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]