Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho marked a turn from the “Golden Age” of Hollywood as part of the “New Wave” movement in film making. Bernard Herrmann’s music in the film reflects this turn. Herrmann utilizes only a string orchestra to produce harsh sounds that aren’t necessarily pleasing to the ear. He also does not underscore the entire film. His musical pieces serve the purpose of establishing the mood and do not function as filler. In contrast, The Adventures of Robin Hood, considered a “classical Hollywood” film, utilizes a full orchestra to achieve a rich musical color to emphasize its heroic tale. It contains an abundance of underscoring and utilizes such techniques as having the music mimic the action and Mickey Mousing.
While the scoring in Psycho may be different from the “classic Hollywood” sound, it does show similarities to Film Noir. A dominating characteristic of Psycho is that the music reflects a prevailing foreboding and eerie mood through music that is disturbing, perverse, and anxious-sounding. The way that Herrmann creates this mood through the music is by the use of disjunct and dissonant melodies. The clashing sounds and disorder in the music creates a feeling of anxiety and the general sense that something bad is about to happen.
The music in Psycho is often homophonic. There are 2 melodies that play at the same time however one seems to be the more dominant and in the forefront while the other sounds as if it’s almost playing behind the dominant one. While this was probably done to add more depth to the music, I think it reflects Norman’s and the clash between his two personalities.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Double Indemnity
Double Indemnity, considered a member of the "film noir" movement of filmmaking, was composed by Miklos Rozsa. Though not a detective story, as many of the film noir movies are, it tells the story of an insurance man who gets involved with a gold-digging wife (the "dame") and helps her carry out her plot to kill her husband.
Typical of a film noir movie, Double Indemnity has one dark and pessimistic mood. The music reflects this mood with its one major prevailing theme throughout the movie. Though the melody was basically the same throughout, the timbre of the music changed to enhance the drama on screen. For instance, when Phyllis was supposed to meet Walter in his apartment and Keyes unexpectedly shows up before she arrives, the music intensifies reflecting the trouble that could occur if Keyes knows that Walter and Phyllis are secretly meeting.
The movie contains hardly any diegetic music. I only identified 2 instances when there was: the Hollywood Bowl symphony playing in the background, and the music from the window that Phyllis says is from a neighbor's house down the street.
Typical of a film noir movie, Double Indemnity has one dark and pessimistic mood. The music reflects this mood with its one major prevailing theme throughout the movie. Though the melody was basically the same throughout, the timbre of the music changed to enhance the drama on screen. For instance, when Phyllis was supposed to meet Walter in his apartment and Keyes unexpectedly shows up before she arrives, the music intensifies reflecting the trouble that could occur if Keyes knows that Walter and Phyllis are secretly meeting.
The movie contains hardly any diegetic music. I only identified 2 instances when there was: the Hollywood Bowl symphony playing in the background, and the music from the window that Phyllis says is from a neighbor's house down the street.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Anatomy of a Murder
The music in Anatomy of a Murder is all jazz composed by Duke Ellington. Jazz is considered popular music and it reflects the time period in which the movie was created (1959). I didn't really think that the jazz was appropriate for this film as I don't think it did anything to enhance the mood or emotion. I felt that it was disconnected with what was being shown on the screen and mainly just filler music. However, someone pointed out in thier blog that "since jazz has no real beat to it, and is spontaneous it is appropriate for the unknown outcome of the film." This is a really great point. I hadn't thought of this. So I guess in this manner it does fit.
Durning the opening credits of the movie, a long jazz overture played and it continued to play as the movie started and we saw Jimmy Stewart as Paul Biegler driving his car. The music seemed to be used as filler.
This movie has a few instances of diegetic music. We see Paul playing a jazzy piano tune, bells ringing with a church in the background, a man playing the piano at a dance hall, and jazz music coming from a record player at Paul's house.
The music in this film is not wall to wall. In certain dramatic scenes when Laura and Clarence Manion are giving thier account of what happend to Paul, there is no music to emphasize the shocking nature of the subject (rape in the 1950s) they are talking about. There is also no music in the courtroom scenes and it is up to the actors to provide all of the drama.
Durning the opening credits of the movie, a long jazz overture played and it continued to play as the movie started and we saw Jimmy Stewart as Paul Biegler driving his car. The music seemed to be used as filler.
This movie has a few instances of diegetic music. We see Paul playing a jazzy piano tune, bells ringing with a church in the background, a man playing the piano at a dance hall, and jazz music coming from a record player at Paul's house.
The music in this film is not wall to wall. In certain dramatic scenes when Laura and Clarence Manion are giving thier account of what happend to Paul, there is no music to emphasize the shocking nature of the subject (rape in the 1950s) they are talking about. There is also no music in the courtroom scenes and it is up to the actors to provide all of the drama.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Adventures of Robin Hood had many leitmotifs; however I didn’t think that they were as apparent as the leitmotifs in Casablanca. For me, Robin Hood’s theme was probably the most apparent and identifiable followed by Robin and Lady Marian’s love theme. According to Roger Hickman in the Reel Music textbook there was also a theme for King Richard the Lionhearted, but I wasn’t able to distinguish it from the other underscoring that occurred during the movie.
This film has many of the characteristics that would classify it as a "classic Hollywood" film score. It has an abundance of music that has a full orchestral sound, utilizes leitmotifs, and relies on music to add dramatic effect to fight sequences, action scenes, and to establish mood. Some of the music in the movie sounded similar to the music in King Kong. During dramatic scenes, the composer repeated the same sequence of notes over and over again at higher and higher pitches (or octaves?) to help build tension and create suspense. One scene in which I remember this happening is when Lady Marian is being escorted to prison. I also noticed that the composer used many high pitched,disjunct phrases followed by descending pitches that were conjunct. I think that this added to a frenzied feeling to some of the fight scenes.
This film has many of the characteristics that would classify it as a "classic Hollywood" film score. It has an abundance of music that has a full orchestral sound, utilizes leitmotifs, and relies on music to add dramatic effect to fight sequences, action scenes, and to establish mood. Some of the music in the movie sounded similar to the music in King Kong. During dramatic scenes, the composer repeated the same sequence of notes over and over again at higher and higher pitches (or octaves?) to help build tension and create suspense. One scene in which I remember this happening is when Lady Marian is being escorted to prison. I also noticed that the composer used many high pitched,disjunct phrases followed by descending pitches that were conjunct. I think that this added to a frenzied feeling to some of the fight scenes.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Casablanca
Casablanca contains many leitmotifs. Probably the most obvious leitmotif in the film was Rick and Isla’s love theme of “As Time Goes By,” played when they are together in the movie. This theme had many variations throughout the film, whether it was being played by Sam on the piano as source music, or by an orchestra as part of the underscore. This theme is not played during all times that they are together. I noticed that when they met in the marketplace the day after Ilsa had tried to talk to him after hours in the club while he was drunk, their theme was not played. I think that it was left out of this scene to show the tension and distance that existed between them.
The German officers /Reich have their own theme as well. When they are shown performing their military duties (ie. making an arrest, pursuing someone, when Major Strasser is driving to the airport to stop Victor and Isla’s plane from leaving, etc.) the music creates a feeling of tension through the loud trumpets blaring and low drums.
The composer utilized Moroccan ethnic instruments to create musical color during scenes in the marketplace and the Blue Parrot. However in Rick’s club, the piano music has a bouncy rhythm to it, giving it an American feel (after all, it is an American themed club). During scenes in the club the music is almost always diagetic. Sam, the lady playing the guitar, or the band is usually shown playing the music, or if they’re not shown, it is inferred that they are playing. Often the music that is played in the club becomes the underscore as the scene changes.
The German officers /Reich have their own theme as well. When they are shown performing their military duties (ie. making an arrest, pursuing someone, when Major Strasser is driving to the airport to stop Victor and Isla’s plane from leaving, etc.) the music creates a feeling of tension through the loud trumpets blaring and low drums.
The composer utilized Moroccan ethnic instruments to create musical color during scenes in the marketplace and the Blue Parrot. However in Rick’s club, the piano music has a bouncy rhythm to it, giving it an American feel (after all, it is an American themed club). During scenes in the club the music is almost always diagetic. Sam, the lady playing the guitar, or the band is usually shown playing the music, or if they’re not shown, it is inferred that they are playing. Often the music that is played in the club becomes the underscore as the scene changes.
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