MUSIC IN FILM Quiz #3

Ostinato

an Italian term, repeated musical pattern (melody, motif, rhythm) it doesn't change, building block to a composition, basis of the music

• Henry Mancini: Charade

• Bernard Herrmann uses this to create suspense in Hitchcock’s films

  • Notable scenes:

    • Main Title of VERTIGO to copy the vertigo experienced by Scottie

    • Scottie observes Madelaine in VERTIGO

    • Norman spies on Marion in PSYCHO

Jazz Band (17-Piece)

• Trumpets (5)

• Trombones (4)

• Saxophones (5)

  • 2 alto sax

  • 2 tenor sax

  • 1 baritone sax

• Percussion:

  • Piano

  • Bass

  • Drums

• Sometimes added: guitar and vibraphone

Jazz Notes

Blues Notes: flatted 3rd, flatted 5th, and flatted 7th notes of a major scale.

Blues Scale: C, E♭, F, G♭, G, and B♭.

Alex North

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

• Jazz elements stemming from the location: New Orleans; and combinations of 'sultry' saxophone with smaller ensembles of saxophone & flute provide a sensual, sexual atmosphere

• Notable scene: staircase sequence - the underscore primarily plays through the action, the flute subtly accenting her decision to go and meet him. The jazz improvisatory nature of the saxophone and flute emulate the two characters.

Elmer Bernstein

Man with the Golden Arm (1955)

• Film about a card dealer, aspiring jazz drummer, struggles with his addiction to heroin.

  • Composed an addiction theme (jazz influenced)

Duke Ellington

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

• Notable clip: Main Title sequence featuring the standard jazz band scored in an orchestral manner

• very jazzy and dissonant

• Breaks into a traditional sounding swing section

• Music in the film is very sparse

Miles Davis

Elevator to the Gallows

• Only movie he composed

• The most innovative use of music in France during the 50s

Henry Mancini

Touch of Evil

• Piccolo player and pianist that worked on scores for:

  • Peter Gunn tv show

  • Breakfast at TIffany’s

    • Moon River

  • Pink Panther

  • Vertigo

• Music score was a mix of jazz and latin percussion

• Last prominent film noir during the time

• Ahead of its time: transitioned between source music and musical score multiple times

Quincy Jones

Austin Powers

• Composed Soul Bossa Nova (main title theme)

  • Syncopated south american rhythm (piccalos)

In The Heat of the Night

• Composed by Quincy Jones and sung by Ray Charles

Jazz Composers Notable

Alex North

Elmer Bernstein

Duke Ellington

Miles Davis

Henry Mancini

Quincy Jones

Popular Movie Songs in the 1960s

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961): Moon River by Henry Mancini

The Graduate (1968): Sound of Silence (used three times) and Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel

Easy Rider (1969): Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf, If 6 were 9 by Jimi Hendrix, and Its Alright Ma by Bob Dylan

Midnight Cowboy (1969): Everybody’s Talkin

Monty Norman and John Barry: Dr. No (Bond theme)

* Rock music had an increasingly strong impact on films

Adapted Scores

music scores comprised entirely of previously composed music;

(not new music specifically written for the film).

3 Prominent Films Directed by Stanley Kubrick

1. 2001: Space Odyssey

1. Clockwork Orange

2. The Shining

2001: Space Odyssey (1968)

• Richard Strauss: “Sprach Zarathustra” is the discovery/evolution theme when the monkey destroys the bones

• Johann Strauss: waltzes 19th-Cent. classical music, accompanying space travel

• Ligeti: 20th-Century ‘avant-garde’ music (‘wailing’ voices) accompany the black Monolith with monkey scene

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

• Ludwig Van Beethoven and Rossini (18th-Century classical scores)

  • plays against the action during scenes of violence

• synthesized versions of classical music created by Wendy Carlos

The Shining (1980)

• features 20th-Century ‘avant-garde,’ atonal music of: Penderecki and Ligetii

Avante-Garde (2 definitions)

Noun: new and unusual or experimental ideas, especially in the arts, or the people introducing them.

Adjective: favoring or introducing experimental or unusual ideas.

History of Classical Music Featured In Films

Medieval (1150-1400) NONE

Renaissance (1400-1600) NONE

Baroque (1600-1750):

• J.S. Bach in 7EVEN

• Henry Purcell in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

Classical (1750-1820)

• Ludwig Can Beethoven in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

• Gioachino Rossini in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in AMADEUS

Romantic (1820-1900)

• Johann Strauss in 2001: SPACE ODYSSEY

• Pyotr Tchaikovsky in THE BLACK SWAN

• Richard Strauss in 2001: SPACE ODYSSEY

20th Century and 21st Century (1900-Current)

• Krzystof Penderecki in THE SHINING and THE EXORCIST

• Gyorgy Ligeti in THE SHINING and 2001: SPACE ODYSSEY

• Aaron Copland in HE GOT GAME

Role of Music Supervisor

Selects, sources, and licenses pre-existing music or adapted scores to match the movie’s overall style/themes

Amadeus

Features 18th-century classical music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

• We can hear the music that Mozart and Salieri hear in their heads

• use of the Mozart Requiem as he explains the composition, and then functioning as the underscore for his death using the “Lacrimosa” movement meaning ‘tears’ or ‘weeping’ in Latin.

• Notable use of the Mozart Requiem Mass (Music composed for a mass funeral ceremony) for when:

  • he dictates the composition

  • his wife returns

  • he dies

Other Examples of Movies with Adapted Scores

He Got Game (1998): classical / American Nationalism musical scores by Aaron Copland

THE STING: early 1900’s ragtime music of Scott Joplin in a comedy - drama about 1930s con-artists

THE EXORCIST (1973): avant-guard works of Penderecki and a popular sounding instrumental, “Tubular Bells”

Music for Montages

• Charles Strouse: Bonnie and Clyde

  • Bluegrass themed music (jaunty/fun mood)

• Easy Rider

  • Significant for showcasing the genuine 60s culture

  • Drug-oriented rock style coincides with the prominence of drugs in the plot

  • “Born to be Wild” theme song for opening credits

  • No repeated songs unlike other films

TEA

Friedkin ended up going with what he had been using as the temporary score (though

the music would have to be re-recorded, due to rights issues)…. The classical works used

in The Exorcist—especially those written by the Polish composer, Krzysztof Penderecki—are

totally unnerving, filled with “stabbing” violins that recall Bernard Herrmann’s score for Alfred

Hitchcock’s Psycho. Still, Friedkin felt there was still something that was missing. Friedkin:

“After listening to and discarding everything … I came across a track called “Tubular Bells” by

someone named Mike Oldfield on a new label in England, Virgin Records. After the opening

motif, which I found haunting, the rest of the track was a kind of demonstration of the sound

made by various bells. But, that opening motif, it was perfect.

“Tubular Bells” is taken from Oldfield’s 1973 LP of the same name; …Though it was really only

used for one scene in The Exorcist, “Tubular Bells” became known as the film’s theme. In many

countries, a single version was released as such.