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the magic of film music essay
importance of music in films
the history of the film industry
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Imagine a movie without any music. As Iron Man is about to save the world, all the background music disappears. Are the effects the same? Film composer Bernard Herrmann commented, “I feel that music on the screen can seek out and intensify the inner thoughts of the characters. It can invest a scene with terror, grandeur, gaiety, or misery…propel [a] narrative swiftly forward, or slow it down… [and] is the communicating link between the screen and the audience, reaching out and enveloping all into one single experience” (qtd. in Fischoff). A movie is created from the sounds that are used. At the beginning of the creation of film, there was no sound. Music and sound’s role in movies changes dramatically and transforms film entirely. One can understand the impact of sound in movies through music and film history, how music influences emotion and how silence can affect the film. The history of sound in movies is very peculiar. It is hard to say when the first movie was made because of arguments to determine which was made first. Films were created between the late 1870s and the 1890s. Drawing the line to determine the definition of a film can be difficult. To define a film as a set of moving pictures, then the first movie would be Eadweard Muybridge’s The Horse in Motion in 1878. Yet, there are other ways to determine the first movie such as the first home movie, Roundhay Garden Scene in 1888; the first movie ever shot using an ongoing film strip, Monkeyshines No. 1 in 1889 or 1890; the first movie ever copyrighted, Fred Ott’s Sneeze in 1894; the first movie that was ever projected, Workers Leaving Lumiere Factory in 1895; or even the first movie projected to a public audience, Berlin Wintergarten Novelty Program in 1895 (Wright). D... ... middle of paper ... ...Gale Virtual Library. 14 Oct. 2013. Nappi, Rebecca. “A Place for Music’s Healing Powers.” Student Research Center. EBSCO, 2013. 14 Oct. 2013. Stamets, Bill. “Early Silent Films set off Alfred Hitchcock’s Visuals.” Chicago Sun-Times. Sun-Times Media, 2013. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. “The Power of Music.” Light Bridge Music. Light Bridge Music, n.d. Web. 2 Oct 2013 “The Top 100 Silent Era Films.” Silent Era. Silent Era Company, 1999-2013. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. Weber, Tom. “Local Silent Movies This Weekend in Lansboro.” Student Research Center. EBSCO, 2013. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. Whedon, Joss, dir. The Avengers. Marvel Studios, 2012. Film. 20 Nov. 2013. Winokur, Mark and Holsinger, Bruce. “Movies and Film.” Infoplease. Pearson Education, 2000-2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. Wright, Will. “The First Movie Ever Made: A History of Film Firsts.” Yahoo Voices. Yahoo Inc., 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Grainge, P., Jancovich, M., & Monteith, S. (2012). Film Histories; An introduction and reader. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
The cameras used to film “The Talkies” as they where known, had to be kept in enormous soundproof casing. This immediately hindered directors creativity and made movies such as Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) much more rigid. Because of the fascination with the lip-syncing that this new technology achieved less attention was played to other attributes that silent films used such as the comedic elements in Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights (1931.)
Monahan, R. B. (2013). Looking at Movies. In Chapter 9: Sounds (p. 416). New York: Norton & Company, Inc.
White, Hilary. Magill's Cinema Annual, 2006: A Survey of the Films of 2005. Detroit: Gale Group, 2006. Print.
As talkies became more refined and commonplace, silent films started to dwindle. A backlash occurred and these pantomimed movies were labeled as the true art (Geduld, 253). Yet, nothing could be done to slow down the continual development of cinema as sound poured out of studios on a daily basis. In fact, this new cinematic style was so popular, the film industry turned out to be one of the few prosperous enterprises during the Depression (Geduld, 253).
The silent era in film occurred between 1895 through 1929. It had a a major impact on film history, cinematically and musically. In silent films, the dialogue was seen through muted gestures, mime, and title cards from the beginning of the film to the end. The pioneers of the silent era were directors such as, D. W. Griffith, Robert Wiene and Edwin S. Porter. These groundbreaking directors brought films like first horror movie and the first action and western movie. Due to lack of color, the silent films were either black and white or dyed by various shades and hues to signal a mood or represent a time of day. Now, we begin to enter towards the sound era and opposed to the silent era, synchronized sounds were introduced to movies. The classic movie, The Jazz Singer, which was directed by Alan Crosland, was the first feature length film to have synchronized dialogue. This was not only another major impact in film history, but it also played a major part in film technology and where film is right now.
Think back to when you were watching the movie with no music or sound. Would it be even worth it to stay and watch the whole film? It’s has played an important role in the history of our world. It has been one of the things that will never change. It’s always there and will be there forever. Music is in the building blocks of our very existence. If you tried to take music away forever, some how, some way it would come back. It’s like love or goodness it’s always there now and forever. “Listen. Can you hear it? The music. I can hear it everywhere. In the wind... in the air... in the light. It's all around us. All you have to do is open yourself up. All you have to do... is listen.” (Sheridan)
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
Barsam, Richard. Looking at Movies An Introduction to Film, Second Edition (Set with DVD). New York: W. W. Norton, 2006. Print.
As we all know, sound plays a large role in today’s movies. There is diegetic sounds, which come from a source within the film’s world, and nondiegetic sounds, which come from a source outside that world, and are only heard by the audience. (Barsam-Monahan, 2016)
Cinema began as short, silent films, spinning away on cellulose. Audiences would follow the plot through mime and title cards in cramped theaters, projectors clanking loudly. It wasn't until the late 1920's that sound would be introduced to the motion picture experience. With the release of The Jazz Singer in 1927and the new Vitaphone system, “talkies” would replace the silent film. Actors and directors of the Silent Era had to adapt quickly to the new technology but would literally find a voice in their art and use it to speak directly to their audience.
Thinking Sound. (2011). Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola Talks about the Evolution of Movie Sound. [Online]. Available from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-fNpE9vQJw [Accessed 05 February 2012]
Brownlow, Kevin 1994, ‘Preface’, in Paolo, C, Burning Passions: an introduction to the study of silent film, British Film Institute, London: BFI, pp. 1-3.
The addition of any type of sound to movies was handled mainly by the use of musical instruments, such as the organ or piano, and it wasn’t until the year 1923 that movies actually contained music or voices. After decades of looking into synchronizing sound with movies, a successful way of doing so was founded by Lee De Forest. Contrary to his belief however, the film industry had little interest in his innovation. It was not until “Warner Brothers, a struggling industry newcomer, turned to sound as a way to compete with its larger rivals” (Mintz). A prerecorded musical sound track eliminated the expense of live entertainment. In 1926, Warner Brothers released the film Don Juan and made history. Being the first film with a synchronized...
Offering the unique ability to visually and audibly convey a story, films remain a cornerstone in modern society. Combined with a viewer’s desire to escape the everyday parameters of life, and the excitement of enthralling themselves deep into another world, many people enjoy what films stand to offer. With the rising popularity of films across the world, the amount of film makers increases every day. Many technological innovations mark the advancement of film making, but the essential process remains the same. Pre-production accounts for everything taken place before any shooting occurs, followed by the actual production of the film, post-production will then consist of piecing the film together, and finally the film must reach an audience. Each step of this process contributes to the final product, and does so in a unique right. The process of film making will now start chronologically, stemming from the idea of the story, producing that story into a film, editing that footage together, and finally delivering that story to its viewers.