1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: Khor Hao Xiang
STUDENT ID NO: 0318065
FILMS SELECTED: ‘Pitch Perfect’ and ‘High School Musical’
WORD COUNT: 945 Words
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION DATE: 19TH SEPTEMBER 2014
Contrast Of Musical Films Between ‘Pitch Perfect’ and ‘High School Musical’
Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent- Victor
Hugo. Music is a very important element in life. Without music, what would you dance to in the
clubs on Saturday nights? What would you tap your feet and nod your head to? Life would be very
boring and world would be silence without music; therefore to me music is a need in life. As much as
I love music, I love to watch musical films too. Musical films are films that use popular styled songs
and dialogue optional in order to compose a story or showcase talents of performers. There are
many musical films produced, among all of them I have chosen ‘Pitch Perfect’, a 2012 American
musical comedy film directed by Jason Moore and ‘High School Musical’ a 2006 American

2. teen/children's romantic comedy musical television film directed by Kenny Ortega to contrast the
difference between this two musical films.
First and foremost, the differences in both films are the style of singing and performing. In ‘Pitch
Perfect’, they perform in an A Capella manner in which they sing together in a group that produce
sound of harmonisation. Other than that, the actors in it can use their voice to produce music
instrument sounds, for example beatboxing to replace drum; it all is pure voice which what A Capella
is all about. Thus they are more creative, especially Beca who mixes two songs together. In the other
hand, ‘High School Musical’ film performs in a Cantata manner which is a vocal composition with an
instrumental accompaniment. In the movie, every actor sings when the musical instrument starts
playing for example the scene where Ms. Darbus tells Troy and Gabriella that they are too late for
audition and after Ms. Darbus attempts to leave, Kelsi Nielson, the musical's composer, trips and
drops her items. Troy and Gabriella rush to help her, and they sing together as Kelsi plays piano. This
makes the singing part of this film like just another normal singing manner rather than the creative A
Capella manner by ‘Pitch Perfect’.
Moreover, another reason to say these two musical movies are different is the personality of main
character of each movie. In ‘Pitch Perfect’, Beca, the main character is a very stubborn girl, she
aspires to be a famous DJ but does not get permission from his father, and she is being forced to go
college. Even her wish was rejected by her father, she continues her music making dream in her
college by making mash-up mixes of songs and takes up an internship at the school radio station. In
contrast, Troy Bolton, the main character in ‘High school Musical’ shows more of a humble
personality. Depicted as one of East High's most popular students, Troy is also the captain of the
school's varsity basketball team, a position he earned in his junior year after joining the team as a
sophomore. Although he is popular and is the key player for his basketball team, he did not brag or
show off anything about that and yet still mix around with everyone in school.
Last but not least, the difference will be the relationship of the main character and with the father in
both musical films. In ‘Pitch perfect’, Beca loves music making so much and want to pursue a career
in music making, but the father did not approve, instead forcing her to study in Barden University,
and her father is a professor at the university, with whom Beca has a strained relationship with her
father due to her father not being understanding to what she really wants to do. But in ‘High School
Musical’, the relationship of Troy Bolton and his father is really good. Troy is the captain for his high
school basketball team ,The Wild Cats and his father is the head coach for that team ,therefore they
always have training with each other at the court and at home. But later in the movie, unfortunately
Troy’s relationship with his father didn’t turn out that good as well. This happens when Troy decided
to join the ‘Twinkle Towne’ musical competition with Gabriella and during his basketball practice,
Troy has trouble focusing because his thoughts are on Gabriella and the idea that he might enjoy
singing more with caused him loosing focus on basketball practice, which worries his father a lot
because Troy is the key player to win the competition in his team, and as Troy’s both father and
coach he does not approve Troy to join the musical competition. Because of this incident, Troy and
his father caught into an argument which caused their relationship to be strained.
In conclusion, musical movies are definitely a feel-good movie and a must watch especially person
who have huge affection and passion for music. Although ‘Pitch Perfect’ and ‘High School Musical’
share some similarities in the movie and have the same genre, the singing and performing method ,

3. Personality of main character and also the relationship of the main character with the father for
both movies are different .Personally I love watching and singing along with the movie and most of
the musical movies produce tracks that are really nice which also became popular around the world ,
such as ‘Miss Me When I am Gone’ by Anna Kendrick who plays Beca in ‘Pitch Perfect’ as well as the
‘High School Musical’ film track album by the cast of High School Musical, which was the best-selling
album in the United States during the year 2006. I hope that musical movies can be more produced
as musical films have the best of both movie and musical world.