particular his more recent works. Still, it's a great place to start!

Howard Shore
Composers dream of getting a
canvas as big as The Lord of The
Rings to work with. Howard Shore
has delivered a massive work in
the romantic orchestral tradition
that is every bit as evocative and
moving as the glorious landscapes
and massive battles of this history-
making film trilogy. Throughout
the entire trilogy Shore has
crafted, intertwined, and reworked
musical themes that carry forward
the emotion and action of the
story. Listeners love it, as the Howard Shore.
soundtracks for the LOTR movies Retrieved from http://cdn.mos.totalfilm.com/images/h/howard-shore-will-return-to-
score-the-hobbit-470-75.jpg
have been regular visitors at the
top of the classical music sales charts. There's little doubt that the music of these movies will be well
studied (and often imitated) in years to come.

With three excellent soundtracks to choose from it was difficult to decide which to include in this
compilation. I chose 2001's Fellowship of the Ring since it is the starting point from which the music
of all the films flows. In Fellowship, the style and scale of the music is firmly established and most of
the main themes are presented. Of course, there's no reason you shouldn't listen to all three
soundtracks! The London Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studio, tackles
the music with real vigor, and the recordings invariably sound excellent, whether presenting light and
delicate passages or delivering massive orchestral thunder strokes. To see how well your system can
reproduce dense and extremely heavy passages, go to "The Bridge of Khazad Dum" and see if your
subwoofer can keep up with the pounding percussion.

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Thomas Newman
I'll be the first to admit that this one of my favorite movies of the 1990s, and Thomas (cousin of
Randy) Newman's great music is one of the reasons why. The innovative and evocative score for The
Shawshank Redemption (1994) mixes electronics, piano, percussion, and orchestra to create a
mysterious, moody, and dark soundscape — an excellent match for this prison drama.

Shawshank displays many of the
elements that make Newman's
music so distinctive. For a quick
taste of this, go to the track
"Shawshank Redemption." Listen
carefully as eerie synthesized and
sampled effects loom behind the
dark, slow-moving melody, then
allow yourself to be swept up as the
music rises to a climax, only to fade
away as enigmatically as it
appeared. Although Newman's use
of electronic effects and odd-
sounding combinations of Thomas Newman.
instruments is a hallmark of his Retrieved from: http://amuse.laurakress.com/wp-
work, he can also craft a fine includes/images/wlw/ThomasNewman_ADEA/thomas_newman2.jpg

melody. Listen to the affecting and
sentimental "End Title" — a nice piece of "Americana" style composing. The album will provide an
excellent test of your systems ability to reproduce quiet passages with depth and detail. To really
experience the full effect of Newman's music, program your CD player to skip tracks 6, 12, and 16 —
these tracks are non-original pieces of source music that are important to the story of the film, but
seem out of place next to Newman's music. By the end, you'll feel you've completed a rewarding
journey, guided by a talented composer.

(Nail, 2004)

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DESIGN RATIONALE
As soon as I had chosen my topic on ‗Music in Film and Video‘, I knew the page layout and theme I
wanted to go with. I wanted a classical look, to go with the classical nature of film scoring, with an in
your face, modern twist. I also made sure I took into account readability, and my target audience to
keep the reader interested.

First I chose the colour scheme, an off yellow being my first choice as I associate it with the sepia
tone you‘d find in some of the first colour films. I then chose a bluey-green colour to reflect the
modern colour of films, as popular movies like Twilight use a similar looking colour effect in their
movies (Robsessed, 2008). When first researching the topic, I came across a website called Film
Score Monthy (Film Score Monthly, 2001), which used a similar sepia yellow colour scheme, mixed
with a red colour (a common colour associated with movie theatres). I thought the yellow worked well,
but the red over powered it too much, hence why I chose a cooler, and more relatable colour to go
with the sepia yellow.

To add to this colour scheme, for the cover page and page borders, I added a cracked effect using a
brush in photoshop, to decaying, old timely effect, but also an effect used a lot by modern graphic
designers.

When choosing the font, I wanted a clear and easy to read sans serif font, so chose a default text in
MS Word, Franklin Gothic Medium. But to introduce something different, I wanted the headings to be
a different font not in the default list, and went with Orbon Black ITC. Again it is a sans serif to keep it
to one look (I don‘t like mixing serif‘s and sans serif‘s), and I thought it was quite bold and stood out
well over the body text.

For the page layout I kept to the A4 paper size as it‘s the perfect size to keep one subject to a page
with a picture or two and a big enough heading. To keep a linking theme throughout the report, I
included a top border at the top, which was cropped from the front cover image. I also added a
transparent background with the heading title on each page, to fill any blank spaces on the pages
that didn‘t have enough content to fill the full page. I used single coloumns text layout to work with
the narrow A4 portrait page layout, as I believe 2 or more coloumn layouts are best used for wider
page sizes.

As film scoring is usually associated with an older generation, I wanted to give the layout a classical
look, but as this may also be used in a teaching environment, I also wanted it to appeal to a younger
generation of students.

In keeping with these design techniques, I was able to achieve the look I was going for, and believe it
is quite pleasing on the eye, while also making it clear and simple to read for the target audience.

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REFERENCES
Film Score Monthly. (2001). Retrieved from http://www.filmscoremonthly.com

Robsessed. (2008, August 11). Retrieved from http://www.robsessedpattinson.com/2008/11/twilight-clip-forrest-
scene-hq-screen.html

Kalinak, K. (2010). Film Music: A Very Short Introduction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Nail, K. (2004). 10 Great Movie Composers. Retrieved from Crutchfield: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-
T17szUDNVoD/learn/reviews/20040427/movie_composers.html

Shipon, J. (2006). History of Music in Film: Analysis of How & Why Film Scores Enhance the Emotional Import of Films:
Citizen Kane. Retrieved from Associated Content:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/31632/history_of_music_in_film_analysis_of.html?cat=7

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