Lecture 1: Introduction

Question 1

Author intent

Answer 1

• the vision of the composer

- however, people may have different interpretations

Question 2

Cue

Answer 2

• piece of music within a film
• most effective when the dialogue becomes secondary
• composers also have to deal with other audio tracks in the soundsphere

Question 3

Empire of the Sun - Movie Summary

Answer 3

• loosely based on a true story of WWII, when Japan overtakes Shanghai
• Jim is captured as a young boy, and spends his life in a prison camp
• Jim = sees the best in people, love of airplanes and pilots

Question 4

Empire of the Sun - Analysis

Answer 4

• music plays the internal thoughts of Jim
• no sense of danger
• music can change the way that you interpret something

Question 5

Conventions

Answer 5

• an established way of doing things
• help shape the narrative
• directs the way that you interpret a film

Question 6

Apollo 13 - Movie Summary

Answer 6

• 1995
• James Horner, Ron Howard
• true story
• 3rd mission to send people to land on the moon
• there was an explosion inside the spacecraft
• NASA tried to figure out how to reuse the spacecraft to get the astronauts home safely

Question 7

Apollo 13 - Analysis

Answer 7

• with music, makes things more focused, sets up transition
• where music isn’t is just as important as where it is
• instruments and musical texture can portray thematic ideas

Question 8

Apollo 13 - Instruments

Answer 8

• brass instruments carry the main tune
• trumpet, trombone, French horn
• associated with military, honor, sacrifice

Question 9

Chorale

Answer 9

• hymn, sacred song from Christian tradition

- carries the idea of sacrifice

Question 10

Suspension of disbelief

Answer 10

• what is on screen is really happening
• nothing should remind the audience that they are watching a film
• conventions attempt to minimize things that threaten the suspension of disbelief
• exception = music

Question 11

The four functions of music

Answer 11

• music can create a more convincing atmosphere of time and place
• music can underline or create psychological refinements
• music can provide a sense of continuity
• music can provide the underpinning for the theatrical buildup of a score, then round it off for finality

Question 12

Raiders of the Lost Ark - Analysis

Answer 12

• transition between Indiana Jones theme, love theme, Middle East theme
• functions = change in location, continuity, brings the action to a close