Popular Music in Film | Research

habitual medical specialty in Film ResearchIntroductionThis study aims to unscathed t iodin into be usual euphony in motion picture, its give and rear inside young buck fashioning, with express entertain in determining whether or non it clear freshly be compargond and judged along side to a greater extent(prenominal) conventional original scoring techniques as an artistic exclusivelyy viable core by which to tag on depth and further weight to the image, or if it is hardly a cheap and easy means by which to chronicle a guide. In Ronald Rodmans essay The hold of familiar euphony as leitmotiv in 1990s motion-picture show, he states that inwardly the hands of a skilled managing director and unison editor, the physical exercise of preexisting usual symphony toilet be utilise to convey narrative hithertots and char corresponders in a expression identical to undefiledal Hollywood scoring. However, the devil exist at opposite blockades of a adva nced(a)ist/post modist continuum. With the Hollywood score sphere valued for its original and motion-picture show specific uniqueness and the shew score universe valued for its king to redefine and recycle its self-importance when apply well, it offers a live again feeling, that allows the melody to transcend its original form, and fall upon legitimate merit indoors the context of the image. (Rodman, from the compiled essay collection Changing Tunes The Use of preexist Music in Film (2005 135)This study does non refer to a specific question requiring a final answer, instead aims to explore whether or not the base of recycled practice of medicine in truth postal service transcend its self in skilled hands, and if the exercising of commonplace unison in moving picture has be generate utilize much widely and in a more(prenominal)(prenominal) sophisticated fashion following its emergence in many another(prenominal) darts of the 1990s. I besides intend on projecting into the work produced when artists more formal within the realms of prevalent symphony, try their hand writing original music for pip, and if this combination of fill specific, more handed-d witness scored music and the unalike approaches that general music and those more schooled in its construction female genital organ bring to the bow with regards to an original score, is truly the definitive counselling to create an elicit, evoke and truly brilliant rig of work that does what all good score should achieve, likewise not notwithstanding enhance the image, but to stand strong on its own as piece of work in its own right. By exploring the research of others with original research and purviews of my own, I intend to come to a personal conclusion regarding the matter.This investigation is passing hightail it to be based approximately the initial idea that favorite music has a valuable and reclaimable place within modern film making, however, due t o it oft being utilise in a lazy and not fully thought by means of manner, it has become nigh what whole toneed down upon with in the strong lodge, being seen simply as a means for cheap laughs, a pleasant way to pad bring show up the background music of a paroxysmry and as a way to add more marketability to a film . In light of this generally accepted opinion of popular musics place in film, and its viewing in such a negative light, I conjure up to look into how and why this view exists, despite countless specimens of it being drug abuse to great forcefulness within a film and how in recent years, the trend for recruiting the skills of popular musicians to construct original material specifically for film is not only the next step in popular musics place in cinema, but its creative apex.This investigation, through and through the course of its tierce chief(prenominal) chapters, intends to look cosyly at popular musics place within modern cinema, how it has arriv ed there, where it can go from here, and if it can be seen as important and usable as classical means of film scoring.I intend on flavor into the following points through out the course of this investigationChapter 1 Popular music and Modern CinemaHow the genesis of both(prenominal) popular music and cinema are inherently cerebrate to one another(prenominal) and a muck up-pollination betwixt the mediums has ceaselessly been inevitableHow popular music as score differs from tralatitious scores in what it does within a film.The potential (both positive and negative) that preexist material brings to a film, from its ability to comment add extra levels to a film through its lyrical satisfy and its al desexualize established place in the cosmos subconscious mind through to the diachronic and social abilities it has in helping define eras and public attitudes when necessary. I shall look at the use of The Doors pains The End in Apocalypse at one timeadays (Francis Ford Coppola, 1984) in order to explore thisThe mightful imprinting burden that the correct piece of popular music and the correct visuals can crap on one another, combining in such a way that they elevate both straining and video to a completely wise level of meaning, operating on many more levels than they would suck through speciately. I Shall look at Roy Orbisons In Dreams within the movies gloomy velvety (David Lynch 1982)Chapter 2 Popular music as leitmotiv attend to into how popular music has adopted the traditional film scoring technique, leitmotif. look the manner in which popular musics use denotatively and connotatively through leitmotif differs from the classic score, how it is not relied upon the actual repetition of specific themes that connect characters and narrative, but divergee a the repetition of styles of music or their social context.Investigate cardinal films that use popular music as leitmotif, Shaun of The Dead (Edgar Wright,2004) and Pulp Fiction ( Quentin Tarantino, 1992) and how their practice of the technique differs to one another.Chapter 3 The Popular Musician as ComposerInvestigate, through existing examples within movies, of popular musicians being either being used to write film specific music for cinema or actually constructing an original score tailor do for a film, and if these approaches herald different results and opportunities to scores constructed by more traditional composition methods.Conclusion talk of an all over view of my investigation, come to a personal evaluation of whether popular musics place within cinemas audio landscape is viable as artistically expressive and appropriate as a method of scoring.Chapter 1 Popular Music and Modern CinemaPopular music, since the late 1970s has come to hold a particularly interesting and powerful position amongst the many visual media forms that exist, and though a large majority of these forms that drive home mutated and cross pollinated as a result of the ris e of various technologies and the prominence of popular music as a form of cultural expression, are chiefly used as tools of marketing (music videos, television spots and advertisements), it possess a unique functioning purpose within the medium of film, only in dramatic film and television are popular poems used in order to help tell a sustained narrative spirit level a role that has traditionally been played by commissioned melodious score (Wright, Popular music and Film, 20038)Its hardly surprising that popular music has come to be used as such within film, though at their about fundamental levels they operate as two quit different forms of expression, the trajectories both have travel along through the primordial twentieth ascorbic acid show striking similarities to one another, to quote Ian Inglis in his introduction to Popular Film and Music (2003)The genesis of both came more or less as a direct result of late nineteenth century techno analytic developments, both pre dominantly rely on a parvenue type of mass audience sharing a common interest, both started with humble beginnings as novelties to expand and become some of the largest industries in the world with colossal annual turnovers, both have been approached and consumed from perspectives that have allowed them to evolve from unreserved tools of popular and mass finishing into examples of more high and elite culture. (Inglis, 20031)It is no longer required in modern film making to contain a score written specifically with the images and narrative in listen, a movies tuneful landscape is now just as liable(predicate) to be entirely filled with pre-existing songs (be they popular or more esoteric) as it is to feature a more traditional score, often a combination of the two go out be employed by a director.In order to greater appreciate the role that use pre-existing popular music in a film can have on, not only the narrative implications, but the way an audience volition respond to the movie going experience, one must(prenominal) lay out the inherent differences and opportunities that popular music can bring when compared to a traditional classical score.Music written and scored with a film in mind is specifically catered to the needs of the images on screen, often a film impart be scored late in a films production schedule, there for it is necessary to bend and fit to the constraints of the image, the composer is almost a slave to the film at hand, taking full responsibility for fleshing out every nuance and sensation that a scene requires. They must adapt and fit somewhat what is (normally by the time a composer is brought on board) a fairly concrete anatomical structure of how the narrative events take place.On the other hand, when a director chooses to use pre-existing material in a film, the scenes have usually been knowing in such a way as to bend around the song. Pre-existing material can not be manipulated in the very(prenominal) manner of a pie ce tailored to fit a narrative, however, through the use of shooting and editing a rate with music in mind, it allows a certain unity and rhythm to emerge from the combination of the two.facial expression at whether or not one of these approaches to film scoring is more artistically viable is a more complex question that at showtime it would come out.The most fundamental observation that can be do about music in any audio? Visual medium is that it enjoys a rather direct route to our subconscious. Humans are by nature more visually orientated, we digest visual information more consciously and more critically than we do aural information (Wright 200310)Since its musics magical ability to override the logical front of our brains and plug directly into our horny back allies, it tends to offer the driving force in telling us how to feel about events within a film. It can be used with great effect to inform us how we should feel about characters or places, it can instantly set ti me periods or shipway, precisely because in most cases it is completely removed from the specific logic of a films novel line (Wright 200310).However, it is this powerful, insofar extremely astute ability to steer an audiences emotions within a film that makes the score so depended on a plethora of various factors, be they cultural, historical or otherwise. What a person is going to feel when exposed to different vigorouss is extremely subjective, how one person responds may not correlate with how another would when exposed to the same thing.All popular music contains visual elements all film relies, in varying degrees, on musical elements (Inglies 20033)A director can take great payoff of that fact that pre-existing popular music leave alone often have already existed within the cognisance of the public for long enough that a response will have been built up in their mind, particularly with regards to songs containing specific, concrete lyrics. An example of the successf ul combination of a songs lyrics and a sequence edited perfect(a)ly to its rhythm would be the opening montage of the Zack Snyder say Watchmen (2009), the sequence, which shows the unfolding of an alternate historical timeline of the 1960s, moves along at a constant, soundless and meditative crawl, all the while Bob Dylans The times they are a-changing echoes out, the lyrics apparent to directly book of facts the events taking place and the mid tempo, simple yet mournful and effective guitar/harmonica parts perfectly compliment the mood and set the tone there is a heavy sense of sadness, a great part of the story centres around the fact that a new generation of garment heroes are now faced with a alliance that no longer has time for them, that fears them even and in this sequence we look back into the halcyon golden days of the older generation of costumed heroes, when it was more innocent, but we view the often depressing events that lead to the current state of affairs with in the narrative.In other instances, the right song placed with the right images can elevate both beyond their limits as break down mediums, fleshing out one another in new and exciting directions.For example in David Lynchs masterpiece Blue Velvet(1986), a few keys scenes, use pre-existing material to truly haunting and terrifying effect. Most excellently perhaps is the scene where Jeffery Beaumont (Kyle Maclachlan) is serenaded by the suave, menacing, porcelain white, rake thin figure of Ben (Dean Stockwell). Ben lip-synchs along to Roy Orbisons classic In Dreams. The song, a ballad that tells a story of befogged love, had already become a well known hit by the time Lynch made Blue Velvet. Recorded in 1963 (twenty three years prior to Blue Velvets release) it peaked at number sevener on the billboard charts. Within the dark, unsettling noir universe that Lynch had created for the film, the song took on something of a far more disturbing meaning. The ironic juxtaposition of Orb isons vapourous voice, haunting melody and the dream like music accompanying it, along side the creeping dread and ominous shadow of impending power smothering the sequence help elevate the mood and make it brilliantly. Blue Velvet itself felt a lot like a dream, or a nightmare, and the songs lyrics resonated with a compelling and strange clarity within the films mood. The whole film was about looking below the surface of something lookingly perfect and finding that it was rotten to the core, here, in this context, a remarkable beautiful piece of music is suddenly something more, theres something darker at its heart. A truly inspiring select of popular music for a scene, and a prime example of the enlargement of a scenes mood the correct piece of pre-existing music can have. The innocent, whimsical connotations and feelings evoked by In Dreams sits in a perfect, jarringly uneasy unity along side the hellish, violent world at Blue Velvets heart. The impact of the sequence is un mistakable, one can not infer the scene playing out with any other song and similarly after viewing the sequence, one can not hear the song without imaging Ben swaying and singing or Frank Booth (Dennis Hooper) becoming muddled in sadness, hence insane with rage upon hearing the song hes haunt with. From a commercial aspect the song was incredibly useful in revitalising Roy Orbisons then lagging career, though he was at first shocked upon viewing the way his music had been used, the song and film bolstered interest back into the singers work.Although, on the other side of the coin, it is precisely because the message in music is so implicit, because it influences us somewhat subliminally, that we find its failings so noteworthy The put on the line are high when it works, it moves us, but when it fails, we cringe at the attempt (Wright 200312).Because popular music tends to exist within the bite, it changes and mutates at the same rate as fashion or hairstyles, the peril of us ing a popular song from a certain time can immediately give a film a shelf lifetime. Obviously, over time, all films begin to look dated compared to their modern equivalents, however, popular music evolves at such a lightning pace that the wrong piece (or some times, the right piece for that moment in time) can often make a film expect laughable or extremely out dated within a short space of time (See many, many, many films from the 80s)It therefore, appears that producers and directors run signifi monger risk when making a conscious decision to use popular music as score. Which does seem to beg the question, that if music written for the film can be tailored to fit a films needs precisely and pre-existing material tends to loose its relevance within years, why do mass still use popular music?From a cynical point of view it could be suggested that its more often than not with financial reasons in mind, its common knowledge that only one in ten productions will return a substantia l profit, however its the huge profit of that one that makes up for all the others, so the added bonus of having an easily marketable sound shack is always going to be a draw in terms of money.However, pre-existing music has its own artistic merits within film as a choice of soundtrack. Since most popular songs chosen for film (such as In Dreams mentioned preceding) have already existed within the public consciousness for considerable time enough for people to build and attach their own set of feelings and emotions to a song, the use of popular music brings with it a ready prepared set of emotional triggers that a film or scene can build on top of, this always for a scene to carry more emotional clout than if an unheard and unknown score made for the film was used in its place.The right song in the right place can be an extremely powerful thingumabob (Wright 200313)Though it is indeed true that the use of popular music can run the risk of making a film seem out dated fairly quick ly, the act that pre-existing popular music does capture and retain the mood of the time period it was created in can be an extremely useful tool when the subject matter of a film is specific to a certain era, it can instantly and effortlessly conjure up the mood of a certain point in news report in a way that a composed score would agitate to achieve. Familiar examples of music from the desired era summon up not only the musical memory of the time, but come complete with the attitudes and ideas that were cogitate to that period (Wright 200313).For example, the 1960s for many cultural and historical reasons stills resonates powerfully within the public consciousness. Francis Ford Coppolas Apocalypse Now (1979) partly achieved a dependably accurate depiction of the ear through the careful use of songs potently linked to that decade, but more than that, the songs chosen often reflect the flakey situations Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) finds himself in and the deepening sense of dread that consumes him as he heads further down the river and into the stories nightmarish underbelly. This effect is starkly illustrated in the films noted beginnings, as Willard stares blankly at a ceiling fan in his room, the Doors song The End plays non-diegetically along with the sound of helicopter blades. Not only does the song help to evoke feeling and images of the 60s, but it as well comments upon an uncomfortable and unsettling notion that haunts the film, as Matthew Caley describes it in his essay Heavy RotationThe opening sequence invokes the notion of a terrible re-occurrence the end becoming the beginning, signifying the heaviest of burdens (Pop Fiction, Caley 200538) close to events, in this case the Vietnam war, can never be overcome on a personal level.Another important difference between the use of popular music as score and traditionally composed pieces is that, for the most part, traditional scores are used non-diegetically, as seemingly separate entitles, f loating above the action, where as very often, popular music is used diegetically within the frame. This could be in part that we are almost teach to think of songs as more than simply visual accompaniment, we hear a song and nine times out of ten well view a performance going along with it, we see the band, the singer and the stage, lyrics also cry out for attention and want to be hear and analysed. barely underscoring a scene with a popular song, can in some cases distract the audience from the primary(prenominal) narrative drive, and as soon as an audience is lost from the film, it becomes increasingly difficult to get them back involved. So, to riposte this, more often than not the source of a piece of popular music will normally be within the frame, be it a car radio or a CD player or (as was the case in Blue Velvet) some one singing. In this way, we no longer find the presence of a separate medium looking for attention problematic, the characters can hear what we are hear ing, a logical confession for the songs presence has been given. This can also happen on a wider home base through out a film, when the set up provides a musical or semi-musical means by which to accept the constant presence of diegetic music, for example in High Fidelity (Stephen Frears, 2000), the narrative revolves around Rob Gordon (John Cussack) who runs a small, alternative-music store, and his employees. The overt musical setting always for many chances for popular songs to appear diegetically within the movie, however, once the action is removed from the apparent source of these songs, they act as score instead, but because the viewer has been given enough logical justification for their presence, their use in these situations does not direct attention from the action, or seem contrived and indulgent in their use. With out the earlier learn provided by the films location allows use, this may not be the case.Given all these difficulties, music, with its back door access to our consciousness, is a powerful tool it stealthily pilot The audiences mood ad emotional response to a films content (Wright 2003 20)What it is that succeeds when popular music is used as accompaniment in film is subject to many different factors, most extremely subtle. Precisely how it effect a person is of course on an individual level and cant realistically be hammered down to a science in any way, but the successful use of music often engages in a way that is simultaneously original, but resonate with a unchanged quality. Popular music is an ever changing form of expression in and of itself, and as too, the landscape and language of cinema grows and changes over time it is fair to say that what in principle can be regard as the rules to determine what does and does not work as musical accompaniment to film, will remain the same.An interesting angle that has also been undertaken by many modern film makers (perhaps not consciously) is the mimicking of techniques used in more traditional film scores when using pre-existing material, the most prevalent of these could possibly be the use of popular song as Leitmotif, which I will now explore in chapter two.Chapter 2 Popular Music as LeitmotifFirstly, the term leitmotif is, according to Groves Dictionary of Music define as suchA theme, or other coherent idea, clearly defined so as to retain its identity if modified on later(prenominal) appearances, and whose purpose is to re array or symbolise a person, object, place, idea, state of mind, supernatural force or any other ingredient in a dramatic work, usually operatic but also vocal, choral or instrumentalA term used original to denote a process occurring in the operas of Richard Wagner, it has been adopted by film scholars as a means by which to describe a similar role in the classical film score, a way of producing subtle sensations and associations in the auditor (or viewer) (Costantini http//filmsound.org/gustavo/leitmotif-revisted.htm).In essence, t he leitmotif is any melody, progression or harmony that occurs more than once during the film, and is normally attached to characters or actions as a means to evoke a memory in the viewer via a subconscious attachment of the repeating music to the images on screen.Leitmotifs also have the power to be both denotative and connotative in they way they present emotions and link to the image. The music denotes characters or/and situations through a link with music, then a repetition of the music, it can also create more subtle connotations when foreshadowing or contradicting the images on screen (Rodman, changing tunes 2006124)For example, many of the scores composed by Ennio Morricone for director Sergio Leones spaghetti westerns, prominently feature the use of leitmotif to establish characters.In The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966), the use of a pass off two note melody is a frequent motif, played on three separate instruments to represent the three main characters of the film cham pagne flute for Blondie, ocarina for Angel eyes and human voices for Tuco.Through the denotative use of the notes A and its fourth interval upwards D, a Spanish chilliness is achieved within the music, along side the three separate instruments help create a potent connection with the characters and ambience of the images on screen.The link between this leitmotif and the images it scores are so prevalent, that it is practically impossible to separate the two from one another, they are forever inescapably tethered in concert through this denotation, however, as leitmotif works connotatively as well, the describing traits that the music presents can exist outside the images context. Though we will always link that two note motif visually with the characters of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, we too will always link the emotions, mood and feeling of the film (A romanticised, stylised version the west, heroism, treachery, adventure) with the music , and these connotations can carry on b eyond the context of the films images, having been emotional hardwired in to our minds via the back door access connotations within music can supply.It is interesting to note that upon its release as a soundtrack album, Morricones score performed very well, reach number four on the billboard charts and becoming frequently sampled , re used and referenced by many popular musicians since (including, Gorrilaz, R.E.M and The Pogues) and thus, could be argued that it has moved from its initial use as a film score, more into the public consensus as popular music, possibly even a cultural touchstone, even if its original interests where not defined that way.As popular music has evolved beyond a simple form of entertainment and entered into the musical landscape of cinema as a method of scoring, its denotative/connotative properties have made it possible to assume the role of leitmotif when used correctly in films, it is this utilising of an established method of scoringand utilising correc tly, that gives yet more weight to popular music as artistically viable.When used as leitmotif, popular music tends to be given more denotative power than a traditional score, though also still able to connotate subtle meanings.The difference being that the denotation is more subtle, nuanced and relies more heavily on the viewers familiarity and competence with the music prior to experiencing it in the film.To explore this, I shall examine two popular modern films that heavily rely on popular music as score, both using it as leitmotif, in different ways however. Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004) and Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994).Shaun of the Dead is presented as being a romantic comedywith living deads, the film garnered hugely favourable reviews upon its release for its pass away of witty Douglas Adams-esque British humour and the classic elements of the zombie genre found in the work of George A Romero. Like director and writer (along with Simon Pegg) Edgar Wright s earlier work on the television series Spaced, Shaun of the Dead uses a digest score (along with a few tracks written specifically for the film) consisting of popular tunes.The same song does not reappear frequently through the film to reinforce character or situation as leitmotif may be used in a traditional score, instead the films leitmotif is to be drawn from a perceived prior knowledge that the viewer must have with the songs, which allows an emphatic, direct meaning (via lyrics, song titles and often a reference to horror genre) to achieve denotative references, often used to comic effect to act as leitmotif through the film. The stipulations of leitmotif are also achieved via the songs connotative effect on the viewer via their subtle (sometimes not so subtle) descriptions of a scenes mood, or a character trait or often the films overall theme.For example, the film opens with an excerpt from subtlety township by the Specials over a black screen, before cutting to a medium close up of Shaun (Simon Pegg) sat, mouth agape, a brain dead expression stapled to his face, in a pub (we there for automatically make the assumption that the music is being heard diegetically by the characters as well, emanating from a jukebox or something similar).The song immediately makes clear the mood of the film, the very title of the track is Ghost Town, straight away subtly suggesting the coming events of the films narrative, The lyrics (though originally written about the large scale unemployment feared to be brought by the policies of Margret Thatcher) twist and take perfectly with one of the films core themes, the idea that modern British baseball club is dulling down, decaying, zombifing itself and wasting away in to nothing more than the aforementioned Ghost Town of the songs title.The style of music itself also captures the spirit of the film, connotating on an almost subconscious level to the viewer what to expect in terms of the films mood, the up beat Ska style is certainly light hearted almost comical in its bouncy rhythms, but a sinister vein runs through the song, similarly, the film, though a comedy at heart, has moments of real horror as the zombie crisis escalates towards the end of the film. It is also extremely British in sound, as the film is too, extremely British in its writing and acting.Other examples of songs being used for their inherent referencing/or placement within the horror genre are Zombie Nation by Kernkraft 4000 and The Blue Wrath by I Monster. Both these songs differ wildly in their stylistic traits, but by their nature of both taking reference points from supernatural angles (zombies, monsters) they are linked to the leitmotif structure the film uses. Zombie Nation in particular, though used for only a very short space of time, prescribes to a similar denotative/connotative use as Ghost Town does. Denotatively in its title it directly name checks not only the main antagonistic force of the movie but also the movie s entire scene set up and connotativley it also refers to the perceived notion of a zombifed Britain, using the title in a less literal sense, the style of music (a repetitive dance song) also, through heavy irony, helps subtly convey the idea of a brain dead society, (though, thats not to suggest that dance music is inherently brain dead, more that, the repetitive nature of its genre along with the social image of hordes of silent, blank eyed individuals, twitching along in unison trapped in some nightclub runs a unobjectionable parallel with the zombie hordes occupying the move)A sequence which has since gained a great handle of attention and become something of a classic comedy moment, takes place towards the end of the film, trapped by the marauding, relentless zombie hordes into the Winchester pub, Shaun and his friends are forced to lie with with the now un dead pub landlord, during the course of the melee the jukebox starts to play the Queen hit Dont Stop me Now. The juxta position of the songs upbeat, positive, energetic refrain against not only harrowing and almost certainly doomed situation the characters find themselves in, but also the beaten down, bloody, bruised and emotionally frayed survivors creates a majestic moment as song and image seamlessly combine, creating comedy from unexpected irony. The songs place here however, does not conform to the regular leitmotif that has been used through the film (song as denotative via lyrics or song title), and initially the lyrics seem ironic in their positive mantra, however, the song can also be seen as a comment on Shauns now fully certain character traits. Up until now hes been something of a loser, unable to pull his life together and it takes the apocalypse to rally his leadership qualities, from this angle, the songs positive message seems more sincere in its use, we