Doze Green is an NYC artist of renown who's going to be doing some 'live art' at The Turnaround this Friday and also has an exhibit running at the Aotearoa Webb Gallery, 18 Manakau Road, Epsom from 13-18 April. More here.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
DOZE GREEN--Art and Music
Doze Green is an NYC artist of renown who's going to be doing some 'live art' at The Turnaround this Friday and also has an exhibit running at the Aotearoa Webb Gallery, 18 Manakau Road, Epsom from 13-18 April. More here.
Movie Trailers
These, the ads of films, have a pervasive use of sound, sometimes even more so than the finished film.
Let's for example think of teaser trailers. Those are the ones where there's (very) few images accompanied by words on a coloured background. You don't get to see much of the film but you will often get a booming voice over which echoes the inter title cards (things like "This summer ... " or "They shouldn't have messed with him/her ... ") used with powerful music.
A stereotypical trailer (for example, that for Danny Boyle's "Sunshine") will start out slow and rapidly speed up over its short length (the volume of music increasing at a similar rate). The aforementioned trailer uses Lux Aeterna by the Kronos Quartet & Clint Mansell (the "Requiem for a Dream" song also used for the "LOTR: the Two Towers" trailer). The film's nature ("the sun dies, we die") is encapsulated by this epic music and quick images of people in peril.
The trailer formaula could therefore be seen as: glimpses of scenes from a film + evocative (and complimentary music and voiceover) = people going to see a film (hopefully).
Let's for example think of teaser trailers. Those are the ones where there's (very) few images accompanied by words on a coloured background. You don't get to see much of the film but you will often get a booming voice over which echoes the inter title cards (things like "This summer ... " or "They shouldn't have messed with him/her ... ") used with powerful music.
A stereotypical trailer (for example, that for Danny Boyle's "Sunshine") will start out slow and rapidly speed up over its short length (the volume of music increasing at a similar rate). The aforementioned trailer uses Lux Aeterna by the Kronos Quartet & Clint Mansell (the "Requiem for a Dream" song also used for the "LOTR: the Two Towers" trailer). The film's nature ("the sun dies, we die") is encapsulated by this epic music and quick images of people in peril.
The trailer formaula could therefore be seen as: glimpses of scenes from a film + evocative (and complimentary music and voiceover) = people going to see a film (hopefully).
Movie Trailers
These, the ads of films, have a pervasive use of sound, sometimes even more so than the finished film.
Let's for example think of teaser trailers. Those are the ones where there's (very) few images accompanied by words on a coloured background. You don't get to see much of the film but you will often get a booming voice over which echoes the inter title cards (things like "This summer ... " or "They shouldn't have messed with him/her ... ") used with powerful music.
A stereotypical trailer (for example, that for Danny Boyle's "Sunshine") will start out slow and rapidly speed up over its short length (the volume of music increasing at a similar rate). The aforementioned trailer uses Lux Aeterna by the Kronos Quartet & Clint Mansell (the "Requiem for a Dream" song also used for the "LOTR: the Two Towers" trailer). The film's nature ("the sun dies, we die") is encapsulated by this epic music and quick images of people in peril.
The trailer formaula could therefore be seen as: glimpses of scenes from a film + evocative (and complimentary music and voiceover) = people going to see a film (hopefully).
Let's for example think of teaser trailers. Those are the ones where there's (very) few images accompanied by words on a coloured background. You don't get to see much of the film but you will often get a booming voice over which echoes the inter title cards (things like "This summer ... " or "They shouldn't have messed with him/her ... ") used with powerful music.
A stereotypical trailer (for example, that for Danny Boyle's "Sunshine") will start out slow and rapidly speed up over its short length (the volume of music increasing at a similar rate). The aforementioned trailer uses Lux Aeterna by the Kronos Quartet & Clint Mansell (the "Requiem for a Dream" song also used for the "LOTR: the Two Towers" trailer). The film's nature ("the sun dies, we die") is encapsulated by this epic music and quick images of people in peril.
The trailer formaula could therefore be seen as: glimpses of scenes from a film + evocative (and complimentary music and voiceover) = people going to see a film (hopefully).
Re: Justin Timberlake and narrative
I agree that Justin Timberlake's video for "What Goes Around... Comes Around" is a good example of a narrative, but I see it more as a narrative gone wrong. First of all, it's a clear homage to Michael Jackson as it is features song and dialogue as more of a short film than a music video. Seeing as Justin Timberlake has been the most successful member to come out of NSYNC (like Michael Jackson was the most successful member of the Jackson 5), it seems that director Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook, Alpha Dog, etc.) is trying to distinguish Justin Timberlake as the actually white Michael Jackson. While the narrative suggests that Justin Timberlake's character is broken-hearted by the fact that Scarlett Johansson cheats on him with his best friend, it is unclear whether or not they're actually in love, cheesy dialogue aside, because it seems like all they have together is a sexual relationship (most of the video consists of them making out). On top of that, there's the end result of Scarlett running off after Justin gets mad at her and dying in a car crash to the lyrics "What goes around comes back around." Are we supposed to take away from the video that Scarlett deserves to die because she cheated? What about the best friend? Isn't he just as guilty and doesn't he deserve a "punishment" as equally if not more harsh than Scarlett's?
Judge for yourself...
Judge for yourself...
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Sound and Image.
Here's an example of someone using an atypical visual to emphasise the emotional context of a song, and not in a way I'd have predicted.
As such, I think it's fun, albeit Not Safe For Work. Or children.
Or anyone who possesses childhood memories.
- Kevin.
As such, I think it's fun, albeit Not Safe For Work. Or children.
Or anyone who possesses childhood memories.
- Kevin.
Video games and the rise of Music.
Video games and music tends to coincide with genre and perhaps a development into customization and commercialization of video game music.
I have personally played video games ever since I was a child up until now, however on a more competitive online basis. I have noticed a change in video games and the use of music. In a sense, almost overshadowing its particular genre.
But let me explain the beginning stage of music within video games. There was the 2d graphics. The Zelda, Wonder boy, Alex the kid, space invaders and Super Mario brothers. These simple codified games had music within the game play. It was not as interactive and “live” in a sense. But a series of beeps and whistles to create music, the musical sounds were created using Midi files. Very simple basis of beat function but it created a kind of fun and interactive environment. It in a way provoked 100% attention into the game and reflected the cheap 2d scenes. For example at the beginning of each level the midi music file will be happy and fun. And then the music suddenly changes at the end of the level when confronted with the “villain” the final boss that must be defeated to get to the next level/ stage.
This simple concept helps video games and interactivity. Basically, this was the beginning stage of music in games. Your very basic digital sounds to create a beat that is repeated throughout the game.
Jumping ahead to my points I made in my thesis statement. Now what I mean about music coinciding with genre in video games is the simple fact that an action game tends to have fast riveting music, most often techno or really deep drum beats. Action games have fast music but only in times where action is at its most intense. It serves as a catalyst and reminder that the player must put extra effort into the game in order to “win” and not “die” in the virtuous world. A good example of this is the game HALO where the gaming experience is close to a cinematic one. Meaning that the music is purely there to provoke feelings and anxiety. It is a powerful tool in cinema to create music that fits into emotions that are visual. The same is with video games.
However it is not only about the genre of games that creates certain types of music. But a combination of customization and commercialization as a signifier for video games as a popular culture itself.
Customization tends to give rise to the latest games. Particularly action games and sports games, the kinds that do not really have a dialogue but a narrative that is easily predicted, almost stereotypically, gamers can now load music onto there games through hard drives into console games or on the pc. Now gamers play with there favorite tunes playing in the background. Serving as a kind of noise within the compounds of the game. Almost diagetically. Gamers create play lists with ease, a form of customization of there playing experience. An example is Tony hawks pro skater. Where people began to load their favorite songs onto the game in order to enjoy their type of music. It was a kind of cultural skateboard culture to ride free and jam it to your beats.
There is now a strong emphasis that music on video games serves as a catalyst for commercial gain. For example the music that Need For Speed plays is almost instantly popular amongst the gaming world and the music becomes a favorite track that people either purchase or download. Once unknown bands on a video game are now famous because of that very shift into the gaming market. Many songs, if not all of them played on Tony Hawks’s pro skater become extremely popular as young kids snatch up the music in order for it to link with the skater culture. The music is instantly signified as “Tony Hawks” in game music, or skater’s music.
What we are seeing now is a breakthrough in the musical industry. There are many media forms that can represent a band. For example Television with advertisements a good example is the Air New Zealand advertisement, where the band played outside the record company in America. Little did they know, because of the advert there band has become world famous. The same with radio as stations play new music for people to try out and “vote” to see what there thoughts are on the song. If it gets the thumbs up than its an instant hit. Now we have a viable and strong market in video games for music. As the video game industry is one of the most popular besides cinema in generating the big dollars. Music has become a commercialized and very important part in video game making. It has almost sucked the life out of the game itself and created a stereotypical and popular culture like signifier. My most strong example would have to be Need for Speed Carbon.
The game has been created into separate sectors of a city. And separate car gangs. Each gang has there own type of music. But when playing the game there will be a song played throughout the race. It will either be hip-hop, techy house or rock music. The artist of the song pops up in the corner before the race. It is a type of noise and forceful aspect of the game. It definitely gives the impression that it is not a specialist racing game. It is purely there for the music/ lights and sexy girls. Need for Speed did not start with any kind of music all you could hear was the sound of the engine. But now, we are bombarded with different genres of music to some how beam us into the game. But there is an almost subconscious nerve to download or buy the song. Because gamers will spend months or hours finishing the game, listening to the music. Surely it has got to have some kind of effects.
Wayne's World - Musical Tributes
We've been talking a lot about the idea of soundtracks, and how some films are written after the selection of a music soundtrack, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned Wayne's World yet.
Wayne's World, was originally a Saturday Night Live sketch, but later became two feature films of the same name (Wayne's World 1 and Wayne's World 2). I can't really comment on the SNL sketches as I've never seen them, but the greatest episode featured Wayne and Garth jamming with Aerosmith with Tom Hanks as their roadie. Both of the films feature as some of my favorite comedy movies, due to their pop culture and musical references. Wayne's World takes the spot for rock 'n' roll and heavy metal tribute films, much the same way that Saturday Night Fever took the spotlight for disco.
Both films attack commericalized rock and roll culture, nerds cramping their music, celebrate babes, hurling, going to shows and being part of something 'big'. In Waynes World 1, a TV producer attempts take over their local cable rock show (of the same name) and at the same time steal waynes girlfriend, Wayne's World 2 revisits this when Wayne has a dream that he is going to host a concert called WayneStock with Aerosmith and Pearl Jam, but his girlfriends new producer seems determined to steal her, ruining everything.
I went back to watch Wayne's World 2 the other day, and decided to check out the directors commentary on the DVD, where director Steven Surjik points out several times that they had started with a list of music and wanted to structure the film around it. Most of the music starts in the diagetic form, either played by a band, on the car radio, on TV but is often sustained well after the disappearance of the sound source. Surjik mentions that they ran into a problem where they didn't have any 'tension music', for scenes not inspired by a musical performance.
From an academic point of view Wayne's World interests me in the scope of the representation of sub-culture on screen, and of musical sub-culture, and also the technical questions of diagetic and non-diagetic musical soundtracks and how they are placed in the film.
Del Preston: Woodstock? That was quite a show, man.
Garth: You were at Woodstock?
Wayne: Excellent! What was it like?
Del Preston: It rained all morning, and then it cleared up in the afternoon. And that's it, I almost remembered something else, ...but it's gone.
The Popular Music and Screen Relationship
I was just thinking about the relationship between popular music and screen as a whole and also about the whole lip-syncing thing we talked about in class a couple of lectures back. It is true that we are seeing both industries/cultures increasingly overlap, borrow and compliment eachother. However, i think it is intersting to look at two cultures within the popular music on screen culture which show that screen representation and popular music are still differentiated in terms of our expectations. There is that of televised music concerts, and then there are music videos and the presence of popular music performance on television shows and in films.
Televised music concerts attempt to provide the experience of actually being in the real space of the concert for those fans who cannot attend. Because we assume this to be a realistic representation, a mechanism for transporting us into that space, our expectation is that there is no lip-syncing and that everything is just as it would be were we actually standing in the crowd. Therefore, the disapointment when there is lip-syncing on screen is high. Yet we are content to recieve the mediated form of the concert in other ways, such as a variety of shots from places we wouldnt physically be able to see.
In terms of music videos or popular music performances on television or films, the level is disappointment when lip-syncing occurs seems much lower, in fact we almost expect it. We know in music videos that to get the flow and aesthetics right it is necessary to just play the music track over the top of the visuals. And when watching films where someone is singing (what often later becomes a popular music track) I find myself asking, I wonder if he/she is really singing, without really caring about the result.
Therefore, I think that we still associate a great difference in production and expectation between popular music integrated onto screen for the purposes of that industry, and popular music on screen for the purposes of displaying a performance.
Televised music concerts attempt to provide the experience of actually being in the real space of the concert for those fans who cannot attend. Because we assume this to be a realistic representation, a mechanism for transporting us into that space, our expectation is that there is no lip-syncing and that everything is just as it would be were we actually standing in the crowd. Therefore, the disapointment when there is lip-syncing on screen is high. Yet we are content to recieve the mediated form of the concert in other ways, such as a variety of shots from places we wouldnt physically be able to see.
In terms of music videos or popular music performances on television or films, the level is disappointment when lip-syncing occurs seems much lower, in fact we almost expect it. We know in music videos that to get the flow and aesthetics right it is necessary to just play the music track over the top of the visuals. And when watching films where someone is singing (what often later becomes a popular music track) I find myself asking, I wonder if he/she is really singing, without really caring about the result.
Therefore, I think that we still associate a great difference in production and expectation between popular music integrated onto screen for the purposes of that industry, and popular music on screen for the purposes of displaying a performance.
Justin Timberlake and narrative
The director's cut of Justin Timberlake's “What goes around comes back around” uses the notion of narrative in the music video. The video begins with a film opening introducing the two protagonists, the girl that is played by Scarlett Johanson and Justin Timberlake himself. By using the artist in the film as an actor, another narrative is already created where there are two running alongside each other in the video. Justin is the guy in the film and also the performer. We see him peforming at the bar as a concert but he looks like a guest by his casual dress compared to the other performers in their fancy clothes. Then we see him backstage with the dancers and Scarlett Johanson's character. The shots cut back and forth from the film narrative and the bar narrative but both can also be worked in together. The music sometimes seems like background focus and we are more drawn into the film narrative (includes a beginning, middle and end) that is playing before us.
At a certain point, the music stops completely altogether and we are allowed to focus on the film itself. This is the scene where she is caught with the other male character at the top of the stairs. Here we fully focus on the narrative through most of the video as the rest of the story unfolds and she gets into her car and drives away. Unlike most music videos where the characters lack dialogue - the characters in this video are able to speak and we are able to maybe understand the appropriation of the video and the lyrics more clearly.
The video itself is about 10 minutes long and therefore being more of a film narrative than just a music video. Also I think, it is a way to introduce Justin Timberlake into the acting arena since he has started starring in some films recently and the crossover that most music artists make into the acting side.
Love the video!
At a certain point, the music stops completely altogether and we are allowed to focus on the film itself. This is the scene where she is caught with the other male character at the top of the stairs. Here we fully focus on the narrative through most of the video as the rest of the story unfolds and she gets into her car and drives away. Unlike most music videos where the characters lack dialogue - the characters in this video are able to speak and we are able to maybe understand the appropriation of the video and the lyrics more clearly.
The video itself is about 10 minutes long and therefore being more of a film narrative than just a music video. Also I think, it is a way to introduce Justin Timberlake into the acting arena since he has started starring in some films recently and the crossover that most music artists make into the acting side.
Love the video!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
EL-P 'Smithereens'
This recent music video is a post-911 Guantanamo Abu Ghraib military torture narrative/spectacle/scene.
The OC effect in NZ
In thinking about how evident is the OC effect in the New Zealand content.
Just as a question out into the open domain. How many people whom check this blog know the band death cab for cutie, or postal service and the decemberists. If you do please leave a comment in this post. Because I have asked all my close friends some of whom are advent myspace users and they still don’t know who they are. So I ask how effective is the OC effect in New Zealand. I guess you can say that we all know who the killers are but that, I think is mostly to do with how the record companies got the radio stations to promote the song. This in effect cause the wave of popularity for the band in New Zealand. It seems as though New Zealand still remains in the dark ages when publicity of generation of popularity is concerned. We still use the normal respected channels of promotion, either though radio stations, free gigs or Music Television. I guess this might have already been picked up by the government and that is why the charter was brought up to overcome this hurdle in technological advancement and distribution of music media. Would shows such as Ponsonby at War, Being Eve or even Shortland St be able to peddle music as effective as The OC, actually are we as a nation of audiences be able to comprehend this phenomenon.
Just as a question out into the open domain. How many people whom check this blog know the band death cab for cutie, or postal service and the decemberists. If you do please leave a comment in this post. Because I have asked all my close friends some of whom are advent myspace users and they still don’t know who they are. So I ask how effective is the OC effect in New Zealand. I guess you can say that we all know who the killers are but that, I think is mostly to do with how the record companies got the radio stations to promote the song. This in effect cause the wave of popularity for the band in New Zealand. It seems as though New Zealand still remains in the dark ages when publicity of generation of popularity is concerned. We still use the normal respected channels of promotion, either though radio stations, free gigs or Music Television. I guess this might have already been picked up by the government and that is why the charter was brought up to overcome this hurdle in technological advancement and distribution of music media. Would shows such as Ponsonby at War, Being Eve or even Shortland St be able to peddle music as effective as The OC, actually are we as a nation of audiences be able to comprehend this phenomenon.
Thinking About Research Essay Topics
Blog Title: Thinking About Research Essay Topics!
Hi Everyone,
My blogger name is ‘Andrea Francesca’. This is my first entry into the FTVMS 323 - Popular Music on Screen Blog 2007’.
I’m taking this Special Topic paper, as the final paper of my BA degree (as an FTVMS major), because I am interested in how 'popular music' is pervasive in modern society, through all forms of new media.
As Nabeel Zuberi suggested, our Research Essay Assignment has lots of scope for us. We can select from many different areas & media formats… to consider how popular music interfaces with all the areas of multi-media including TV, Film, Advertising, the Web, Video/DVD, Radio, I-Pods, Cell phone technology… etc, etc!
I’m interested in obvious media forms, as well as the not so obvious ones. And, I'm interested in how a 'popular song' by a pop-group can end up on TV in more than one advert. Just think of the NZ band 'Goldenhorse' and their smash radio hit ‘Maybe Tomorrow’... it is used in a ‘Watties’ sauce TV advert, and in the ‘Inter-islander Cook Strait ferry TV adverts, and, in some other adverts too.
Also, I'm thinking about how some pop songs are turned into instrumentals… or are simply ‘dumbed down’, with the riff of the song (minus the chorus or lyrics) only being played in a TV advert... and why it is remediated this way?
I’ll put up a short list of examples in my next blog, of pop songs that are featured in different TV adverts, which hopefully will generate some on-going discussion… and may help to kick off some research ideas for us all, as we need to be thinking about our Research Essay Question now!
bests,
Andrea Francesca
Student – FTVMS 323
Hi Everyone,
My blogger name is ‘Andrea Francesca’. This is my first entry into the FTVMS 323 - Popular Music on Screen Blog 2007’.
I’m taking this Special Topic paper, as the final paper of my BA degree (as an FTVMS major), because I am interested in how 'popular music' is pervasive in modern society, through all forms of new media.
As Nabeel Zuberi suggested, our Research Essay Assignment has lots of scope for us. We can select from many different areas & media formats… to consider how popular music interfaces with all the areas of multi-media including TV, Film, Advertising, the Web, Video/DVD, Radio, I-Pods, Cell phone technology… etc, etc!
I’m interested in obvious media forms, as well as the not so obvious ones. And, I'm interested in how a 'popular song' by a pop-group can end up on TV in more than one advert. Just think of the NZ band 'Goldenhorse' and their smash radio hit ‘Maybe Tomorrow’... it is used in a ‘Watties’ sauce TV advert, and in the ‘Inter-islander Cook Strait ferry TV adverts, and, in some other adverts too.
Also, I'm thinking about how some pop songs are turned into instrumentals… or are simply ‘dumbed down’, with the riff of the song (minus the chorus or lyrics) only being played in a TV advert... and why it is remediated this way?
I’ll put up a short list of examples in my next blog, of pop songs that are featured in different TV adverts, which hopefully will generate some on-going discussion… and may help to kick off some research ideas for us all, as we need to be thinking about our Research Essay Question now!
bests,
Andrea Francesca
Student – FTVMS 323
Mix Tapes
So the readings from last week got me thinking as to why I own, specifically, the soundtracks to Boogie Nights, Forest Gump AND Pulp Fiction. There's nothing for me to be nostalgic about because I'm a child of the 80s, so is it at all possible to be naive and pretend that soundtracks aren't just a means of synergy and making more money? Take Pulp Fiction for example (or in a broader sense, soundtracks to Quentin Tarantino films). If Quentin Tarantino isn't lying when he says that he comes up with the songs for a film before he even completes the idea of a film, then damn, he knows how to put together a good mix tape. Dusty Springfield, Ricky Nelson, Al Green... on one album? Priceless. I'm sure the dialogue bits are there to sell the movie, but I find myself skipping over them. In a perfect world I'd like to believe that I buy a soundtrack to a film because I see the film and think to myself "I would love to have all of those songs on one CD" not that someone is subliminally selling me a movie and soundtrack. Good music is good music and I think that can make it not necessarily about a product but about an appreciation. Much of the time, songs on a soundtrack will definitely bring you back to a moment in the film. Maybe subliminally that's motivation for buying a soundtrack - always desiring to think of Mia Wallace overdosing when listening to "Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon" by Urge Overkill. Many times though, like in the case of Forest Gump, it's been so long since I've seen the movie that I just listen to the soundtrack because it is such a good compilation of songs from anyone who was anyone in the 60s and 70s. I'd listen to it for the same reason I would listen to any compilation of music from that time period - just because it's good music. Then again, would certain songs be as good as they are without a visual image to associate them with? "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" by Nancy Sinatra isn't nearly as powerful without the memory of "The Bride" being brutally shot by Bill in the beginning of Kill Bill, vol. 1 and every time I do hear "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" I do think of Mia Wallace's overdose. But think of what the drug dealer in Boogie Nights said about mix tapes: "I put all my favorite songs together... When you buy a tape or an album... the bands put the songs in some fucking order... like they want you to listen to it in that order. I hate that. I don't like to be told what to listen to... when to listen to it..." Maybe that can hold true for soundtracks as well. Maybe compilations are a director's way of showing the world what they like to listen to and when they like to listen to it.
Just because it's still kinda legal... "Girl You'll Be A Woman Soon".
Just because it's still kinda legal... "Girl You'll Be A Woman Soon".
Preferred invisibility
Canvasing people's thoughts on the prominence of sound in film or the heirarchy of sound vs vision debate, I thought it was interesting to note Kim C's "Film Music Goes Live" post on how presenting the music to a film in a 'live' situation, i.e. with orchestra in front of the screen, can really help to enlarge the experience of the music for the viewer and thus enhance the world of the film and its communication to the audience. I have experienced this myself for example, with live Wurlitzer organ in front of the screen and, and in a more extreme example where actual dominance of sound over the visual medium has occured. I.e.- In various local 'live' band settings over the years, a few images are screened at the back of the stage (usually partially obscured by the drum-kit) that play along with the music and are adding to the ambience of the music not the other way around as has been discussed by many class bloggers. Perhaps this effect was more to do with the lack of inspiring images or in my opinion, a kind of 'afterthought' approach in mapping the images to the music. Or simply these live gigs were more of the 'music and dancing kind'... not to say that this can't be re-engineered in a different way so all the media and people within it are working more seamlessly etc. but that's another blog!
What I wanted to highlight in Kim C's blog were her final words "...perhaps help[ing the music]to become more significant and less invisible". This issue of invisibility I think deserves more investigation from the point of view that some award winning sound designers and composers (names long since lost in the memory banks sorry) are actually basing their reputations on their creations being "invisible". Whereby, if the audience 'notices' or becomes aware of the sound then you're not doing your sound job properly. The craft or the spell of the 'heard but not seen' aesthetic is broken.
I thought this argument essentially about the craft of the sound maker and what they are often trying to acheive was beautifully illustrated in Nabeel's example of "American Graffitti" (1973), where we saw the sound designer being interviewed about applying different recording methods to mimic several acoustic sound environments. This was born out of a requirement to fufill the director's wish of having "wall-to-wall" sound throughout the movie as an important device in creating the 'teenage world' inside the movie. The sound designer then tried to meet this directive in interesting ways.
For example, the radio playing a song in the car was different acoustically to when the character fell out of the car and the song on the radio continued, but sounded acoustically different. Another example is when we hear music playing as the "love couple" dances. The music environment is slowly changed acoustically from sounding distant as if in a gymnasium, which enhances the audience's sense of 'spectacle', to one where the music reflects the characters 'inner world' and their intensity for each other, hence a subtle transformation to a more initimate sound acoustically.
The point is I never really noticed before... and that's great because the American Graffitti case makes me think of how many composers and sound designers are crafting their work to sit just under the radar of perception. I think this perspective can go a long way when thinking about which mediem needs to be noticed more or which medium is dominating. Some artisans are actually doing their best to remain in the background.
Peace
fiFA
What I wanted to highlight in Kim C's blog were her final words "...perhaps help[ing the music]to become more significant and less invisible". This issue of invisibility I think deserves more investigation from the point of view that some award winning sound designers and composers (names long since lost in the memory banks sorry) are actually basing their reputations on their creations being "invisible". Whereby, if the audience 'notices' or becomes aware of the sound then you're not doing your sound job properly. The craft or the spell of the 'heard but not seen' aesthetic is broken.
I thought this argument essentially about the craft of the sound maker and what they are often trying to acheive was beautifully illustrated in Nabeel's example of "American Graffitti" (1973), where we saw the sound designer being interviewed about applying different recording methods to mimic several acoustic sound environments. This was born out of a requirement to fufill the director's wish of having "wall-to-wall" sound throughout the movie as an important device in creating the 'teenage world' inside the movie. The sound designer then tried to meet this directive in interesting ways.
For example, the radio playing a song in the car was different acoustically to when the character fell out of the car and the song on the radio continued, but sounded acoustically different. Another example is when we hear music playing as the "love couple" dances. The music environment is slowly changed acoustically from sounding distant as if in a gymnasium, which enhances the audience's sense of 'spectacle', to one where the music reflects the characters 'inner world' and their intensity for each other, hence a subtle transformation to a more initimate sound acoustically.
The point is I never really noticed before... and that's great because the American Graffitti case makes me think of how many composers and sound designers are crafting their work to sit just under the radar of perception. I think this perspective can go a long way when thinking about which mediem needs to be noticed more or which medium is dominating. Some artisans are actually doing their best to remain in the background.
Peace
fiFA
Girly Films etc.
I'm a slef confessed fan of girly movies, when I'm sick, when I can't be bothered thinking they are perfect dribble. Using a few hundred examples I want to point to some of the music use in these films, which is interesting for a few reasons.
The use of a pop song is a tried and true method of romantic comedy's, for product placement I'm sure but also to really push the audience to think one particular thing. Notting Hill uses Ronan Keating over and over again that ties the lovers relationship together, it's an easy trick, just like using the same music every time the bad guy is about the enter the room.
Four Weddings and a Funeral starts with 'Love is all around', setting up the style of film from the outset, while the director used the same song slightly changed in his other film, Love Actually. It not only keeps the films tied to themselves but also ties them to the genre and the director, treating them as extentions of each other, not seperate films.
Garden State has always interested me in the way it used specific bands, different songs to move the movie through it's various stages. Whenever the main character 'Andrew' is thinking about something or going somewhere there is another pop-rock track to guide us through. As the movie is all about a sudo journey he takes to find what he is really looking for it fits that the music is not the same and finally ends with a different band of similar music.
The use of a pop song is a tried and true method of romantic comedy's, for product placement I'm sure but also to really push the audience to think one particular thing. Notting Hill uses Ronan Keating over and over again that ties the lovers relationship together, it's an easy trick, just like using the same music every time the bad guy is about the enter the room.
Four Weddings and a Funeral starts with 'Love is all around', setting up the style of film from the outset, while the director used the same song slightly changed in his other film, Love Actually. It not only keeps the films tied to themselves but also ties them to the genre and the director, treating them as extentions of each other, not seperate films.
Garden State has always interested me in the way it used specific bands, different songs to move the movie through it's various stages. Whenever the main character 'Andrew' is thinking about something or going somewhere there is another pop-rock track to guide us through. As the movie is all about a sudo journey he takes to find what he is really looking for it fits that the music is not the same and finally ends with a different band of similar music.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Music in horror films Pt. 2
Picking up from Jxuo63's post (this one), I definitely concur that music plays a seemingly more prominent role in films of the horror genre.
(BTW, One Missed Call is definitely one of the scarier Asian horrors out there, that ringtone haunted me for days too!!)
I was just watching Scream before and I couldn't help paying attention to the score - it's pretty cliched and predictable particularly during the scary bits, but I have to say, it works aye. The fluctuations in volume and build-up of intensity is juxtaposed perfectly with what is happening on screen. You are, for the most part, kept at the edge of your seat.
Eleven years on, viewers are beyond spoilt for choice when it comes to horror films. The recent obsession being that of the sadistic violence type, ie the Saw trilogy and Hostel. That being said, audiences are thus becoming more and more immune to the "cues" music orchestrates in these sort of films. Many a time when I am watching a horror flick, I find I can somewhat predict that something scary is going to happen solely from the music and how it progresses in a scene.
This gives music composers quite a challenge, doeesn't it? Marco Beltrami, who does the score for Scream did an admiral job, in my opinion. As I've said, the music flows and weaves with the action on screen seamlessly. I think, especially considering when it was released, the effect would have paid off tremendously.
I thought the score used in the non-scary scenes were pretty good too. Lots of ethereal-esque sounds which was pretty interesting and refreshing. A good break from the "scary track". It showed versatility which mirrors Beltrami's filmography. I'm now really keen on re-watching some of the movies in his list just to hear other stuff he's done!!
But yeah, music in horror films...paramount in helping provide the chills (and squeals) but also, I believe, could work equally as well in smaller doses. As I mentioned earlier, audiences of today are becoming immune and more akin to music's part and role in a scary movie. Something that I think should be explored more in this genre is the use of no music - what a lot of Asian horror films pull off really well. I always tell people, if they want a really good scare, to not waste their time with a Hollywood horror flick, but to watch an Asian horror instead.
I watched One Missed Call about 3 years back (I think) when it featured at the film festival, but I'm pretty sure there were quite a few scenes that were extremely scary not only because of the story or clever cinematography, but also because there was no music - there was nothing to pre-empt and cue audiences that something terrible was about to happen.
I have a few other thoughts to share from reading other entries from you guys but it'll have to be for another day... ;)
(BTW, One Missed Call is definitely one of the scarier Asian horrors out there, that ringtone haunted me for days too!!)
I was just watching Scream before and I couldn't help paying attention to the score - it's pretty cliched and predictable particularly during the scary bits, but I have to say, it works aye. The fluctuations in volume and build-up of intensity is juxtaposed perfectly with what is happening on screen. You are, for the most part, kept at the edge of your seat.
Eleven years on, viewers are beyond spoilt for choice when it comes to horror films. The recent obsession being that of the sadistic violence type, ie the Saw trilogy and Hostel. That being said, audiences are thus becoming more and more immune to the "cues" music orchestrates in these sort of films. Many a time when I am watching a horror flick, I find I can somewhat predict that something scary is going to happen solely from the music and how it progresses in a scene.
This gives music composers quite a challenge, doeesn't it? Marco Beltrami, who does the score for Scream did an admiral job, in my opinion. As I've said, the music flows and weaves with the action on screen seamlessly. I think, especially considering when it was released, the effect would have paid off tremendously.
I thought the score used in the non-scary scenes were pretty good too. Lots of ethereal-esque sounds which was pretty interesting and refreshing. A good break from the "scary track". It showed versatility which mirrors Beltrami's filmography. I'm now really keen on re-watching some of the movies in his list just to hear other stuff he's done!!
But yeah, music in horror films...paramount in helping provide the chills (and squeals) but also, I believe, could work equally as well in smaller doses. As I mentioned earlier, audiences of today are becoming immune and more akin to music's part and role in a scary movie. Something that I think should be explored more in this genre is the use of no music - what a lot of Asian horror films pull off really well. I always tell people, if they want a really good scare, to not waste their time with a Hollywood horror flick, but to watch an Asian horror instead.
I watched One Missed Call about 3 years back (I think) when it featured at the film festival, but I'm pretty sure there were quite a few scenes that were extremely scary not only because of the story or clever cinematography, but also because there was no music - there was nothing to pre-empt and cue audiences that something terrible was about to happen.
I have a few other thoughts to share from reading other entries from you guys but it'll have to be for another day... ;)
Music Video Belonging to the Commercial Enterprise
I like what Rebecca said: "The music video belongs to the realm of commercial enterprise; and this can be hard for “legitimate” bands to contend with." As a metal enthusiast, I believe bands that play heavy music aren’t just challenged by the fact that there sound isn’t commercial. They are also challenged by the visual representation constructed on behalf of commercial enterprises. Music videos of the commercial realm generally stick to the stereotypical nature of a particular genre discourse. For example, emo music videos mostly contain high school kids with fringes. In the case of metal, ever since the 1980's the genre has been scarred with the imagery of bands such Metallica, Cradle of Fith, Marylin Manson and more recently Avenge Sevenfold and Slipknot. Believe it or not, there are lots of metal bands, both underground and commercial, that don't dress like Goths or mongolo Bougans. Unfortunely, only the people who listen to metal and attend metal gigs are aware of this, thus making it harder for non metal listeners to on one level, appreciate the positionality and subjectivity of members of the metal community and on an other, make it harder for non-metal members of the audience to uncover the better (or”legitimate”) bands of the genre. The mythologices constructed around metal ideology it seems, are distorted by the few metal videos you see on commercial television. C4's The Steel Mill does show a great variety of metal videos, not just the image couscous efforts of certain Thrash and Black metal bands. But I am left wondering, are there better metal bands out there? Is the only reason better metal bands aren’t on commercial television because they don’t aspire religiously to a visual "metal discourse"? If there is such thing as metal discourse...
Language and Music.
Here's some more example MP3s to chew on. For the record, the Mad Bastards songs I posted earlier are still available for download, but I'll take them down at the end of the week.
The sample songs this week are from Yokko Kanno, a multilingual Japanese artist. The songs themselves include lyrics in a number of different languages, including Russian, Japanese, English and the odd bit in Latin, and I was struck by how distinctive it makes the songs.
Any anime fans out there will have encountered these as the theme music to seasons one and two of the Ghost in the Shell television series.
Yokko Kanno - Inner Universe.
Yokko Kanno - Rise.
What do people think?
- Kevin.
The sample songs this week are from Yokko Kanno, a multilingual Japanese artist. The songs themselves include lyrics in a number of different languages, including Russian, Japanese, English and the odd bit in Latin, and I was struck by how distinctive it makes the songs.
Any anime fans out there will have encountered these as the theme music to seasons one and two of the Ghost in the Shell television series.
Yokko Kanno - Inner Universe.
Yokko Kanno - Rise.
What do people think?
- Kevin.
Admin Stuff and Roll-Call.
Greetings everybody.
I just wanted to note that my office-hours on Friday this week will go 1-3pm due to essay timetabling for FTVMS100, so I'll be there longer than usual if anyone wants to talk.
Here's the current list of posting names I can't associate with Actual People on the blog, so if one of these is you please put up a hand or send me an email with your ID number and the like.
Sarah G
Hye-Young
Elaine L
M Liu
VNess
Kelly
Josh
In many cases it's because my class list is out of date rather than because you've chosen weird names.
- Kevin.
I just wanted to note that my office-hours on Friday this week will go 1-3pm due to essay timetabling for FTVMS100, so I'll be there longer than usual if anyone wants to talk.
Here's the current list of posting names I can't associate with Actual People on the blog, so if one of these is you please put up a hand or send me an email with your ID number and the like.
Sarah G
Hye-Young
Elaine L
M Liu
VNess
Kelly
Josh
In many cases it's because my class list is out of date rather than because you've chosen weird names.
- Kevin.
The Pinnacle of the downfall of society
I read Katherine Dieckmann's article "MTV Killed The Music Video Star" with a smile spread on my face and after re-reading it I decided she's my new favourite person. Thanks goes to Nabeel for including my exact feelings about MTV and their 'culture' creation since the early 80's.
I just wanted to include this news article:
MTV To Change Name
At a meeting last month for the heads of the company, MTV have decided to alter the brandname of their internationally successful television channel.
"It's the final step in a process that's been underway for some time," admits a representative. "We have come to the realisation that we do not, in fact, screen much music content at all anymore."
Because of this, the company has decided to change their name from "MTV" (Music Television) to, quite simply, "TV".
"Quality programming like 'Date My Mom' continues to set us apart from other channels," the representative proudly claims.
"Our name change in no way compromises this individuality."
---
Actually from my own website www.bigstarnews.com, I thought it was a happy coincidence.
Ben
I just wanted to include this news article:
MTV To Change Name
At a meeting last month for the heads of the company, MTV have decided to alter the brandname of their internationally successful television channel.
"It's the final step in a process that's been underway for some time," admits a representative. "We have come to the realisation that we do not, in fact, screen much music content at all anymore."
Because of this, the company has decided to change their name from "MTV" (Music Television) to, quite simply, "TV".
"Quality programming like 'Date My Mom' continues to set us apart from other channels," the representative proudly claims.
"Our name change in no way compromises this individuality."
---
Actually from my own website www.bigstarnews.com, I thought it was a happy coincidence.
Ben
Andy Warhol- The undefinable man
Andy Warhol the worlds fascination with the man who helped define a decade
but yet we find it hard to define the man. Who was he? A painter, a celebrity, a commercial illustrator, writer, avant-garde filmmaker, an artist. His origin of birth Pittsburgh, but the birth of Andy, began in the sixties with the famous painting of a soup can, Campbell’s Soup Can, which was the beginning of his “15 minutes of Fame”, and the start of many paintings immortalizing famous American products. “The Factory” an underground studio, embroiled in controversy, rebellion and revolution; musicians, artists and celebrities alike sort refugee, sanctuary within the Studio walls, where Pop Culture flourished, as Warhol’s work revolved around the very essence of Pop Culture, it is what fed him metaphorically speaking. Andy used the ‘The Factory’ literally as a factory where he thought of himself as a machine his desire to make art of mass-produced items but to mass produces the art itself (Murray, 2006). The ideal of production work and limitation of creative thought was the objective; this seems reminiscent of Fordism.
What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.
– The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: (From A to B and Back Again), 1975, ISBN 0-15-671720-4
This quote seems to sum up Andy’s feelings towards popular culture and the ambiguous nature of his perspective and the person he is. Andy Warhol seem to be all about art and be able to relate art to life in all its facets "Making money is art, and working is art and good business is the best art."(Wikipedia, 2007).
Andy used art as a means of defining him, he explained his work expressed and meant nothing and that "If you want to know all about Andy Warhol," he said, "just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There's nothing behind it." (Murray, 2006). A man that seemed so unaffected and emotionless, is a way to define him, but doing that would be what he would want to be defined as defining him would define him through his art, but he was much more than that, as I think there is much more
to him than just the surface and what lies behind it.
but yet we find it hard to define the man. Who was he? A painter, a celebrity, a commercial illustrator, writer, avant-garde filmmaker, an artist. His origin of birth Pittsburgh, but the birth of Andy, began in the sixties with the famous painting of a soup can, Campbell’s Soup Can, which was the beginning of his “15 minutes of Fame”, and the start of many paintings immortalizing famous American products. “The Factory” an underground studio, embroiled in controversy, rebellion and revolution; musicians, artists and celebrities alike sort refugee, sanctuary within the Studio walls, where Pop Culture flourished, as Warhol’s work revolved around the very essence of Pop Culture, it is what fed him metaphorically speaking. Andy used the ‘The Factory’ literally as a factory where he thought of himself as a machine his desire to make art of mass-produced items but to mass produces the art itself (Murray, 2006). The ideal of production work and limitation of creative thought was the objective; this seems reminiscent of Fordism.
What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.
– The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: (From A to B and Back Again), 1975, ISBN 0-15-671720-4
This quote seems to sum up Andy’s feelings towards popular culture and the ambiguous nature of his perspective and the person he is. Andy Warhol seem to be all about art and be able to relate art to life in all its facets "Making money is art, and working is art and good business is the best art."(Wikipedia, 2007).
Andy used art as a means of defining him, he explained his work expressed and meant nothing and that "If you want to know all about Andy Warhol," he said, "just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There's nothing behind it." (Murray, 2006). A man that seemed so unaffected and emotionless, is a way to define him, but doing that would be what he would want to be defined as defining him would define him through his art, but he was much more than that, as I think there is much more
to him than just the surface and what lies behind it.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
music&visuals in music videos
Referring to “Image Supremacy” about image dominance in film based media. In terms of music videos I believe image can be secondary, although I guess it can depend on whether one was introduced first to the song, or the music video. It is known that the images to music videos are rarely a visual narration to its song. So I believe that we do at times question ‘how an image fits into the structure of a narrative’, where in this case the song is the narrative. Most often songs don’t have storylines that can have a direct visual narration, but I believe that we still often try and interpret music videos via the words of the song.
However in some other music videos where there are references to existing media such as film or TV series where the visuals and song have no connection whatsoever except for synergy. For example ‘Lights surrounding you’ by Evermore, the visual narrative is the life story of a Home&Away character, and the song is about a relationship. Here in one way I think the visuals can be powerful when watching the music video because the images don’t relate to the words at all. “Image Supremacy” states how image forms the basis of understanding and here I see the visuals as creating a narrative of their own because the music video uses a montage of images to tell the story of Sally the H&A character, but not an understanding of the song itself. I think the music still drives the music video because the music has an engulfing presence where the visuals don’t because there is no dialogue or sound effects for the visuals so it is the music and lyrics that are primary and controls the way we try and understand the visuals in terms of its relation with the song.
However in some other music videos where there are references to existing media such as film or TV series where the visuals and song have no connection whatsoever except for synergy. For example ‘Lights surrounding you’ by Evermore, the visual narrative is the life story of a Home&Away character, and the song is about a relationship. Here in one way I think the visuals can be powerful when watching the music video because the images don’t relate to the words at all. “Image Supremacy” states how image forms the basis of understanding and here I see the visuals as creating a narrative of their own because the music video uses a montage of images to tell the story of Sally the H&A character, but not an understanding of the song itself. I think the music still drives the music video because the music has an engulfing presence where the visuals don’t because there is no dialogue or sound effects for the visuals so it is the music and lyrics that are primary and controls the way we try and understand the visuals in terms of its relation with the song.
Music in horror films
Hi everyone, I just saw a Japanese horror film called “Chakushin ari” or “one missed call” yesterday. The film is all about cell phone. People mysteriously start receiving a strange message from the future with a terrific ringtone. Anyone who gets this message would die in several days mystically. Therefore, all the characters consider that ringtone as the premonition of death. After watching, I kind of had some new thoughts of movie soundtrack. Compare with other genres, music usually plays a more significant role in the horror movies. Take this film as an example, although there are a few horrible scenes when the evil spirit comes out, the most impressive element still is the ringtone. Even several hours after you watch the film, you cannot get that weird tone out of your mind. I guess this is what director want. In horror movies, some suitable music and sound effects are necessary. They may create the ambience and evoke audiences’ emotion. Apart from the strong visual impact, a good horror film would take its impressive soundtrack as its secondary weapon to achieve the goal of scariness.
By the way, I downloaded that ringtone to my cellphone as an incoming tone. But my roommate finally get annoyed. : ) I have to change it now. Anyway, I still think it is a really good tone. Anyone who is interested in the film or the ringtone can check it out. Click here
Jxu063
By the way, I downloaded that ringtone to my cellphone as an incoming tone. But my roommate finally get annoyed. : ) I have to change it now. Anyway, I still think it is a really good tone. Anyone who is interested in the film or the ringtone can check it out. Click here
Jxu063
Film Music Goes Live
There’s been a lot of discussion lately that questions the position that sound occupies (or, perhaps more appropriately, is relegated to) in film. Darren is indeed correct when he says that, even when it remains in the background, a film score can be very effective. But something interesting happens when that score is remediated, brought out from behind the screen, and performed by live musicians – as I discovered on two occasions last week, first of all when I attended a performance/screening of A Throw of Dice (Franz Osten, 1929) at the Civic last week.
The interesting thing about this film is that it has been re-scored by Nitin Sawhney, and so has already been remediated before it reaches an audience. I think that this in itself is an attempt to make the silent film’s score play a more significant part in the viewing experience – its modern yet ethnic twist has more relevance to a contemporary audience. Having it performed by a live orchestra gives the music even more prominence – as well being able to see it being performed, you can’t beat the acoustics of a concert hall. The music envelops you in a 3-dimensional way that draws you even further into the world of the film, enhancing the overall experience.
Still on the AK07 trail, I also went to a performance by The Spaghetti Western Orchestra. Contrary to what their name suggests, this group is neither an orchestra, nor a wayward group of American bandits. The 5-piece band is a tribute to the music of the spaghetti westerns, and is an example of how film music can come to have meaning in its own right. I think they’re also an extension of the ‘nostalgia culture’ that Pauline Reay mentions in her article. Delightful Foley compositions were interspersed among their interpretations of signature pieces from films including Once Upon a Time in the West and the Dollars trilogy. One performer strutted across the stage with his microphone in a box of cornflakes to simulate gravel, while another clinked metal rods together to evoke the sound of a railway being built. So as well as being nostalgic, the orchestra brought some transparency to the sound design process of western films.
If my experience at these performances is anything to go by, I think they are the kind of things that will help people develop a greater appreciation for film music, and perhaps help it to become more significant and less invisible.
The interesting thing about this film is that it has been re-scored by Nitin Sawhney, and so has already been remediated before it reaches an audience. I think that this in itself is an attempt to make the silent film’s score play a more significant part in the viewing experience – its modern yet ethnic twist has more relevance to a contemporary audience. Having it performed by a live orchestra gives the music even more prominence – as well being able to see it being performed, you can’t beat the acoustics of a concert hall. The music envelops you in a 3-dimensional way that draws you even further into the world of the film, enhancing the overall experience.
Still on the AK07 trail, I also went to a performance by The Spaghetti Western Orchestra. Contrary to what their name suggests, this group is neither an orchestra, nor a wayward group of American bandits. The 5-piece band is a tribute to the music of the spaghetti westerns, and is an example of how film music can come to have meaning in its own right. I think they’re also an extension of the ‘nostalgia culture’ that Pauline Reay mentions in her article. Delightful Foley compositions were interspersed among their interpretations of signature pieces from films including Once Upon a Time in the West and the Dollars trilogy. One performer strutted across the stage with his microphone in a box of cornflakes to simulate gravel, while another clinked metal rods together to evoke the sound of a railway being built. So as well as being nostalgic, the orchestra brought some transparency to the sound design process of western films.
If my experience at these performances is anything to go by, I think they are the kind of things that will help people develop a greater appreciation for film music, and perhaps help it to become more significant and less invisible.
Timbaland: Producer or Reproducer?
Timbaland re-tunes artists with the popular sound of the day. His influence helps artists who are struggling to keep cool with their tired song styles. Although, manufacturing a pop star is old news to the music industry, its even a public phenomenon. American Idol has is entering its sixth season. Except, American Idol forms new stars from the roots up. Timbaland uses existing high profile stars that are still within the public eye but need to move along faster to keep with the times. Highly mediated artists like Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake are such artists. They boast numerous number one hits but need to move beyond 'I'm like a Bird' and 'Bye Bye Bye'. Nelly Furtado's second album crashed. The folky Pourtegese world-music sound of 'Folklore' just wasn't cool enough. Timberlake never really lost fame but entered risky territory as he adopted a hip hop flavour. His reputation with N Sync might have lost him credibility as a rapper. But beyond Timbaland's studio, Furtado's new album Loose was a smash as with Timberlake whose new hip hop inspired album was accepted and praised. Timbaland rekindled their fame. His work with the famous proves that he isn't a producer who markets the unknown, rather he reproduces and remediates. He is a reproducer not a producer.
A night at the movies (without the movies)
So this is kind of relevent to those who appreciate classical film scores.
The Auckland Philharmonia is presenting a concert on the 2nd of June called a night at the movies featuring well know movie scores presented in such a way as so that one can appreciate the music without those pesky images getting in the way.
This is a really good opportunity for everyone to see how orchestras work to create for the ear what images create for the eye.
programme includes:
Herrmann's North by Northwest Overture, Vertigo Prelude and Psycho Suite,
Various music from James Bond films
Schifrin's Mission Impossible
Rota's La Strada Suite
Williams' Harry Potter theme and music from the Star Wars trilogies.
As well as music from Gladiator and Spiderman.
It should be a great night.
Tickets from tiketek.
Andrew
The Auckland Philharmonia is presenting a concert on the 2nd of June called a night at the movies featuring well know movie scores presented in such a way as so that one can appreciate the music without those pesky images getting in the way.
This is a really good opportunity for everyone to see how orchestras work to create for the ear what images create for the eye.
programme includes:
Herrmann's North by Northwest Overture, Vertigo Prelude and Psycho Suite,
Various music from James Bond films
Schifrin's Mission Impossible
Rota's La Strada Suite
Williams' Harry Potter theme and music from the Star Wars trilogies.
As well as music from Gladiator and Spiderman.
It should be a great night.
Tickets from tiketek.
Andrew
Image Supremacy
In Wednesday's lecture when we watched the clip from American Graffiti, Nabeel was talking about how music had been worked into the film's diegesis and the short clip was talking about the concept of the world of music that was used to try and evoke the era etc. What struck me as interesting about these comments and past commentary I have read that mentioned the use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound and music was how this showed the supremacy of the image in the world of film-based media.
Perhaps this only shows a bias within critical circles, however what I mean by this is that we never (or perhaps I have not come across it yet) refer to an image is being strictly diegetic or non-diegetic, and how it fits into the narrative, but only really for music and sound. It seems the way our visual culture and language in terms of story-telling is based primarily around the image in this sense - what we see is a basepoint from which what we hear can add to or alter this. We very rarely question how an image fits into the structure of a narrative because the image that we see forms the structure of the narrative, the basis of understanding, from which sound is a secondary functionary. The only common occurence that I can think of that strays from this image-based dominance is in the use of a montage (cue Team America music), where the music more consistently carries the story while the image changes.
Can images non-diegetic, or is it a symptom of our current visual language that prevents this from really being the case? At least this is true for mainstream filmmaking, perhaps avantgarde cinema more readily embraces the idea of letting music take a more dominant role than the image. Also this is a bit like the Tarantino idea of wrapping a narrative around a selection of songs or music and basing image upon this, although this occurs prior to the making of the film and does not in a storytelling sense allow the music to strictly dominate the narrative.
I was wondering if there are many ways in which image can be non-diegetic, allowing sound to primarily hold the narrative. Is it possible for an image to be diegetic?
Perhaps this only shows a bias within critical circles, however what I mean by this is that we never (or perhaps I have not come across it yet) refer to an image is being strictly diegetic or non-diegetic, and how it fits into the narrative, but only really for music and sound. It seems the way our visual culture and language in terms of story-telling is based primarily around the image in this sense - what we see is a basepoint from which what we hear can add to or alter this. We very rarely question how an image fits into the structure of a narrative because the image that we see forms the structure of the narrative, the basis of understanding, from which sound is a secondary functionary. The only common occurence that I can think of that strays from this image-based dominance is in the use of a montage (cue Team America music), where the music more consistently carries the story while the image changes.
Can images non-diegetic, or is it a symptom of our current visual language that prevents this from really being the case? At least this is true for mainstream filmmaking, perhaps avantgarde cinema more readily embraces the idea of letting music take a more dominant role than the image. Also this is a bit like the Tarantino idea of wrapping a narrative around a selection of songs or music and basing image upon this, although this occurs prior to the making of the film and does not in a storytelling sense allow the music to strictly dominate the narrative.
I was wondering if there are many ways in which image can be non-diegetic, allowing sound to primarily hold the narrative. Is it possible for an image to be diegetic?
Music and Directors
German director Wim Wenders once stated that music for film is one of the most important elements in the film making process, and he said that he devotes at least 50% of his efforts on getting the right music to go with the visuals. He's one of a few directors who uses music directly to inspire narrative and cinematography either before shooting begins or during the shoot, whereas many directors find the music in post-production or leave it to a composer to score. Many of the directors like Wenders have a real passion and understanding for music, and the power of the medium in relation to combining it with images. Whenever a Wender's film is going to be released, you just know that you'll get a great compilation of music on the soundtrack, like for example "Until the End of the World", "Wings of Desire", and "Faraway, So Close" where you'll find artists such as Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, U2, David Byrne and many more great musicians. The success of his marriage of music and image comes from the way he uses the music to create mood and atmosphere, yet also convey the emotions of his characters in relation to their surroundings, usually in a stark and quite often foreign landscape. This might have to do with him being a German director who mostly works in America and other parts of the world.
I guess the main point here is that directors like Wim Wenders, David Lynch, and Jim Jarmusch in particular use and choose their music so carefully, making sure that the music or sounds used are appropriate to the visual. In a Lynch film, you'll find a wide variety of music used from different genres and time periods that are juxtaposed together to reflect the characters feelings or convey parts of their character in a setting. It's a highly intuitive process for Lynch, but he'll spend a lot of time making sure he gets it just right.
Having a love for all the elements of film making, and taking a holistic approach to the process really pays off. The films are not only an aural and visual feast, but the resulting soundtracks are infinitely more interesting and coherent than most of the disjointed compilation soundtracks on the market.
I guess the main point here is that directors like Wim Wenders, David Lynch, and Jim Jarmusch in particular use and choose their music so carefully, making sure that the music or sounds used are appropriate to the visual. In a Lynch film, you'll find a wide variety of music used from different genres and time periods that are juxtaposed together to reflect the characters feelings or convey parts of their character in a setting. It's a highly intuitive process for Lynch, but he'll spend a lot of time making sure he gets it just right.
Having a love for all the elements of film making, and taking a holistic approach to the process really pays off. The films are not only an aural and visual feast, but the resulting soundtracks are infinitely more interesting and coherent than most of the disjointed compilation soundtracks on the market.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Tokyo Pop
Rock’n’Roll as an international language is important in the film Tokyo Pop (1988, Fran Rubel Kuzui). The importance of Rock’n’Roll, especially American popular songs, help I believe to build a bridge between western ‘rebellious’ culture and traditional eastern culture. I feel that in this film it shows also that Rock’n’Roll is also as a vehicle of escape from tradition.
Friday, March 23, 2007
minstrelsy and a 13" wang
Or:Bamboozled and Boogie Nights
Last night my friend had to watch Bamboozeled, a Spike Lee joint, for one of her papers so we did a double feature with Boogie nights. I'm sure a lot of people have, but I hadn't, seen bamboozled. If you are planning on writing your essay on minstrelsy it is a must. The central premise of the movie is a TV writer who pitches a new millennium minstrel show to the network he works for. Around the central device of the minstrel show orbit a host of people who represent different slants on the idea of the minstrel. The TV writer who describes himself as an Oreo: brown on the outside white on the inside. His boss, a high fiving, white, male with giant photos of exclusively black sportsman behind his desk. A white rapper in Mos Def's character's militant black rights group. an Italian who, in a really uncomfortable scene, claims he is more of a nigger than niggers before doing a rap. Each of these represent a different take on the idea of the minstrel. This list is probably not exhaustive either. Grotesque minstrel memorabilia is a key feature of the visual imagery coupled with ‘blackface’ that the show’s fans start adopting making for some really unsettling viewing. The film is largely satirical and if you need a definition of that there is one in the opening scene of the movie. There is quite a bit of historical information, some really intelligent discourse about race issues, and even a kind of ‘Thank you for Smoking’ look at using critical discourse to justify racism. There is a classic scene where a spin doctor tries to defend her right to address black issues by saying she has a PHD in African studies from Princeton. The ‘Oreo’ character responds by saying something like: ‘Ah, excellent, a niggerologist’. Anyway way it’s a really good/easy way to get background to the history and resent debate about minstrelsy.
We watched Boogie Nights second and there was a scene towards the end that struck me as quite a clear reference to minstrelsy. When ‘I like to fuck’ Buck is in the doughnut store hold up, the robber shoots the store keeper through the head covering Bucks face with blood. I realize that blood is red and not black but I think the image is heightened by his bright white suit and the fact he does this weird minstrel, jazz hands, thing near his face. Buck’s character is definitely used as vehicle to address race issues and maybe this just serves as a visual cue to remind us of this. Think when Buck is applying for a bank loan and his face and hands are again in stark contrast to his suit. The bank manager wants to say your black and a porn star but only says what he can say: you’re a porn star. Bert Reynolds’s character seems to have reasonably good credit if you see my point. Also Buck seems to have a sincere like for country music, which is of course a bastion of whitedom, yet another slant on the minstrelsy.
Probably my favorite scene was when Dirk Diggler meets his sidekick (shake n bake) for the first time and the sidekick says ‘a lot of people tell me I look like Hans solo’ followed by some silence. In the silence I couldn’t help thinking – well I guess we know who Luke skywalker is, because Hans doesn’t have a saber, if you get me. All it needs is a heavy breathing drug dealer in a black helmet for the star wars metaphysics to be fully instated. Dirks special gift from ‘the force’ stops working after too much nose candy.
Digital mysticz at gelatos sat night. Braaaaap
Last night my friend had to watch Bamboozeled, a Spike Lee joint, for one of her papers so we did a double feature with Boogie nights. I'm sure a lot of people have, but I hadn't, seen bamboozled. If you are planning on writing your essay on minstrelsy it is a must. The central premise of the movie is a TV writer who pitches a new millennium minstrel show to the network he works for. Around the central device of the minstrel show orbit a host of people who represent different slants on the idea of the minstrel. The TV writer who describes himself as an Oreo: brown on the outside white on the inside. His boss, a high fiving, white, male with giant photos of exclusively black sportsman behind his desk. A white rapper in Mos Def's character's militant black rights group. an Italian who, in a really uncomfortable scene, claims he is more of a nigger than niggers before doing a rap. Each of these represent a different take on the idea of the minstrel. This list is probably not exhaustive either. Grotesque minstrel memorabilia is a key feature of the visual imagery coupled with ‘blackface’ that the show’s fans start adopting making for some really unsettling viewing. The film is largely satirical and if you need a definition of that there is one in the opening scene of the movie. There is quite a bit of historical information, some really intelligent discourse about race issues, and even a kind of ‘Thank you for Smoking’ look at using critical discourse to justify racism. There is a classic scene where a spin doctor tries to defend her right to address black issues by saying she has a PHD in African studies from Princeton. The ‘Oreo’ character responds by saying something like: ‘Ah, excellent, a niggerologist’. Anyway way it’s a really good/easy way to get background to the history and resent debate about minstrelsy.
We watched Boogie Nights second and there was a scene towards the end that struck me as quite a clear reference to minstrelsy. When ‘I like to fuck’ Buck is in the doughnut store hold up, the robber shoots the store keeper through the head covering Bucks face with blood. I realize that blood is red and not black but I think the image is heightened by his bright white suit and the fact he does this weird minstrel, jazz hands, thing near his face. Buck’s character is definitely used as vehicle to address race issues and maybe this just serves as a visual cue to remind us of this. Think when Buck is applying for a bank loan and his face and hands are again in stark contrast to his suit. The bank manager wants to say your black and a porn star but only says what he can say: you’re a porn star. Bert Reynolds’s character seems to have reasonably good credit if you see my point. Also Buck seems to have a sincere like for country music, which is of course a bastion of whitedom, yet another slant on the minstrelsy.
Probably my favorite scene was when Dirk Diggler meets his sidekick (shake n bake) for the first time and the sidekick says ‘a lot of people tell me I look like Hans solo’ followed by some silence. In the silence I couldn’t help thinking – well I guess we know who Luke skywalker is, because Hans doesn’t have a saber, if you get me. All it needs is a heavy breathing drug dealer in a black helmet for the star wars metaphysics to be fully instated. Dirks special gift from ‘the force’ stops working after too much nose candy.
Digital mysticz at gelatos sat night. Braaaaap
Music on Cell Phones.
If you buy music or songs off a website or download it to your phone, you can play the song on your cell phone quite easily and download the song to your computer. For example, you can purchase music off the Vodaphone music website, play it on your 3G phone and download it to your computer. However, if the cell phone is damaged and you need to replace your phone, even if you get the same model phone and use the same SIM card and cell phone number, you cannot play the songs that you downloaded previously.
Copying and dubbing have been common for many years with popular music and films. For example, you might have copied a CD onto tape or more recently, onto MP3 files which can be easily moved around different listening devices.
The new form of Digital Rights Management that is embedded in the new MP4 format used by cell phone music providers prevents users who buy the music directly from them to move the music files that they have purchased to other places.
I have been informed by Vodafone that the files are tied into the serial number of the cell phone handset, not the cell phone number. This prevents users from sending and swapping music between them. However, it also prevents the user from listening to music on other devices or replacing music on a damaged phone. Most people assume this is a given right because they have bought the songs already.
The shocking reality is; if you have downloaded a lot of music to your phone and the phone is damaged, you will lose all the songs you believe to be yours.
Is this new trend the end of a common practice that we thought we had a right to or will users rebel against this and buy their digital music in another place?
Mana E
Copying and dubbing have been common for many years with popular music and films. For example, you might have copied a CD onto tape or more recently, onto MP3 files which can be easily moved around different listening devices.
The new form of Digital Rights Management that is embedded in the new MP4 format used by cell phone music providers prevents users who buy the music directly from them to move the music files that they have purchased to other places.
I have been informed by Vodafone that the files are tied into the serial number of the cell phone handset, not the cell phone number. This prevents users from sending and swapping music between them. However, it also prevents the user from listening to music on other devices or replacing music on a damaged phone. Most people assume this is a given right because they have bought the songs already.
The shocking reality is; if you have downloaded a lot of music to your phone and the phone is damaged, you will lose all the songs you believe to be yours.
Is this new trend the end of a common practice that we thought we had a right to or will users rebel against this and buy their digital music in another place?
Mana E
Pot calling the kettle black?
Hi, First post and all.
This is kinda in reference to a post by Kate VN, titled 'but. but..'
I'm more interested in intellectual property (IP), and sampling when it comes to sounds, and sampling.
Joel Vietch has an amusing site called rathergood.com, in which he has all sorts of amusing songs and animations some which verge on being music videos, being made to accentuate or poke fun at established songs. Such as his viking kitten attempt of Gaybar by band Electric Six.
Joels funny animation (lots of Kittens)
http://www.rathergood.com/gaybar/
Rob Manuels faux doco of his mate getting ripped off.
http://www.robmanuel.com/2006/12/13/is-coke-ripping-off-the-little-guy/
The crux point comes as an example of a Argentinian coke ad surfaces where Coca-Cola seems to have ripped off another of Joels creations. Joels rights to his IP seem to have been circumvented. One of my friends ventured the idea that the fact that as Joel has clearly sign-posted the song in his video was written and played by the band Electric six that his animation is more legitimate, however.....does that mean if Coca-Cola Argentina had put a hastily scribed JoelVeitch@rathergood.com at the end of their ad that their use of his IP would be all right?
The main question I have, with regards to sampling of both audio and musical clips, is what are the general rules that are used to define and draw the lines between public domain and of copyright infringement?
Or more importantly, as both sites love to pull pranks on the general public have I just been the victim of another one of their hilarious scams?
Cheers
Mike-L
This is kinda in reference to a post by Kate VN, titled 'but. but..'
I'm more interested in intellectual property (IP), and sampling when it comes to sounds, and sampling.
Joel Vietch has an amusing site called rathergood.com, in which he has all sorts of amusing songs and animations some which verge on being music videos, being made to accentuate or poke fun at established songs. Such as his viking kitten attempt of Gaybar by band Electric Six.
Joels funny animation (lots of Kittens)
http://www.rathergood.com/gaybar/
Rob Manuels faux doco of his mate getting ripped off.
http://www.robmanuel.com/2006/12/13/is-coke-ripping-off-the-little-guy/
The crux point comes as an example of a Argentinian coke ad surfaces where Coca-Cola seems to have ripped off another of Joels creations. Joels rights to his IP seem to have been circumvented. One of my friends ventured the idea that the fact that as Joel has clearly sign-posted the song in his video was written and played by the band Electric six that his animation is more legitimate, however.....does that mean if Coca-Cola Argentina had put a hastily scribed JoelVeitch@rathergood.com at the end of their ad that their use of his IP would be all right?
The main question I have, with regards to sampling of both audio and musical clips, is what are the general rules that are used to define and draw the lines between public domain and of copyright infringement?
Or more importantly, as both sites love to pull pranks on the general public have I just been the victim of another one of their hilarious scams?
Cheers
Mike-L
Re-feeling through soundtrack
Hey,
This week’s lecture about the Hollywood film soundtrack reminded me the days I used to collect the soundtracks. Listening to the film soundtrack is more enjoyable than just music itself because you unconsciously get emotional effect without the real visuals or images infront of you.
In my opinion, soundtrack has been always popular especially among the film audiences because the soundtrack can evoke emotions and other associations that you had while watching the film without actually having to produce directly through the narratives. In addition, each song contains the image and atmosphere of one particular scene or character so it also can help audiences to recall the special scene or dialogue of the film. I say it is mostly the soundtrack's power that is making audiences to view the same film again and again (that is if the soundtrack is well fitted with the narrative and successful). Soundtrack can be used as a marketing tools and surely help film to achieve sensational result.
These are some of my favourite film OST (that I can remember now) and I believe they are all well known.
Shape of my heart (Sting) - Leon (1994)
Kissing You (Des'ree) - Romeo and Juliet (1996)
She (Elvis Costello) - Notting Hill (1999)
Tennessee (Hans Zimmer) - Pearl Harbour (2001)
The trouble with Love is (Kelly Clarkson) - Love Actually (2003)
Each of them produces specific emotions that audiences already have experienced through the film. Like, when listening to the Romeo and Juliet OST- Kissing You, audience can recall the scene where Romeo and Juliet first meet each other since it is so memorable. Notting Hill and Leon OST that I listed appear at the end of the film and somehow the mood of the music matches with the genre of the film. I personally like Pearl Harbour's soundtrack although it is mostly orchestral music because you can feel its own special emotional characteristic by the music as the music has been well tied-in with the narrative.
This week’s lecture about the Hollywood film soundtrack reminded me the days I used to collect the soundtracks. Listening to the film soundtrack is more enjoyable than just music itself because you unconsciously get emotional effect without the real visuals or images infront of you.
In my opinion, soundtrack has been always popular especially among the film audiences because the soundtrack can evoke emotions and other associations that you had while watching the film without actually having to produce directly through the narratives. In addition, each song contains the image and atmosphere of one particular scene or character so it also can help audiences to recall the special scene or dialogue of the film. I say it is mostly the soundtrack's power that is making audiences to view the same film again and again (that is if the soundtrack is well fitted with the narrative and successful). Soundtrack can be used as a marketing tools and surely help film to achieve sensational result.
These are some of my favourite film OST (that I can remember now) and I believe they are all well known.
Shape of my heart (Sting) - Leon (1994)
Kissing You (Des'ree) - Romeo and Juliet (1996)
She (Elvis Costello) - Notting Hill (1999)
Tennessee (Hans Zimmer) - Pearl Harbour (2001)
The trouble with Love is (Kelly Clarkson) - Love Actually (2003)
Each of them produces specific emotions that audiences already have experienced through the film. Like, when listening to the Romeo and Juliet OST- Kissing You, audience can recall the scene where Romeo and Juliet first meet each other since it is so memorable. Notting Hill and Leon OST that I listed appear at the end of the film and somehow the mood of the music matches with the genre of the film. I personally like Pearl Harbour's soundtrack although it is mostly orchestral music because you can feel its own special emotional characteristic by the music as the music has been well tied-in with the narrative.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Pop music on film and tv: it just makes sense!
Based on the readings for this week, the lecture and my own conclusions it just seems logical based on a marketing perspective for music and film to intertwine and unite. If combined successfully, a movie, television programme, song and/or artist can become an instantaneous hit so why would artists or directors miss this opportunity?! It may result in a loss of 'integrity' to a particular artist to appear in a main stream production however if money is on the mind (as it often is) what would hold them back? There are countless examples of music featuring on films or television which result in boosted sales and general public knowlegde of artists. A clear example is Snow Patrol, The Fray and KT Tunstall whose songs have all appeared during key moments in Grey's Anatomy and have evidently contributed to their album sales and public recognition. The Fray even depicts scenes from the show in the advertisements for their album on television. These songs have obviously been chosen for their appropriateness in the plot of the series and have fitted in with the emotion of the scenes, no doubt contributing to their success. This has also resulted in a compilation CD from music featured in Grey's Anatomy which has sold well. The 'synergy' does not stop there however. Established artists such as The Black Eyed Pea's used the recognisable riff from Pulp Fiction in a recent hit Pump It, which personally reminded me of the film every time I heard it and made me somewhat like the song which I probably would not have otherwise. The inclusion of the riff potentially widens the appeal of the song to a broader market which may attract an older demographic of listeners. When presented with evidence in the form of sales, viewings and publicity for musicians and film or television series it is evident the idea of 'synergy' is commercially viable for all involved but only when the song and accompanying scene flow seamlessly together or produces an effect on the audience.
Duran Duran’s “Girls on Film”
These days it is not common for us to see sex and nudity throughout music videos. Hip Hop artists are bathed in semi naked women and pop artists dance seductively in scantily clad clothing. When did images of sex become a tool for many artists to use to sell their music, and more importantly when did we stop being shocked at these images?
Duran Duran first released their notorious music video for “Girls on Film” in 1981. The video clip caused controversy and uproar among censors who dubbed the video pornographic and offensive with its montage of erotic and sexually explicit images, which included topless and semi naked women pouring champagne over themselves. Twenty five years later even I have to admit that this is one racy video clip. Some may find it offensive or distasteful, but no matter what opinion we may have I think that it’s easy to agree that it was genius for its time. Although it was banned on BBC TV and was heavily edited for MTV, the controversy surrounding the video created so much publicity that it boosted the success of “Girls On Film” which became the first top ten hit for Duran Duran’s musical career. Duran Duran distinguished themselves from other pop bands and caught the attention of the media, including MTV and the public. Very clever lads.
I guess this was just early days of using sexual images to sell, and “Girls on Film” was only a predecessor for music video clips to come from Madonna’s “Erotica” in 1992 and Christina Aguilera’s “Dirrty” and Benny Benassi’s “Satisfaction” in 2002. (I’m sure there’s worse). Images of drugs, death and violence are already appearing in music videos, shocking yet intriguing us, enticing us to buy their product.
But when did we stop being shocked? And what will come next for bands to get our attention…?
Hollywood Sound
Hey,
This might be a bit off-topic but thought I'd mention it anyway. Yesterday's lec with the Hollywood film soundtracks and the earlier lectures on Al Jolson and Bernard Herrmann kind of reminded me of Sunset Boulevard (1950). The theme in SB's opening sequence is quite similar to Psycho and Vertigo in that they are quite melodramatic with the crescendo patterns and sinister undertones.
There's an interesting scene where Norma Desmond (as the faded silent film star complete with her decadent '20s mansion) laments the advent of sound during a conversation with her then-New Hollywood 'ghostwriter' and future pimp, Joe Gillis.
JG: "You used to be in silent pictures, you used to be big."
ND: "I am big. It's the pictures that got small..."
Norma goes on to talk about how she can say anything she wants with her eyes.
Especially as a b/w film, I think the score adds to (or rather creates) the creepy decrepit mood and externalises Norma's distorted sense of self and Joe's opportunism; the music adds a colour to it, so to speak.
The special edition DVD also has a featurette on the famous composer for SB, German emigre, Franz Waxman. It concentrates on the leitmotivs (Bebop for the hip cat Joe and Valentinoesque tango melodies for old-fashioned Norma), and how Waxman and Billy Wilder 'condensed' the music to link across different scenes.
Stella
This might be a bit off-topic but thought I'd mention it anyway. Yesterday's lec with the Hollywood film soundtracks and the earlier lectures on Al Jolson and Bernard Herrmann kind of reminded me of Sunset Boulevard (1950). The theme in SB's opening sequence is quite similar to Psycho and Vertigo in that they are quite melodramatic with the crescendo patterns and sinister undertones.
There's an interesting scene where Norma Desmond (as the faded silent film star complete with her decadent '20s mansion) laments the advent of sound during a conversation with her then-New Hollywood 'ghostwriter' and future pimp, Joe Gillis.
JG: "You used to be in silent pictures, you used to be big."
ND: "I am big. It's the pictures that got small..."
Norma goes on to talk about how she can say anything she wants with her eyes.
Especially as a b/w film, I think the score adds to (or rather creates) the creepy decrepit mood and externalises Norma's distorted sense of self and Joe's opportunism; the music adds a colour to it, so to speak.
The special edition DVD also has a featurette on the famous composer for SB, German emigre, Franz Waxman. It concentrates on the leitmotivs (Bebop for the hip cat Joe and Valentinoesque tango melodies for old-fashioned Norma), and how Waxman and Billy Wilder 'condensed' the music to link across different scenes.
Stella
Contact details.
Since people have been asking, here are my contact details again.
My office is Arts 203.
Email address: kveale AT gmail.com
Office Hours: Monday 12-1 or 2
Friday 1-2 or 3.
The reasoning there is that during busier times of semester, like before essays are due, I have four hours a week and stick around till the later hour. If you need to see me outside those times, or in the extended times, send me an email and I'll be happy to sort something out for you.
- Kevin.
My office is Arts 203.
Email address: kveale AT gmail.com
Office Hours: Monday 12-1 or 2
Friday 1-2 or 3.
The reasoning there is that during busier times of semester, like before essays are due, I have four hours a week and stick around till the later hour. If you need to see me outside those times, or in the extended times, send me an email and I'll be happy to sort something out for you.
- Kevin.
Viewing for next week's class and reading
A correction to my last post. Instead of watching MTV 20 as your prescribed viewing for the week, please watch the videos mentioned in the readings that I've posted on the blog below. At least one exam question will relate to the Vernallis and Dieckmann readings. You're still welcome to view MTV 20 which provides a strong sense of the MTV video canon. You must watch Boogie Nights by next Wednesday.
Whoops. Just realized that watching the music videos might use up a lot of your net account so just watch as many music videos as you reasonably can in whatever format.
Whoops. Just realized that watching the music videos might use up a lot of your net account so just watch as many music videos as you reasonably can in whatever format.
Score vs Song
Something which has been bugging me since the start of this paper is the question of what is more complimentary to images, score or song?
In reality I think that both work, when used appropriately. It would also depend on the sort of film you were trying to make, for example, a complition score works for a period film. Wheras a complition score for a modern teen film just seems like a moneymaking exercise (synergy too).
Boogie Nights is a really good example of a compilation score working well. This may come down to the fact that the songs feel tied to the images (the filmmakers have obviously thought about this) and that they are also able to invoke the 70s and the 80s. I think it's just a side effect that the 2 volumes of soundtrack have sold well.
Musical montages in standard Hollywood fair tend to stick out like a sore thumb though. It just seems like a way to promote the soundtrack featuring the actor/singer. Here I'm thinking of Hillary Duff and Lindsay Lohan, both of whom have recorded songs for the soundtracks to the films they have starred in.
In general though, I'd say that music specifically conceived for a film is a better accompaniment (although the Tarantino way of doing things is interesting; coming up with a mix and developing the film around that). My example of a good score is that from Ravenous. This is a collaboration between Damon Albarn (the Blur and Gorillaz guy) and Michael Nyman (a notable composer). For this film they tried to use instruments (like a Jew's harp) from the period that the film was set (the 1800s). No pop songs here. If you've seen the film, you'll know that this score works really well.
So given that there is usually two soundtracks for films (the score and 'music from and inspired by the film') it is interesting to note that the latter is bound to sell better (shown by the fact there's often several volumes). This is probably because a score often doesn't function very well without the visuals to compliment it.
In reality I think that both work, when used appropriately. It would also depend on the sort of film you were trying to make, for example, a complition score works for a period film. Wheras a complition score for a modern teen film just seems like a moneymaking exercise (synergy too).
Boogie Nights is a really good example of a compilation score working well. This may come down to the fact that the songs feel tied to the images (the filmmakers have obviously thought about this) and that they are also able to invoke the 70s and the 80s. I think it's just a side effect that the 2 volumes of soundtrack have sold well.
Musical montages in standard Hollywood fair tend to stick out like a sore thumb though. It just seems like a way to promote the soundtrack featuring the actor/singer. Here I'm thinking of Hillary Duff and Lindsay Lohan, both of whom have recorded songs for the soundtracks to the films they have starred in.
In general though, I'd say that music specifically conceived for a film is a better accompaniment (although the Tarantino way of doing things is interesting; coming up with a mix and developing the film around that). My example of a good score is that from Ravenous. This is a collaboration between Damon Albarn (the Blur and Gorillaz guy) and Michael Nyman (a notable composer). For this film they tried to use instruments (like a Jew's harp) from the period that the film was set (the 1800s). No pop songs here. If you've seen the film, you'll know that this score works really well.
So given that there is usually two soundtracks for films (the score and 'music from and inspired by the film') it is interesting to note that the latter is bound to sell better (shown by the fact there's often several volumes). This is probably because a score often doesn't function very well without the visuals to compliment it.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Factors or Factories: Popular Film + Popular Music = Popular Theatre?
As discussed popular music has it’s origins from musical theatre, what astounds me is that musical theatre is able to sustain its popularity even to this day through its cultivation on screen. It has established itself a niche genre where it could promote itself as a movie and a business enterprise for generating popular music and panning out into stage shows. There is a wide selection of movies, predominately aimed at a younger audience which the core emphasis is to provide just as much lyrical value as narrative value. What also amazes me is that we could also view popular film and popular music as factors (or factories) of popular theatre hence the concept of “Popular Film + Popular Music = Popular Theatre” or perhaps more debatably the three being of equal significance in marketing and production: Popular Film = Popular Music = Popular Theatre in the context of this blog entry.It is not to say that all these films are successful, some of these films, usually hybridized projects, excelled in television and in the adult contemporary charts such as American Idol finalists Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini’s attempt to make a musical film From Justin to Kelly (2003) grossing $4,928,883 unable to break even, with the $12 million production budget. However musical films are often viewed as guilty pleasures, affluent in setting trends especially for the ever-consuming and conforming younger viewers. Disney’s High School Musical (2006) for instance, steering away from the childish overtones, is a successful project. Within a span of two years of its release excelled in both records and DVD sales, in the field digital downloading the single Breaking free reached no.1 and in 5 weeks accumulated 192,000 downloads. Other milestones include the follow up of an ice skating format of the production and international releases of stage shows, all spawned from the television movie of the production budget of $5 million; much more successful from Fox’s $12 million production budget of From Justin to Kelly.
Other recent musical films include Happy Feet, a hybridized form of both computer animated children’s comedy consisting of a disco/dance, gospel numbers, and adaptation of popular covers. Disney is renowned for their children’s programming, in attempt to reclaim their 2D animation triumphs, from the pitfalls of Home on the Range (2004), decided to do what they do best by returning to creating post-modern narratives. The production of the 2D animation of The Frog Princess, a parody of a fairytale will depict Disney’s first ever African-American Disney princess. Other Disney classics of a musical Genre include Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King which have spawned into theatrical productions and chart topping hits by Celine Dion, Elton John and Tim Rice. These are some great examples of Popular Film + Popular Music = Popular Theatre.
Though in this modern day and age these films are less frequent in the cinemas, other genres such as action and comedies tend to be relevant, closely associated with our everyday living, this genre carries a nostalgia that leaves a lasting impression throughout the media and entertainment industry, and ultimately how we perceive and live our lives. Be expectant of more musical films to showcase on the screen such as the 2007 remake of Hairspray with Grease star John Travolta and High School Musical’s Zac Efron.
First try at this
howdy all, it's Simon here and I am going top give this blogging thing a whirl (hope this part doesn't count for the 1000 words)
As I was sitting in the lecture and Mr. Zuberi was discussing about hoping that we have started the planning of the essay, I understand this is similar to the the essay idea of FTVMS 204 and we are to do our own things so I have an idea I want someone to help me out with
I was thinking of discussing in the essay about Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and how the replacement of all sound except the sound track gave the movie it's real reflection of alot of society's problems, mixing it's metaphorical ideas of political confrontation that music gets away with. Pink Floyd have lots of undertones in their songs, like the song about children being bricks in a wall, it's really referring to making soldiers out of them to go into war (popular display of this is when at concerts they show scenes of Vietnam when singing this song like at the Roger Walters concert in Jan)
anywho it's a starting point and I have alot to cover to get the final question/essay ready but a little feedback would be nice
cheers
your pal
SimonL
As I was sitting in the lecture and Mr. Zuberi was discussing about hoping that we have started the planning of the essay, I understand this is similar to the the essay idea of FTVMS 204 and we are to do our own things so I have an idea I want someone to help me out with
I was thinking of discussing in the essay about Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and how the replacement of all sound except the sound track gave the movie it's real reflection of alot of society's problems, mixing it's metaphorical ideas of political confrontation that music gets away with. Pink Floyd have lots of undertones in their songs, like the song about children being bricks in a wall, it's really referring to making soldiers out of them to go into war (popular display of this is when at concerts they show scenes of Vietnam when singing this song like at the Roger Walters concert in Jan)
anywho it's a starting point and I have alot to cover to get the final question/essay ready but a little feedback would be nice
cheers
your pal
SimonL
"EXTRA EXTRA: Music sold by image!"
Music videos have always been fuelled by commercial interest. There is the possibility that a music video will be a potential customer's first exposure to such artists, so an explicit visual depiction of the band's [or record company's] ideology, however vulgar or profane, is incredibly valuable and more powerful than the music alone in selling the artist. In the case of most popular music, the image of an artist is of equal importance to the music itself. This is equal both to so-called 'indie' bands like the Arctic Monkeys, who play on an image of 'amateurity' (I believe I just invented a word) and 'undergroundness' (I'm on a roll...), bad haircuts and all, as it is to the latest flash-in-the-pan, chain-hang-low pop rap act. Everyone has an image to sell, be it of South-Central L.A. gangsta, hip 'bohemian' Andy Warhol wannabe, or mysterious teutonic Kraftwerk disciple in black turtleneck...
The days when record sleeves contained little more than text and frilly graphic details ended soon after Thomas Edison died. We now have a multiplicity of graphic and video forms representing contemporary music. Video clips are just one of them, but all have a commercial (and ideological) function.
I'm surprised this seems so new to some people.
The Influence of Music on the Narrative
I'm an extreme movie buff so movies definitely take up a lot of my time and I must say that especially after last week's lecture, I began to take note (even moreso than usual) of music used in film and how it weaves itself into and thus often, influences the narrative.
What struck me the most out of last week's lecture was when Psycho was brought up. Psycho is definitely one of my all-time favorite "oldies" movies; I think Alfred Hitchcock is/was a right master in his craft...especially considering the time his movies were made. Anyway, I thought it highly interesting when this guy (forgot his name!!) started talking about the scene where Marion is driving in her car. Nothing out of the ordinary happens in the scene but it is the score used at the time that heightens the suspense in that sequence. You know that something bad is going to happen because of the music.
I guess it's because we are so used to the presence of music in movies that we don't think too much of it's effect on the film. I find it amazing that music is so much a part of the film narrative these days that often you do not even realize it's there. If executed right, they work extremely well hand-in-hand to help push and/or complement the narrative. But turn off the volume and how we would interpret scenes in a film could potentially be completely different compared to when we saw the film with sound.
I watched Everything Is Illuminated not too long ago - has anyone else watched that? It is one of the films that, in my opinion, uses music quite well not only as part of the narrative, but also as a storytelling tool.
I have posted 3 clips from different points in the movie below. This can also tie in with what was talked about during the lecture today, and that is the different ways in which music is used in film: via quotation, allusion and leitmotiv. In each of the clips, the music takes on a different "role" per se. I think that is highly interesting; that how with just tweaking the volume, or adding dialogue, for example, a singular piece of music can bring about so many different meanings.
For those of youse who have not watched this film, the track that you hear in the clips is pretty much the only music that is used throughout the movie. This has gotten me wondering too then about films which use a standard "theme song" (eg. Mission Impossible, Harry Potter) vs. those which use several similar-themed songs (eg. Marie Antoinette)- what motivates and determines the music composer/designer to choose one over the other? If flipped, (if Mission Impossible used only similar-themed songs) would it be any more effective or less?
Anyway here are the clips from Everything Is Illuminated:
So what do you all reckon?
What struck me the most out of last week's lecture was when Psycho was brought up. Psycho is definitely one of my all-time favorite "oldies" movies; I think Alfred Hitchcock is/was a right master in his craft...especially considering the time his movies were made. Anyway, I thought it highly interesting when this guy (forgot his name!!) started talking about the scene where Marion is driving in her car. Nothing out of the ordinary happens in the scene but it is the score used at the time that heightens the suspense in that sequence. You know that something bad is going to happen because of the music.
I guess it's because we are so used to the presence of music in movies that we don't think too much of it's effect on the film. I find it amazing that music is so much a part of the film narrative these days that often you do not even realize it's there. If executed right, they work extremely well hand-in-hand to help push and/or complement the narrative. But turn off the volume and how we would interpret scenes in a film could potentially be completely different compared to when we saw the film with sound.
I watched Everything Is Illuminated not too long ago - has anyone else watched that? It is one of the films that, in my opinion, uses music quite well not only as part of the narrative, but also as a storytelling tool.
I have posted 3 clips from different points in the movie below. This can also tie in with what was talked about during the lecture today, and that is the different ways in which music is used in film: via quotation, allusion and leitmotiv. In each of the clips, the music takes on a different "role" per se. I think that is highly interesting; that how with just tweaking the volume, or adding dialogue, for example, a singular piece of music can bring about so many different meanings.
For those of youse who have not watched this film, the track that you hear in the clips is pretty much the only music that is used throughout the movie. This has gotten me wondering too then about films which use a standard "theme song" (eg. Mission Impossible, Harry Potter) vs. those which use several similar-themed songs (eg. Marie Antoinette)- what motivates and determines the music composer/designer to choose one over the other? If flipped, (if Mission Impossible used only similar-themed songs) would it be any more effective or less?
Anyway here are the clips from Everything Is Illuminated:
So what do you all reckon?
Boogie Nights, not so sure
I watched Boogie Nights for the first time last night, although it had been on my 'films to see list' for ages. Unfortunately I was a little disapointed with the film. I felt the narrative was weak, especially for film as long as two hours and twenty five minutes. I found it particularly interesting that the director, (I believe it was him who said this), of 'American Graffiti' talked about how, at the end of the cut, he had a three hour film and how he couldn't possibly release a three hour film so he spent another six months editing it down to an hour and a half. I found this an interesting statement ias it really revealed how the standard lengths of films have shifted quiet drastically over the last thirty or so years; today a three hour film is completely acceptable and it feels like I haven't actually seen a film lately that has been under two hours long. So is the new 'supersized' film length a good thing for films overall? I don't believe it is. I think that a film an hour and a half can often have just as much impact and the message can be just as strong as a three hour film. It forces writers, directors and editors to more selective in what they can include in the final cut, which may seem unfortunate initially ('charming' or atmospheric scenes may be lost) but ultimately it serves the film as a whole better. My step-father told me of when he had to cut a scene from the film he edited 'Whale Rider' because, even though it was a lovely scene on its own, it didn't help the film 'move along'. The shift in film length over time is extremely explicit when you compare the original 'King Kong' to the recent re-make by Peter Jackson. The 1933 original was 100 minutes but the recent re-make was 183 minutes! The story hadn't been extended or changed so why did Jackson add on an hour and twenty three minutes? It compromised the film as it really did feel like a 100 minute film being drawn out to be a 183 minute film. I had the same problem with Boogie Nights as it had a rather weak plot in my opinion. We begin with a young man getting seduced into the porn industry. As an audience we can predict from the start that the sweet young boy we have at the start of the film will be corrupted, and that just what happens. He becomes an arrogant drug addict. And then the end takes us back to the beginning in a cyclic, but I would say unrewarding narrative, with all the characters from the beginning of the film ending up back at the same place where they had started. I would argue that this is a plot for a shorter film than the one that was released. Its message was blurred and it seemed hard to decipher what the film was attempting to say. Was it saying that 'isn't this an F*'d up industry' or was it really wanting us to by into the 'wacky family' scenario that was presented to us in the film. It presented 70s porn as almost romantic when they compared it to violent 80s porn, but in reality how credible is this? I can't help but wonder, had the length been reduced, had they been pressured to fit it into the past standards of length, could this have also forced the filmmakers to be clearer in the message and voice of the film?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)