film music Flashcards
(30 cards)
FM what do the different pitches and melodies show:
1. leaps and chromaticism
- leaps (disjunct melodic movement) and chromaticism for weirdness and antagonist
FM what do the different pitches and melodies show:
2. stepwise (conjunct melodic meovement0 and diatonic
- happiness
- protagonist, good characters
FM what do the different pitches and melodies show:
3. rising melodies
- increasing tension
- triumph
FM what do the different pitches and melodies show:
4. falling melodies
- decreasing tension
- defeat, hopelessness
FM what do the different pitches and melodies show:
what is the “big theme” often played on
sweeping strings
FM what do the different pitches and melodies show:
5. question and answer
good vs evil
FM what do the different pitches and melodies show:
6. interval of a fifth
- often used in sci-fi
-> sound quality to match outer space
FM articulation - legato vs staccato
- legato for flowing and happy situations
- staccato for challenging situations
FM articulation - accents
- violence
FM articulation - sfz
sudden emphasis and shock
FM articulation - pizzicato (strings)
- short ditached notes
FM articulation - arco (strings)
- using bow
FM dynamics - loud vs soft
- loud for bold and powerful
- soft for timid and weak
FM dynamics - crescendos vs decrescendos and diminuendos
- crescndo = increasing threat, triumph
- decrescendos and diminuendos = subsiding
FM - extreme dynamics/ sudden dynamic changes
- enhances action
- shock the listener
FM - texture
- thin = lonely, bleak
- thick/full = warm
- thick orchestral sounds = battles and chases
- homophonic melody and accompaniement = calm, love themes
FM - diatonic and chromatic
- diatonic = simple, good characters
- chromatic = complex, bad characters
FM - consonance and dissonace
- consonance = normal situations, good characters
- dissonance = scary, evil
FM - major or minor or 7th chords and atonal - bitonal
- major = happy
- minor = sad
- 7th chord = harmonic richness
- atonal and bitonal = ambiguous, scsi-fi, supernatural
- sudden changes of harmonies create unextpected moods
FM - rhythm - fast, slow
- fast = chases, hectic situations
- slow = hesitant
FM - regular and irregular rhythms
- regular = safety
- irregular = threatening, unusaual
FM - ostinato, syncopation and cross-rhythms
- ostinato =rthythms for repeated sounds
- syncopation and cross rhytms = tnesion and unease
FM - metre
- needs to match and enhance the on-screen action
- irregular time signatures = unease, tension
FM - duration - long, short, pedal notes
- long = western - vast open spaces, scifi- vast open space
- short = busy, chaotic, hectic, battle, busy crowd
- pedal notes
