MUSIC 325 A Su 21: Music In Cinema

Professor: Huck Hodge, DMA Links to an external site. • Office: 325 Music

Email: hhodge@u.washington.edu

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will survey of some of the most representative films and film scores of the last 100 years while laying the groundwork for students to acquire the skills necessary to critically engage with film as a multi-media experience. Special attention will be paid to aesthetic questions arising from the fusion of sound and image as well as the psychological, political and philosophical resonances that result from this union.

 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students will gain exposure to the techniques used in many artistic media that touch on the boundaries of the musicology of film (opera, theater, television, video games, etc.). In addition, they will acquire an understanding of the nature of film music‘s cultural importance, and the degree to which it can shape our emotional, philosophical and political responses to cinema. This will enable students to enjoy film-viewing with a more thoughtful and critical eye and ear than before.

 

NOTE on ZOOM MEETINGS

I would very much appreciate it if you would "unmute" your cameras on Zoom. This helps me feel more like I'm talking to other humans and less like I'm talking to some monolithic abyss. It will also help me, via your facial expressions, to gauge which things from the lecture require more explanation, which things are painfully obvious, etc. 

 

EVALUATION

Course grades will comprise the following components:

  1.  Participation / Discussion [10%] We cover a lot of material in this class and will participate in discussions frequently. The readings and video lectures listed on this site should be completed before class on the listed dates. Each video lecture will have a series of ungraded 1-question quizzes to help you with comprehension of the material. Your participation grade will be determined by watching the video lectures and completing these quizzes. Since a large amount of the course is asynchronous in this way we will most likely not meet for every scheduled class session. I will send out an announcement for the synchronous class sessions we will skip.
  2. Assignment [10%] Masking / Commutation Test 
  3. Quizzes [10%] There will be 3 online quizzes given throughout the quarter. These will cover material from the lectures, readings and films.
  4. Midterm Project [30%] Using only sound effects create a 2 / 3-minute Musique Concréte composition / story. 
  5. Final Project [40%] The final will involve scoring of a brief scene from a short silent film. You must use original or pre-existing (compilation) music AND sound design. You must pay close attention to the interaction of sound and image. You will also write a 3-page (750-word) statement describing how the techniques and ideas presented in class influence your piece.

Download  The chart for converting percentage grades to the 4.0 scale can be found here.

 

RESOURCES:

Columbia University Film Glossary Links to an external site.

Examples of Film Sound Techniques (College Film & Media Studies) Links to an external site.

FilmSound.org Glossary of Sound Terminology Links to an external site.

TV Tropes Links to an external site.

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound Links to an external site.

 

COURSE SCHEDULE

N.b., This schedule of classes, readings, and assignments is subject to revision during the quarter.

 

WEEK 1

 

6/21: Introduction: syllabus, goals, requirements | The beginnings of cinematic sound, the legacy of the 19th century, close listening. Diegetic/non-diegetic music, empathetic/anempathetic music.

Download Reading: New Yorker, Hearing the Movies, Adorno/Eisler, Eisenstein

New Yorker article online (includes links to musical examples) Links to an external site.

You Were Never Really Here (2017) 

 

The 39 Steps (1935)

 

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

pay particular attention to the sound / music at these points:

1:45 - 2:00, 2:30-2:40

 

Force Theme - Star Wars Original Trilogy - Leitmotiv through the Saga

 

 

Original Imperial March Star Wars Episode V Empire Strikes Back

 

 

Imperial March - Star Wars VI Return of the Jedi - Darth Vader's Death

 

 

 

Video Lecture: (AN)EMPATHETIC / (NON)DIEGETIC / ON- or OFFSCREEN?

 

Apocalypse Now (1979): Ride of the Valkyries

 

 

Rivendell Scene 1 - The Fellowship of the Ring

 

 

Pippin's Song Edge of Night (LOTR)

 

 

Terminology:  Diegetic Sound Links to an external site. | Non-Diegetic Sound Links to an external site.

 

6/23: Montage, Mise-en-scène, a crash course in ethics and aesthetics, the political psychology of mechanized art. 

Video Lecture: A Crash Course in the Ethics and Aesthetics of Classical Music

Download Lecture manuscript

/ Download Powerpoint

Source texts: Download Kant, Critique of Judgment (excerpts) /

Download Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (excerpt)

Links to an external site.Beethoven -5th Symphony, 1st movement: Allegro Con Brío

 

Beethoven's 5th Symphony, 1st movement: Allegro Con Brio Links to an external site. (Youtube link)

 

Video Lecture: The Political Psychology of Mechanized Art

Download Lecture Manuscript

 

Play media comment.Eisenstein's 5 Methods of Montage

Play media comment.

October (1928) — The Machine Gun

 

Terminology:  Montage Links to an external site. | Mise-en-scène Links to an external site. | (Continuity) Editing Links to an external site.

 

6/25: Alexander Nevsky, A crash course in film theory

 

Alexander Nevsky (1939) Scene: The Battle On The Ice

 

Alexander Nevsky (MPAA rating: NR) Links to an external site. (Link to the full movie on Youtube)

Alexander Nevsky on TV Tropes Links to an external site.

 

The missing piece about Putin and Ukraine (interview with Georg Michels) Links to an external site.

Robert F. Baumann, Mobilizing History to Promote Patriotism and a New Past Links to an external site.

(France24: 9/11/21) Putin unveils monument to legendary Russian prince Links to an external site.

 

Video Lecture: A Crash Course in Film Theory

Download Lecture Manuscript

 

Discussions on Film/Reading | Formalism and Realism | Masking Exercise

Reading: Gunning, Illusions Past and Future: The Phantasmagoria and its Specters

optional: Download Peter Bürger, Montage 

Download Jonathan Crary, Modernizing Vision

Terminology: Camera Obscura Links to an external site.

Notes:  Download Film Theory

Zoom Session

 

WEEK 2

 

Video Lecture: A crash course in harmony

BLERG!: at 6:32 I meant to say FUNDAMENTAL frequency

 

6/28: Film and desire, psychoanalytic perspectives, the Tristan chord

Download Lecture Manuscript

Source texts (optional) Download :

Download Schopenhauer (var. selections)

 

Download Lecture Manuscript

 

Bernard Herrmann Vertigo Suite, Prelude, Dream Sequence

 

Richard Wagner - Tristan und Isolde, Prelude

Play media comment.

Stephen Fry - The Tristan Chord Links to an external site.Stephen Fry - Tristan Chord

Notes: Download Schopenhauer - Wagner - Freud

 

6/30: Video Lectures: Freud

QUIZ #1 Due by 6:30 pm

Download Freud Lecture Manuscripts

Source texts (optional): Brooks, Freud's Masterplot Download Brooks, Freud's Masterplot | Freud, Beyond the Pleasure Principle Download Freud, Beyond the Pleasure Principle | Download Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams (excerpt)

 

7/2: Vertigo, Masking / Commutation Test

Reading: Download Noël Carroll, Vertigo - the impossible love

Watch: Vertigo Links to an external site. (MPAA rating: PG)

Vertigo on TV Tropes

 

Video Lecture: Vertigo

Download Lecture Manuscript

 

Download Some appearances of the Tristan Chord in Vertigo (pdf):

Play media comment.

Play media comment.

Play media comment.

Play media comment.

Also: see 1:53:40-50 (Judy as Madeleine)  1:58:55 (The necklace: "There, I'm ready") 1:59:25-35 (Drive to the tower)

Vertigo Shot (Zoom-In/Track-Back)

Play media comment.

 

Hitchcock Explains What a McGuffin Is Links to an external site.Hitchcock Explains What a MacGuffin Is

Download Extra Credit: The Mystery of McGuffin Manor - unsolved.pdf

Žižek - Our Fear of Falling in Love Links to an external site.[PART]-Žižek - Our Fear of Falling in Love

Notes:  Download Freud - Dreams - Beyond Pleasure.pptx 

 

Masking Exercise #1

(sound only)

Play media comment.

(sound + video)

Play media comment.

 

Masking Exercise #2

(video only) Play media comment.

(video + sound)

Play media comment.

 

Commutation Test

Star Wars - Prom Night

 

 

Requiem for a Dream (commutated)

Play media comment.

Requiem for a Dream (original sound)

Play media comment.

 

The Shining (original sound)

Play media comment.

The Shining (commutated) Play media comment.

 

WEEK 3

 

7/5: Independence Day Observed

Watch: Links to an external site. 2001: a Space Odyssey Links to an external site. (MPAA rating: G)

Download Reading (required): Nietzsche, Zarathustra / Birth of Tragedy (excerpts)

 

Notes:  Download Schopenhauer Nietzsche Kubrick

2001 on TV Tropes Links to an external site.

Play media comment.Richard Strauss — Also sprach Zarathustra (Sunrise)

Play media comment.György Ligeti, Requiem — Dies Irae

Play media comment. György Ligeti, Atmospheres

Play media comment.2001: Dawn of man / space station docking with Alex North score

 

 

7/7: Discussion: 2001: a Space Odyssey 

Notes:  Download Schopenhauer Nietzsche Kubrick

 

Video Lecture: Nietzsche — The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music

Download Lecture Manuscript

 

2001 on TV Tropes Links to an external site.

 

Video Lecture: 2001: A Nietzschean Odyssey

Download Lecture Manuscript

 

 

7/9: Masking / Commutation Test Assignment DUE

Musique Concrète  

Download Readings (required): Chion, Audio-vision (excerpt) / Schafer, The Tuning of the World (Ch. 9) /

The Concept of „Sound Object“ (objet sonore) by Pierre Schaeffer Links to an external site.

 

Play media comment.

Once Upon a Time in The West (1968) | opening sequence (audio only)

Play media comment.

Once Upon a Time in The West (1968) | opening sequence

Play media comment. Pierre Schaeffer - etude aux chemins de fer

Play media comment.Steve Reich - Come Out (Original Ver.).mp3

Speech to song demonstration Links to an external site.

Play media comment.Huck Hodge - Pools of shadow from an older sky, IV. In lost Venetian air (2011)

 

WEEK 4

 

7/12: Continue Discussion of Musique Concrète

 

Hildegard Westerkamp - Türen der Wahrnehmungen (Doors of Perception) (1989) Part I

Play media comment.Hildegard Westerkamp - Türen der Wahrnehmungen (Doors of Perception) (1989) Part II

Play media comment.Francis White - Walk Through resonant Landscape No. 2 (1992)

Bazin and the Phenomenology of Film

Read: Divining the real: the leaps of faith in André Bazin’s film criticism Links to an external site.

 

Terminology:  Deep Focus Links to an external site. | Cinema Verité Links to an external site.| Long Take Links to an external site.

zoom session Links to an external site.

 

7/14: Watch: Elephant (Google Drive link) Links to an external site.

(MPAA rating: R for disturbing violent content, language, brief sexuality and drug use - all involving teens)

Download Reading: Jordan, The Ecology of Listening while Looking (optional)

 

Elephant on TV Tropes Links to an external site.

 

Video Lecture: On the intensity of experience — Cage, Schaeffer, Bazin, Van Sant

Download Lecture Manuscript

 

7/16: QUIZ #2 Due by 6:30 pm 

Midterm Projects DUE || Midterm Party!

 

WEEK 5

 

7/19: Classical aesthetics

Video Lecture: Classical aesthetics — what is really real?

Download Lecture Manuscript

Source texts (optional) Download :

Download Plato, Republic, bks, VII/X / Aristotle, Poetics 

 

7/21: Mulholland Drive

Watch: Mulholland Drive Links to an external site.

Links to an external site.(MPAA rating: R for explicit nudity and sexual situations, strong language, violence and disturbing images)

Links to an external site.

Download Reading (required): Miller, Monstrous Maturity on Mulholland Drive

Source text (optional) Download : Freud, The Uncanny 

 

Mulholland Drive on TV Tropes Links to an external site.

 

Mulholland Drive / Club Silencio Scene

Play media comment.

 

7/30: Final Projects Due by 5:00 pm

QUIZ #3 Due by 6:30 pm

 

Public Domain This course content is offered under a Public Domain Links to an external site. license. Content in this course can be considered under this license unless otherwise noted.