The fabula of the film “ Apocalysis Now” is quite simple. During the Vietnam War, a special agent Captain Willard is sent upriver to Cambodia with the order to find and “terminate” Colonel Kurtz, who has set up his personal army in the jungle. To depict a surreal world of the horrors of war and craft a gripping suspense of the sequence in review, the film director employs a wide variety of audio track devices such as diegetic sound effects, non-diegetic music, voice over, and editing tools to affect the audience’s feelings. In the essay below I would like to dwell on specific audio and editing techniques employed by Coppola in “Apocalypsis Now” sequence to create suspense. First of all, diegetic sounds and ambient sound effects are integral in creating tension and apprehension in the film, as “ …sound plays a critical role in determining how audiences react to images.” (p.234) At the background of the opening shot the audience hears the distant roll of thunder; gradually its sound increases and reaches its maximum, causing fear of impending jeopardy. As the tension escalates, the volume of the sound rises, we hear the roaring of dancers’ drums, and its sound is intentionally exaggerated, the tempo of music speeds up as well as the dance of the indigenous performers of the ritual sacrifice to gods. The alteration of volume and tempo of the sound heightens suspense and makes the audience anticipate with anxiety the forthcoming shots. Furthermore, to increase dread and trepidation, affect the audience’s feelings, and intensify fear the film director skillfully uses the non-diegetic music. “Filmmakers carefully choose which sounds to include on the soundtrack, knowing that emphasizing a particular sound helps to shape the audience... ... middle of paper ... ...k when Willard aims his blow with machete and then the spectator sees the ritual slaughter of a cow with machete too. The camera does not show the details of Kurtz’s murder; instead it depicts in detail the ghastly killing of the animal. The shots go back and forth because they are interwoven by the meaning, and the cow symbolizes Colonel Kurtz. The audience’s sympathy now is with Kurtz. Parallel editing draws the audience attention to important narration details and shapes the audience’s emotional response. I have discussed how Francis F. Coppola exploits a wide array of audio and editing techniques to create suspense, tense, and anxiety in the sequence to affect the audience’s feelings. Despite the simple fabula, this multifaceted film requires certain intellectual involvement and efforts of the audience to grasp fully its underlying meanings and subtle nuances.
In this essay I am going to explore the unique collaboration between director and composer and how much a long-term collaborative process between the two can influence the establishment of the former as an author. An author, in this case, stands for an authority actively shaping the film’s story and message but at the same can be understood as an author of music, I will try to consider both factors. In this process I want to begin with filmmaker’s general relationship to music, then while answering the main question I will give examples of the European collaboration of Theo Angelopoulos and Eleni Karaindrou, focusing on their approach of using music in new ways, as well as examples from the more known collaborations between Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann and David Cronenberg’s collaboration with Howard Shore. Furthermore, I am going to include conclusions from my personal experience I have had with my friend and director Nuno Miguel Wong. Concurrently this Essay is not an analysis of the music in the films of the above-mentioned collaborations, but rather focuses on their distinct working relationship and how it might have affected their musical approach and productivity.
This analysis will explore these cinematic techniques employed by Pontecorvo within a short sequence and examine their effects on our understanding of the issues and themes raised within the film.
The films musical score alerts the viewer to an approaching attack of the shark and they automatically build this association with the music in their mind. Horror films often make use of high string instrument notes that irritate viewers and increase tension. Music plays an important role in film editing and the editor must choose its placement wisely to ensure its intended effect on the viewer’s mind and
Suspense is a 1913 film that portrays the story of a tramp intruding into a family’s home, where a mother takes care of her child while her husband is away. The plot is a common one that had been used previous times before the film’s release, such as in The Lonely Villa (1909). However, through taking advantage of the single frame shot, the filmmakers were able to create a masterful aesthetic of two separate stories that turn a basic plot into a complex story. The film created an inventive way of illustrating stories within cinema by allowing the audience the chance to consume more narrative in less time within just one take.
An obvious difference in these films is that the 1931 version played to a Depression audience and that the Coppola version played to a modern audience. (I am being extremely careful because, obviously, the 1931 audience was modern in 1931; however, we like to think of ourselves as being more modern than past generations. There are differences in the audiences which viewed the respective versions in their time, and I hope to prove this point as the paper unfolds.)
(Mulvey, Nov. 2, 2017) Our society today is engrossed in the visualization of gore, horror, and violence. In the infamous scene where the murderer is unveiled, an orchestra plays a staccato melody that rises in tempo. “Incorporating music into your own films can not only make your final cut more interesting, but it also allows the audience the ability to connect emotionally to your characters and their situation, and you, the filmmaker, to reinforce your story and/or message.” (Bell, Nov. 2, 2017). Nevertheless, this would explain why a viewer's interest would peak at the moment of each murder. The music being played pre murder builds suspense and creates the feeling that the viewer knows what is going to happen before it even happens. For example, a creepy tune plays every time the mysterious murders carriage drives around the town. The viewer is left to assume that a murder is about to occur, but is left at the edge of their seat wondering if their assumption is a correct inclination of where the plot is going. Music not only builds suspense by allowing the viewer to have freedom of their own foreshadowed outcomes, but it keeps their interest as
The director also plays with the viewers preconceived ideas about horror movies by playing tension-building music to reveal something that is not scary, like for example when Emma goes to pull the sheet of a Halloween decoration, the music swells and the viewer expects something terrible to happen only to have absolutely nothing bad happen yet. Another example would be when Steven, the murderous principal, stands behind his son, he plunges a knife down to the sound of tense music and he brings the knife full of blood back up. The viewer is lead to believe Steven murdered is son, but its then revealed that the knife was full of blood because they were carving the head of a boy Steven murdered earlier, which for some reason is less horrifying to the viewer than if he had actually killed Billy, his son. In short, the director knows the horror genre very well, and uses that to surprise the viewer, as well as lead him through all sorts of emotional ups and
The main aim of this essay is to analyze a extract from my chosen film ‘Bourne Identity (2002)’, discussing the different techniques used in the extracted clip such as the on screen graphics. The main focus in the duration of this essay is to discuss the way ‘the sound establishes moods and might even lead the whole atmosphere of a film, driving its narrative [1]’, (human voice, sound effects and music). In my conclusion I intend to provide a synopsis on Bourne Identity as an additional appendix for this essay.
Music can decipher a narrative event by indicating a perspective. To unify a set of diverse images and provide rhythmic and formal continuity and momentum, a film’s structure is more often than not, directly articulated by a musical structure. Music can assist the dialogue and visuals of film and often is inaudible (e.g. music is meant to be heard unconsciously, not consciously). Music has been used by directors to reinforce or strengthen certain weak scenes in film and then on the other hand when music is not needed to reinforce a scene
...violence. In the murder scenes, the non-diegetic sound provides a more dramatic effect making up for the violence of the crimes making them scenes that went around the Hays Code.
Sound is what brings movies to life, but, not many viewers really notice. A film can be shot with mediocre quality, but, can be intriguing if it has the most effective foley, sound effects, underscore, etc. Sound in movies band together and unfold the meaning of the scenes. When actors are speaking, the dialogue can bring emotion to the audience, or, it can be used as the ambient sound. Music is one of the main things to have when filmmaking. The use of Claudia Gorbman’s Seven Principles of Composition, Mixing and Editing in Classical Film gives audiences a perspective of sound, and, how it can have an impact on them.
Enhancing the sustained fright of this film are an excellent cast, from which the director coaxes extraordinary performances, and Bernard Herrmann's chilling score. Especially effective is the composer's so-called "murder music," high-pitched screeching sounds that flash across the viewer's consciousness as quickly as the killer's deadly knife. Bernard Herrmann achieved this effect by having a group of violinists frantically saw the same notes over and over again.
As an audience we are manipulated from the moment a film begins. In this essay I wish to explore how The Conversation’s use of sound design has directly controlled our perceptions and emotional responses as well as how it can change the meaning of the image. I would also like to discover how the soundtrack guides the audience’s attention with the use of diegetic and nondiegetic sounds.
For example, in American Beauty by Sam Mendes (1999), sound effects help audience to feel the moods of characters; it is not only on the diegetic sound, but also non-diegetic sound. First of all, diegetic sound effects have been described the characters’ feeling and mood. Inserted music in American Beauty can identify the change of the character in accordance with a various music style. For example, when Carolyn sings in her car, it shows her feeling with the diegetic song by using lyric of song. Although a various diegetic popular music help to understand the Burnham’s family, non-diegetic sound has an important role to help audience to identify the character in the movie. For instance, Lester’s imaginary scene of red roses over Angela’s naked body, the non-diegetic music which is played by orchestra, leads the audience to follow Lester’s feeling. Thus, the diegetic and non-diegetic sound not only influences audience to sympathize characters’ feeling and mood in the film but also help audience to identify the characters and the director’s intention via atmosphere over the
In the title sequence the music starts of very quiet and slow and as the music speeds up it builds anxiety within the audience because they want to know what going to happen. It also builds a horrific tension within the audience; also it shows the camera from the shark’s point of view in the sea which is an effective way to build tension because the audience...