Course Syllabus
Professor: Huck Hodge, DMA • 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.
EVALUATION
Course grades will comprise the following components:
- Short Quizzes [10%] Most sessions will begin with a 1-question refresher quiz on the material of the previous session.
- Participation / Discussion [10%] Class time will be devoted mostly to analyses of the sound design and music in a variety of scenes. Students will regularly be called on to articulate their thoughts about the structure and effect of these scenes. I will use a random list generator to facilitate an equal distribution of responses (students may also volunteer responses). Full credit by default (unless you offer no response).
- Assignment [10%] Masking / Commutation Test
- Midterm Project [30%] Using only sound effects create a c. 3-minute Musique Concrète composition / story. Students are advised to begin learning to use a DAW platform as soon as possible.
- 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.
Late assignments will be penalized at rate of 5%/day late. Fractional days will count as a full day (e.g., 4.34 days = 5 days)
The chart for converting percentage grades to the 4.0 scale can be found here.
RESOURCES:
Columbia University Film Glossary
Examples of Film Sound Techniques (College Film & Media Studies)
FilmSound.org Glossary of Sound Terminology
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
COURSE SCHEDULE
N.b., This schedule of classes, readings, and assignments is subject to revision during the quarter.
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.
Reading: New Yorker | Hearing the Movies | Audio-Vision Foreword | Eisenstein Statement on Sound
You Were Never Really Here (2017)
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
pay particular attention to the sound / music at these points:
1:45 - 2:00, 2:30-2:40
WEEK 2
6/26 Style Topics and Leitmotif / Schopenhauer, Wagner / On/Off-screen sound / Montage, Mise-en-scène,
Star Wars Original Trilogy (1977-1983) | Force Theme: the Leitmotif through the Saga
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
/
Dune (2021) | Herald of Change, The One
(cp. Lawrence of Arabia/Once Upon a Time in the West)
Original Imperial March Star Wars Episode V Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Imperial March | Darth Vader's Death — Star Wars VI Return of the Jedi (1983)
Alexander Nevsky (1939) Scene: The Battle On The Ice
Apocalypse Now (1979): Ride of the Valkyries
Eisenstein's 5 Methods of Montage
October (1928) — The Machine Gun
2001: A Space Odyssey, monolith (Ligeti's Requiem, micropolyphony)
The 39 Steps (1935)
Mulholland Drive (2001) | Club Silencio Scene
6/28 Commutation Test | Masking: Analysis
Masking Exercise #1
TCM (1974)
(sound only)
(sound + video)
Masking Exercise #2
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
(video + sound)
Commutation Test
Star Wars - Prom Night
Requiem for a Dream (2000) (commutated)
Requiem for a Dream (2000) (original sound)
The Shining (1980) (original sound)
The Shining (1980) (commutated)
WEEK 3
7/3 Independence Day (observed) | no class
7/5 Soundwalk / Noise and Silence / Musique Concrète
Chion, Audio-vision (excerpt) / Schafer, The Tuning of the World (Ch. 9) /
The Concept of „Sound Object“ (objet sonore) by Pierre Schaeffer
Pierre Schaeffer - etude aux chemins de fer (1948)
Steve Reich - Come Out (1966) (Original Ver.).mp3
Huck Hodge - Pools of shadow from an older sky, IV. In lost Venetian air (2011)
Hildegard Westerkamp - Türen der Wahrnehmungen (Doors of Perception) (1989) Part I
Hildegard Westerkamp - Türen der Wahrnehmungen (Doors of Perception) (1989) Part II
Bazin and the Phenomenology of Film
Read: Divining the real: the leaps of faith in André Bazin’s film criticism
Terminology: Deep Focus | Cinema Verité | Long Take
WEEK 4
7/10 Musique Concrete in film
Once Upon a Time in The West (1968) | opening sequence (audio only)
Once Upon a Time in The West (1968) | opening sequence
7/12 Midterm presentations
WEEK 5
7/17 Musique Concrete presentations / Final Project analysis/demonstration
Meshes of the Afternoon, Maya Deren (1943) | sound: 2021
7/19 Final Project presentations