Aos3. Film Music Flashcards
(15 cards)
What frequency effects do composers use to create or enhance a mood?
Repeated Ostinato Pattern
Sustained notes of Long Duration
Tremolo strings
A crescendo with the dynamics gradually getting louder
Increasing tempo
Pitch getting higher
The use of silence before something dramatic
Unusual harmonies such as the use of minor and dissonant/chromatic chords, dischords and diminished chords
Irregular time signatures
Rapid scale patterns help create a frantic mood and a feeling of unrest and urgency
Interrupted cadences create a sense of tension and suspense
Use of tritone (Augmented 4th)
Use of low pitch brass and strings to provide a “dark sound”
Use of percussive metallic sounds
Use of suspensions that don’t resolve to build tension and make you think danger is near
Frequent changes in dynamics to hint an imminent danger
Use of electronic sounds and synthesisers
Use of sampled Sounds
Use of effects such as reverb or distortion applied to electronic, synthesis or sampled sounds to change and manipulate the sound
What is the function of a Leitmotif?
Leitmotifs are a recuring short melodic or harmonic idea associated with a character, event, concept, idea, object or situation which can be changed giving a hint as to what will happen later in the film or may be heard in the background giving a “subtle hint” to the viewer/listener
How do composers use thematic transformation to develop thematic material?
Thematic transformation (also known as thematic metamorphosis or thematic development) is a musical technique in which a leitmotif, or theme, is developed by changing the theme by using permutation (transposition or modulation, inversion, and retrograde), augmentation, diminution, and fragmentation.
Film Music can also be Monothematic but what is the meaning of monothematic?
Where the entire film score is based upon a single melody
How do Film Music Composers influence the pacing of a scene making it appear faster/slower/ more comprehensive?
Film Music composers often use fast, dramatic music in action sequences to “drive the action and pace forward”. In love or romantic scenes, a slow, sweeping theme on the Strings can be used to “slow the pace down”
How do Film Music Composers illustrate geographic location or historical period?
Westerns often use music “from the time” to set the scene using ‘traditional’ instruments. Films set in a different country often combine traditional instruments “associated with a particular country” in their soundtracks to help the audience imagine the film’s setting and give a sense of “place”
What are the features of the pitch and melody of film music?
Disjunct melodic movement & chromaticism for weirdness and villains
Conjunct melodic movement and diatonic melodies for happiness and heroes
Rising melodies for increasing tension or increasing triumph
Falling melodies for decreasing tension or hopelessness/defeat
What are the features of the articulation of film music?
Legato or flowing for happier situation
Staccato or spiky for more challenging ones to represent ‘frozen’ or ‘brittle’
Accents for violence
Sforzandos for sudden emphasis and to create a ‘shock’
Pizzicato (strings) - plucking the strings to create, short, detached notes
Arco - using the bow to play
What are the features of the dynamics of film music?
Louder for bolder or more powerful
Softer for more timid/weak
Crescendos used for increasing threat, triumph or proximity
Decrescendos & Diminuendos used for subsiding things and things ‘going away into the distance’
Horror Film Soundtracks uses extreme dynamics or sudden changes in dynamics to enhance sudden actions on-screen and to “shock” the listener
What are the features of the texture of film music?
Thin or Spare textures used for bleak or lonely situations
Thicker or fuller textures used for water, more “normal” situations and thick, dense orchestral sounds heard during battles and chases
Complex polyphonic textures for confused or very active situations
Homophonic Melody and Accompaniment texture used for more straightforward or calm situations or for “love themes”
What are the features of the harmony of film music?
Diatonic harmony for simpler situations and good characters
Chromatic harmony for more complex situations or bad characters
Consonance for normal situations or good characters
Dissonance for scary situations or evil characters often using notes which are a semitone apart
Major for happier - Minor for sadder
Seventh chords
Atonal and Bitonal Harmonies
What are the features of the rhythm of film music?
Fast for chases and hectic situations
Slower can mean more hesitant
Irregular rhythms for threatening or unusual situations and regular rhythms for safety or more “normal” situations
Ostinato rhythms for repeated sounds
Syncopation and cross-rhythms to create tension and unease
What are the features of the metre of film music?
2/4 or 4/4 for Marches, 3/4 for waltzes
What are the features of the duration of film music?
Long, held notes are often used in Westerns to show the vast open spaces of the North-American plains or to help describe the vastness of open space in a Sci-Fi film soundtrack
Short notes are often used to describe “busy”, chaotic or hectic situations
Pedal notes are long held notes in the bass line above changing harmonies and melodies and can also create tension and suspense
What are the features of the timbre & sonority of film music?
Traditional orchestral instruments often combined with electronic instruments
Orchestral instruments played in different ways
Sound effects combines with traditional and electronic instruments
Brass fanfares often used in Space Film soundtracks and in films when there is a battle or warfare
“Traditional” musical instrument ‘of the time’ help place a film in a specific place or time period
Unusual instruments often used in Sci-Fi, Space or Horror films
