Preparing my thesis

[Muad'Dib 1,802]

Hey guys,

I'm currently on the first stages of preparing my thesis for my university -I'm a cinema director student- and I want to make it about the purpose of music on film. In fact that would be the title and my intent is to investigate about the history about film music since it's begginings and the influence of opera on it; but in particular I'm interested in studying particular scores that go out of the norm, in particular Williams and Altman collaboration, because in those two films they did together the relationship between image and music is so profound that I have to study and theorize about it. Also I'm interested in exposing the differences between traditional scoring (meaning, when the music is recorded after the film is edited) and the one popularized by Kubrick in which the music was thought beforehand and kept that way -related to temp-track of course but most temp-tracks are done when the editing is done also.

There's more of course, but with this in mind I was wondering if you guys could suggest me about books I could read related to the subject, good documentaries or even films that I might not know about that work the relationship between film and music in particular ways like Altman or Kubrick did. Leone will be touched upon also, as well as Corigliano, Malick and Tarkovsky, among others.

At this point any help or suggestions are more than welcome.

Thank you so much in advance for taking the time to read at least.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Off the top of my head:

Knowing the score: Notes on film music by Irwin Bazelon (contains an interview with Williams talking about IMAGES)

On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring by Fred Karlin and Rayburn Wright

The Art of Film Music by George Burt

Film Music: A Neglected Art by Roy M. Pendergast

The various Scarecrow film score guides (the one's on Korngold's THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD and North's A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE are the best, by far)

[Ludwig 1,120]

Several books have tackled the question of film music's purpose, and there has been a good variety of answers. Here are some I'd recommend in addition to Shark's excellent suggestions:

- Royal S. Brown, Overtones and Undertones

- Claudia Gorbman, Unheard Melodies

- Peter Larsen, Film Music

- Kathryn Kalinak, Settling the Score

- The Hollywood Film Music Reader

- The Routledge Film Music Sourcebook

The last two have particularly good and well-known quotations from Bernard Herrmann and Aaron Copland, which may be helpful.

[mrbellamy 6,334]

Look into Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger, for sure, if you haven't already. Particularly The Red Shoes, The Tales of Hoffman, and Oh Rosalinda!, as well as Powell's Bluebeard's Castle which I believe are all available on YouTube. They became fascinated by what Powell called "composed film," essentially cinematic ballet, where all the elements of a film are given individual attention to "dance" with the music and with each other, ideally creating a harmonious whole. If you can get your hands on the Criterion edition of Tales of Hoffman, Martin Scorsese's commentary gives a lot of great observations on this concept and how it's applied in that film throughout. Powell also talks about it in his autobiography A Life in Movies.

 

Also I probably don't have to mention Disney, who was incidentally a big influence on Powell/Pressburger. In general, I've found that animation offers a lot of opportunities for studying a variety of film/music relationships, because there is such freedom. Related to Disney's own influences, you might want to look into abstract and/or drawn-on-film artists who often use music in evocative ways, like Len Lye, who inspired the Toccata/Fugue sequence in Fantasia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PgNr0IZRDE

 

Also Norman McLaren is a big inspiration for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8uktqgKgw0

 

Also of course musicals, any and all of them, are perfect for any discussion of film being designed to music, rather than vice versa. I would say Stanley Donen and Vincente Minnelli are the touchstones for me...definitely watch Minnelli's The Band Wagon, if you haven't seen it before. Great film, some really amazing setpieces, but the "Girl Hunt" ballet sequence is particularly worth looking into for your thesis, I think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0HNmHCKgH0

 

Also they're obviously not as prevalent as musicals, but the same would go for ballet or opera adaptations. As a suggestion, I think it might be interesting to compare Powell/Pressburger's Tales of Hoffman or something like Bergman's The Magic Flute with a filmed theater production and to see what differences and similarities there are in camera movement, lighting, composition, and editing. How they're using cinema to reflect the music, as opposed to pointing-and-shooting a camera at a stage. That might help you articulate some of your ideas.

 

And then silent movies can be really good for the reverse idea, considering there are so many examples out there of different scores being written for the same film. You can probably get a lot out of that, and it would be a clear way to illustrate your thesis, since there is such clarity and consistency to the film/music relationship with silents.

 

And for more modern examples, you could maybe go a little into how live concert settings have become such an overwhelmingly audiovisual experience e.g. the boys in my avatar, and I wouldn't overlook music videos and commercials, since they can probably give you a lot of insight into how the film/music relationship is taking shape today.

 

Oh, and since you mentioned Tarkovsky, have you read his book Sculpting in Time? That has a chapter with his thoughts on film music and how he felt it should be applied, and it's at times a counter-argument to your thesis, where he wonders if music is really necessary or even beneficial for film at all, so that could also be really useful. It'd also be easy to go back to that when using examples from his films.

 

Anyway, sorry that was such a mouthful, but I love this stuff too, and that's such an awesome idea for a thesis. Hope some of these suggestions help!

[Thor 7,587]

There is LOADS of literature on film music -- from all possible angles -- but I think your thesis would benefit from a great deal of specification, Michael, before I'll offer any advice on sources etc. At this point, your idea seems to be a bit all over the place.