On January 7th, 1894, William Kennedy Dickson (a Scottish inventor who invented a prototype of the motion picture camera) received a patent for motion picture film. Dickson, who worked for a time with Thomas Edison in his film studio, is also responsible for creating the short film Dickson Greeting, considered by some to be the first film shown to an American audience (produced circa 1891).
If you look at the late 19th century films that have survived to the present day, you'll notice that they're all incredibly short by modern standards, and why is this? The reason the earliest films are so short is because when these inventors created the process of running film through a motion picture camera, the material used for film was incredibly flammable and those first cameras made it relatively easy for the film to overheat and catch fire if it ran too long. So, they adjusted the length of film to a certain length that they knew could run safely, and as the technology improved, the films grew longer in length.
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Film Music 101: The Temp Track
Occasionally, while putting a film together, the director might wish for the composer to emulate a specific style of music. To that end, a temp track will be assembled to go with the rough cut of the film, to give the composer an idea of what the director wants.
A temp track is essentially a temporary soundtrack, someone in the technical department has found sound recordings that match the style the director wants and they've paired it up with the film. To give a few examples, part of the soundtrack from Ben-Hur (1959) was used as a temp track for Star Wars (1977), excerpts from a Howard Shore piece were used for Gangs of New York (2002) and, most (in)famously, 2001: A Space Odyssey used a temp track assembled from Strauss waltzes, Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss and Atmospheres by Ligeti.
2001: A Space Odyssey is so notable because director Stanley Kubrick actually REJECTED the score composer Alex North had created in favor of the temp track! Think about it, many of the scenes in that film are iconic because of the selections of classical music, but we (the audience) were never meant to hear it like that!
A temp track is essentially a temporary soundtrack, someone in the technical department has found sound recordings that match the style the director wants and they've paired it up with the film. To give a few examples, part of the soundtrack from Ben-Hur (1959) was used as a temp track for Star Wars (1977), excerpts from a Howard Shore piece were used for Gangs of New York (2002) and, most (in)famously, 2001: A Space Odyssey used a temp track assembled from Strauss waltzes, Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss and Atmospheres by Ligeti.
2001: A Space Odyssey is so notable because director Stanley Kubrick actually REJECTED the score composer Alex North had created in favor of the temp track! Think about it, many of the scenes in that film are iconic because of the selections of classical music, but we (the audience) were never meant to hear it like that!
Interesting to consider what might have been...
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
On this day in Film History: January 6th
January 6th, 1942: Disney's Fantasia opens in theaters (not to be confused with its official New York premiere in 1940)
Seventy-four years ago, a strange movie opened in American cinemas. Fantasia was far from the typical feature film, beacause rather than telling a unified story, it was separated into a series of musical segments, some told stories, others consisted of abstract images. Disney originally intended for Fantasia to be the first in a recurring series of films that would continuously update itself by including old segments and adding in new portions as time went on. Although Fantasia 2000 attempted to follow this model, the plan ultimately fell through. Nonetheless, Fantasia is nowadays considered a masterpiece of animation and of musical talent.
The film is divided into eight musical segments and they are as follows:
Seventy-four years ago, a strange movie opened in American cinemas. Fantasia was far from the typical feature film, beacause rather than telling a unified story, it was separated into a series of musical segments, some told stories, others consisted of abstract images. Disney originally intended for Fantasia to be the first in a recurring series of films that would continuously update itself by including old segments and adding in new portions as time went on. Although Fantasia 2000 attempted to follow this model, the plan ultimately fell through. Nonetheless, Fantasia is nowadays considered a masterpiece of animation and of musical talent.
The film is divided into eight musical segments and they are as follows:
- Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach
Of all the segments in Fantasia, the Toccata and Fugue is by far the most abstract segment of them all. The Toccata consists of the camera panning through the orchestra, with occasional shots of conductor Leopold Stokowski's back (seen in the picture above). The Fugue section is when things get interesting (or weird, depending upon how you feel about classical music). The viewer is taken through a medley of rolling red and purple hills, endless staircases and fantastical landscapes, all before plummeting back to earth and the orchestra as the piece finally comes to an end.
- The Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Dancing mushrooms from the "Chinese Dance"
Dancing flowers from the "Russian Dance"
Ice fairies from "Waltz of the Flowers"
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas
Mickey and the broomstick
Daydreaming of being a great wizard...
Busted!!
- The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky
The two square off, but you just know Stegosaurus doesn't stand a chance
How the dinosaurs were thought to have gone extinct before the Chicxulub crater was discovered
- Intermission/Meet the Soundtrack
Demonstrating the sound of a harp
- The Pastoral Symphony (Symphony No. 6) by Ludwig van Beethoven
Pegasus
Centaurs and Cherubs
Little unicorns, and of course...
Greek gods!
The whole program revolves around a day in the life in this little paradise. We see the life of a Pegasus family, courtship among the centaurs, a huge wine party hosted by Dionysus, a gigantic thunderstorm created by Zeus (apparently because he can), the aftermath and a spectacular sunset (with a brief cameo by Apollo no less!)
Apollo waving goodbye
- Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli
Truthfully? I did NOT know these characters had names
The ostriches are frightened away by Hyacinth Hippo and her servants (and they represent the Afternoon)
While Hyacinth takes a nap, several elephants (led by Elephanchine) come in and do a bubble dance (and they represent the Evening)
Finally, the Elephants are (literally) blown away by the evening wind and Hyacinth remains asleep, unaware that Night has now fallen and she is being observed by Ben Ali Gator (get it?) and his troop of gators. Somehow, Ali Gator falls hopelessly in love with Hyacinth and she seems to reciprocate (an alligator and a hippo?!?!) and they share a brief dance together before Hyacinth gives a brief glance of "come and get me if you want me" and Ali Gator gladly gives chase, leading to the wild finale where the other alligators chase throughout the palace, pulling out ostriches, Hippos and Elephants, all while Hyacinth and Ali Gator dance oblivious. The finale is SO tremendous in fact, that it literally brings the palace crashing down at the very end.
- Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria by Modest Mussorgsky and Franz Schubert respectively
The climax of the program now comes with Night on Bald Mountain. On a distant mountain in the Eastern European countryside, the black demon Chernabog awakens at midnight and begins his devilish plan of wreaking havoc upon the world below.
This scared me so much when i was a kid!!
Chernabog summons ghosts, witches, lesser demons and who knows what else and all converge in a riotous dance of death on the mountain top.
But just as Chernabog has gathered his full power and is about to attack, a bell rings and the demon stops. The bell continues to ring, and each time a white flash appears to blind him. It is the early hour and a nearby church is calling the monks to prayer. It is the holy power of prayer that stops Chernabog and forces him to go back to sleep for another night. Meanwhile, the monks continue to pray, and the segment gives way to Schubert's Ave Maria
The monks walking to prayer
And that is how Fantasia ends. After the segment ends, we see the musicians departing the same way we came in, but there's no more narration, no more music.
Film Music 101: Orchestration and cues
Of all the components that go into creating a film score, few are more important than orchestration.
Orchestration is the process whereby a musical theme is transformed into a full-fledged orchestral score. When a composer is hired to create a score for a specific film (like John Williams for Star Wars) they begin the process by watching rough cuts of the film (or storyboards, depending upon how far along the film is in production) and getting a sense of the story the director wants to be told. From there, the composer will go to the studio, sit at the piano and begin to sketch out various musical themes.
The musical themes of a film score are organized into cues. So if you looked at the score for Star Wars you might see "Cue 1: Main Title, Cue 2: Princess Leia, etc." A film will tend to have about 20-80 cues.
Once the main draft of the score is finished, it is written in what musicians call a piano score, meaning everything is written (for now) for the piano. So, the Imperial March (which has been discussed before on this blog), would look something like this:
Orchestration is the process whereby a musical theme is transformed into a full-fledged orchestral score. When a composer is hired to create a score for a specific film (like John Williams for Star Wars) they begin the process by watching rough cuts of the film (or storyboards, depending upon how far along the film is in production) and getting a sense of the story the director wants to be told. From there, the composer will go to the studio, sit at the piano and begin to sketch out various musical themes.
The musical themes of a film score are organized into cues. So if you looked at the score for Star Wars you might see "Cue 1: Main Title, Cue 2: Princess Leia, etc." A film will tend to have about 20-80 cues.
Once the main draft of the score is finished, it is written in what musicians call a piano score, meaning everything is written (for now) for the piano. So, the Imperial March (which has been discussed before on this blog), would look something like this:
It looks like the theme you know, and on the piano it would even sound like the theme you know from The Empire Strikes Back, but your ears would tell you it's not quite the same, the depth of the orchestra is still missing. So, the next step is to send the piano score off to an orchestrator (or sometimes a team of orchestrators): musicians/composers who are tasked with fleshing out the piano score into a full sized orchestral piece. Generally the composer will leave notes for when certain instruments should have certain themes, for example there might be a note saying "Horns should have main theme at measure 20" or something of that nature. Some composers (for example the late Jerry Goldsmith or even further back Bernard Herrmann) did the composing AND the orchestration all on their own. But with all the demands on a composer's time, it is now far more common for the music to be orchestrated by someone else.
Once the process is completed, the final score now resembles something like this:
Quite a difference, isn't it? It's amazing how complex the world of film music really is, hope you enjoyed it!
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Sleeping Beauty Part 3: True Love Conquers All!
As we begin to reach the end of the film, we finally go back to the castle where King Stefan is impatiently waiting for the sun to set so he can finally see his daughter. King Hubert (Philip's father) tries to cheer Stefan up by presenting him a bottle of wine that he has been saving for sixteen years.
This is "Skumps" (also known as "The Drinking Song"), a jovial song performed by Hubert and Stefan as they toast Aurora's imminent return and the fact that the marriage of their children will unite their kingdoms. Of course Hubert wants the wedding to happen right away and, as Stefan rightly points out "I haven't even SEEN my daughter yet, and you're trying to take her away from me!" (The film Maleficent delves a whole lot deeper into the question of what happens when you're not actually raised by your parents and then reintroduced to them)
Now that Aurora knows the truth about who she really is, the movie shifts to the part I like to call "The Comedy of Errors" because of all the misunderstandings that occur in short order. It can be summed up like this:
1) King Hubert thinks his son Prince Philip is in love with a peasant girl
2) The fairies think Aurora is in love with a commoner
3) Neither side realizes they've actually met Aurora/Prince Philip (though admittedly Hubert does think this initially)
4) And most importantly, Maleficent is wise to the fairy's scheme and nobody knows it.
Based on all of these misunderstandings, Aurora is miserable being led back to the castle, Philip has left to seek the girl he loves and Hubert is in a quandary about how to tell Stefan that Philip doesn't want to marry Aurora anymore.
Fast forward and close to sunset, a miserable Aurora is being led into the castle by the fairies. They give her one last gift, a golden crown, but Aurora is still (and rightfully so) miserable because she's been ripped away from the only life she's ever known and just as she's found true love. The fairies leave her alone and this is when Maleficent strikes. As the fire magically goes out, we see Maleficent briefly appear in the shadows before she appears as a Will o' the wisp (a glowing sprite that was said to lead travelers to their deaths). Now the music in this segment is very interesting. It also comes from the Sleeping Beauty ballet and its original title was Le Chat botté et la Chatte blanche (The Booted Cat and the White Cat). Now in the original piece, the music was symbolizing two cats circling, hissing and scratching at each other!
Note how as Philip charges the dragon, the music builds and builds until the first breath of fire and then it abruptly cuts off, leaving the roar of flame (provided by a flamethrower) as the only musical accompaniment. At the end of a thrilling battle, Maleficent finally gets what she has coming to her and plummets to her doom! Now all that is left is to climb to the tallest tower and awaken his love, which prompts everyone in the castle (put to sleep by the fairies) to wake up as well. Poor Hubert is still trying to tell King Stefan about Philip when, thankfully, the arrival of Philip and Aurora cuts him off.
This is "Skumps" (also known as "The Drinking Song"), a jovial song performed by Hubert and Stefan as they toast Aurora's imminent return and the fact that the marriage of their children will unite their kingdoms. Of course Hubert wants the wedding to happen right away and, as Stefan rightly points out "I haven't even SEEN my daughter yet, and you're trying to take her away from me!" (The film Maleficent delves a whole lot deeper into the question of what happens when you're not actually raised by your parents and then reintroduced to them)
Now that Aurora knows the truth about who she really is, the movie shifts to the part I like to call "The Comedy of Errors" because of all the misunderstandings that occur in short order. It can be summed up like this:
1) King Hubert thinks his son Prince Philip is in love with a peasant girl
2) The fairies think Aurora is in love with a commoner
3) Neither side realizes they've actually met Aurora/Prince Philip (though admittedly Hubert does think this initially)
4) And most importantly, Maleficent is wise to the fairy's scheme and nobody knows it.
Based on all of these misunderstandings, Aurora is miserable being led back to the castle, Philip has left to seek the girl he loves and Hubert is in a quandary about how to tell Stefan that Philip doesn't want to marry Aurora anymore.
Fast forward and close to sunset, a miserable Aurora is being led into the castle by the fairies. They give her one last gift, a golden crown, but Aurora is still (and rightfully so) miserable because she's been ripped away from the only life she's ever known and just as she's found true love. The fairies leave her alone and this is when Maleficent strikes. As the fire magically goes out, we see Maleficent briefly appear in the shadows before she appears as a Will o' the wisp (a glowing sprite that was said to lead travelers to their deaths). Now the music in this segment is very interesting. It also comes from the Sleeping Beauty ballet and its original title was Le Chat botté et la Chatte blanche (The Booted Cat and the White Cat). Now in the original piece, the music was symbolizing two cats circling, hissing and scratching at each other!
(I don't know why, but this image has always scared me a little)
Of course the fairies realize a little too late that Maleficent has got Aurora in her clutches and, inevitably, Aurora pricks her finger and falls into an eternal sleep...unless her true love wakes her up that is. And about that...just before all of this took place, it turns out that Maleficent lay in wait at the cottage and ambushed the first person who came back...Prince Philip! Now the only way to save Aurora is to rescue Prince Phillip, by going to the Forbidden Mountain, stronghold of all evil.
And Maleficent's plan for Prince Philip is really devious if you think about it. She could just kill Philip, but in her mind that would be letting him off easy. Instead, she'll keep him nice and safe for the next hundred years (I could see her using magic to make this possible), and then she'll let him go, knowing that the spell will have kept Aurora young all this time. So true love will still wake Aurora, but she'll be with an old man who will probably die as soon as she wakes up.
Of course, this being a relatively early Disney movie (where a happy ending was guaranteed), the fairies are narrowly successful in breaking Prince Philip out, but not without alerting Maleficent to what is going on. What follows is one of my favorite scenes (musically and visually) in the entire movie. Maleficent, watching from the highest tower, tries everything to stop Prince Phillip, up to and including setting a forest of thorns around the castle, but still Philip breaks free! With a loud cry, Maleficent whirls through the air and confronts the prince directly.
Note how as Philip charges the dragon, the music builds and builds until the first breath of fire and then it abruptly cuts off, leaving the roar of flame (provided by a flamethrower) as the only musical accompaniment. At the end of a thrilling battle, Maleficent finally gets what she has coming to her and plummets to her doom! Now all that is left is to climb to the tallest tower and awaken his love, which prompts everyone in the castle (put to sleep by the fairies) to wake up as well. Poor Hubert is still trying to tell King Stefan about Philip when, thankfully, the arrival of Philip and Aurora cuts him off.
Now, again this being Disney, the story can't end without one last piece of entertainment. As Philip and Aurora dance in front of the court (and Hubert gives up trying to understand what's going on), the fairies observe the scene when Flora notes that...oh the horror...the dress is blue!! And that's how the movie ends: Pink! Blue! Pink! Blue!! Even in the last shot of the story book closing, the dress is still changing colors!
I'm sorry if this is slightly abbreviated, I felt really bad for taking so long to finish it. Have a good evening!
Film Music 101: Anempathetic sound
Since yesterday I talked about empathetic sound in movies, today I thought it was only fitting to talk about the opposite: anempathetic sound.
As one might guess, anempathetic sound is when the music or sound effects in a movie stand in direct contrast to what is actually happening on the screen. For example, say you're watching a horror movie and the upcoming victim is going about their day and say they turn on some music and a bright, chipper song is now playing (this would be diegetic music, see the first Film Music 101 post for the definition). Suddenly, the killer/monster strikes! While the victim dies a horrible, gruesome death, the happy song keeps playing on and on, indifferent to the plight of the victim.
Anempathetic sound does not have to occur solely with music however. In Hitchcock's immortal classic Psycho, the famous shower scene takes place with the sound of running water playing continuously throughout. Even after the character is dead, the sound of water continues to play, also indifferent to the fact that a young woman was just murdered.
Never saw it coming, poor thing....
As one might guess, anempathetic sound is when the music or sound effects in a movie stand in direct contrast to what is actually happening on the screen. For example, say you're watching a horror movie and the upcoming victim is going about their day and say they turn on some music and a bright, chipper song is now playing (this would be diegetic music, see the first Film Music 101 post for the definition). Suddenly, the killer/monster strikes! While the victim dies a horrible, gruesome death, the happy song keeps playing on and on, indifferent to the plight of the victim.
Anempathetic sound does not have to occur solely with music however. In Hitchcock's immortal classic Psycho, the famous shower scene takes place with the sound of running water playing continuously throughout. Even after the character is dead, the sound of water continues to play, also indifferent to the fact that a young woman was just murdered.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Film Music 101: Empathetic Sound
(Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great holiday and a great new year!!)
The term I'd like to discuss today is empathetic sound
Empathetic sound occurs when the music or sound effects in a film create a mood that matches the action taking place on the screen.
So an easy example of this would be in any love scene ever created for Hollywood. You've probably seen the set up at least a hundred times: the guy or the girl has just said something deeply meaningful; they turn and slowly look into each others eyes; and just as they lean in to kiss...the strings in the orchestra swell up and create this deeply romantic moment as they finally kiss and acknowledge their love! (Don't believe me? Just go to Youtube and look up famous love scenes from movies, I dare you.)
Another good example is action sequences. For the music to be empathetic, the music needs to be fast paced, frenetic, and truthfully rather choppy to match up to the action. The Marvel movies tend to have great examples of empathetic sound in their fight scenes (and also good examples of anempathetic sound, but that's a post for another day). A really good example comes from Marve's The Avengers (2012). Picture the scene during the battle in New York when all the Avengers are standing back to back in a circle and the camera pans around to look at each of them. The music is clearly projecting "hero mode" because the stars are basically in what i like to call their "heroic pose moment."
I know it's been long delayed, but I'm hoping to finish the post on Sleeping Beauty soon. Hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into the world of film music again. Have a great day!
The term I'd like to discuss today is empathetic sound
Empathetic sound occurs when the music or sound effects in a film create a mood that matches the action taking place on the screen.
So an easy example of this would be in any love scene ever created for Hollywood. You've probably seen the set up at least a hundred times: the guy or the girl has just said something deeply meaningful; they turn and slowly look into each others eyes; and just as they lean in to kiss...the strings in the orchestra swell up and create this deeply romantic moment as they finally kiss and acknowledge their love! (Don't believe me? Just go to Youtube and look up famous love scenes from movies, I dare you.)
From The Adventures of Robin Hood (1937)...
to Attack of the Clones (2002) and beyond...it's always the same!
Another good example is action sequences. For the music to be empathetic, the music needs to be fast paced, frenetic, and truthfully rather choppy to match up to the action. The Marvel movies tend to have great examples of empathetic sound in their fight scenes (and also good examples of anempathetic sound, but that's a post for another day). A really good example comes from Marve's The Avengers (2012). Picture the scene during the battle in New York when all the Avengers are standing back to back in a circle and the camera pans around to look at each of them. The music is clearly projecting "hero mode" because the stars are basically in what i like to call their "heroic pose moment."
All the heroes in one shot!
I know it's been long delayed, but I'm hoping to finish the post on Sleeping Beauty soon. Hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into the world of film music again. Have a great day!
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