Unit 10: History of Music and Sound for Film and Television

Unit 10: History of Music and Sound for Film and Television    

In this essay I will discuss the important developments and key figures in the history of film and television.

Pre 1900’s

In 1877 the famous scientist Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. This was the first device that could record and reproduce sound by playing back sound etched on a wax cylinder. He attended a lecture with his trusty assistant William Dickson held by Eadward Muybridge who invented the Zoopraxiscope which is said the be a predecessor of the film projector and did this by documenting the gate of a galloping horse. They came together to marry the idea however had to find a way to amplify the sound so that it could be presented to large audiences.

So Dickson set off to invent the Kinetoscope. Inside a strip of film was passed at great speed between a light bulb and lens while the viewer would observe through the peephole. Behind the peephole there was spinning wheel with a narrow slit which acted like a shutter, allowing a sudden and view of each of the 46 frames passing in front of the shutter each second. This allowed the viewer to see a life like representation of people or objects in motion which was a big step up from the Zoopraxiscope.

At first, accompanists, who were untrained in their art and given free creative control, ad libbed. Hence the nature of melodic accompaniment shifted broadly. The absolute most integral piece and standard of film music was the prompt sheet, a rundown of melodic determinations fitted to the individual film. The most complex of them contained real passages of music planned to fit every scene and prompted to screen activity to keep the accompanist on track. In 1909, Edison studios issued out cue sheets for their motion pictures

1920’s

Before ‘talkie films’ hit cinemas all films were silent. Music was already a massive part of theatre but was brought over into film to add an element of depth and atmosphere to accompany the moving images on screen. However, film projectors produced a lot of noise due to the technology being in its infancy so music aided in masking the noise generated from these machines. Silent films were often partnered with anything between organists and violinists to full orchestras.

‘The Jazz Singer, was released on the 6^th October 1927 with Vitaphone technology and was the first official ‘talkie’ film as it incorporated synchronized sound to film. This was only done for two scenes in the movie, but the impression it left on the audience was irreversible. The public was now exposed to the possibilities of cinema. The film earned 3.6 million dollars worldwide which in todays time is equivalent to just over 50 million dollars.

The release of ‘The Jazz Singer’ marked the end of the era of silent film. By the end of 1929 silent films had died out; even the worst talkie films did better than the best silent films produced.

Around the same time ‘Fox Films Corporations’ William Fox saw potential in the future of talkie films. His small production studio wasn’t part of the ‘Big 5 Agreement’ so in 1927 he invested in the Tri-Ergon sound on film processor for $50,000 and began releasing newsreels on Movietone. These newsreels became popular very quick so Fox sent news crews around the world to interview famous personalities, pumping out 3-4 news reels weekly.

1940’s

Fantasound was the surround sound system used in the Disney film ‘Fantasia’ in 1940. It’s the first surround system ever used and the first film to use multi-track recording. While Fantasia was in development, Walt Disney met with the conductor Leopold Stokowski and they conversed about the film’s classical score. Stokowski referred Disney to some engineers working at Bell Labs. He saw the potential of the multiple-microphone stereo recording technology they were working on. From this he was inspired; during the film there is a scene titled ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ and he wondered if during the segment the sound of the its wing’s rapidly flapping could be heard flying around the whole audience and that was the idea that sparked the invention of surround sound.

Fantasound technology created a surround sound field with left front, centre front, right front, left rear and right rear channels. The main soundtrack incorporated only the front three channels; the two rear channels were recorded on a separate reel of film and steered in separately when needed.

The only downfall of this revolutionary invention was its expensiveness. As a result, only two systems were sold within the US. Each installation cost $85,000 (over 1.4 million in today’s money’ and included 54 speakers which were place throughout the theatre.

1950’s

The Fantasound system left its imprint on the film industry, but it would take another decade for Hollywood to make a much more affordable multiple-channel sound technology.

The 50s was the birthplace of a new widescreen film format and so was introduced: Cinemascope and Cinerama.

Wider screen formats required numerous stations to fill the whole front field of the motion picture screen. Instead of optical tracks they used magnetic strips to create four channels of sound. The arrangement was a mass of sound, utilizing four to six sound channels for a widescreen stereo impact. Included in the first multi-channel films were 1952's ‘This is Cinerama and 1953's ‘The Robe’.

1970s

Before the 70s basically all films were mono so the sound quality was terrible compared to cinema standards today; studios experimented to better the sound between the 50s-70s but had very little luck until the creation of ‘Sensurround’ in 1973. It amplified low frequency which literally shook theatres, in some cases causing tiles from the ceiling to fall.

Dolby Stereo brought back true surround sound during this time period reverting back optical recording technology. Dolby knew that is was far better than magnetic audio tracks as he was able to add noise reduction technology for a much clearer playback.

In 1977 Star Wars was released through Lucas Films Productions. It was an overnight success raking in $461 million in the US and $314 million overseas which encouraged theatre owners to upgrade their sound equipment to Dolby Stereo, which led to other producers and studios to use the surround sound format.

George Lucas hired legendary composer John Williams who would go to create iconic themes for ‘Jaws’, ‘Indiana Jones’, ‘Superman’ and ‘Harry Potter’ to name a few.

Starting with his score for Star Wars, Williams appointed his characters and the situations they possess distinguishing songs that repeat at whatever point expected to help the watcher. He additionally enabled those songs to develop and grow, picking up in multifaceted nature as the story advances, regularly connecting one character to another by methods for rehashed themes. It is a method that Richard Wagner utilized as a part of his musical dramas, calling such tunes leitmotifs. So, the Luke Skywalker topic, unobtrusively idealistic when he initially shows up, ends up dull and shadowed when he stands looking at the smoking remnants of his childhood home, at that point turns strong and chivalrous as he triumphs in fight. Williams' music, actually, gives the main trace of Darth Vader's relationship to his kids. Indeed, even before George Lucas has uncovered their sources to the crowd, Williams gives echoes of a falling theme from the shrewdness Vader's topic in those of his posterity.

Surround Sound

Surround sound is a system that improves the reproduction quality of a sound source using multiple speakers that surround the audience. This method allows the viewer to perceive the direction of which the sound is coming from immersing them deeper into the film as they are no longer just watching but actually there. 5.1 standards includes six speakers: Centre, Left and Right at 60 degrees of the listener and left and right surround positions at angles from 100-120 degreesUnit 10: History of Music and Sound for Film and Televison

Key Figures of Composition

Hans Zimmer first breakout film was ‘Rain Man’ He was asked to write the score for the film by Barry Levinson and later Zimmer went on to win his 1^st Oscar for ‘Best Original Score’. He is also responsible for writing the scores for ‘The Lion King’ , ‘The Prince of Eygpt’, ‘The Last Samurai’ and ‘Gladiator’. He really captured the sounds of Africa through his masterful scores in ‘ The Lion King’. His influence throughout the film industry is evident as it is clear that some directors who cannot access Zimmer directly ask the composers at their disposal to attempt to emulate a Zimmer style scores. Hans brings a refreshing sound to sound to film with his epic riffs and thunderous drums and stands out from all the rest.

Jerry Goldsmith is responsible for ‘In Like Flint’, ‘Gremlins’, ‘The Omen’, ‘Alien’, ‘The Edge’, ‘Basic Instinct’, ‘Star Trek’, ‘Planet Of The Apes’ and more.  Although the score for ‘The Mummy was made towards the very end of Goldsmith's profession, this luxuriously engaging score demonstrated he still had the ‘it’ factor and aged like fine wine, in spite of the fact that Goldsmith himself allegedly detested dealing with the film. He captured and mixed booming drums, Egyptian instrumentation, dreadful horror to create this epic film score.

John Carpenter dominated the 80s, with his synthesised and simple music. Whilst the previous composers I touched upon used full orchestras, Carpenter and his long term collaborator Alan Howarth utilized the much cheaper option that was a synthesiser and together they made popular the ‘electronic score’. They were responsible for creating scores for ‘Assault On Precinct 13’, ‘Halloween’ and ‘The Fog’. The simplicity and eeriness of the chords used and the quantization and staccato nature of some notes are still remembered today. 

Unit 10: Composing for Film and Television

Introduction

The function of music film is a vast field. Music serves many different purposes that are integral to enhancing the emotional side of the story, or to help with the storytelling. It also fills in gaps between scenes which would otherwise be silent, allowing for a much smoother transition from one part of a narrative to the other. Imagine film without music, now imagine bread without butter, it’s much harder to digest and take in. To ensure movie success producers and directors must make sure to think about the music when planning and actually shooting the movie because there will be some scenes that are shot, which at first may not work, but with a strong and captivating film score can change the scene and possibly the film.

Done correctly, music can change the whole movie, however directors and composers must be weary of not over doing it. The best music in film in my opinion is epic and massive but almost unheard and subtle. While you watch the film it shouldn’t stand out; it should assist the scene by invoking emotion and allowing the audience to empathise/sympathise with a character or feel the ambience of a setting within the narrative.

When I think of film scores a couple of names come to mind such as Hans Zimmer, John Carpenter, Jerry Goldsmith and Bryan Tyler. All of which are great composers in their own right with their own unique approach. What makes them successful and able to understand what the directors want for each scene is their knowledge of film. They would need to know the types of shots and what sounds they think would go best with it. For example, Carpenter would know in a scene in ‘Halloween’ where Mike Myers surprised the ‘damsel in distress’ and the camera would pan into his blank faced mask, to use a certain note, chord or articulation (most likely staccato) that would best express the mood and emotions of the scene, in Carpenters case a musical piece that would invoke fear or build suspense as it is a horror film.

Composers also have to be flexible and show diversity as there is a vast number of genres which require different styles of music. For ‘Gladiator’ it wouldn’t make sense for Zimmer to use an electronic synthezised style because that wouldn’t help the narrative of an Ex General in ancient Rome seeking vengeance on the new emperor. It would cheapen the film and Zimmer would probably be replaced. So it’s important for the composer to know the genre of film and what that specific genre requires.

Lastly I feel that composers have to have good interpersonal skills, i.e if a director suggested a certain style of music that wouldn’t fit the theme of the film, the composer would then have to politely suggest an alternative instead of shutting it down completely or even reach a compromise that they both agree on.