Blog #4

             After watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind, I decided to research more into John Williams. The Soul of Cinema has a very informative excerpt about him and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he also wrote very famous scores for Star Wars, Jaws, and E.T. He is a talented man, no wonder he works closely with Steven Spielberg. Close Encounters and the Star Wars films are perfect expressions of his musical talent. The five note leitmotif used when the scientist and the spacecraft are communicating is simple but memorable. It develops into a complicated and beautiful piece between the tuba and oboe. Not only was this one of my favorite films this week, but also my favorite film score from the others we’ve watched throughout this course.

            Unfortunately, we did not watch this film in class but I stumbled upon a section in chapter nine that I though did an excellent explanation of this particular film. In the film A Clockwork Orange I’ve always wondered why the “ultraviolent” scenes were played correspondingly with classical and opera pieces, like the infamous Symphony 9 by Beethoven. Timm makes an excellent point that this technique is a musical oxymoron. Also, after watching the film I noticed how influential the Moog synthesizer was especially in the scenes where Alex is receiving “treatment” for his issues.

            I am very glad we were able to watch Poltergeist this week; I have been looking forward to watching it throughout the course. Goldsmith wrote a phenomenal score for this film. The music and lack of is well placed in the film and adds appropriate suspense, especially during the scene with the toy clown and Carol Anne’s brother. The silence leading up to the clown choking him was nerve wracking and it was hilarious watching it as a class because we were all biting our nails and shielding our eyes before we let out our frightened screams in unison. I was wondering why Goldsmith decided to use the National Anthem twice in the film. I decided that it was symbolizing this “all American” suburbia family, that stood strong together as they helped Carol Anne fight for her freedom from the spirit that held her prisoner in her own house. Timm mentions in the book that in the scene of the mother falls into the unfinished pool is accompanied with music that was used in the middle ages during masses of the dead (pg. 258).

[406]

Blog #3

The film, The Best Years of Our Lives, was not one of my favorite films this week. However, I thought that Hugo Friedhofer wrote an excellent score for the film. I can imagine that many of the scenes proposed a challenge for Friedhofer to create music for; the boys had come back home as men and were faced with many challenges, mentally, physically, and socially. I noticed that many of the scenes with Homer were accompanied with music played in a minor tone. I believe that this represents the repressed emotions that Homer had about his disability. I also think that Friedhofer did an excellent job with the use of source music in the scene with Sergeant Stephenson and Fred Derry. After Stephenson tells Derry that he must leave his daughter alone and cut all communication with her, there is a lot of tension in the film. Then Homer and another man start to play piano in the bar start playing chopsticks in a very happy manor, which I think helps to relieve the tension between the two characters.

                In the film High Noon, I personally believe the lack of violins in the score was a clever choice made by Dimitri Tiomkin. I thought the use of deeper sounding instruments helped create an appropriate mood for the western film. The most noticeable music in the entire film was the obvious leitmotive for Marshal Kane. I also noticed that when Helen Ramirez was on the screen, the music had a slight latin feel to it, but then it would ease back into the original song that was played with different tones and different tempos throughout the film. I mainly noticed it though whenever Marshal Kane was walking around the town or looking for the “bad guys.” This was one of my favorite films and I was very impressed with Tiomkin. In this film he successfully manipulated the music to bring more character and life to the film. It is no wonder he is one of Hollywood’s distinguished and well-known composers.

Although I’m extremely biased when it comes to Coppola films, (The Godfather is and will remain, in my opinion, one of the best films of all time) American Graffiti was an excellently done film.  The score was a nice change from a full orchestral score, which is all we’ve heard up to this point. Although at points I was distracted by the lyrics in the songs other than watching the film, which I don’t really like to do. [417]

Top Hat, White Tie and Tails oh my!

Erich Wolfgang Korngold is an Oscar winning composer for Warner Bros’ and receives great compliments on his film score for The Adventures of Robin Hood. He created a beautiful symphonic score and his, like many other film scores dating from the “Golden Age” of Hollywood, has been considered one of the best film scores ever written. Personally, I loved the music and like I expected, the music embodied the actions on the screen. Robin Hood’s motif was very noticeable with its major chords. It added a sort of happiness to the fight scenes because the music conveyed a sense of heroism for Robin, especially when he was winning (which was often) a fight.  My favorite scene from this film was the romantic moment between Lady Marian and Robin. The music had a wonderful effect on the scene and created a good balance to the ample amounts of action music. As much of a romantic person as I am, I definitely enjoyed the action in the movie which was amplified by the fast tempo and upbeat music that accompanied the sword fighting and table- throwing in the film.  There is no wondering why Korngold received an Academy Award for the film score; it was captivating, filled with mickey mousing, and had emotion woven into it.

Top Hat has become one of my favorite films; I’ve already downloaded most of the soundtrack to my ipod. The music was lively and essentially all in a major chord especially “Cheek to Cheek.”  It has become my favorite song due to its melodic tune, dynamic structure, and predominately major format. The only minor part in the song is when Jerry sings “dance with me, I want my arms about you.”  The tap dancing in the film was very original and I thought it added a personal touch. It displayed the actor’s talents; singings, dancing, tap dancing, and acting! If only actors today had as much talent. Irving Berlin did a wonderful job creating a film score that captured and enhanced the actor’s ability to convince the audience of their developing romance. The casting of Fred Astaire as Jerry was a brilliant choice, especially since he has worked with Berlin before and is especially known for “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” Irving Berlin did an excellent job writing the score for this film. He is a talented composer, like many others in his time. It is his success and natural talent that sets him apart from other composers.[411]

Catherine Long's Film Music

                While watching A Trip to the Moon and The Great Train Robbery I noticed that both the films had minor toned music throughout a majority of the film. Because I support your conjecture that music can recreate or replace physical and psychological action, I think the creators of the films, Edison and the Lumiere brothers had a good sense of irony about them; like you mentioned in class before, many of the viewers were frightened by the films because certain parts scared them, for example in the last frame of The Great Train Robbery when one of the actors aims and shoots a gun at the camera. I find the irony in the music that accompanied the films. The minor key of music is associated with dark and mysterious emotions, which would heighten the viewer’s fears while they were watching these films. I certainly thought the music that was played with the films was appropriate and enhanced my interest while watching them.

                The Battleship Potemkin did not spark any interest to me unlike the preceding silent films we watched. Perhaps I was not amused by this film because I am not a big fan of war themed movies. The only scene that I found interesting was the one with the crowd fleeing from the soldiers. The repeating jump cuts between the marching soldiers and the crowd running away was intense, especially with the music that was being played. It matched perfectly and helped build emotion for the viewer.  Overall, I did not enjoy watching any other parts of this movie and I thought it was far too long, without any dialogue.

                Out of all the films we watched this week, Singing in the Rain was my favorite. The majority of the music was set in a major key and was all very playful and pleasant to listen to. It appropriately matched the personalities of the characters and the “mickey mousing” was very impressive, especially during the “make ‘em laugh” song. I thought the music was suitably placed in the necessary scenes.

                I will not forget about The Jazz Singer, because it was my second favorite film of the week, probably because the story of the film was so easy to get wrapped up in because I wanted him to be successful and happy.  It was very obvious that as a boy, Jackie wasn’t happy, especially when his father was around, because the foreground music would switch into a minor key, even the songs that the father sung were in a minor key.  The music only became slightly happier sounding when his mother was on screen.  [435]