| A | B |
|---|
| Source Music | coming from a source on/off screen |
| Underscore | all music on the soundtrack except that which is coming from a source on/off-screen. |
| Style: | sets the mood/tone |
| Wagner | German composer; 1800’s during the Romantic period. |
| Max Steiner | Vienna; started with broadway and later went to Hollywood. Born in 1888. Composed over 300 scores in his lifetime. Did King Kong and Gone with the Wind |
| Waxman: | German Did Bride of Frankenstein and Spirit of St. Louis |
| Alfred Newman | : Known for his conducting: Born in 1901 and died in 1970; was the fox music director. Movies: Wither Heights and Hunchback of Notre Dame. Big with string instruments. Used portamento (sliding strings |
| Romantic Period | Late 1825-1900 emotional and used leitmotif |
| Rennaissance | was in the 1500’s |
| Baroque period | Mainly Bach lasted from 1675-1750 |
| Classical Period | 1750-1825, based on order poise and structure of the piece |
| Pitch | sound frequency; perceived highness/lowness |
| Selection/Combination | : 3 forms; speech music or noise; may share categories |
| Diegetic: | another name for source music; old composers don’t use this term |
| Acousmatic | takes away sight. |
| The Script | Composer is asked to read a script prior to the first meeting with the director. Composers often hired before/during the filming but usually he/she comes onto the project during the editing process. Ex. Erich Wolfgang Korngold would begin composing themes while shooting using the script as his guide. Composers -nearly unanimous - that they might make a serious misjudgment if they begin to write the music to a film solely off the script. The script lacks the rhythm of the picture (the way the movie flows). |
| Screenings/Dailies | Dailies are the footage from the previous day’s filming. Dailies can dull the composers emotional response to the edited version of the film by dissipating his/her first reaction. This first reaction is extremely important because the composer’s response during the first screening is a reliable guide to the film’s emotional content. |
| Rough Cut | The ideal time for the composer’s first screening. The fill tells a story from the beginning to end with most of the elements in place. All the final sound effects are still to come; special visual effects need to be added and more polishing, trimming and editorial manipulation still needs to be added. However the composer will then get to see how everything is coming together |
| Editing: | Bringing a composer in early may actually influence the final editing of the film. Easy for the composer to see a music-dependent scene in rough cut and think that it is the right length only to find out that the director has cut the scene in half. Later with the temporary music added, the directory usually realizes that the scene was shortened too much. Since music needs time to develop it invariable makes a scene seem shorter. |
| Role Models | Selecting a piece of music as a role model can be the most effective way for a filmmaker to make his ideas clear. This is a very specific way of communicating. Styles can also become role models for film music. Classical styles are often used as role models. |
| Style/Concept | elements in a film that can affect the score’s style include: Ethnic, Historical, Geographical, and Genre. The style(s) of the music can define the concept. Ex. In a Streetcar Named Desire the use of Jazz ragtime, or blues helps to create the atmosphere of New Orleans. The characters in the story are the most typical motivation for melodies helping to define the concept |
| Ethnic influences | Is there an ethnic aspect of the film? I.e. Gandhi or Medicine Man |
| Geographical: | Are there locations that might influence the score as in Around the World in 80 Days? |
| Music that Accompanies the Opening Credits | Helps set the tone of the film |
| Melody | Series of notes that are memorable and structured in a way that you can remember them |
| Harmony | system for coordinating the simultaneous use of tones |
| Consonance and Dissonance | Consonance-does not require resolution-more pleasant Dissonant-unpleasant and unstable-Vertigo’s opening is a perfect example |
| Rhythm | The organization of music through time/ The beat-strong and weak/ Tempo and Pulse/ Western Music characterized by regularity |
| Meter | Fixed time patterns within which musical events take place-metrical framework / Duple-Twinkle-1-2/1-2/etc/ Triple--America-1,2,3/1,2,3/etc |
| Dynamics | Volume of sound influences our response/ Louds and Softs-Forte(loud)-Piano(soft |
| Crescendo- | to get louder |
| Diminuendo/ Decrescendo | to get softer |
| Form and Development | The form of the film always dictates the form of the music.. On repeated viewings, you may be able to notice the repetition of certain musical materials here and there through out a score. Music often represents the basic dramatic statement of the film. A disturbing trend in many of the scores of the nineties: there often is no development of the musical material. Ex. Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Begins with a famous four-note motif, which repeats down one scale step. |
| Playing The Drama | : Primary question a composer should answer; How emotionally involved should the music be? EMOTIONAL INVOLVEMENT! |
| Hitting The Action | Accenting a specific moment in a film. Cartoon scoring does this all the time. This type of musical dramatic sync is called “Mickey-Mousing” after the star to the same name. Developed by Max Steiner |
| Playing Through The Action | Opposite of hitting the action. Hits nothing specifically, ignoring subtle and even not-so-subtle shifts of emotion. The idea is to lay down one specific mood, sound or atmospheric coloration, and let that be the underscoring for the entire sequence. |
| Phrasing The Drama | : In between Hitting the Action and Playing through the Action: focuses on hitting certain moments that seem to require greater emphasis and playing through other while sustaining the overall emotional tone of the scene. |
| The Score Must Serve the Film | : The score must reflect the film’s dramatic theme(s), its characters, its rhythms and textures, and most important, its dramatic requirements. In every case, an outstanding score must satisfy the specific requirements of the film. Getting inside the film and its texture is crucial. |
| Emotional Strength | : No precise rules dictating the emotional requirements of the music. Some scores will be basically restrained, others more aggressive. The emotional tone will be undeniable appropriate for the film it supports |
| Musical Independence | : The popular success of composers like Henry Mancini and John Williams is due to the fact that so much of their film music is enjoyable outside the context of the films. Cannot really be considered one of the most important gauges for evaluating a score. |
| Originality | can be one of the most highly valued virtues of a film score because of the excitement a unique approach can bring to a film. Major interest to film composers and many filmmakers. |
| Clichés | overused musical devices. |
| Pitch | The frequency of sound vibrations governs pitch, or the perceived "highness" or "lowness" of the sound. Frequencies are grouped as .. Low frequencies make the sound powerful and warm Midrange frequencies give sound its energy. High frequencies give a sound its "presence" and life like quality.pitch plays a useful role in picking out distinct sounds in a film sound track. It helps us to distinguish music and speech from other sounds. Pitch also serves to distinguish among objects. Low-pitched sounds such as thumps, can evoke hollow objects, while higher-pitched sounds (like of fingernails scratching a blackboard) suggest smoother or harder surfaces and more dense objects. |
| Timbre | The harmonic components of sound give it a certain "color" or tone quality - what musicians call timbre. it is indispensable in describing the texture or "feel" of a sound. |
| Loudness | The sound we hear results from vibration in the air. The amplitude, or breadth, of vibrations produces our sense of loudness, or volume. Film sound constantly manipulates sound volume. For example, in many films a long shot of a busy street is accompanied by loud traffic noises, but when two people meet and start to speak, the loudness of the noise is characterized as much by the difference in volume as by the substance of the talk. Loudness is also related to perceived distance; often the loader the sound, the closer we take it to be |
| Diegetic Film Sound: | Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world |
| Non-diegetic Film Sound: | Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action: |
| leitmotif | In music drama, a marked melodic phrase or short passage which always accompanies the reappearance of a certain person, situation, abstract idea, or allusion in the course of the play; a sort of musical label. |
| mickey-mousing | film editing or cuts that occur in rhythm with or at the same time as beats or punctuations in the musical score. |
| chord | A group of three or more pitches sounded simultaneously. |
