CHAPTER 54 WILLIAMS

CHAPTER 54
Underscoring Meaning:
Williams and Music for Film
Copyright © 2020 W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.

Copyright © 2020, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Underscoring Meaning: Music for Film
Multimedia often powerful; collaboration of several creative
individuals
Dramatic musical resources pioneered onstage now
transformed for the screen
Film, television, video games

Sound and Film
Music has played an indispensible role in memorable film
moments
Reflects the emotions of a given scene
Creates irony through juxtaposition
Creates a sense of time and place
Two main types of music in film
Underscoring: comes from unseen source
Source music: music functions as part of the drama itself

• The Jazz Singer(1927)
– First “talking” picture
– Sound recorded on vinyl
disks
– Sound recorded directly to
filmstrip by 1929
1890s
Silent films(1890-1926)
Used live performers as
accompanists
Film Music

Movies: A Brief History
Silent movies, accompanied by live pianists, organists,
or orchestras: no real score
Silent movies, accompanied by a musical score that
wasn’t “timed” precisely to the film
1908: first film with musical score: L’Assassinat du Duc de
Guise: score by Camille Saint-Saëns
1909: Edison Film Company added specific suggestions
for music to be played during its movies.

Next 5 years: music catalogued for orchestras,
organists, and pianists according to desired moods.
1912: Max Winkler, a clerk for Fisher Music store in
NYC, realized the store had all the music needed for
movies of the day.
At first, grouped by musical types: maestoso, agitato, largo,
etc.
Later grouped by dramatic elements: sea storms, sword
fights, humor, children, etc.

1915: Score from The Birth of a Nation: set standards for
orchestration and cuing of silent films.
Edmund Meisel: composed music for silent films that became part
of drama itself.
Analyzed films to determine timing.
Developed an industry-wide system.

Movies: Role of Music in Sound Movies
1927: 1st sound film containing music, The Jazz Singer
Music supported love scenes or bridged scenes.
Generally, music used when justified by plot; the source was
seen on the screen: a piano, nightclub, ballroom scene, etc.

Movies: Role of Music in Sound Movies
1929: almost all films that year were musicals which originated
on Broadway and were adapted for film.
By 1935: music was integral to films, providing background for
mood and action.
Composers of “classical” music of the day were commissioned
to write original film scores.

Movies: The Hollywood Sound
Early 1900s: symphony orchestras programmed more
contemporary music, so composers turned to Hollywood as outlet
for their romantic style music.
1930s-1940s: ”Hollywood Sound” prevailed: lush, romantic,
accessible to audiences.

Music becomes more prominent as
scenes change
“Shark music” in Jaws
Wizard of Oz: Mrs.. Gulch on bike and
Wicked Witch same music
Romantic music louder in love
scenes
“Dixie” in Gone With The Wind
Signal transitions
Set and
highlight em
otional
tone
Identifycharacters
Set m
ood
Set Tim
e
and Place
Uses of Music in Films and a Few Examples

Other Uses of Music in Films
• To assist viewers in creating
lasting images
• To portray a character’s
emotions
• To portend what’s coming up
• To warn of upcoming danger
• To heighten emotional
reactions
• To suggest events that
censorship would not allow
shown

Walt Disney’s Fantasia
The first “music video”
Compositions by Bach, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Dukas, Beethoven,
and others set to animation
Attempt by the animators to bring the music to life through
visualized images
Most famous scene: Mickey Mouse with the endless mops and
buckets of water:
The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Dukas

Some Relevant Terminology: Music and Films
The Newman System (for adding music to film)
Spotting: process by which composer, director, film editor, and music editor
mark the film for music cues
Click track: a hole punched in the film by the during spotting to indicate
cues in the music
Streamers: vertical stripes added to film to mark tempo changes within
each cued segment

Studio-Dubbing System
Conductor works to a clock
Click track projected on screen
Conductor watches click track and film while conducting
orchestra
Music track added to film later (along with other tracks:
dialogue, sound effects)

Functions & Styles of Film Music
Provides momentum, continuity; suggests mood, atmosphere, character &
dramatic action
Can convey unspoken thoughts & emotional implications of setting, like
opera or ballet
Most commissioned for specific films, others used previously existing music

Music & Image
Use of theme transformation & development
Mood doesn’t always match music, produces ironic effect
Soundtracks-huge market value

Stinger chords: a technique (developed by Max
Steiner) for using a powerful chord to punctuate action
on scene and draw attention of audience to it
Recurrent theme: a musical idea (like a motif or idee
fixe) that recurs in a film; theme represents character,
event, place, or other aspect of the film throughout the
presentation (John Williams noted for these).

Diverse in Style
Pop/rock- Pulp Fiction
Electronic- The Matrix
Classical-Fantasia, 2001: A Space Odyssey

Important film composers
Aaron Copland-The Heiress
Bernard Herrman-Psycho
Max Steiner-Gone with the Wind
John Williams-Star Wars
Michael Kamen-Robin Hood

Modern Films and Their Composers: Danny Elfman
• Batman
• Spider Man movies
• Men in Black
• Men in Black II
• Charlotte’s Web
• Hulk
• 2001 Planet of the Apes
• Good Will Hunting
• Mission Impossible
• Dick Tracy
• Chicago (some music)
• TV Series Scores
• The Simpsons
• Dilbert
• Desperate Housewives

Lord of the Rings

Sound and Film, Part 1
I. Sound and Film
A. Music sets the mood
1. reflect emotions of a scene
2. “running counter to the action”: music contradicts the scene
a. The Godfather baptism scene: Bach’s organ music
b. Pulp Fiction, and Kill Bill, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2: lighthearted rock music
3. place and time: instruments suggest a time period and place
a. Braveheart: bagpipes
b. Brokeback Mountain: guitar
c. Avatar: “Na’vi”

B. Underscoring and source music
1. underscoring: unseen source
2. source music: functions as part of the drama
a. Rear Window, only source music
b. Boyz n the Hood, helps define figures of the story
C. Tendencies observed in film composition
1. Wagnerian principles, leitmotifs
2. assimilation of popular trends
3. search for new sounds

John Williams: Star Wars and Beyond
Mastery of leitmotif technique
Revival of the grand symphonic film score, accessible neo-
Romanticism
Soundtrack for Star Wars remarkable achievement
Leitmotifs carried across prequels and sequels
Imperial March (LG 62)

John Williams (b. 1932)
Born on Long Island, New York
Composed for television in 1950s; shifted to film in 1960s
By the end of 1970s was Hollywood’s foremost composer
Also composes classical symphonic works and was conductor of
the Boston Pops Orchestra

John Williams: Star Wars and Beyond, Part 1
II. John Williams: Star Wars and Beyond
A. John Williams (b. 1932)
1. award-winning composer, conductor; native of Long
Island
2. education: UCLA, New York’s Juilliard School
3. television series and themes, including Gilligan’s Island;
1950s
4. conducted Boston Pops Orchestra, 1980–93

John Williams

5. more than ninety film scores include: Jaws, Star Wars,
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, E.T.: The
Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, War Horse, Lincoln
6. style: revival of grand symphonic film score, Wagnerian
ideas, highly lyrical, unforgettable themes, accessible
neo-Romantic idiom
7. classical works: fanfares for the Olympics, President
Barack Obama inaugural music

B. Star Wars multifilm score
1. musical unity
a. multiple leitmotifs, sequels and prequels
b. leitmotifs support nature of the characters
c. musical motives can transform, reflect different
events
2. Imperial March
a. first appearance of Darth Vader theme
b. dark character: minor tonality, chromaticism, low-
instrument timbres
c. full orchestra, brass featured

C. Listening Guide 43: Williams: Imperial March, from The
Empire Strikes Back (1980)
1. form: theme and variations
2. regular quadruple meter
3. powerful brass melody recurs
4. middle section: lighter, disjunct ostinato, unpredictable
French horn statements
5. closes with fortissimo pounding ostinato

The Empire Strikes Back “The Imperial March”
Darth Vader's Theme

More John Williams
The BEST of John Williams
Raiders, Star Wars, Superman, Harry Potter, and More!!

Credits
This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint presentation for “The Enjoyment of Music, 4th Edition, Chapter 54: Underscoring
Meaning: Williams and Music for Film”
For more resources, please visit https://digital.wwnorton.com/enjmusic4ess

CHAPTER 54 WILLIAMS

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CHAPTER 54 WILLIAMS