MUSICOL 346 Final Study Guide

Stanley Kubrick

- (1928 - 1999)

- Worked from his home near London for artistic control and disagreement with Hollywood system

- Director of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Spartacus, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Spartacus

2001: A Space Odyssey

- Directed by Stank Kubrick

- MGM was production company

- Released in 1968

auteur theory

- Theory of filmmaking in which director is viewed as the major creative force in a motion picture. - Stanley Kubrick is an example of an auteur.

Wendy Carlos

- Pioneering Electronic Musician and Composer

- Worked with Robert Moog to develop Moog Synth

- Release Switched on Bach in 1968

- Collaborated with Kubrick on A Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Shining (1980)

- Also did Tron (1982) score

temp track syndrome

The director likes the temp track so much that the original score cannot compete

Also Sprach Zarathustra

- Translates to "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"

- Tone Poem (a musical work that portrays a story)

- Based on Nietzsche's novel of the same name

- Composed by Richard Strauss in 1896

- Opening music for 2001

- In 8 parts, 2001 includes only the first part

Alex North

Commissioned to compose music for 2001. Kubrick used none of it.

Richard Strauss

Composer of Also Sprach Zarathustra (opening music of 2001)

Gyorgi Ligeti

- Kubrick used several of Ligeti's vocal pieces

- Composed in "sound masses" that he would shift and manipulate

- Notes are often moving close together creating cluster of sound (micropolyphony, sounds like insects swarming).

- The "Kyrie" from his Requiem (1965) was used to indicate the monolith

Johann Strauss

- Composer of Blue Danube Waltz (1866), his most famous track

- Blue Danube used in shuttle docking, trip to moon, and end credits.

- Turns space flight into dance.

- Kubrick originally going to use Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream

A Clockwork Orange

- Directed by Stanley Kubrick

- Released in 1971

- Soundtrack by Wendy Carlos, featured Wendy Carlos' electronic rendition of Beethoven's 9th Symphony

The term "auteur," as referenced in describing the filmmaking practices of Stanley Kubrick in lecture 14, refers to which of the following?

A filmmaker whose artistic influence and control over a film is so great that the filmmaker is regarded as the primary creative force, or "author," of the film.

Which of the following is NOT true in regard to the musician/composer Wendy Carlos?

- She contributed to the underscore of Kubrick's Dr. Stangelove... (1964). (FALSE)

- Her 1968 album 'Switched on Bach' was a massive commercial success. (TRUE)

- She provided electronic renditions of classical music works for Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' (1971) (TRUE)

- She helped to design and popularize the Moog Synthesizer. (TRUE)

Which of the following composers did NOT have works featured in the official release of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey?

- Alex North

- Richard Strauss

- Johan Strauss II

- Gyorgy Ligeti

The New Hollywood

The industrial re-organization of the industry into large, multinational entertainment conglomerates, leading to marked shift towards "high concept" films.

high concept film

- Blockbuster

- Simple premises, easy to market

- Facilitated ancillary (providing necessary support) tie-ins (cross marketing)

- Potential to be made into a franchise

cross-marketing

Form of marketing promotion where customers of one product or service are targeted with promotion of a related product. (Ex. promoting soundtrack of film as ancillary product)

impact of television and VHS

- Television was competition for big-screen films

Studios capitalized on TV by...

- Conceiving films for both small and large screen.

- Taking advantage of videotape (VHS) tech by turning movies into commodity that could be sold.

- VHS became primary way for audience to watch film.

the underscore as commodity

- In late 1970s-1990s, rise in soundtrack as ancillary product

- Example of cross-marketing

Compilation scores with popular music released as soundtrack albums

- Popular song indicate setting and inner thoughts of characters

- Some scores were all pop, some mix of pop and orchestral

- Some use pre-existing pop songs, others use new pop songs composed specifically for film.

- Ex. Flash Gordon (1980) featured Queen in soundtrack

music supervisor

Responsible for identifying and licensing appropriate popular music recordings; eventually also responsible for overall musical content of a film or TV series.

uses of temp track

Temp tracks became more common:

- Testing how editing flowed (establish rhythm to cutting)

- Helping with spotting sessions (give composer idea of what director wants)

- Used for film previews

Dolby Stereo

- 6 foot speakers

- 4 track (left, center, right surround)

- Optical soundtrack

- Increased dynamic and frequency range

- Greater density of sound

- Hallmark of new aesthetic (risk clarity for increased density of sound, stereo allowed for more density with less impact on intelligibility)

sound designer

Responsible for imaging and coordinating the production of the sound track (speech and SFX) as a whole

John Williams

- Compose for Stephen Spielberg

- Compose for Star Wars

- A-list composer, scored a wide variety of films (Harry Potter, Home Alone, Schindler's List)

Star Wars: A New Hope

- Director: George Lucas

- Composer: John Williams

- Won 6 Academy Awards

- US Box Office: 460,998,007

music in New Hope

- Return to classical Hollywood sound (Borrow Elgar, Holst, Stravinsky)

- Return to leitmotivic scoring (Luke, Leia/love, Darth Vader/Imperial March)

- Title theme return to familiar formula (Dynamic march/fanfare theme with contrasting sub-themes)

One of George Lucas's primary contributions to the musical aesthetic of the New Hollywood era was which of the following?

Re-popularizing wall-to-wall orchestral scoring for action/adventure/sci-fi films

The term 'High Concept' film, as applied to the New Hollywood mode of filmmaking, refers to which of the following?

Big budget, blockbuster films associated with cross-marketing and commercial promotion

In the original Star Wars trilogy, the initial fanfare theme of the main title cue is most strongly associated with which character?

Luke

eclecticism in Hollywood scores

- "What's good is what works."

- Wide variety of options for scoring a film; chosen according to what a film needs (traditional symphonic scoring, pop score, modernist percussive underscore)

digital audio formats (1990s)

Standardization of 5.1 surround sound:

- 5 channels + 1 low frequency (left, center, right, 2 surround)

Formats:

- Cinema Digital Sound (instead of optical soundtrack)

- Dolby Digital (between sprocket holes)

- Digital Theater System (sync with CD)

- Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (blue area to left)

music department technology

- Digital sound editing through DAWs means final step is no longer recording session-composers submit stems (for use by recording engineers at final mix)

- More personnel at music production houses

- More work finished, quicker/reliable

- Providing demo scores for approval

- Virtual Instruments

- Demo Scores

advances of digital sound

- Increased dynamic and frequency range

- Eliminated noise and signal degradation

- Increased the speed of work

- Allowed for non-linear editing

- New tools for sound manipulation (plug-ins, filters)

music scoring companies & personnel

Technological advances led to:

- More personnel at music production houses

- More work finished, quicker/reliable

- Providing demo scores for approval

- Rise of electronic composition (DAWs (more control over recordings), Synthesizers (increase quality and quantity of sound options), Sampling (fuller orchestration))

- Drawing on popular music aesthetic

Prince

- Composed pop score of Batman (1989)

- Pop score inspired by film; used diegetically

Danny Elfman

- Film and TV Composer/Popular Musician

- Long-time collaborator with Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands)

- Composed underscore of Batman (1989)

digital sound and musical aesthetics

- Volume range increases

- Frequency range increases

- Variety of orchestration options (large orchestra, synths and virtual, exotic/unusual, compilation scores)

- Rock rhythms introduced for drive (action sequence)

- Eroding boundaries of popular music (more like traditional underscore)

- Action movies (move away from tradition leitmotivic approach to scoring for mood and effect)

Batman (1989) score

- Dir. Tim Burton

- Underscore: Danny Elfman (Classical Hollywood; Gothic; foregrounded)

- Pop Score: Prince (inspired by film, used diegetically)

- Musical logic sometimes overrides narrative logic ("Party Man" sequence, Joker wrecking museum)

- First film to release two soundtracks (scout single: "Batdance")

Hans Zimmer

- Composed underscore for The Dark Knight with James Newton Howard

Dark Knight (2008)

- Warner Bros

- Dir. Christopher Nolan

- Comp. Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard

- Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor: Richard King

- Highly positive reception

- Batman theme is two notes

The 1980s and beyond saw an increasing move towards _____________, which made available (and acceptable) a wide variety of scoring options according to a film's aesthetic needs

Eclecticism

Batman (1989) was directed by __________________, and featured an underscore composed by his longtime musical collaborator _____________________.

Tim Burton, Danny Elfman

Batman (1989) was the first film to feature for commercial release two soundtracks, one comprising the film's orchestral underscore and another featuring pop music. (T/F)

True

cyberpunk

- Sub-genre of Science fiction that blends high tech and low culture

Responding to:

- information explosion

- punk culture and hacker culture

- growing city densities and urban sprawl

- Removal of power from disenfranchised population

- Theories about and realization of genetic engineering

- Blade Runner and Neuromancer influential in defining genre

the information age

Now live in word where info is not concrete

- Info can be manipulated

- Info empowers and leaves us powerless

- Single truth is less real than illusions and subjective points of view with which we view world

- Lead to debate about postmodernity, embodiment, identity, nature of truth

Blade Runner

- Cyberpunk

- Genre Mixture

-Nostalgia and Noir

- Orientalism and Hybridity

- Musical Symbolism

- Ambient Music and Sound

- Blurring Boundaries between music and sound

- Dir. Ridley Scott

- Composer: Vangelis

- Loosely based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

- Let in LA, 2019

Vangelis

- Composer of Blade Runner

- Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou

- Composed theme from "Chariots of Fire" (1981)

CypberPunk:

- Blur boundaries between music and sound

- Musical symbolism

- Ambient music and sound

Nostalgia

Sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past (based on recollection, not reality)

Film Noir

- Stylish Hollywood crime dramas, cynical and often sexualized (lasted between 1920s and 1950s)

- Low-key lighting, black-and-white, dark mood, centrality of detective or police, flawed and alienated heroes, convoluted story lines, conspiracies, urban setting, moral ambiguity

- Music tends to employ slow jazz and crooner music

Orientalism

- Imitations of aspects of the global east within art or literature

- Western depiction of East, which is patronizing and essentializing

Hybridity

- A cross-cultural mix of musical markers

- Usually Western + Asian/Eurasian

Musical Symbolism

Use of music to depict some extra-musical meaning. This could be a broad idea, a specific character, a visual or narrative motive that recurs throughout

Ambient Sound

Background noise that helps define setting, mood, and location

Ambient Music

Gentle, largely electronic music with no persistent beat; often used to create or enhance mood or atmosphere

Which of the following is not a common characteristic of Cyberpunk in film and other media?

- Utopian visions of the future where resources are shared equitably

- Juxtaposition of working class culture and high tech environments

- Settings featuring urban sprawl and/or decay

- Tactics of rebellion that include self-reliance (DIY, do-it-yourself), hacking, and the use of minimal resources for maximum effect.

Name for a type of highly stylized Hollywood crime drama, characteristic of the 1940-50s, that often featured a downtrodden detective, a mysterious love interest, dark visual aesthetics, and jazz-inflected underscoring.

film noir

Which of the following is a technique used to help convey musical symbolism in Blade Runner?

The use of synthesized vs. real instrumentation to highlight human v. non-human character traits.

genre

A category of artistic composition, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter

Horror film aesthetic (somatic)

- Somatic: relating to body

- Aim to affect us physically, inciting fear and unease

- Seem to access some of our most primal and unconscious instincts

Horror: The Grotesque

- Grotesque: the comically or repulsively ugly or distorted

- Horror play off our physical revulsion for the grotesque

- Similarly, it may engage sacrilegious shcok

Horror: The Unknown

- Deal with content that goes beyond the natural: the scientifically altered and supernatural

- Supernatural: a manifestation or event attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature.

Alien

- 1979 film

- Dir. Ridley Scott

- Comp. Jerry Goldsmith

- Score nominated for Golden Glob, Grammy, and Bafta

Score includes:

- Avant-garde techniques

- Unfamiliar tone colors

- Extended techniques

- Musical silence

- Traditional 'romantic symphony

Jerry Goldsmith

- Composer for soundtrack of Alien

Horror music and sound (somatic music and sound)

Horror employs sound and music that:

- Imitate the sound of the body

- Cause to react instinctively and physically (suddenly loud sounds, animal roars)

- Destabilize the boundaries between the human and the non-human (human and machine)

Horror music and sound (disturbing timbres and extended techniques)

- Horror employs musical sounds that we find distressing (timbres that imitate screams, alarms)

- Uses extended musical techniques that create distressing sounds (play musical instruments in non-traditional ways, distorting sound by altering playing technique (high volume, harmonics))

Horror music and sound (anxiety-inducing dissonance)

- Horror uses atonality and dissonance to increase anxiety (build off somatic response to certain sounds)

We:

- Respond emotionally and physically to certain musical characteristics (esp. dissonance)

- Are trained socially to understand that certain types of music are indicators of danger.

Horror music and sound (strange or otherworldly ambiance)

Horror uses ambient sound and music to set the mood. Often, these sounds and music are unexpected or unnatural in some way, and/or strangely foregrounded.

Horror music and sound (blurring boundaries)

- Ambiguity is unsettling (fantastical gap, space between soundscape (SFX) and underscore)

- Horror blurs these boundaries to make us uncomfortable, heightening the fear response.

Which of the following is NOT one of the primary functions of "somatic" music and sound?

- Creating psychological effects related to experiences of cognitive dissonance (FALSE)

- Causing us to react physically and instinctively (TRUE)

- Imitating the sounds of the human body (TRUE)

- Destabilizing the boundaries between the human and non-human (TRUE)

The Lecture 18 recording included a brief horror film clip featuring a musical cue, composed by Bernard Herrmann, that remains one of the most recognizable cues in the history of film. What is the name of that film?

Psycho - Alfred Hitchcock

The 1979 film Alien was directed by __________________, with a score composed by _______________________.

Ridley Scott/ Jerry Goldsmith

Akira (1988) - Themes of trauma and social unrest in Post-WWII Japan and beyond

- Set in post-apocalyptic Tokyo and depicts the biker gang leader Kaneda and his quest to rescue his friend Tetsuo

- Much of the imagery reflects Japan's postwar experience and fears

Japan after bomb:

- American occupation, 1946-1952

- Westernization of Japan/Western-alignment during the Cold War

- Unprecedented economic growth until tremendous collapse in the mid-1990s

- 2011 earthquake and Fukushima disaster: reliving the nuclear trauma

Post-modern characteristics in Akira

- Constantly shifting narrative and perspective, no sense of coherent, linear or complete narrative

- Coupled with its political narrative is the postmodern idea that popular political activism was undermined by rising consumer culture

- Narratives happening in simultaneous moments in time (1988 + 2019)

- Musical polystylism/eclecticism: Balinese musical styles + experimental rock/metal/noise + Buddhist and premodern Japanese musical expressions

Traditional styles in Akira score (Jegog)

- Jegog: Type of gamelan from Bali that uses bamboo instruments instead of metal

- Associated with Kaneda, the hero.

- Appears alongside all instances of noise, prog metal, guttural chant

- Themes and leitmotifs of dark/ruin

Traditional styles in Akira score (Gamelan)

- Balinese Gamelan: highly syncopated style of Gamelan from the island of Bali. Instruments are made of cast bronze. Music associated with Akira/Tetuso

- Occurs alongside Buddhist chant, Japanese Noh theatrical music, synthesized ambient music with shakuhachi

- Themes and leitmotifs of light/power

Traditional styles in Akira score (Noh theatre)

- A theater of slow reserved gestures concealing deep emotion. Narratives deal with spirits, exorcism, possession.

- Used with Buddhist priest who appears occasionally

Traditional styles in Akira score (Buddhist chant)

Used with Buddhist priest who appears occasionally

Shoji Yamashiro

- Directed Geino Yamashiruogumi, a loose collective of hundreds of musicians that made the soundtrack for Akira

- Pre-scored: score was written before film was made

- Akira orchestral suite includes amateurs, college musicians, doctors etc.

The 1988 film Akira had a score composed by ______________, and the score was ___________________.

Geino Yamashirogumi, composed in advance of the film

Which two premodern musical styles are incorporated into the score for Akira?

Jegog and Balinese Gamelan

Akira is set in 2019, the calamity in the film most likely postponing the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. In the story, what year does the original singularity destroy Tokyo?

1988

TV I

- 1st era of American Television

- pre-1980s

Music drew on traditional Hollywood film conventions:

- Theme identifies the program

- Building action

- Mood and emotion

- Indicating setting

- Transitions, blackouts, and fadeouts

- Focus on leitmotifs

TV II

- 2nd era of American Television

- 1980s forward

- Employs modern (avant-garde) techniques and postmodern characteristics along with traditional Hollywood

modernism

- Movement in the arts that aims to break with classical and traditional forms.

- Experimentation creates something unique and original. Also referred to as the avant-garde.

postmodernism

- A movement in the arts that challenges modernism by foregrounding relativism, consumerism, and anti-foundationalism

- Relies on audience interpretation to create meaning, commodifies everyday existence, pushes back against rules and master narratives

modernism in TV II music

- Avant-Garde Styles (modern musical practices)

- Rarefaction (presence of music limited, music simplified or absent)

- Proliferation/Re-Centering (soundtrack bombarded with music, music primary component of soundtrack)

- Narrative Commentary Over Dialogue (music is layered over speech)

- Multilingualism (musical hybridity; diverse musical styles and topics are blended)

- Submerged (music is submerged under a mass of SFX)

- Unintelligible (the viewer is unable to follow or understand music)

postmodernism in TV II music

- Is in some way ironic

- Does not respect boundaries between practices of past and present

- Challenges barriers between high-brow and low-brow

- Shows disdain for structural unity

- Questions exclusivity of elitist and popular values

- Avoids totalizing forms

- Includes quotations of or references to music of many traditions and cultures

- Technology deeply implicated in production and essence of music

- Embraces contradictions

- Distrusts binary oppositions

- Can be fragmented or discontinuous

- Can be pluralistic or eclectic

- Presents multiple meanings and temporalities

- Locates meaning in listeners instead of composer, performer, or score

As argued by music theorist Ron Rodman, musical scoring for television in the pre-1980s "TV1" era was primarily modeled on which of the following?

Classical Hollywood film conventions

Which of the following is NOT an example of a Postmodernist principle commonly reflected in contemporary television?

- An embrace of single perspective master narratives (FALSE)

- A tendency towards intertextual references (TRUE)

- The embrace of populism and consumerism (TRUE)

- Bricolage and eclecticism (TRUE)

The theme for the X-files is most closely associated with which of the following Modernist styles?

Minimalism

Netflix history

- 1997: Being as online/mail order subscription service

- 2007: Introduces "Watch instantly" streaming content (initially limited, but focus shit to digital distribution deals)

- 2008: Financial crisis cripples Blockbuster

- 2011: Beings producing original content (rapidly expands)

- 2021: 203 million subs worldwide, 73 million in US

TVIII and shifting trends associated with television in the 'Digital Age'

TV in 'Digital Age'

- Increased continuity (binge)

- Diminishing distinctioions between TV and film

- Creative innovation

- Platform brand identity

TVIII

- Shift to digital distribution platforms - DVD/Blu-ray, Streaming Platforms

- 2000s- present?

- Further audience fragmentation (narrowcasting)

- Shift from second-order to first order commodity relations (subscriptions)

- Increased competition driving experimentations and innovation

Black Mirror - themes in "15 Million Credits" and in series at large

- Often dark, disturbing anthology series

- Explore 'side effects' of seemingly possible technological innovations in near future

- Very concerned with critiquing the present as well

Themes

- Crime & Punishment

- Love, Gender, and Sexuality

- Ethics of A.I.

- Privacy and Information Concerns

- Ethics and Dangers of Modern Warfare

- Spirituality and Afterlife

- Biotech

- Social Media Concerns

- Pop Culture

"15 Million Credits"

- Bing delivers scathing rebuke and we watch this rebellion become co-opted, commodified and nullified through entanglement in the info-tainment culture he challenged

- Left to consider our own experience viewing this meta-critique as entertainment

- Black Mirror itself exists within the contradictory world of the present and future that it depicts. Its commercial success is testament of how screwed we are. Even most critical art can be commodified and neutralized.

Popular Music Functions in Television

- Reveille (announcing the show, capturing attention)

- Denoting Form (Framing) (beginning/end, transitions, climaxes)

- Continuity (through repetition)

- Setting (place and time)

- Spectacle (variety show influences)

Charlie Brooker

- Creator and Cow-Showrunner of Black Mirror along with Annabel Jones

- First two season air on British TV Channel 4

- Acquired by Netflix in 2014, has produced 3 more season thus far

Netflix began offering streaming video content online with its "Watch Instantly" feature in which year?

2007

Lecture 21 identified which of the following as one of the potential downsides associated with streaming television practices in the digital era?

Lack of simultaneous viewing leading to fragmented sense of community

Afrofuturism (purpose and stylistic characteristics)

- Reimagining of future through a black lens, blending science and technology with black identity and art.

- Steeped in black tradition. Black history (or reimagining of it) is central to its aesthetic.

- Philosophy: Can a community whose past has been rubbed out and whose energies have subsequently been consumed by search for legible traces of its history, imagine possible futures?

- Draws upon feeling of alienation inherited from slavery which it diverts to something more acceptable. Certain elements of Afro-American culture reimagined where alienated become extraterrestrial.

- Art that celebrates black history and imagines a future defined by black aesthetics and black power, and that challenges black present.

Sun Ra and his music

- Le Sony'r Ra (1914 - 1993)

- Band: Intergalactic Solar Arkestra

- Science fiction fan as a child

Religious Connections and Imagery

- Nation of Islam (Creationist myth)

- Baptist traditions

- Egyptology

- Cosmology and Transmolecularization

Music of Sun Ra

- Essential to his cosmology

- Carried his message - means by which transmolecularization achieved.

- Styles: swing, be-bop, free jazz, psychedelic rock, experimental

- Rock and jazz were employed to create noise, sign of entropy (noise annoys and destroys)

Minimoog

- First portable, affordable, and really popular synth

- An important symbol/language of the counter culture

- Ra took the minimoog and made sounds like you had never heard in your life.