In todays world film and sound go hand in hand and what you hear is equally important as what you see. But this wasn’t always the case and had it not been for certain key factors in the development in sound for film the industry today could of been very different.(6)
In 1984 the first film system to incorporate sound was developed by Tomas Edison. The Kinetoscope/Kinetophone allowed you to view film through a peep hole at the top of it. It had a cylinder phonograph incorporated into it. The music and sounds played were appropriate to the film but not synchronised. Sound fell from the forefront of the film industry as inventors were turned more to the projection of film and in the early days of ‘the cinema’ live or orchestras were commissioned to play in cinemas. Playing pre planned pieces at set times of the film.(6)
In 1919 the Tri-Ergon was revealed, A device that allowed prerecorded sound to be converted to a light imprint on the negative of a film strip and converted back to sound when the film was played through a movie projector. This meant that directors & composers could now create soundtracks to go with films and was furthered when the Vitaphone came about. The first voice recorded for film was enabled by this device. The Jazz Singer was the first film with voice parts in it and Lights of New York was the first full voice film to be released. Although revolutionary for the sound for film industry both of these devices suffered from syntonisation problems and films movie projectionist had to keep a close eye on them.(6)
The introduction of systems such as the Movie Tone sound system and the RCA Photophone in the late 1920s brought about synchronisation of film and sound. This meant directors could commission composers to create music for films and dialogue could be added knowing that it would always be in sync. In this era the music being produced was mostly done with acoustic instruments. This was also the case in sound for films and music for films came mostly from large orchestras. As SFX was a thing of the future the music for films were a lot more prominent and complex.(6) (www.youtube.com/watch?c=3IAI4UnRZ90)
In 1986 the Dolby SR was released. This massively improved the dynamic range of films allowing composers to create bigger more life like compositions.(6)
In the early days of composing for film the first style to take off was the classical scoring technique. It was the first time that music was added in a way that kept the film flowing unlike the musicals in the '20s where "everything seems to stop when a song begins"(1). aswell as helping the flow of the film it was also used to develop ideas such as "mood, atmosphere, historical time, geographic space, and characters' subjectivity"(2) .In 1933 Max Steiner composed the score for King Kong. "It was one of the first movies to have comprehensive scoring throughout the whole plot, and Steiner wrote it using the Classical Scoring Technique."(1)
Jazz became popular for film in Noir films. Although "Jazz on film was generally relegated as source music"(3), in 1951 'A Streetcar Named Desire' changed that. Alex North used very slow jazz using string and brass instruments in a way that carries the rhythm without percussion as is heard here. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_lToyPAUyE.) This allowed him to develop the idea of "Dark lights, shadows, mystery and underground environment"(4) that noir films are based around.
In 1966 Ennio Morricone scored for the film 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' His uses of instrumentation such as "bells, electric guitars, harmonicas & the jew's harp"(5) paired with its "Sparse arrangements"(5) emphasised the tension in the close up scenes. This paired with techniques from the classical scoring also helped viewers picture the vast locations of the film.
When composing for film & television the aim is to exaggerate and develop the emotions that the director intended the consumer feel from the film/program and filling in gaps that can't be visually interpreted by the consumer to create a more realistic viewing experience. Composers have to do this while keeping the film/program as the main focus of attention. Listening to film soundtracks such as Avatar & Pirates of the Caribbean you can hear the changes in volume, speed and key and how the composers use them in different scenes to portray action, fear, hope and so on. All of these things are key to creating a great piece of music with a certain feeling. Changing these throughout your composition will aid the film/program as it develops. It will also assist in keeping the consumer interested but ensure they don't become absorbed by the soundtrack. (Avatar Soundtrack, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KefW_yjTuw) (Pirates of the Caribbean, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-KQ2q9h2Rs)
In 1986 the Dolby SR was released. This massively improved the dynamic range of films allowing composers to create bigger more life like compositions.(6)
In the early days of composing for film the first style to take off was the classical scoring technique. It was the first time that music was added in a way that kept the film flowing unlike the musicals in the '20s where "everything seems to stop when a song begins"(1). aswell as helping the flow of the film it was also used to develop ideas such as "mood, atmosphere, historical time, geographic space, and characters' subjectivity"(2) .In 1933 Max Steiner composed the score for King Kong. "It was one of the first movies to have comprehensive scoring throughout the whole plot, and Steiner wrote it using the Classical Scoring Technique."(1)
Jazz became popular for film in Noir films. Although "Jazz on film was generally relegated as source music"(3), in 1951 'A Streetcar Named Desire' changed that. Alex North used very slow jazz using string and brass instruments in a way that carries the rhythm without percussion as is heard here. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_lToyPAUyE.) This allowed him to develop the idea of "Dark lights, shadows, mystery and underground environment"(4) that noir films are based around.
In 1966 Ennio Morricone scored for the film 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' His uses of instrumentation such as "bells, electric guitars, harmonicas & the jew's harp"(5) paired with its "Sparse arrangements"(5) emphasised the tension in the close up scenes. This paired with techniques from the classical scoring also helped viewers picture the vast locations of the film.
When composing for film & television the aim is to exaggerate and develop the emotions that the director intended the consumer feel from the film/program and filling in gaps that can't be visually interpreted by the consumer to create a more realistic viewing experience. Composers have to do this while keeping the film/program as the main focus of attention. Listening to film soundtracks such as Avatar & Pirates of the Caribbean you can hear the changes in volume, speed and key and how the composers use them in different scenes to portray action, fear, hope and so on. All of these things are key to creating a great piece of music with a certain feeling. Changing these throughout your composition will aid the film/program as it develops. It will also assist in keeping the consumer interested but ensure they don't become absorbed by the soundtrack. (Avatar Soundtrack, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KefW_yjTuw) (Pirates of the Caribbean, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-KQ2q9h2Rs)
In the new electronic music era film music composers started to incorporate electronical components into their scores. The late James Horner created good blends of orchestral instruments and electronic programming. I think that this makes his pieces interesting, allowing him to change the mood of a scene almost instantly and can take an action scene up a level. His pieces often become very rhythmic instantly. I think that the rhythmic elements and percussion are very important in action scenes and in the build up to action scenes and will be incorporating them into my trailer.(7)
Composers such as Hans Zimmer are great at building suspense through orchestral parts. Having simple chord progressions and focusing on layering orchestral components as appose to having more complex chord progressions and melodies allows you to create suspense through build ups. This kind of scoring also keep the audience focused more on the film while the score effects they’re perception of it without them realising. Doing this before a big scene will draw in the viewer and have them engrossed in the film. Another thing that Hans Zimmer does well is the sudden changes in volume. As the scores can be quite simple constant or gradual changes of volume make it more interesting to listen to.(8)
I believe that if I use and develop the techniques I have mentioned that I will be able to create appropriate sound/music to accompany the video clips.
information in this article was collected from this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot5IryUt9SM&t=4s
1 - https://reelrundown.com/film-industry/Music-in-Film
2 - http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Music-THE-CLASSICAL-HOLLYWOOD-FILM-SCORE.html
3 - https://www.allaboutjazz.com/crimejazz-the-sound-of-noir-by-skip-heller.php
4 - http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2015/the-20-best-jazz-soundtracks-in-movie-history/
5 - https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Category:Ennio_Morricone
6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot5IryUt9SM&t=240s
7 http://www.titanic-live.com/creative-team/
8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxabLA7UQ9k
information in this article was collected from this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot5IryUt9SM&t=4s
1 - https://reelrundown.com/film-industry/Music-in-Film
2 - http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Music-THE-CLASSICAL-HOLLYWOOD-FILM-SCORE.html
3 - https://www.allaboutjazz.com/crimejazz-the-sound-of-noir-by-skip-heller.php
4 - http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2015/the-20-best-jazz-soundtracks-in-movie-history/
5 - https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Category:Ennio_Morricone
6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot5IryUt9SM&t=240s
7 http://www.titanic-live.com/creative-team/
8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxabLA7UQ9k
