Section III: Building From the Familiar Flashcards
When did Vaudeville entertainment flourish?
the late 1800s to the early 1900s
Where did Vaudeville entertainers get their musical accompaniment?
from musicians at each theater
How would musicians know when to play music?
they would receive cue sheets that tell them when to play
Which French composer wrote music for The Assassination of the Duke of Guise and the Carnival of Animals?
Camille Saint-Saens
How many instruments did Saens need in her orchestra for Vaudeville performances?
12 instruments
Who wrote the first original orchestral film score?
Victor Herbert
How did the movie The Fall of a Nation do?
it did really bad and was forgotten for a long time
When was the film score for The Fall of a Nation rerecorded?
1987
Where was the film score for The Fall of a Nation rediscovered?
the Library of Congress
Who directed Metropolis?
Fritz Lang
Which year was Metropolis set in?
2026
How many male extras had a role in Metropolis?
26,000
How many main actors had a role in Metropolis?
8
How many female extras had a role in Metropolis?
11,000
How many children had roles in Metropolis?
750
Where did Metropolis have its premiere?
Berlin, Germany
When did Metropolis have its premiere?
January 10, 1927
How long was Metropolis?
150 minutes
What are intertitles or title cards?
text put into films, mainly used in silent films to give information on what is happening
Who created the film score for Metropolis?
Gottfried Huppertz
When are most film scores written?
post-production
How many cues did Metropolis have?
1027
How many musicians performed the Metropolis score on the night of the premiere?
75
When was the Romantic period?
most of the 19th century
What is a fermata?
a sustaining of a note until the director stops and goes on
tremolos comes from the Italian word that means what?
tremble
What did Giorgio try to do with Metropolis in 1984?
he made a version that turned it into a rock and roll musical
How long was Giorgio’s “Morodernized” version of Metropolis?
This is not mispelled
82 minutes long
The False Maria robot in Metropolis likely inspired which other character’s designs?
C-3PO in Star Wars
How many musicians were in the largest motion-picture theater in New York?
45
What percent of theaters didn’t have orchestras?
98%
Who would play the accompaniment if there wasn’t an orchestra?
a sole pianist or organist
How did Huppertz ensure that the listening experience would be almost identical at every theater?
he started recording the music so it would sound the same everywhere
Who directed 2001: A Space Odyssey?
Stanley Kubrick
What inspired Kubrick to make the Space movie?
Arthur Clarke’s The Sentinel
What type of computer operates the spacecraft in the Space movie?
a HAL 9000
When did the Library of Congress add the Space movie to the National Film Registry?
1991
How many movies are added each year to the National Film Registry?
25 per year
When was The Sentinel released?
1951
How many movies were in the National Film Registry by the end of 2021?
825
Who made the film score for the Space movie?
Richard Strauss
After North’s music was rejected for the Space movie, what other movies did he use it for?
The Shoes of the Fisherman and Dragonslayer
When was the National Film Registry started?
1988
When was The Shoes of the Fisherman released?
1968
When was Dragonslayer released?
1981
When was North’s score for the Space movie released commercially?
1993
Who directed and produced E.T.?
Steven Spielberg
How long was E.T. the highest-grossing film?
11 years
When was E.T. released?
1982
When was E.T. added to the National Film Registry?
1994
What movie surpassed E.T.?
Jurassic Park
When was Jurassic Park released?
1993
Who directed Jurassic Park?
Steven Spielberg
Who discovers ET in the movie E.T.?
Elliot
During Halloween in E.T., what did Elliot disguise ET as?
a ghost
Who wrote the score for E.T.?
John Williams
What special award did the film score for E.T. receive?
an Oscar
Who wrote Romantic Symphony?
Howard Hanson
When was Romantic Symphony released?
1930
Which woodwind instrument did Williams emphasize more than the other woodwinds?
the piccolo
What is a celesta?
a small, bell-like instrument
Which century did the use of leitmotifs go out of fashion?
twentieth century
How does a harp play a glissando?
by strumming up and down the strings
How many copies of the film album for E.T. were sold that same year?
500k
What did E.T. rely on for coherence?
leitmotifs
What is a tritone?
an interval made of 2 notes that are 3 whole steps apart
What is a major tritone progression?
a gesture based on harmonies rather than melodies, commonly found in Romantic-era films
Who made the score for Dune?
Toto
Where can most of the features of Toto’s Dune score be found?
the first 2 cues, Prologue and Main Title
End title music is performed when?
the closing credits
When is Main Title music performed?
during the opening credit information
When was The Day the Earth Stood Still released?
1951
Who made the film score for The Day the Earth Stood Still?
Bernard Herrmann
On October 30, 1938, what did people think when they turned to the radio station?
they thought there was an alien invasion
When was Citizen Cane released?
1941
Herrmann was nominated for an Oscar, but didn’t win. Who did he lose to?
he lost to himself for the music for The Devil and Daniel Webster
How much did the flying saucer used in the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still cost?
$100,000
What was the circumference of the flying saucer in the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still?
350 feet
What did the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still depict aliens as?
nice, rational, and peaceful extraterrestrial beings that didn’t pose a threat to humans
What what did aliens traditionally look like in when the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still was made?
bug-eyed monster or BEMs
What was the intent for most science fiction films in the mid-twentieth century?
to terrify audiences
What did The Day the Earth Stood Still win a Golden Globe award for?
it won the award for promoting international understanding
What did Director Robert Wise tell Herrmann to do with the film score?
he told him to “do something special”
what electronic instruments were used in Herrmann’s score for The Day the Earth Stood Still?
an electric violin, electric cello, electric bass, electric guitar, and a theremin
What did Herrmann jokingly say about the amount of electric instruments used in the film score for The Day the Earth Stood Still on FOX studios?
“the only thing we didn’t have is an electric hot water bottle”
What category of instruments that were commonly used in sci-fi films wasn’t used in the film score for The Day the Earth Stood Still?
woodwinds weren’t used
What kind of organs were used in the film score for The Day the Earth Stood till?
Hammond organs
What had the theremin been advertised as?
“music from the ether”
How many cues for the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still used the theremin?
24 cues
What is a segue?
a cue that tells musicians to move to the next section without a pause
What is the first cue for The Day the Earth Stood Still called?
Prelude
How long is the cue Prelude in the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still?
under 7 seconds long
What is a cymbal roll?
where a cymbal is played like a drum with 2 mallets beating it very fast
How does Herrmann create contrast for the cue Prelude using the cymbal roll?
he has 2 play the cymbal roll with tympani mallets and 2 with triangle beaters
What are triangle beaters?
small metal sticks used to play the triangle
What are tympani mallets like?
fairly large mallets with large, soft heads, used to play the tympani
What approach did Herrmann use for the cue Outer Space in the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still?
minimalism
What is minimalism?
a style that takes a small amount of material and maximizes it to its highest potential
Fill in the blank: “Herrmann was the greatest ________ writer ever.”
ostinato
Who said that Herrmann was the best ostinato writer ever?
Elmer Bernstein
When was Forbidden Planet released?
1956
What was unique about the film score for Forbidden Planet
it was all electronic
Was Forbidden Planet a B-movie?
no, it was too sophisticated, and lots of money was poured into it
What is a B-movie?
a low-budget movie that was intended to follow a better-funded movie
Which year was TRON released?
1982
What company made TRON?
Disney
What aspects of film-making processes does TRON combine?
CGI, live-action filming, and hand-drawn animation
What movies/stories are compared to the story of TRON
Alice in wonderland and The Wizard of Oz
What is the storyline of TRON?
Where a real-world character enters a strange place
What is the main TRON theme labeled as?
“Anthem”
The cue “Creation of TRON” is very brief and includes which 3 timbres?
synthesizer, orchestra, and a choir
