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Music 004: Film Music, Analysis Assignment #2

Due Friday, November 21 at 4pm (upload documents to ANGEL)

1. Select a feature-length film to analyze. It might be best to use the same film you used for Analysis Assignment #1, since you already know the film synopsis and have a general idea of the image and sound track style. If you don’t own the film you want to analyze, keep in mind that the library holds hundreds of DVDs. If our library does not have your DVD, you can request it from another PSU library.

2. Analyze the film form. Segment the film hierarchically into acts, sequences, and scenes as you deem appropriate. Your segmentation may be based on changes in place, time, narrative events, etc. Formal articulations in the image track (fades to black) and sound track (musical closure/cadences) may help you locate section boundaries. Note: it is your analysis. You are free to segment the film based on the narrative elements that you feel are most salient or significant to the structure of the film. In your essay, you will have the opportunity to explain why you segmented the film the way you did, and how the soundtrack/music and image track emphasized or deemphasized the segmentation you chose.

3. Make a formal diagram. Using the examples in chapter 5 as a model (Table 5-4 on pp. 148-150 and Table 5-6 on pp. 154-155), make a form timeline and cue list. Name and classify each sequence (i.e., main title, establishing, musical performance, montage, dialogue, action, love, flashback, climax, conclusion, end-credit, etc.) and list/describe each music cue that occurs in each sequence. Give each cue a unique/descriptive title and/or classify each as a particular theme, leitmotif, recurring popular song, etc. In your essay, you will need to explain the role of the music in each sequence (for example, the music typically unifies disjunct shots in a montage sequence) and trace the development of thematic musical material throughout the film. Review chapters 6-9 on sequence types, and remember to include main-title and end-credit sequences. 

4. Written analysis. Write a three to five page (double spaced) analytical paper.

1. Include a SHORT synopsis of the film. Please, no more than 4 sentences!

2. Be sure to mention the title of the film and the names of the director and composer.

3. Describe the form of the film as you segmented it in your formal diagram, and explain why you segmented it the way you did, and how the soundtrack/music and image track did or did not reinforce the segmentation you chose.

4. Describe your overall impression of the music, including:

1. Instrumentation/orchestration (was it primarily orchestral, electronic, a mixture?)

2. Musical content (was it primarily diegetic or nondiegetic, composed score or popular songs, style topics?)

3. Themes (were people, places, things, or ideas assigned musical themes, and if so, were those themes developed over the course of the film, reflecting the changing contexts in which they appeared, and how were they developed - which musical parameters changed?)

5. Chose two sequences and explain in detail the role the music played.

6. Note any other interesting music characteristics you feel are worth mentioning (unique sound bridges, diegetic/nondiegetic dissolves, diegetic dialogue underscoring, sound effect/music interactions, etc.)

PLEAE NOTE: Your written analysis should address the technical aspects of the film. It should NOT be a plot summary. You will not receive credit for a plot summary. Use this opportunity to show that you have learned the concepts and terminology outlined in chapters 5-9 (music in film form; music in main-title and end-credit sequences, music in performance and montage scenes, film style and the sound track, music in character and action scenes).