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Film Music Final
Chapter 5 -11
94
Film, Theatre & Television
Undergraduate 3
12/07/2011

Additional Film, Theatre & Television Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Max Steiner
Definition
  • father of film music 
  • major pioneer of original music for films
  • believed in "Mickey moused the action"
  • one of the first to use click track method (the Informer, 1935)
  • the first serious composer of the sound era
  • very prolific composer, over 300 scores
Term
King Kong
Definition
  • scored by Max Steiner- is deemed film music's greatest achievement in the early 1930's
  • first times a Hollywood composer received on-screen credit as film composer
  • wrote a descending three-note leitmotif for Kong
Term
Franz Waxman
Definition
  • Most prominent German musician to contribute to film scoring in Hollywood
  • became the head of music at Universal Studios
  • moved to Warner Bros w/ Korngold & Steiner
  • placed great emphasis on orchestral color
  • chose intruments to create sounds that would match the style of the scene
Term
The Bride of Frankenstein

Definition
  • Established a new standard in the music of horror films
  • the most significant score Waxman composed while at Universal
  • Utilized the leitmotif technique for the monster and his bride
Term
Alfred Newman

Definition
  • One of the most powerful and influential musicians in the history of Hollywood music
  • a composer, conductor, and an executive
  • wrote the 20th century Fox music logo in 1935
  • composed 255 scores
  • nominated 45 times for an Oscar (won 9)
  • created "Fox string sound"
  • like fast vibratos
  • favorite score was "The Song of Bernadette"
  • His score for Wuthering Heights was instrumental in making this film a masterpiece of romantic filmmaking
Term
Wuthering Heights

Definition
  • score is built around Cathy's theme that appears many times throughout the movie
  • Newman considers this to be among hsi top three best scores
Term
Gone with the Wind

Definition
  • the bulk of the film score was based on American folk songs such as Civil War and Southern songs popular back then
  • Steiner used 5 orchestrators on this score and completed it in about four-week's time, getting only about 15 hours of sleep the entire time!
  • There were 11 principal themes, the most famous being the "Tara theme"
  • Selznick hired two additional film composers as a "back up" (Franz Waxman and Herbert Stothart) in case Steiner couldn't meet the deadline
Term
Wizard of Oz

Definition
  • Herbert Stothart's score won the Oscar in 1939, a very competitive year
  • MGM executives originally wante to delete the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." The song ended up winning for best original song at the Academy Awards.
Term
Suspicion

Definition
  • Hitchcock movie where music by Waxman sets mood changes ,creates suspense, and parallels the action
Term
Miklos Rozsa

Definition
  • Great composer of concert hall works and film scoring
  • Exotic, fantasy period (The Thief of Bagbad, Jungle Book, Sahara)
  • Psychological period (The Lost Weekend, Spellbound)
  • Gangster film period (Brute Forcem The Killers, and Naked City.)
  • Historical-Epic period (Ben-Hur, King of Kings, and El Cid) 
Term
Film Noir

Definition
  • term applied to films that contain lighting taht emphasizes dark shadows and that feature an abundance of night scenes. 
  • First used by French film critics in the late 1940's. 
  • The next 3 films are good examples of movies with film noir characteristics
Term
The Lost Weekend

Definition
  • Rozsa score which uses the theremin to enhance the main character's craving for alcohol. 
Term
Spellbound

Definition
  • score by Rozsa that became the first score to use a theremin supported by a full orchestra within a motion picture.
  • the theremin was used to enhance the main character's obsession witht he color white and parallel lines. 
Term
Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Definition
  • was a child prodigy; hailed as a second Mozart
  • the first composer of international reputation to accept a Hollywood contract
  • had been an internationally famous opera composer in Europe before coming to Hollywood to score films
  • composed only 18 scores which were either swashbuckling adventures or romantic dramas while working in Hollywood
  • style-is that late Romantic-period composers such as Richard Strauss
  • his scores started with a brass fanfare followed by a sweeping melody int he strings.
Term
The Sea Hawk

Definition
  • Korngold's best film score
  • the music is "in your face" because it is loud and practically "wall-to-wall"
Term
Bernard Herrmann

Definition
  • Described as a "mastodon of divine" conceit because of his huge ego and violent temper, he started as a radio composer at CBS in NYC
  • made a cameo appearance in "The Man Who Knew Too Much"
  • always orchestrated his own scores
  • was a master orchestrator and tone colorist
  • tried to create new colors of sound through pioneering methods of orchestration
  • revolutionized film scoring in at least two distinct ways
  • 1. customized the size of the orchestra to fit his needs of the scene
  • 2. used short chord cues at times instead of long melodic lines, feeling that wall-to-wall music is not always as effective
  • had a special ability for depicting the dark and sinister side of man
  • fondness for the ultra dark sonorities and achieved these effects by scoring for low brass, low woodwinds, and low strings. 
Term
King's Row

Definition
  • The main title theme is considered to be Korngold's best-known melody from his scores, this is an excellent example of a romantic drama
Term
Citizen Kane

Definition
  • Herrmann's first score was revolutionary in several ways
  • 1. used low-pitched instruments to represent the smell of death at the beginning of the film
  • 2.used short musical cues to link scenes together
  • 3. used music sparingly (not wall-to-wall music)
  • 4. his unique approach to combining dramatic underscoring with American dance tunes was innovative
  • wrote an opera sequence that would be out of the range of the soprano singer in order to make her sound like a feeble singer
  • Herrmann captured the dissolving of Kane's first marriage durign the "breakfast table scene" by writing music that became increasingly more disturbing.
Term
The Killers

Definition
  • Rozsa's hard-hitting gangster score whose main theme became the famous television "Dragnet" theme
Term
High Noon

Definition
  • Because of the sucess of Dimitri Tiomkin's main title song, "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darlin." this started a new trend in film music that was the beginning of the breakdown of the exclusive use of symphonic scores by filmmakers. This new trend gravitated more toward the use of popular songs in film scores.
Term
The Matrix (1999)

Definition
  • composed by Don Davis
  • A futuristic score that contains many modern compositional techniques used by concert hall composers such as texture music, minimalsim, polytonality, polyrhythmic sections, and other devices of the postmodern style
Term
The Sixth Sense

Definition
  • A score by James Newton Howard that concentrates on creating a scary atmosphere by using electronics, string harmoics, texture music and a wordless choir. 
Term
End of Days

Definition
  • the score by John Debney combines elements of world music, Classical music, and pop contemporary styles.
Term

Emma 

 

Definition
  • a landmark score because this was the first time a score written by a woman won the Academy Award. 
  • the composer was Rachel Portman from England
  • Her music captures the delicate and subtle qualities of insight, wit, and gentle empathy as well as the unspoken interplay between characters, the misunderstandings, the jeolousies, and deceits
Term
Hans Zimmer

Definition
  • Effective German born composer who has been composing memorable scores for movies such as The Lion King and Gladiator. 
  • the amazing thing is that he does not know how to read music
Term
Duduk

Definition
  • an American clarinet used in many recent scores such as Gladiator and the Passion of Christ
  • composed by John Debney
Term
Titanic

Definition
  • James Horner has given us a score comprised of synthesizer, vocals, and orchestra to create a timeless quality. 
  • uses ethnic instruments to give the score its Irish flavor.
  • haunting solo voice cries out over the ocean the theme of Rose
  • wrote each theme so that they could be heard sepearately or together
Term
Independence Day

Definition
  • David Arnold gave us a score that conveys the feeling of patriotism by writing a patriotic march.
  • he represents the aliens from space by spelling out the word "DIE" in Morse code by using African and Japanese drums
  • This score shows a lot of influence from the music of John Williams and Korngold
Term
Twister

Definition
  • A challenge for composer Mark Mancina due ot the extreme loudness of the tornadoes
  • his orchestral/synthesizer approach with prominent pounding precussion worked.
Term
The Shawshank Redemption
Definition
  • Thomas Newman wrote a powerful atmospheric score that casts a certain mood by using long, rich dark sustained clusters the string section accompanied by "muted" chords in the piano part.
  • Son of Alfred Newman, he bas been responsible for a new style of film composing that is emerging
  • Instead of using leitmotifs and other recognizable themes, he creates sonic shadings (atmospheres) using these longs rich chord clusters and a "muted" piano
Term
A Streetcar Named Desire

Definition
  • A landmark score by Alex North using jazz in a dramatic sense
Term
The Man with the Golden Arm

Definition
  • A landmark score by Elmer Bernstein using jazz to create an atmosphere
Term
The Trouble with Harry

Definition
1. A light-hearted comical score by Herrmann
2. The first collaboration between Herrmann and Hitchcock. This was the beginning of a wonderfully taleneted team.
3. Returning four-note leitmotif heard when people discover Harry's dead body.
Term
The Man Who Knew Too Much

Definition
  • Re-make of an earlier (1934) Hitchcock film of the same name. 
  • Herrmann makes a cameo apperance playing himself as a conductor leading the London Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the Storm Clouds Cantata by Arthur Benjamin. 
  • An assassin aattempts to shoot his single shot to coincide with the loud cymbal crash at the end of this piece
Term
The Ten Commandments

Definition
  • the score that launched Elmer Bernstein's career. 
  • He got the job after being recommended by ailing Victor Young, the originally intended composer
  • The most prominent music theme heard throughout the film deals with deliverance out of bondage
  • Bernstein had almost a year to write this score. During this time, he had to play each new musical cue for filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille for approval before proceeding. 
  • Bernstein learned from DeMille how using faster music to underscore the slow moving Exodus scene helped to move the scene along
Term
Forbidden Planet

Definition
  • The first totally all-electronic score. This score, featuring the "electronic tonalities" created by Louis and Bebe Barron, launched the era of electronic music in film
Term
The Spirit of St. Louis 

Definition
  • This score ranks as one of Franz Waxman's finest musical achievements
  • Music is very crucial to this film because much of the story takes place in the lonely cockpit of Lindbergh's single enginei plane
  • Music is needed to fill the void created by the lack of dialogue
Term
The Bridge on the River Kwai

Definition
  • The curious thing about this score is the fact that it won as the best original score for a tune that wasn't even composed by the winning composer.
  • This whistle tune, the "Colonel Bogey March" became extremely popular
Term
The Big Country

Definition
  • Pne of two Western prototype scores.
  • score was by Jerome Moross
  • The Blanco canyon sequence uses the ostinato pattern to build suspense
  • the main title sequence uses a "hoe" down-like ostinato to convey a western flavor.
  • This score uses the pentatonic scale, syncopation, and melodies based on triads (triadic melodies).
Term
The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad

Definition
  • This is one in a series of scores written by Herrmann for a group of fantasy oriented themes. 
  • This is a score featuring a normal sized orchestra with an augmented percussion section.
  • The cyclops attack is accompanied by blarring brass and pounding percussion to signify the unpenetratable quality of the giant cyclops
  • The skeleton attack sequence, Herrmann scores this with the sound of the xylophone to represent the sound of human bones clanking away.
Term
Vertigo

Definition
  • Considered by Herrmann to be his own personal favorite score of the scores he wrote for an Alfred Hitchcock fim, this is a powerful score containing a main title theme that conveys the feeling of vertigo by its swirling sound created by broken diminished 7th chords moving in contrary motion.
  • Herrmann also creates a dramatic feeling of ultimate longing by the main character by composing a sequence in the style of Richard Wagner's "Liebestod" section from his opera, "Tristan and Isolde"
Term
Journey to the Center of the Earth

Definition
  • In this score, Herrmann used 5 organs (one cathedral, 4 electronic) instead of strings.

He also used the serpent in this score.

Term
North by  Northwest

Definition
  • Herrmann uses an exciting main title theme in the form of a fandango to provide unity throughout this movie.
  • Herrmann waits until the last possible minute to bring in this theme during the "crop duster" sequence in order to build up unbearable suspense. 
Term
The Nun's Story
Definition
  • Franz Waxman based part of this score on Gregorian chant source material.
  • He also utilized the modern 12-tone row technique in the insane asylum sequence.
  • During this sequence, he has the strings playing their parts by using pizzicato (plucking out the notes with their fingers instead of using the bow)
Term
Ben-Hur
Definition
  • Considered to be Rozsa's greatest score and one of the greatest movie scores of all time, this score abounds with themes and variations.
  • Rozsa had 18 months to work on his score
  • He won his third and final Oscar for this score
  • He had done some historical research in order to make this score more believable
  • He wrote about half a dozen Roman marches that have become the prototype for this genre. 
  • His music supports about 2/3rds of this 3 and 1/2 hour film.
  • After this success, Rozsa became known as Hollywood's foremost composer dealing with historical settings. 
Term
Psycho
Definition
  • Herrmann's most famous score which accompanies Hitchock's most famous and successful motion picture
  • used an all string orhestra to give a colorless, black and white sound to the back and white film
  • the use of the string glissandos in the shower sequence have become perhaps the most often imitated film music cue in the history of cinema
  • Hitchcock later remarked that 33% of the success of Psycho was due to Herrmann's score
Term
The Magnificent Seven
Definition
  • score by Elmer Berstein; the quintessential western score prototype
  • certainly as influential as "The Big Country by Jerome Moross" the music in this film was used to give the film drive and increase the exicitement.
Term
Aaron Copland
Definition
  • American composer responsible for inspiring the "Americana Style" heard in many western scores
Term
Spartacus
Definition
  • North gave us a score with a cold, brutal, and barbaric quality, heavy on brass and percussion, to accompany the many scenes with the slaves and gladiators.
  • He had a total of 13 months to work on this score
Term
Mysterious Island
Definition
  • This score for this famous Jules Verne story once again illustrates Herrmann's mastery over orchestration techniques
  • In one scene he turns the entire orchestra into the sound of a giant buzzing machine by using various orchestration techniques
Term
King of Kings
Definition
  • Rozsa's main title theme serves as themajor theme heard throughout the movie. 
  • It taes the place of dialogue in some places
  • Especially in the sequences where Jesus performs miracles. 
  • Rozsa also wrote his only 12 tone row sequence of his entire career to represent Satan when he tries to temp Jesus in the desert
Term
El Cid
Definition
  • Rozsa's own personal favorite of all of his 90 scores
  • He did historical research in Spain using Spanish folk songs of the period and dance music of 12th century Spain to give this score its Spanish flavor
Term
Barabbas
Definition
  • Mario Nascimbene recorded part of his score at half the tape recorder speed for the crucifixion scene to give it its eerie-souding quality
  • This score has been an inspiration for other composers
Term
Maurice Jarre
Definition
  • French composer who was a pioneer in using a combination of electronic instruments such as the Ondes Martenot and ethnic instruments from various countries.
Term
Lawrence of Arabia
Definition
  • The major themes are heard in the main title sequence
  • One theme represents T.E. Lawrence by using a British sounding march; the other is a sweeping panoramic Arabian-sounding theme for the desert.
  • This won Maurice Jarre his first Oscar.
  • He used the Ondes Martenot to provide atmospheric shadings for the scenes in the desrt, particulary at night.
Term
Doctor Zhivago
Definition
  • Perhaps containing one of the most recognizable themes in cinema history, "Lara's theme" by Maurice Jarre was on the pop charts for over two years!
Term
Dr. No
Definition
  • This was the first of a long line of James Bond movies.
  • There is controversy as to who wrote the now-famous James Bond theme
Term
Cape Fear
Definition
  • Herrmann's score (the four note leitmotif) is effective in building suspense
  • Some of his music was re-used in the 1991 re-make directed by Martin Scorecese with additional music being supplied by Elmer Bernstein
  • About six minutes of Herrmann's music was actually used inthis re-make
Term
To Kill a Mockingbird
Definition
  • Elmer Bernstein's own personal favorite among his many score, this score lunached a more intimate approach to scoring films by using a smaller ensemble of players instead of the usual full orchestra
  • Bernstein uses the piano to represent the innocence of children.
Term
Cleopatra
Definition
  • Considered by some to be the last of the Hollywood big epic films, primarily because this film was responsible for the financial collapse of 20th- Century Fox studios. 
  • At one time it held the record for being the most expensive movie ever made
  • The music of Alex North captures the essence of Cleopatra, Egypt, and ancient Rome by using some instrumental combinations known to exist back then
  • North even had the prop men make actual historic looking replicas of the old instruments to be photographed within the film.
Term
The Sound of Music
Definition
The movie that helped to save 20th- Century Fox from financial ruin because of its phenomenal success by playing in some theaters for two straight years.
Term
Marnie
Definition
  • This was the last score that Herrmann completed for a Hitchcock film
  • This score contains a errifying leitmotif to enhance the main character's obsession with the color red.
Term
The Greates Story Ever Told
Definition
  • Considered by many to be Newman's greatest score.
  • It also contained some music borrowed from Handel's Messiah. (The Hallelujah Chorus).
Term
Ennio Morricone
Definition
  • Extremely prolific film composer, composing more films scores than any other composer.
  • This Italian composer got his start writing music for a group of films made in Italy known as "spaghetti Westerns."
  • His score contained experiemental sounds from animals and birds, and whistling and grunt noises from humans. 
Term
Plannet of the Apes
Definition
  • A very experimental sounding score from Jerry Goldsmith using both conventional instruments of the orhestra in unconventional ways, and some techniques such as prepared piano, the echoplex, as bass slide whistle, and the sound of steel mixing bowls being struck by a drum mallet.
Term
Patton
Definition
  • A very effective score that captures the essence of the main character's personality in the main title sequence showing his belief in reincarnation, the religion of fighting wars, and the great warrior. 
  • Jerry Goldsmith once again uses echoplex with a triplet figure in the trumpets to represent reincarnation.
Term
A Clockwork Orange
Definition
  • The music of various classical composers is played ont he synthesizer by compser Walter Carlos who is now Wendy...
  • he had a sex change
  • This classical music is used to "play against the action"
Term
The Godfather
Definition
  • an effective score by Nino Rota that was disqualified for Academy Award consideration because parts of the score had already been used in a previous Italian movie
  • Rota used the sound of the mandolin to create the atmosphere of the island of Siciliy and the Mafia
Term
The Sting
Definition
  • Marvin Hamlisch won an Academy Award for arranging the music of dead black composer Scott Hoplin, who was known as the "King of Ragtime."
Term
The Exorcist
Definition
  • A frightening and disturbing film which played in movie theaters with its temp track material instead of the intended scores of 2 composers who were strongly considered.
  • Bernard Herrmann turned down the assignment and Lalo Schifrin had his score rejected.
  • The director of the film used the song "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield as the main theme to represent the main character who was a demon-possessed 12-year-old, because it reminded him of an innocent nursery rhyme. 
Term
American Graffiti
Definition
  • An excellent example of a compilation score that used existing pop songs of the 1950s and 1960s to provide atmosphere of time and place
Term
Jaws
Definition
  • This film launched the careers of Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams.
  • Although Williams had done a couple dozen films before Jaws, this was the first time Williams had won the Academy Award of his won music. 
  • The now famous two-note motive for the great white shark attacks is universally famous. 
  • It helped to make moviegoers all over realize the power of a good film score. 
Term
Taxi Driver
Definition
  • The last score completed by Herrmann
  • He died the night he completed the last scoring session for this film 
Term
The Omen
Definition
  • This is the first and only Oscar for Jerry Goldsmith
  • Some call this the prototype for Satanic movies
  • His "Ave Satani" is reminiscent of Carl Orff's "carmina burana."
  • The music is used sparingly, so that it will have a more major impact upon its arrival
Term
Rocky
Definition
  • The main theme from this film is in the form of a fanfare and is one of the most recoggnizable themes taken from any film.
  • It launched the career of composer Bill Conti
Term
Star Wars
Definition
  • A film score with an "old-fashioned" Korngold kind of feel. 
  • This is a landmark score by John Williams that heped to resurrect interest in the full symphonic score once again at a time when that type of score had gone out of fashion. 
  • This film score contains leitmotifs for all of the major characters except Han Solo.
Term
Saturday Night Fever
Definition
  • This film's score launch the disco craze
Term
Altered States
Definition
  • An innovative avant garde score by John Corigliano that contains new sounds never heard in any film score up to that time. 
  • Corigliano employs almost every modern convention known to 20th-century composers such as multi phonics, microtones, texture music, and the like. 
Term
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Definition
  • Thi film concentrates more on human emotions and drama than many of the other films made by Spielberg during this phase of his career, 
  • therefore John Williams chose to use the leitmotif technique to manipulate our emotions.
Term
Poltergeist
Definition
  • This is a very diverse score by Goldsmith, containing the new sounds of rub rods, 
  • the childlike lullaby for carol Anne, as well as the sound of strings playing in an impressionistic style an the almost atonal rendernigs in some of the mos hair-raising scenes.
Term
The Natural
Definition
  • A score by Randy Newman that is both original in concept and sound.
  • It has been often used as temp track music for many coming attractions
Term
Witness
Definition
  • An all synthesizer score by Maurice Jarre in which th eelectronics give us an icy cold quality used to represent the standoffish quality of the Amish people. 
  • The barn raising sequence is particularly noteowrthy in his approach of using the style of passacaglia. 
Term
Out of Africa
Definition
  • score by John Barry is a good example of his recognizable style of having a melody int he top voice supported by a broke chordal accompaniment in the bass voice, that is many times accompanied by a countermelody in the French horns.
  • The long sustained chords lend themselves to the incredible vistas of the African landscape.
Term
Willow
Definition
  • A culturally diverse score by James Horner that combines the sounds of a typical symphony orchestra with that a wordless choir and various ethnic instruments.
Term
Glory
Definition
  • One of James Horner's finest efforts
  • Unfortunately, the members of the motion picture academy rejected this score for consideration because it was felt that Horner's score was too much like some of the temp track material to be considered "original"
Term
Batman
Definition
  • This is the dark and moody score that launched Danny Elfman as a mainstream film composer
  • This score was inspired by the music of Herrmann.
Term
Dances with Wolves
Definition
  • An Academy award-winning score by John Barry that showcases his homophonic style.
  • This is the longest score that he has written for a movie
Term
Jurassic Park
Definition
  • An exciting score for a landmark special effects extravaganza 
  • That contains various memmorable leitmotifs for different aspects and characters of the story
  • One unique thing was that the score was sent via satellite to Spielberg in Poland from LA because he was still over there filming Schindler's List
  • This core contains many of the typical John Williams techniques such as flashy brass parts, rapid woodwind runs with the piccolo on top, cymbal crashes, and pounding support rhythms. 
Term
Schindler's List
Definition
  • Since Williams considers the dialogue as part of the score, this musical score is near perfect in its ability to interweave within the fabric of the dialogue. 
  • He won an Academy Award for this score.
Term
Speed
Definition
  • This was the surprise blockbuster hit of the summer of 1994. 
  • Mark Mancina cleverly combined the sounds of metal objects being struck, along with Electronic synthesizer sounds and colors, and live musicians

 

Term

Stargate 

Definition
  • British composer David Arnold composed a score that pays tribute to the symphonic traditions of Star Wars and Lawrence of Arabia.
  • Arnold had been cleaning cornflake ovens in England before being discovered. He relied on a wordless choir for added color.

 

Term
Forrest Gump
Definition
  • Alan Silvestri wrote a childlike piano leitmotif to represent the childlike innocence of Forrest Gump.
  • There are also other leitmotifs such as the running theme and Jenny's theme.
Term
The Shawshank Redemption
Definition
  • Thomas Newman wrote a powerful atmospheric score that casts a certain mood by using long, rich, dark sustained clusters the string section accompanied by "muted" chords in the piano part
  • Son of Alfred Newman, he has been responsible for a new style of film composing that is emerging.
  • Instead of using leitmotifs and other recognizable themes, he creates sonic shadings (atmospheres) using these longs rich chord clusters and a "muted" piano. 

 

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