Music In Film (Apocalypse, Shawshank, Get Out, Empire)

Director of Apocalypse Now

Francis Ford Coppola

Composer for Apocalypse Now

Carmine Coppola

New Hollywood

Directors that started their own production companies

Modular Synthesis

Plugging a keyboard into various machines to make music

Music Concrete

Turning real world sounds into musical sounds

Shirley Walker

Coordinated between Carmine Coppola and synthesists to complete the score for Apocalypse Now

Ride of the Valkyries (Richard Wagner)

Played in Apocalypse Now, during the helicopter raid scene

Central Message of Apocalypse Now

The Vietnam War was an insane war full of contradictions

Director for Shawshank Redemption

Frank Darabont

What movie was adapted from a Stephen King short story

Shawshank Redemption

Budget for Shawshank Redemptjon

mid budget film. Currently being phased out into limited series

Issues Shawshank Redemption centers around

hope, prison violence, institutionalization

Composer for Shawshank Redemption

Thomas Newman

Modal Harmony

a harmony that is not specifically major/minor

Added Tonal Harmony

suspension (holding out notes)

Styles used in Shawshank Redemption score

blues and folk

Director for Get Out

Jordan Peele

Composer for Get Out

Michael Abels

Ostinato

a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch.

Danse Macabre

a symphonic poem for orchestra, written in 1874 by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns

Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga

“Listen to the ancestors” in Swahili, reference to bluegrass

Timothy Williams

Wrote a little less than half of the cues in “Get Out”

Get Out has an emphasis on what two types of harmonies

modal harmony and dissonant harmony

Extended technique

Unconventional, non-traditional methods of playing instruments or singing to produce new sounds, textures, and timbres

Analog Synthesis

Creates sound using physical, electrical circuits—specifically voltage-controlled oscillators, filters, and amplifiers—to generate and shape waveforms.

Modular Synthesis

made up of individual modules which are combined into an instrument.

What song was used during the helicopter scene

What style of music is being imitated following Mr. Clean’s death?

psychadelic rock, specifically referencing the sound of Jimi Hendrix

George Lucas

Known for - pioneering many new SfX styles in film

Peers - New Hollywood (Spielberg, Coppola, Scorsece)

Influences - Kurosawa, John Ford

Why did George Lucas want a Korngold style score?

against the norm, connected film to classic swashbuckling movies

John Williams breakout film

Jaws

How are the Star Wars scores similar to Korngold?

AAB Structure, late romantic aesthetics (tension & release, colorful chord progressions, soaring melodies)

What makes Star Wars a fantasy and not a sci fi?

magic, destined heroes, struggle between good and evil

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbel

a universal narrative pattern found in myths, stories, and religions worldwide, including those of Jesus, Buddha, and Luke Skywalker. Campbell argues that these stories share a common structure of separation, initiation, and return, which serves as a psychological and spiritual roadmap for personal transformation, encouraging readers to find meaning in their own lives by following their bliss.

Serial Film

a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, generally advancing weekly, until the series is completed.

What was the first blockbuster movie

Jaws