This is Part 2 Creating an Atmosphere
Definition
(a) Atmosphere as Mood and Emotion
(b) Atmosphere as Genre
(c) Atmosphere as Ambience to Portray Time and Place
(d) Atmosphere as Ambience to Portray Space.
(e) Atmosphere as Ambience of Setting.
Part 3 Aaron Copeland's 5 Ways Continued
The Artist's Choice
1. A Monophonic Composition.
2. A Homophonic Composition.
3. A Polyphonic Composition.
4. A Dissonant Composition.
In the introduction to And Sound or Rather Music in Film, I stated that 'If understanding Cinema is indeed possible, this may only be possible through a phenomenological and analytical side to film. It needs to come from an exposure to a cinematic experience and an exposure to analysis and theory.'
The idea here is to test the analytical and theoretical authorities on Sound, with an emphasis on music through the phenomenological experience. In the introduction, I claimed that Aaron Copeland's 5 ways that Music serves the screen is at times inadequate and non-extensive, however, it is through such theories and analysis that one may start to understand the complexities at play. Most importantly, this is a musician's standpoint, a perspective that needs to be understood by anyone wishing to embark on film, whether it is in the field of academia or production.
1. Creating an Atmosphere.
Atmosphere refers to the mood, emotion, and ambiance of a piece of music. It's what sets the tone and creates a sense of place and time. Atmosphere can be created through the choice of instruments, sounds, effects, and arrangement. For example, you might use reverb or delay to create a sense of space and depth.
(a) Atmosphere as Mood and Emotion
Often referred to as a cue in, Music is supposed to cue us into the mood, the scope and the energy level (Calm or adrenalin rush?). Think about the terms used to classify music mood: Happy, Exuberance, Contentment, Anxious/ Frantic, Depression, Stressed Anxiety and Sadness, Energetic and Calm.
- Are these terms not subjective?
- What music or musicians do you associate with these terms?
Now for the same song but with a completely different mood.
It has been scientifically proven that the limbic system lights up when one listens to music probably stimulating dopamine triggers and levels. Science has little more to say about the musical triggering of Mood and Emotion. There is no analysis into a music that has been stolen away from its original love and soulful 'mood' and 'emotion' in Singing in The Rain and thrown into a completely morbid, violent and psycho scene. What are the reverberations carried on from the music's inception and popularity into Clockwork Orange? What different moods and emotions are being stirred together?
- The fact that music has existed before film, does imply it's inevitable stealing away from one context into the context of film. This means that most music, even when it is an original score includes themes, hooks and melodies that were already explored and reproduced in the past. Cinema definitely reaches out to musical popular conventions and reap up the benefits of their listener's pre-conceived expectations.
- There is something in a repetition without replication every time the same piece is used in a different context. Every time the same piece of music is played by different musicians in different places, the music experience and production is different. No two recordings of the same song are the same.
- It is also interesting to note that when musicians cover somebody else's song, they often interpret it in their own musical style or genre.
(b) Atmosphere as Genre
- Think of some films that you associate with the genres below and think of the music that goes with it.
- A Gangster Movie?
- A Drama?
- A Comedy?
- A Musical?
- A Horror Film?
- A Western
- An Epic Movie
- War Movie
- Science Fiction
- Action and Adventure.
3. What genre would you associate with this theme?
Answer: "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg has been used in various films to create tension and excitement. Here are some examples of films that featured this iconic piece:
1.The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.(1939): A classic detective film.
2. M. (1931):Fritz Lang's thriller
3. Sleeper. (1973):Woody Allen's comedy
4. Altered States. (1980):Ken Russell's science fiction horror film
5. The Social Network. (2010):David Fincher's biographical drama
4. Altered States. (1980):Ken Russell's science fiction horror film
5. The Social Network. (2010):David Fincher's biographical drama
6. Needful Things. (1993) Fraser Clarke Heston Horror Film
7. Johnny English Reborn. (2011) Oliver Parker spy action comedy film.
8. Rat Race. (2001 Jerry Zucker.) Comedy film
9. Escape from Tomorrow. (2013):Randy Moore Surreal/ Horror film.
- The fact that such music has been established for such a genre existed before the actual film. Here we are facing a convention that has worked before and therefore will continue to work. In music there are similarities with certain genres to stick to certain styles and rhythms. Reggae bands will stick to reggae conventions whereas dance music even sticks to a rigid Beat Per Minute if it wants to be played during a Rave, Techno, Trance party or to mellow soft electronic sounds to fit within the world of chill, lounge or groove crowds.
- This is another example of how certain Cinema reaches out to the genre's conventions of its image working in tandem with its music to reap up the benefits of an audience in tune with that convention. The audience is being manipulated into anticipation through the genre's pre-conception. Once again, various musical styles use the right beat for the dance style chosen by the audience. In fact most musicians label their music style to make sure they appeal to the right crowd.
(c) Atmosphere as Ambience to portray time and place.
John Nugent's essay which I used in And Sound or Rather Music in Film, stated that 'Western' genre Music is used to create a more convincing atmosphere of Time and Space. The style of the film and the corresponding style of music helps throw the film into a specific style or setting.
- Music would really be a mediocre partner if this were its only function. This statement also does poor justice to the image, because it also implies that the image needs 'Western' genre Music to make it feel like the Wild West, which really boils down to a very poor storytelling image.
- Musically speaking, there is no Western Music genre, apart from those pieces that were made for such movies and that gradually became the conventional music style to use in such films.
The essay also portrays music being used to guide its audience into flashbacks and back to the present or future in Citizen Kane. Music is here seen as the vehicle that transports its audience into the film genre, time period and location.
A quick search of music that defines the French Revolution include:
- Ça ira. (It'll be okay) An unofficial anthem, popular among soldiers and workers of the revolution.
- Le Chant du départ.
- Messe des Morts. (Requiem)
- The Carmagnole.
- La Marseillaise. the French national anthem, composed in one night in April 24, 1792 by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
- Vivaldi for the aristocracy.
- What genre of film would this be?
- Do you know which film worked on these images?
- If you have not seen the film, try to imagine the music that should be playing in the background?
- If you have seen the film, do you remember the music?
What happens when a director plays with these conventional associations and preconceptions?
Now watch the scene.
Definitely not music that matches the period. Perhaps mismatching or dissonance becomes an interesting technique in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. In this example, Coppola inserts Bow Wow Wow's 1982 single "I Want Candy" into a scene that takes place at the end of the 1700s. While the film itself is set in 18th-century France, the bulk of the soundtrack consists of 1980s new wave and post-punk artists such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, New Order, The Cure, and Bow Wow Wow. The soundtrack also contains several period baroque pieces, including works by François Couperin, Antonio Vivaldi, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Domenico Scarlatti. It seems that Directors take a decision to apply conventional and understood genre music or music as a counterpoint to that genre or period.
According to Hazel Cills in his MTV review: 'the intentions of the movie were clear: This was a film about a teenage girl. Specifically, a teenage girl who listened to Adam and the Ants and New Order.' In other words, it does set the mood for a Queen Antionette as a rebel. One that the teenagers of the time could relate to.
(d) Atmosphere as Ambience to portray Space.
Music uses reverb to define the space and the distance between one musical instrument and the next. It has done so from its very conception, preferring carefully calibrated amphitheatres and echoing temples for its performance. Read More here
The Coen Brothers 2018 film anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs does not only use reverb to define space, but it also uses the camera's ear vision: in other words it makes the audience hear the song from the camera position not directly from the privileged position of an audience listening to the music for example in a concert hall. Watch and listen to "Cool Water", written by Bob Nolan, performed by Tim Blake Nelson.
(e) Atmosphere as Ambience of Setting.
Music is a social, cultural, geographical reference. It can portray the heritage of a character or group of characters or the geographic setting of the film or a scene. Unlike, the dissonance or counterpoint of Sofia Coppola's Marie Antionette, many directors turn to pairing or matching , where the music used matches the setting. The sound of bagpipes might conjure up ideas of Scotland or the strings of a sitar may invoke images of the far East. Below are the opening credits from the Last Emperor of China (Director Bernardo Bertolucci 1987. Music: Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne, and Cong Su.)
Bollywood has worked hard to create a preconception of a fabricated Indian setting and the music.
One of the most prominent Indian Musicians has to be Ravi Shankar. This is the music he plays.
And here is another taste of India but what happened to the Indian Music?
- I have tried to show that there is little explanation for the mood, emotions, feelings and memories invoked and involved through music.
- The bottom line is that Film is a fabricated fantasy, an art in its own right. The realistic aspect remains a fabricated aspect. This goes for both the Music and the Image. In fact this goes for all the elements that one uses in a film.
- The film very often opens with music. The music is not there to cue the audience into an atmosphere that exists outside the film, it is there to tap into audience expectation manipulating its expectations. In fact, a film that opens without music or sound challenges audience expectation.
- An understanding of Music leads one to understand that its composition is wilfully homophonic, polyphonic or dissonant. This should illustrate how all cinematic elements work together , not against each other, not matching or mismatching one another.
- Each artist therefore chooses the manner in which he wishes his creation, in this case, the film to communicate to its audience. This manner or character of the film is moulded through the artistic choice of a homophonic, polyphonic or dissonant composition.
These points are easily illustrated through an understanding of musical harmony.
1. A Monophonic Composition.
The fact that film embraces more than one element means that no film can be monophonic.
2. A Homophonic Composition
An example of possible Heterophony in film.
The opening scene is a homophonic composition starting with the universe and juxtaposed on a vinyl that starts turning. As the music starts, the revolving camera gives the impression that Eve and Adam are revolving around like the vinyl record. Although it is apparent that the two are in different rooms, a universe apart, they are connected. He holds the guitar, but a female voice sings. They seem to be bound together right from the start. The revolving image and the music have introduced this complex, telepathic and musical relationship between the couple.
3. A Polyphonic Composition.
A Polyphony also looks at the simultaneous combination of elements but here they play different melodies (not versions of a singular melody) together to form a harmony.
An example of a possible Polyphony.
This scene is often used as an example of contrast, but I would argue that it is not one of dissonance. The simple reason is that the use of classical music in this scene reflects Alex's musical taste. Anthony Burgess cast Alex into a psychopath that compulsively listens to Beethoven. The music in this scene may be by Rossini but it reflects the protagonist's quirk of character. Perhaps this is the music playing in his head as he fights. The image like the music illustrates different facets of the characters and the action, different keys and tones working together. The image is also a pastiche of sorts with theatrical and slapstick style action seemingly softening the actual brutality and violence of the scene. It could have been shot with metal music and real fighting but Kubrick opted for this polyphonic, multi key display. The same can be said to be happening in the scene below
4. A Dissonant Composition
A Heterphony and Polyphony both reflect a choice to use simultaneous voices to present harmony but Dissonance opts for a discord. It is important to note, that discord can only happen when elements clash or jar because they do not belong to a specific key or chord. They jar because they do not play according to preconceived melodies or convention. Dissonance in a cinematic perspective implies that all elements of silence, light, darkness and sound act together to create a dissonance. This means that dissonance in cinema cannot only be created by music vis-a-vis the image, but all elements simultaneously work together to create dissonance.
An example of possible Dissonance.
Trainspotting (1996 Danny Boyle)
Dissonance can be found within the image as it tries to simulate Renton's ODing experience and the choice made by his friend Swanney to pack him into a cab and send him to hospital. As the earth sinks beneath Renton's feel and he is then dragged into the taxi through a series of Dutch Angles, Lou Reed's 'It's a Perfect Day' both jars with its slow paced tune and especially with the lyrics. This is not a perfect day. This dissonant message is carried out throughout the film. It is Boyle's consistent and obvious artistic choice of palette for this film.
Co-written by Iggy Pop and David Bowie (written on a ukulele), the song is known for its opening drumbeat (played by Hunt Sales). The rhythm was based on the Armed Forces Network call signal, which Pop and Bowie picked up on while waiting for a broadcast of Starsky & Hutch. The drumbeat has since been imitated in numerous songs, including "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet and "Selfish Jean" by Travis; however, Sales's use of the rhythm was not original, as it was itself derived from "You Can't Hurry Love", released in July 1966 by The Supremes, and "I'm Ready for Love", released in October 1966 by Martha and the Vandellas.
Co-written by Iggy Pop and David Bowie (written on a ukulele), the song is known for its opening drumbeat (played by Hunt Sales). The rhythm was based on the Armed Forces Network call signal, which Pop and Bowie picked up on while waiting for a broadcast of Starsky & Hutch. The drumbeat has since been imitated in numerous songs, including "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet and "Selfish Jean" by Travis; however, Sales's use of the rhythm was not original, as it was itself derived from "You Can't Hurry Love", released in July 1966 by The Supremes, and "I'm Ready for Love", released in October 1966 by Martha and the Vandellas.
Comments
Post a Comment