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Music 2F03 > Lecture 7 and 8: The 1950s > Flashcards

Lecture 7 and 8: The 1950s Flashcards

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1
Q

End of the studio system

A
  • everyone under studio contracts
  • large studios are the main players
  • this studio system was ultimately illegal
  • in the 1950s, the government starts cracking down on the studio system
  • more independent film production, multiple studios are collaborators
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2
Q

Challenge of new media

A
  • television
  • not until the later 40s until we see TV taking shape
  • 1950s is when television becomes what we know it to be today
  • colour television starts to be a thing in the 60s
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3
Q

Battle on two fronts

A
  • subject matter

- technology

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4
Q

Battle on two fronts - technology

A
  • battle with television accelerates the move to all colour movies
  • now, the technology is cheaper
  • wide-screen image
  • multiple systems in competition (just like sound) such as Cinerama, CinemaScope and VistaVision
  • development of the first multi-channel sound systems for theatres
  • epic films
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5
Q

Epic films

A
  • eg. Quo Vadis, The Robe, Julius Caesar, Lawrence of Arabia, Cleopatra, The Ten Commandments
  • designed to dazzle the audience with grandeur
  • “sword and sandal” epics
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6
Q

Ben-Hur

A
  • 1959
  • composer = Miklos Rozsa
  • biblical story
  • parade of the charioteers scene
  • no narrative development, meant to dazzle
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7
Q

Differentiation between television and film

A
  • originally, no Hollywood films would be shown on television, and actors who wanted to be in film couldn’t be in television
  • this is in order to compete with television
  • there used to be a huge lag between when a movie came out in theatres to when it appeared in television
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8
Q

Battle on two fronts - subject matter

A
  • The Production Code
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9
Q

The Hays Office

A
  • March 1930 = The Production Code
  • censors films
  • if your film was certified, a screen would appear at the beginning of the film
  • if the film didn’t have certification, many theatres would not play it
  • voluntary until 1934
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10
Q

The breakdown of the Production Code

A
  • films of the 1940s push the code, films of the 1950s begin to break it all together
  • television content is more restricted due to influence of advertisers
  • by the end of the 1940s, the first films of Europe started to show up in North America
  • Hollywood found itself competing with films that were more mature, and weren’t restricted
  • Code abandoned in 1968
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11
Q

Elmer Bernstein - Early life

A
  • 1922 - 2004
  • born in New York City
  • went to Julliard (taught by Aaron Copland and Roger Sessions)
  • Aaron Copland = concert hall composer who also wrote film music
  • during the 1940s, pursued career as a concert pianist/composer
  • worked in Armed Forces radio during the war
  • after the war, he goes back to his classical career
  • first film work in 1952
  • worked for a ballet company when it was hard to find film work
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12
Q

Elmer Bernstein - HUAC

A
  • Elmer Bernstein is accused of being a communist
  • when he was younge,r he wrote record reviews that were published in a communist student newspaper
  • the US became paranoid in their quest to get rid of communists
  • targets = government agencies, military, the arts
  • HUAC = 1953
    house on unamerican activities
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13
Q

Senator Joseph McCarthy

A
  • job was to find and punish communists
  • if you appeared before him, you would be guilty
  • once you were accused, you were blacklisted from your career
  • if you named names, you would be considered a patriot, but then everyone else would be targeted
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14
Q

Elmer Bernstein - Early film work

A
  • B-movies = second feature at a drive-in movie theatre
  • Cat Women of the Moon (1953)
  • his first A-film in a while = The Man With The Golden Arm (1955)
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15
Q

The Man with the Golden Arm - Title

A
  • he is a Jazz drummer
  • makes his living working in the world of crime
  • works as a card dealer in high stakes illegal poker games, nickname = “Dealer”
  • has just been released from prison when the movie starts
  • he is a heroin addict
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16
Q

The Man with the Golden Arm - Jazz

A
  • ensemble is a Jazz Big Band = a very popular musical ensemble of the 1930s/40s
  • swing feel = divided unevenly
  • Jazz = urban, drug abuse
  • not a sophisticated sound of Jazz like in Laura
  • effective for the most part, but awkward at times
  • hitting the action doesn’t work well when using pop songs
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17
Q

The Man with the Golden Arm - Scene Analysis

A
  • Frankie (drummer) has auditioned for a popular band, and is waiting to hear back from the band leader
  • gets nervous, so he heads down to the bar
  • at the bar is Frankie’s old drug dealer
  • goes to the drug dealer’s apartment, and Frankie gets his fix
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18
Q

The Man with the Golden Arm - Importance

A
  • pushing the production code

- film composer uses something other than the operatic sound

19
Q

Agnes de Mille / Cecil B. de Mille

A
  • Agnes de Mille = very famous ballet director
  • Agnes had a brother, Cecil, who was a big director
  • in the middle of one of Cecil’s production, the composer gets sick
    so, he calls up Elmer for his movie
  • The Ten Commandments (1956) = one of the biggest orchestral scores of all time
20
Q

Dmitri Tiomkin

A
  • 1894 - 1979
  • born in Russia, one of the Émigré composers
  • played piano in Russian silent movie theatres
  • 1925 = USA, worked in vaudeville
  • important films include = Lost Horizon (1937), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
21
Q

High Noon - Facts

A
  • 1952
  • stepping back into the world of black/white films
  • has more similarities with the films of the 1940s
  • Western
  • score based on a popular song composed by Tiomkin
    (Do Not Forsake Me / The Ballad of High Noon)
  • singer = Tex Ritter
22
Q

High Noon - Importance

A
  • song was pre-released and established the use of “Movie Songs”
  • this becomes a standard for the film industry
  • notable for the high level of integration of the song melody within the scor
  • sets up the two primary themes for the score (sheriff, bad guy)
  • the rest of the score is mostly a conventional orchestra
  • received an Academy Award for best score and best song
23
Q

High Noon - Movie Summary

A
  • takes place almost in real time - elapsed time in the diegetic world is only about 2 hours
  • the new sheriff will arrive the following day
  • as the sheriff is about to leave, they learn that a criminal has escaped and is heading to the town in order to kill the sheriff
24
Q

High Noon - Scene Analysis

A
  • sheriff starts writing his will
  • music starts playing on time with the clock (even tempo)
  • orchestral music uses the themes
  • camera shots change about every two seconds
  • film is cut to the music that builds up to the moment the train arrives
25
Q

Bernard Herrmann - Early Life

A
  • 1911 -1975
  • born in New York City - studied at Julliard
  • CBS radio in 1934
  • radio of the 1930s is the television of today
  • already writing music based on a narrative
  • uses a particular set of instruments
    this would give each show its own sonic character
26
Q

Orson Welles

A
  • worked at CBS, running one of the most popular radio shows in America
    (The Mercury Player)
  • 1938 = stage a reading of The War of the Worlds
  • they staged it in a series of news reports
  • Hollywood then decided that they wanted to recruit Welles during the height of the studio system
  • however, he wants control
  • eventually, he comes to an agreement and packs up the Mercury Players (including Bernard Herrmann)
27
Q

Citizen Kane - Facts

A
  • 1941
  • director = Orson Welles
  • composer = Bernard Herrmann
  • one of the most influential films ever made
  • Welles made up the rules as he was creating the film
  • film took a while to get going in terms of audience
  • blackmail from William Randall
  • example of Herrmann putting Julliard training to use
28
Q

Citizen Kane - Movie Summary

A
  • rich, powerful man who wants control of the entire world
  • as he gets more power, all of the things start to drop away
  • he is lying on his deathbed, alone, holding a snowglobe
  • then, his life is told in retrospect - want to know what “Rosebud” is
29
Q

Citizen Kane - Scene analysis

A
  • his first marriage
  • madly in love, playful
  • then, the playfulness starts to fall aways, and tension starts to build
  • coldness, a fight, then ends in silence
  • the music follows the arc of their relationship
30
Q

The Day the Earth Stood Still - Facts

A
  • 1951
  • cautionary tale in the times of the Cold War
  • a lot of films echo the paranoia/fear of the world ending
31
Q

The Day the Earth Stood Still - Movie Summary

A
  • aliens arrive and let us know that they have been watching for a while
  • we have weapons that are too big for our brains
  • have to get rid of the weapons, or the aliens will take us out
  • Gort, giant robot - has the power to lay waste to the entire planet, only the alien can order it to stop
32
Q

The Day the Earth Stood Still - Sonic quality

A
  • the instruments he chose made the biggest difference
  • not the standard orchestra, very unusual collection
  • gives the score a unique sonic quality
  • no theme
33
Q

Bernard Herrmann and orchestras

A
  • Herrmann realises that we may not need orchestras (standardized performance ensembles)
  • composers got used to writing music for certain sets of instruments
  • but, film music
    only needs to be played once, on the day that it is recorded
  • Herrmann starts creating unique collections of instruments
  • the sound of a score depends on instrumentation
    only required
34
Q

The Day the Earth Stood Still - Scene Analysis

A
  • instruments just hold single notes
  • music waits for the supernatural until it starts to come in
  • clouds of sound (high, middle, low) causes tension
  • music is gone, tied to the gunshot
  • then, the robot will appear
  • music tells us that we are dealing with something very different
  • relentless = low brass, piano, extremely even rhythm
  • unpredictable = notes are very dissonant
35
Q

Alfred Hitchcock

A
  • 1955 Herrmann begins collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock
  • Alfred Hitchcock is an “auteur” = specific aesthetic
    approach to filmmaking
  • subject matter can differ, but an overlying artistic vision
  • Vertigo (1958), North By Northwest (1959)
36
Q

Psycho - Facts

A
  • 1960
  • limited budget = shot in black and white (also due to aesthetics)
  • Herrmann uses only strings = black and white score, versatile instruments,
  • cues set a single mood and show little response to changes - overall, the mood is bleak and has little emotional warmth
  • frequent use of minor seconds and major sevenths
37
Q

Psycho - Scene 1 (The Money)

A
  • short repetitive theme that fractures
  • quiet but unsettled = Marion’s discomfort with the theft, guilt, remorse
  • constantly fracturing, and rearranging
    but, it doesn’t speed up or get any louder
  • grows slightly in intensity as she decides to take the money
  • no vibrato = makes the music more cold
38
Q

Psycho - Scene 2 (Flight)

A
  • no music during the car selling scene
  • music enters as she makes her escape
  • much more intense, very dissonant, no emotional warmth
  • music seems to play her fall to the dark side
39
Q

Psycho - Scene 3 (Norman)

A
  • while talking to Norman, Marion has a change of heart
  • decides she will drive back to Phoenix and take responsibility - subtle change in Norman = anxious young man becomes expressionless
  • harmonics as Normon spies on Marion = no emotion/warmth
  • two semitones played in a variety of ranges
40
Q

Psycho - Scene 4 (Shower)

A
  • the sound effects and music are extremely savage
  • Hitchcock didn’t originally want any music on the shower scene
  • violent death articulated by string instruments
  • then, as the murderer runs away, you hear semitones (Norman)
41
Q

Bernard Herrmann - Later Years

A
  • Herrmann hated popular music
  • detested the “Movie Song” approach
  • parts Hitchcock’s company during the filming of Torn Curtain
  • moves to Europe
  • director François Truffaut = Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
  • returns to the US
  • last movie is Taxi Driver (1975), director = Martin Scorsese
42
Q

Summary of the 1950s

A
  • key word = versatility
  • Bernard Herrmann = opens the door to using other instruments
  • Elmer Bernstein = jazz influenced score, then massive orchestral scores
  • end of the studio system leads to freelancing
43
Q

Cinerama

A
  • required 3 cameras, 3 projectors, and a large, curved screen
  • debuted in 1952 with a travelogue
  • too costly and impractical
44
Q

CinemaScope

A
  • 1 camera
  • 20th Century Fox
  • premiered with The Robe (1953)
  • other studios adopted rival sidescreen formats (VistaVision, Todd-AO, Panavision)

Music 2F03 (13 decks)

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