day seven

The Wicker Man, 1973, Dir. Robin Hardy

     As the 1960s progressed, a major transition developed within American film studios. Big-name studios fell to their demise as the traditional studio structure was inevitably abandoned for smaller, independent studios. These independent studios were sporadically established across the United States and were tailored towards the styles of directors and auteurs. Actors and composers were not contracted to these studios and had the ability to freelance from one to the next. Throughout this transition period, innovation and risks were taken as popular songs were unexpectedly integrated into films. This incorporation was highly marketable towards the studio’s target audience, as many viewers proceeded to purchase the film’s soundtrack. This idea of integrating popular music into films never ceased in popularity and proceeded into the 1970s with the film, The Wicker Man.

     The first accompaniment of music in the film occurs after Sgt. Howie was retrieved from his plane by a local in a row boat. As another local rides his horse past, pop music with lyrics is presented fades into the scene non-diegetically. Although I was unable to decipher the words, I was taken by surprise at how conflicting the music was in correlation to the objective of the film thus far; counterpoint was being utilized with a joyful melody, whereas the mood set forth by Sgt. Howie was solemn as he began his search for a missing child.

     As the film progressed, the sensation of counterpoint was integrated thoroughly; whether it was the young students singing joyously of death and rebirth on a school yard, or the villagers singing blissfully in observance of their holiday as Sgt. Howie was burnt alive as a sacrifice, irony was set forth. Although joyous in presentation, the film is classified as a horror mystery due to the dark undertones that are slowly but surely uncovered, primarily as a result to the films upbeat score and sinister lyrics.

one, John Williams and "The Empire" Strike Back by Kathryn Kalinak

• "'The synthesizer is an extension in musical history the way automobiles were an extension in transportation history," ... the synthesizer has an almost limitless ability to create sound, unique and otherwise, including the ability to duplicate acoustic instruments." (Kalinak, pg. 189)
•  "Williams was, however, the major force in returning the classical score to its late-romantic roots and adapting the symphony orchestra of Steiner and Korngold for the modern recording studio." (Kalinak, pg. 189)
• "There are also important structural characteristics which bind Williams to the classical model: the use of music to sustain unity; a high degree of correspondence between narrative content and musical accompaniment; the use of music in the creation of mood, emotion, and character; the privileging of music in moments of spectacle; a dependence on expressive melody and the use of leitmotifs; and the careful placement of music in relation to the dialogue." (Kalinak, pg. 190)
• Temp tracking: "This is the practice of accompanying the film during the early stages of editing (before the score is composed) with recorded music of various kinds (pop, classical, or even other movie music) to substitute for a score that has yet to be composed." (Kalinak, pg. 191)
• "...Williams' score for The Empire Stirkes Back is steeped in late romanticism: in its expressive use of melody; its exploitation of the effects of instrumentation; its dependence on tonal harmony and especially triadic harmony; and its use of the large-scale resources of the symphony orchestra ... For Williams using a late-romantic sound was :a conscious decision ... music should have a familiar emotional ring so that as you looked at these strange robots and other unearthly creatures, at sights hitherto unseen, the music would be rooted in familiar traditions.'" (Kalinak, pg.198)

midterm essay

Perceptions of Film Music

     The 20^th century has been revolutionary for not only the manner that film music is experienced, but how it’s articulated. It’s not just a matter of watching a film—whether it is silent or possesses sound—but what’s crucial is the understanding of the film and how each of its components works hand in hand to produce the overall picture. Over the years, this sense of value has been examined by contributors to the scene, such as Kathryn Kalinak or Claudia Gorbman, who have produced an immense body of work in the field of film music. This body of work not only describes film music eloquently, but it creates a sense of continuity in the subject matter. Although there is a growing archive of film music writings, conflicting perspectives are inevitable. This essay examines the publication Composing for the Films and how its authors perspectives are not only conflicting with the United States’ film style, but how immensely it diverges from the standpoint of other international film music writers.

     Working collaboratively from Germany to the United States, social philosopher and music critic Theodor Adorno and composer Hanns Eisler, have grown to perceive America as solely producing films for the culture industry, as opposed to creating valued works. This value is dictated by the influence of their German upbringing and is outlined thoroughly in their 1947 publication, Composing for the Films (Gorbman, pg. 99). Within a decade of its publication, the United States released the film All That Heaven Allows, directed by Douglas Sirk. This film illustrates several contrasting notions that Adorno and Eisler touch on in their publication, from the use of leitmotifs to clichés.

     Through Composing for the Films, Adorno and Eisler have come to identify their preference of diegetic music in films. With an ability to see the object that is responsible for the music in the scene, the “visual action in the motion picture [can maintain its] … irregularity and asymmetry.” (Adorno, pg. 28) These irregularities are in reference to the idea that life runs by its own pace and it’s impossible to sync a single action with a series of notes. The film All That Heaven Allows does indeed incorporate several diegetic scenes, such as when Mrs. Scott’s daughter is in her bedroom and selects a jazz station on the radio, but the film is primarily carried by its use of non-diegetic music.

     From Mrs. Scott’s first interaction with Mr. Kirby, an audience is able to identify a leitmotif between the two characters that will inevitably become their love theme. Adorno and Eisler oppose not only the use of non-diegetic music, but the incorporation of a leitmotif. With the love theme returning throughout the film, it indicates to the audience that either Mrs. Scott is thinking of Mr. Kirby, or the two characters will or are currently interacting with one another. Adorno and Eisler perceive “the effective technique of the past thus becomes a mere duplication, ineffective and uneconomical." (Adorno, pg. 28) Additionally, the duet also sees the use of a leitmotif as a loop-hole from writing new material, though that is far from the intent of the love theme in All That Heaven Allows.

     Very much like the notion of diegetic music, Adorno and Eisler favor the concept of being able to experience a moment as if it were actually occurring. When it comes to the idea of visual justification, Adorno and Eisler have grown to "fear that the use of music at a point when it would be completely impossible in a real situation will appear naive or childish … Music becomes a plot accessory, a sort of acoustical stage property." (Adorno, pg. 30) Whether it may be the suspenseful accompaniment that is present when Mrs. Scott tells Mr. Kirby that their relationship is over, or the first time that their love theme is introduced, the music feeds into the scene atmospherically. Although such complementary music would not be present in a real life situation, it places the viewer into an intimate perspective, one in which they can better understand the characters, their moods, and truly empathize with them.

     In addition to visual contributions, Adorno and Eisler have extended their critique on film making to the topic of illustration. The duet describes how:

"Music must follow visual incidents and illustrate them either by directly imitating them or by using clichés that are associated with the mood and content of the picture ... the associative patterns are so familiar that there is really no illustration of anything, but only the elicitation of the automatic response." (Adorno, pg. 31)

     While there is a deer that majestically appears outside of the miller’s cabin the afternoon Mr. Kirby asks Mrs. Scott to marry him, and again when she returns to his side at the end of the film, there isn’t any extreme implication that the characters are at a, “ranch to which the virile hero has eloped with the sophisticated heroine [who are] accompanied by forest murmurs and a flute melody.” (Adorno, pg. 31) Though there is music, it’s their love theme that is playing, reminding the audience of their relationship and pure feelings for one another.

     Several decades after Adorno and Eisler published Composing for the Films, a French composer by the name of Michel Chion emerged on the film music scene. In 1999, Chion released The Acousmetre, a publication that described the influence of sound and the relationship it has with both the presence and absence of visuals. Although there are uncanny similarities between the two publications, there’s an array of concepts that diverge exponentially from to the next.

     When considering the 1964 film Lady in a Cage, there are elements of the film that are

favorable to both sets of authors. From Adorno and Eisler’s perspective, the element that would be of most significance is the immense amount of diegetic sounds that blend themselves into the film’s atmosphere. Whether it is the telephone ringing, or the consistent exertion from the emergency bell, there are an immense amount of sounds in the film’s environment that have identifiable sources. In contrast, there are several personable moments that a viewer experiences non-diegetic music and sounds that coincide with Chion’s publication. Whether it may be Mrs. Hilyard talking to herself metadiegetically, or the addition of suspenseful music when she stabs one of the intruders, these scenes illustrate how, “The sense of hearing is as subtle as it is archaic. We most often relegate it to the limbo of the unnamed; something you hear causes you to feel X, but you can't put exact words to it." (Chion, pg. 17) Each of these moments evokes emotion in a viewer, such as sympathy or discomfort.

     Lady in a Cage also bridges the gap between the two texts by the use of several of the same scenes. One  scene to recognize is where Mrs. Hilyard hears someone or something enter the house after her continuous cries for help through the emergency bell, but they fail to respond to her questions as she hears them rummage around. To Mrs. Hilyard, this individual has come to rescue her, but what the viewer knows is that the individual who has entered the home has ill intentions and is only present to steal from her. "As long as the spectator's eye has not "verified" the co-incidence of the voice with the mouth … de-acousmatization is incomplete, and the voice remains an aura of invulnerability and magical power." (Chion, pg. 28) The element of Mrs. Hilyard’s blindness to the thief is in the manner of Chion, where at this particular moment, the thief possesses an aura of invulnerability; whereas Adorno and Eisler would favor how the viewer possesses the understanding that a thief is responsible for the noises coming from the kitchen.

     Furthermore is the 1977 film, Suspiria. The publications of Adorno and Eisler, as well as Chion can be articulated by the music and sound effects from various scenes of the film. From the scene that a young, blonde woman arrives at the home of an Italian woman and is insisted to stay until morning, a viewer is first reintroduced to Chion’s perspective where the unseen holds a superior authority to any visible beings. This is illustrated by the young woman’s hesitation to freshen up in the restroom, as it seems someone or something is watching her. With this sensation in mind, the windows burst open and are then closed by the Italian host. From this moment on, a transition occurs and Adorno and Eisler’s perspective is exploited. When the young woman looks out the window again, a pair of glowing eyes appear and a hand punches through the window and grabs a hold of her. The source of her screams, as well as the shattering window can be identified as they are both seen—regardless that the murderer is only partially visible. For the remainder of the scene, Chion’s perspective is returned to, while Goblin’s music enters the scene and feeds to the panicked atmosphere. Meanwhile, the Italian host is frantically attempting to enter the restroom as she has no idea what has occurred or who or what the perpetrator of the attack may be, allowing the aura of the unknown to remain towards her character.

      While there are a handful of differences present within the art of film making and scoring between the Germans, the United States, and the French, a combination between any of the above will shed light on each culture’s similarities if one pays close attention. It’s subjective to argue whose perspective is right amongst the three, as each culture will directly influence the perspectives of their constituents. What we are left with is a platform, where the critiques and rules for film music are left collectively and it’s the responsibility of the reader to decipher the author’s intent, as influenced by the time period and their cultural upbringing.

Works Cited

Adorno, Theodor, Hans Eisler and Kay Dickinson. Movie Music: The Film Reader “Prejudices
     and Bad Habits.” London: Routledge, 2003. Print.
Chion, Michel. The Voice in Cinema. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1999. Print.
Gorbman, Claudia. Unheard Melodies. London: BFI Books, 1987. Print.

days five and six

All That Heaven Allows, 1955, Dir. Douglas Sirk

     Throughout the 1955 film, All That Heaven Allows, there’s an even balance present between diegetic and non-diegetic music. Whenever Mrs. Scott is placed in an ordinary and expected situation for a woman in the 1950s, the music affiliated with the activity is diegetic. Whether it’s the music on the radio her daughter selects, or the background music at the country club, a source can be identified. Moreover, when Mrs. Scott is placed in foreign territory, a shift occurs in the music from diegetic to non-diegetic. This shift can be foreseen as Mrs. Scott’s transition from her reality, where one can see all that’s around, to a fantasy life that isn’t as clear and concise, but vivacious.

     The non-diegetic music of the film can be associated to Mrs. Scott’s perception of love. As Harvey asks for her hand in marriage after their evening at the country club, a hesitant and distant theme accompanies the characters’ proceeding dialogue and actions. Soon after, when the remainder of her yard work has been completed by Mr. Kirby, he asks her to visit his green house. This is the second time non-diegetic music is used to portray Mrs. Scott’s perception of love, and ultimately becomes their leitmotif. Their leitmotif is an uplifting concerto that bounces back and forth from a lead pianist and violinist. This leitmotif carries through the rest of the film, although it takes a hiatus from the moment Mrs. Scott calls off their engagement, to the instant she visits the the miller house after the holidays. As the primary source of music throughout the film, variations of the score do occur. As an example from the scene Mrs. Scott calls off her engagement, suspense is articulated with the music’s key change, as well as by the tremolo applied to the violin line when she states “it’s all over.”

 

Lady in a Cage, 1964, Dir. Walter Grauman

     As the 1960s began to take shape, American films were drastically transitioning. Methods of production began to shift as the big-name studios fell from power, and out spouted an immense amount of independent studios throughout the nation. Not only would this create a grand sense of competition, but it would additionally wipe the notion that studios are identified by a certain type of film genre or technique.

     During this period of transition, prominent film techniques experienced a drastic transformation as well. The balance between music and visuals has deteriorated from the principles set forth by mutual implication and in turn, an audience is left with minimal music accompaniment. This lack of music evokes the feeling that the events that are occurring throughout the film are realistic and could be experienced on a day-to-day basis outside of the theatre. In the film Lady in a Cage, the music is minimal and primarily occurs diegetically. My perception of the film was greatly influenced by the opening credits and the manner in which it was completed. Although the opening theme successfully set the stage for the anxiety the film would induce in its viewers, what was more influential were the visual effects added in post-production. All of the abstract shapes that were incorporated were reminiscent of suprematism, an art movement prominent in Russia after 1913. The intention of the movement was to induce a sense of pure feeling from the most basic visual components of shapes and colors, which can be seen in Malevich’s video work, Suprematism. With the lack of music in Lady in a Cage, this same sensation of pure feeling is present as the protagonist is representative of this ordinary façade that is able to pull empathy from its audience as she’s the only morally competent individual in the film.

     Refocusing our attention to the diegetic music of the film, I feel as if the scenes affiliated with the music-playing cigar box could easily be a synopsis for the film. The melody creates a pure and innocent feeling, although the events that are transpiring are quite the opposite. This melody is experienced three times throughout the film: first when the son leaves home, second when Elaine is dancing in the living room and third during the murder. In a sense, the three events can continually circulate in that same order as the idea of death is prominent in the mind of the Mrs. Hilyard’s son. The same child-like feeling can also be representative of Mrs. Hilyard as an individual, as she’s oblivious and helpless throughout the film, in the same manner a child that is lost and unknowledgeable of their surroundings would be.

one, My Huckleberry Friend: Mancini, "Moon River," and Breakfast at Tiffany's by Jeff Smith

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two, TV Jazz--For Good or Ill? by John Tynan

•  "'People are beginning to accept more and more the principle of humor in advertising. What we're after is to make our commercials humorous and musically memorable. We've found that people remember our jingles and sing them because of the good jazz beat.'" (Tynan, pg. 2)
• "Prevailing scale for AFM (American Federation of Musicians) members on such dates is $27 a sideman for the first hour and $18 an hour after that. If the spot commercial is used on TV and radio,t he musicians get a double check. But residuals are out of the question." (Tynan, pg. 2)
• "What is the AFM doing about correcting this situation? Max Herman, vice president of Los Angeles Local 47, blames it all on Cecil Read's Musicians Guild of America, which he says, is holding up acceptance of new contracts containing residual provisions "Because they want to be the bargaining agent.'" (Tynan, pg. 3)

three, Prejudices and Bad Habits by Theodor Adorno and Hans Eisler

• "All art, as a means of filling out leisure time, has become entertainment, although it absorbs materials and forms of traditional autonomous art as part of the so-called "cultural heritage." ... Art that does not yield is completely shut off from consuption and driven into isolation. Everything is taken apart, robbed of its real meaning, and then put together again. The only criterion of this procedure is that of reaching the consumer as effectively as possible. Manipulated art is consumer's art." (Adorno, pg. 46)
• "A discussion of industrialized culture must show the interaction of these two factors: the aesthetic potentialities of mass art in the future and its ideological character at present." (Adorno, pg. 47)
• The leitmotif:
• "...they are also a practical help to the composer in his task of composition under pressure. He can quote where he otherwise would have to invent ... The atomization of the musical element is paralleled by the heroic dimensions of the composition as a whole. Ths relation is entirely absent in the motion picture, which requires continual interruption of one element by another rather than continuity ... The effective technique of the past thus becomes a mere duplication, ineffective and uneconomical." (Adorno, pg. 27)
• Melody and euphony:
• "Melody was conceived as the opposite of the "theme" ... It denotes a tonal sequence, constituting not so much the point of departure of a composition as a self-contained entity that is easy to listen to, singable, and expressive." (Adorno, pg. 28)
• "'Natural" melody is a figment of the imagination, an extremely relative phenomenon illegitimately absolutized, neither an obligatory nor a priori constituent of the material, but one procedure among many, singled out for exclusive use ... All music in the motion picture is under the sign of utility, rather than lyric expressiveness." (Adorno, pg. 28)
• "As a result, there is a gap between what is happening on the screen and the symmetrically articulated conventional melody. A photographed kiss can not actually be synchronized with an eight-bar phrase. The disparity between symmetry and asymmetry becomes particularly striking when music is used to accompany natural phenomena..." (Adorno, pg. 28)
•  Inobstrusiveness:
• "One of the most widespread prejudices in the motion-picture industry is the premise that the spectator should not be conscious of the music ... Music thus far has not been treated in accordance with its specific potentialities. It is tolerated as an outsider who is somehow regarded as being indespensable, partly because of a genuine need and partly on account of the fetishistic idea that the existing technical resources must be exploited to the fullest extent ... the music is supposed to be inconspicuous in the same sense as are selections from La Boheme played in a restaurant." (Adorno, pg. 29)
• Visual justification:
• "The fear that the use of music at a point when it would be completely impossible in a real situation will appear naive or childish, or impose upon the listener an effort of imagination that might distract him from the main issue, leads to attempts ot justify this use in a more or less rationalistic way ... Music becomes a plot accessory, a sort of acoustical stage property." (Adorno, pg. 30)
•  Illustration:
•  "Music must follow visual incidents and illustrate them either by directly imitating them or by using cliches that are associated with the mood and content of the picture ... The ranch to which the virile hero has eloped with the sophisticated heroine is accompanied by forest murmurs and a flute melody ... the associative patterns are so familiar that there is really no illustration of anything, but only the elicitation of the automatic response: "Aha, nature!'" (Adorno, pg. 31)
• "But in the cinema, both picture and dialogue are hyperexplicit. Conventional music can add nothing to the explicitness, but instead may detract from it, since even the worst pictures standardized musical effects fail to keep up with the concrete elaboration of the screen action." (Adorno, pg. 31)
• "Musical illustration should either be hyperexplicit itself--over-illuminating, so to speak, and thereby interpretive--or should be omitted.," (Adorno, pg. 31)
•  Geography and history:
• "Here music is used in much the same way as costumes or sets, but without as strong a characterizing effect. A composer can attain something more convincing by writing a tune of his own on the basis of a village dance for little Dutch girls than he can by clinging to the original." (Adorno, pg. 31)
•  "Related to this is the practice of investing costume pictures with music of the corresponding historical period. This recalls concerts in which hoop-skirted elderly ladies play tedious pre-Bach harpsichord pieces by candlelight in baroque palaces. The absurdity of such "applied art" arrangements is glaring in contrast with the technique of the film, which is of necessity modern." (Adorno, pg. 32)
• Cliches:
•  "Today the whole-tone scale is stuffed into the introduction of every popular hit, yet in motion pictures it continues to be used as if it had just seen the light of day. thus the means employed and the effect achieved are completely proportionate. Such a disproportion can have a certain charm when, as in animated cartoons, it serves to stress the absurdity of something impossible ... But the whole-tone scale so overworked in the amusement industry can no longer cause anyone really to shudder." (Adorno, pg. 33)
• Standardized interpretation:
• "[On standardization of dynamics] The different degrees of strength are levelled and blurred to a general mezzoforte--incidentally, this practice is qute  analogous to the habits of the mixer in radio broadcasting. The main purpose here is the production of a comfortable and polished euphony, which neither startles by its power (fortissimo) nor requires attentive listening because of its weakness (pianissimo)." (Adorno, pg. 33)
• "The perpetually used espressivo has become completely work out. Even effective dramatic incidents are made trite by oversweet accompaniment or offensive overexposition. A "middle-ground," objective musical type of interpretation that resorts to the espressivo only where it is really justified could by its economy greatly enhance the effectiveness of motion-picture music." (Adorno, pg. 34)

four, Eisler/Adorno's Critique by Claudia Gorbman

• "The administrative rationalization of culture has led to the standardizing of cultural production: works produced in this system share a "sameness" as they serve and affirm the existing order ... The culture industry produces standardized works for mass consumption, materials that serve as "entertainment." The artwork has become a product, a commodity, and its value is judged solely in terms of its exchange-value." (Gorbmon, pg. 101)
• "Motion-picture production is entirely divorced from that living contact with the audience, which is still operative in every stage performance; the alleged will of the public is manifested only indirectly, through the box-office receipts, that is to say, in a completely reified form." (Eisler, pg. 106)
• "A contradiction inheres in the cinema: between the remoteness of its mass production, and the immediate, "here and now" quality of its images. The studio further plans a film not for the meaning of its component details in the film's formal whole, but for their immediate audience effects. Cultural values, not the filmic form, mediate textual details. It is presumed that audiences desire formulas and tried-and-proven effects: details that bear instant, automatic signification and which may be "read," and thus consumed, with ease and passivity." (Gorbmon, pg. 106)
• "[Gorbmon's to Eisler/Adorno Critique on studio music] First, such music aims directly at "suturing" (immediacy) effects, along with other standard devices such as the close-up, the matching of sound and image, and continuity editing. Music aids and abets the standard film's illusion of reality, of immediate life--the illusion that we are not mechanized ... Eisler would wish for a film-musical practice that would lay bare the image's mediated nature; instead, the classical film masks it." (Gorbmon, pg. 106)
• "The swell of emotion music can provoke, the epic dimension it can contribute to the experience of the narrative event, is put to calculated use in Hollywood. This use masks a contradiction: between music's "direct relationship to a collectivity," and its rationalized, technified deployment in commercial film." (Gorbmon, pg, 108)
• "As we have seen, the classical film score encourages identification: emotional proximity through the use of culturally familiar musical language and through a matching, an identity of sound and image which masks contradictions and posits a wholeness with which to identify unproblematically as subject. It is this situation that Adorno and Eisler criticize most insistently. Elsewhere Adorno puts such music in its place: "Identification with it compensates for the universal defeat that is the law of each individual life. Just as poor old women shed tears at a wedding of strangers, the consumed music is the eternal strangers' wedding for all.'" (Gorbmon, pg. 108)

five, The Acousmêtre by Michel Chion

• "Human vision, like that of cinema, is partial and directional. hearing, though, is omnidirectional ... Sight is generally what we rely on for orientation, because the naming and recognition of forms is vastly more subtle and precise in visual terms than with any other channel of perception." (Chion, pg. 17)
• "The sense of hearing is as subtle as it is archaic. We mot often relegate it to the limbo of the unnamed; something you hear causes you to feel X, but you can't put exact words to it." (Chion, pg. 17)
• "Acousmatic, specifies an old dictionary, "is said of a sound that is heard without its cause or source being seen." ... Since his term is ambiguous, we prefer to speak of visualized listening. The talking film naturally began with visualized sound (often called synchronous or onscreen sound). But it quickly turned to experimenting with acousmatic sound--not only music but more importantly the voice." (Chion, pg. 18)
• "We should emphasize that between one (visualized) situation and the other (acousmatic) one, it's not the sound that changes its nature, presence, distance, or color. What changes is the relationship between what we see and what we hear. The murderer's voice is just as well-defined when we don't see him as in any shot where we do. When we listen to a film without watching it, it is impossible to distinguish acousmatic from visualized sounds solely on the basis of the soundtrack. Just listening, without the images, "acousmatizes" all the sounds, if they retain no trace of their initial relation to the image. (And in this case, the aggregate of sounds heard becomes a true "sound track," a whole)." (Chion, pg. 19)
• "When the acousmatic presence is a voice, and especially when this voice has not yet been visualized--that is, when we cannot yet connect it to a face--we get a special being, a kidn of talking and acting shadow to which we attach the name acousmetre.  A person you talk to on the phone, who you've never seen, is an acousmetre. If you have ever seen her ... [it's] of another kind, which we'll call the already visualized acousmetre." (Chion, pg. 21)
• "Being involved in the image means that the voice doesn't merely speak as an observer (as commentary), but that it bears witth the image a relationship of possible inclusion, a relationship of power and possession capable of functioning in both directions' the image may contain the voice, or the voice may contain the image." (Chion, pg. 23)
• "The acousmetre, as we have noted, cannot occupy the removed position of commentator, the voice of the magic lantern show. He must, even if only slightly, have one foot in the image, in the space of the filmj' he must haunt the borderlands that are neither the interior of the filmic stage nor the proscenium--a place that has no name, but which the cinema forever brings into play." (Chion, pg. 24)
•  "[On the powers of the acousmetre] The powers are four: the ability to be everywhere, to see all, to know all, and to have complete power. In other words: ubiquity, panopticism, omniscience, and omnipotence." (Chion, pg. 24)
• "The acousmetre is everywhere, its voice comes from an immaterial and non-localized body, and it seems that no obstacle can stop it." (Chion, pg. 24)
• "The acousmetre is all-seeing, its word is like the word of God: "No creature can hide from it.'" (Chion, pg. 24)
• "The acousmetre's omniscience and omnipotence ... [Seeing all] implies knowing all; knowledge has been assimilated into the capacity to see internally. Also implied is omnipotence, or at the least the possession of certain powers whose nature or extent can vary..." (Chion, pg. 27)
• "The most disconcerting, in fact, is not when we attribute unlimited knowledge to the acousmetre, but rather when its vision and knowledge have limits whose dimensions we do not know. The idea of a god who sees and knows all ... is almost natural. Much more disturbing is the idea of a god or being with only partial powers and vision, whose limits are not known." (Chion, pg. 26)
• "As long as the face and mouth have not been completely revealed, and as long as the spectator's eye has not "verified" the co-incidence of the voice with the mouth (a verification which needs only to be approximate), de-acousmatization is incomplete, and the voice remains an aura of invulnerability and magical power." (Chion, pg. 28)

day four

Vertigo, 1958, Dir. Alfred Hitchcock

     As the 1950s began to take shape, the studios were concerned with the sudden availability of televisions in the household. In an effort to retain interest in the theatres, films of the 1950s took advantage of the three components home televisions were incapable of: cinemascope, color, and a large orchestra. Considering the latter, Bernard Herrmann was responsible for developing the score for the 1958 film, Vertigo.

     With modernity taking way by the 1950s, Herrmann develops an innovative response mechanism for his work. With the introduction of a single or pair of notes, he will create a reaction towards the notes that will reside in the space—also known as catch and release. This effect can me most notably seen at the beginning of the film as the credits are rolling; the theme compelled me immediately into the film as the audio’s winding sensation pulled me into the work, almost like a formal invitation to experience it. Traditionally, a theme that is introduced during the credits sheds light on the development of a character’s leitmotif. Herrmann is no stranger to this rule and the theme can be identified as Judy’s leitmotif. A viewer will experience this leitmotif most optimally at the end of the film, when Judy is identified and brought to the bell tower of the same Spanish church the real Madeleine plummeted from. The sensation of winding plays hand in hand with the scene, as both Judy and Scottie are progressively circling upwards in the tower, as well as Scottie’s ability to connect the events that had transpired and identify what really occurred the afternoon of the real Madeleine’s death. With the use of a rather unusual orchestra arrangement—a sea of stringed instruments—Herrmann simulates the same essence of the trance Madeleine/Judy experienced with his score.

day three, large-scale studio productions

Now, Voyager, 1942, Dir. Irving Rapper

     Throughout the 1942 film Now, Voyager, there are two primary leitmotifs that run throughout the duration of the film. The first is experienced from the introduction of the film through Charlotte’s admission into Dr. Jaquith’s institution; the tune emits a soft palette of sound that produces the feeling of hesitation—which is complementary to Charlotte’s state of mind when walking down the staircase to see her mother and again when Dr. Jaquith is present in her room. Moreover, the second leitmotif a viewer experiences in the film not only follows the film for the remainder of its duration, but it also depicts the relationship between Charlotte and Jerry. The love theme first appears when Charlotte and Jerry are traveling on boat to South America and at one of the stops, the pair travel through the city in hopes of finding presents for his two children at home. While the two dine, their leitmotif, which will inevitably accompany their love throughout the film, is first introduced. Upon Jerry’s departure and Charlotte’s return home, this theme takes a hiatus as Charlotte begins to identify herself as independent of her mother and begins seeing Elliot. Upon Charlotte and Elliot’s arrival at a party, Charlotte is reintroduced to Jerry and their love theme extravagantly appears again, conveying the element of surprise and rekindling of feelings of the main protagonist. From this point onwards, the love theme is constantly implemented, as Charlotte breaks off her engagement with Elliot, begins mentoring Tina, and as you might expect, renews her love with Jerry. The love theme of the film not only presents itself when Charlotte and Jerry are directly interacting with one another, but it additionally appears with the psychological presence of Jerry. This sense of presence allows a viewer to experience the intensity of the protagonist’s love and commitment to Jerry.

day two, early sound films to 1933

Rebecca, 1940, Dir. Alfred Hitchcock

     Upon analyzing the soundtrack for the 1940s film Rebecca, a viewer should recognize the films’ use of foreshadowing and character development by its adaptation to chromatic, impressionistic melodies. Scored by Franz Waxman, one of the more prominent leitmotifs of the film belongs to the menacing housekeeper of Manderlay, Mrs. Danvers. A parallelism is present between the audio and visual representation of Mrs. Danvers as a result to, “The film version of the Danvers theme [a chromatic segment of a tetrachordal frame] … features the same pitches, respelled to D-sharp, E, E-sharp, and G-sharp … Waxman’s sketches emphasize the textural qualities of Mrs. Danvers theme over the melodic. (Neumeyer, pg. 61) What this signifies is that there is a greater emphasis on the way Mrs. Danvers’ leitmotif is performed, as opposed to the categorical features of the melody itself. Early on, a viewer experiences the eeriness behind Mrs. Danvers not only by her stoic and short interactions with the recent Mrs. de Winters, but with the accompaniment of her leitmotif seeping into a majority of the scenes she is present. Her leitmotif reappears throughout the film, primarily in the presence of the recent Mrs. de Winters, as it will inevitably reveal the madness and obsession developed within Mrs. Danvers from the discovery of the late Mrs. de Winters death a year previous. This lick of music suggests to the audience that not only is there a reason for the characters hostility towards the recent Mrs. de Winters, as her intent for ridiculing and despising her is exposed on the balcony of the west corridor during a party, but it subtlety indicates the trope of a housekeeper that is seen throughout cinema—bitter towards the lead woman of the film and remaining silent to prevent exploitation of their future schemes.

one, Every Character Should Have a Theme by Kathryn Kalinak

• "Every character would have a theme. In the Informer we used a theme to identify Victor McLaglen. A blind man could have sat in a theater and known when Gypo was on the screen." (Steiner, pg. 113)

• "'I never write from a script. I run a mile everytime I see one.'" (Steiner, pg. 114)

• "Steiner's involvement in the film before and as it was being shot provided him the opportunity to reverse the usual practice of postsynchronizing the score to edited footage. Steiner composed music for several scenes before they were filmed, and Ford actually shot them in synchronization to it." (Kalinak, pg. 115)

• "Mickey Mousing is a structural device which authorizes nondiegetic music. Its perfect synchronicity with narrative action masks its presence so that the music can create certain effects on a semiconscious level without disrupting narrative credibility on a conscious level. Mickey Mousing can also function thematically ... for instance, the direct synchronization between Gypo's footsetps and the distinctive rhythm in his leitmotif dictates his singular walk ... Finally, Mickey Mousing can idnicate extradiegetic meaning. In a film as heavily laden with purpose as The Informer, Mickey Mousing is put in service to the symbolic level of the narrative ... one particularly pointed example occurs in the scene where Gypo tears down Frankie's wanted poster. Its crumpled remains dog him (it stops when he does), finally attaching to his leg before he realizes its presence and discards it. Music's mimetic capacity is here employed to simulate the wind which propels the paper along the streen in defiance of the laws of nature." (Kalinak, pg. 116)

• Pedal point, a sustained note (Kalinak, pg. 117)

• "The film depends upon these standard ballads [with lyrics] to evoke a mythic representation of Ireland which it has neither the budget nor the time to create visually." (Kalinak, pg. 118)"

• "Throughout these first few scenes, Gypo's centrality has been reinforced by his position in teh narrative, the mise-en-scene, and the editing, and by the dominance of his leitmotif in the musical score. The classical film score was typically structured by the leitmotif which organized accompaniment around the repetition of recognizable musical themes, developed or varied in response to the image track. The leitmotif could also function as a characterization. Gypo's leitmotif, as an example, reporoduces his bulky clumsiness in its rhythmic structure His theme also incorporates a familiar rhythmic trope known as the Scotch snap ... a dotted note which follows its complement, usually an eighth note, instead of preceding it," (Kalinak, pg. 117)

• "Steiner's predilection for a seamless sound is demonstrated in his careful bridging between musical selections ... any potential disruption is covered by an aural match between the harp, which accompanies [instruments in the transition.]" (Kalinak, pg. 123)

• "Now music becomes a crucial part of the process which simulates thought." (Kalinak, pg. 124)

• "Tri-tone, the interval between a fourth and a fifth on the scale ... has powerful musical connotations. It is the most dissonant interval and historically has been associated with evil," (Kalinak, pg. 125)

• "There was a sequence toward the end of the picture in which McLaglen is in a cell and water is dripping on him. This is just before he escapes and is killed. I had a certain musical effect I wanted to use for this. I wanted to catch each of these drops musically. The property man and I worked for days trying to regulate the water tank so it dripped in tempo and so I could accompany it. This took a great deal of time and thought because a dripping faucet doesn't always drip in the same rhythm. We finally mastered it, and I believe it was one of the things that own me the [Academy] award. People were fascinated trying to figure out how we managed to catch every drop." (Steiner, pg. 129)

• "These repetitions function in several ways: as a chronometer, ticking away the final moments of Gypo's life; as a device to produce tension through the motif's unstable harmonic base; and as a referent to the offscreen drama of a frantic Gypo in the next room." (Kalinak, pg. 130)

• "There is one final characteristic of Steiner's work that is exhibited in this score: his appropriation of the classical repertoire as thematic referents, a practice which allows him to draw extracinematic meaning into the score by incorporating established musical associations." (Kalinak, pg. 131)

two, Franz Waxman's Rebecca: A Film Score Guide by David Neumeyer and Nathan Platte

• "Waxman was not Selznick's first choice for Rebecca ... Steiner's music would certainly have shaded the film's visuals and narrative arc differently ... "It is fascinating to contemplate how [Steinder's] broad, sweeping style, so different from Waxman's veiled impressionism, would have changed the tone of the picture.'" (Neumeyer, pg. 49)  

• “The film version of the Danvers theme [a chromatic segment of a tetrachordal frame] … features the same pitches, respelled to D-sharp, E, E-sharp, and G-sharp … Waxman’s sketches emphasize the textural qualities of Mrs. Danvers theme over the melodic. (Neumeyer, pg. 61)

three, Max Steiner biography by Tony Thomas

• "My first score for the new job was The Garden of Allah, and it is worth mentioning musically because it wast he first time that the "push-pull track" was used. This was far superior to the old system, producing about the same difference in sound as between mono and stereo. It allowed for a wider range, with lots of bass and lots of highs." (Steiner, pg. 78)

• "A few years ago I went with my wife to Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and in scoring this particular picture the composer had used "Tales from the Vienna Woods." At this point, two people in front of us started to argue about the identity of the music ... this went on during the high-point of the action of the picture, and my wife and I became exasperated because it was spoiling the film for us. It taught me a lesson: Never use music people have heard before because it may detract from concentrating on the film." (Steiner, pg. 81)

• "A lot of composers make the mistake of thinking that the film is a platform for showing how clever they are. This is not the place for it." (Steiner, pg. 81)

four, Leitmotifs and Musical Reference in the classical Film Score by Justin London

•  Leitmotifs: "...particular melodic and/or harmonic figures serve as sonic tokens for persons, objects, and/or ideas that have a significant role in the film's narrative." (London, pg. 85)

• Proper Names in Language and Leitmotifs in Music

• Frege-Russell model: "...names both denote and connote. That is, names function as abbreivate descriptions of their referents, for (as the argument goes) without such knowledge how can one make the connection between a name and the unique object to which refers? ... The key to their "rigidity" is that the denotation of a name may remain fixed even when its "target" may change." (London, pg. 86)

• "In filmic contexts the introduction of musical leitmotifs is highly conventionalized. Usually this introduction involves the simultaneous presentation of the character and his or her leitmotif, especially [early on.] ... Main title cues were often cast in a two-part form. The opening "A: theme was associated with the title of the film. It may or may not refer to a specific character (that is, a male lead) or setting; it may simply signify the genre and tone of the picture. However, the "B" theme, typically with reduced orchestration, dynamics, and more lyrical in character, is often associated with the female lead. The binary design of opening title music was well enough established so that audiences would be able to pick out these leitmotifs from the opening credits." (London, pg. 87)

• "Another constraint on the sound-shapes of names and leitmotifs is that they must be reasonably stable so that every time they are uttered or performed they remain recognizable tokens of their name/leitmotif type(s)." (London, pg. 88)

• "Thus, the primary parameters of music (melody, harmony, and rhythm) are like the categorical features of linguistic phonemes, and the secondary parameters of music (timbre, texture, orchestration, and dynamics) are akin to the paralinguistic features of language (intonation, dynamics, and pitch). (London, pg. 89)

• Leitmotifs and Musical Expression

• "The designative properties of musical leitmotifs explains how they can fulfill the narrative cueing functions such as giving point of view, indicating formal demarcations, and establishing setting and characters in the manner that Gorbman describes under her "'Principles of Composition, Mixing, and Editing' for Classical Film Music." In fulfilling these cueing functions a musical leitmotif refers to putatively heralding the presence of a character, object, or locale; musical leitmotifs are always in the present indicative (that is, as if saying, "X is here"). Although the present indicative is the only tense/mood that a leitmotif can take, it is a very useful and powerful one in narrative-dramatic contexts. As such, a leitmotif can (1) underscore the obvious presence of a character, place, and so forth that is clearly visible on screen; (2) indicate the presence of some/something that is otherwise obscure (out of the frame, hidden in the scene, in disguise, and so forth); and (3) indicate the "psychological presence" of a character or idea, as when character A is contemplating the absent character B--we see A while hearing B's leitmotif." (London, pg. 89)

• "As a result, a leitmotif is both a reference to, as well as a statement about X: "X is happy" or "X is melancholy.'" (London, pg. 90)

• Leitmotifs in Mildred Pierce

• "Thus, we may establish a rule of thumb for distinguishing referential from nonreferential themes in a score: a referential theme must have a short, distinctive opening that can readily and efficiently serve as a leitmotif, and it is the leitmotif that functions as the musical analog of the proper name." (London, pg. 92)

five, 'Not Exactly Classical, but Sweet' Laura: New Directions by Kathryn Kalinak

• "Laura" has become an archetypal example of the ways in which female sexuality threatens classical narrative and of the processes by which classical stratagems both contain and fail to contain that threat." (Kalinak, pg. 161)

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