Film Music As a Film Device. a Neoformalist Approach to the Analysis of Music in Films
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Department of Film Volume 1 of 1 FILM MUSIC AS A FILM DEVICE. A NEOFORMALIST APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS OF MUSIC IN FILMS by Emilio Audissino Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2017 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Film Studies Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy FILM MUSIC AS A FILM DEVICE. A NEOFORMALIST APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS OF MUSIC IN FILMS by Emilio Audissino In the last ten years there has been a significant shift of interest in film music from Film departments to Music departments. This study seeks to balance the situation and bring film music back into the sphere of action of Film Studies. Film scholars can still give an important specialistic contribution by tackling the music as one of the cinematic devices, and focussing on the analysis of its interplay with the other formal elements of film. In this view, the scope of this study is to develop an approach and a set of analytical tools that serve as a guidance to film scholars to address music in film from their discipline-specific perspective. The analytical approach here offered stems from a mix of Neoformalism – from Film Studies – and concepts drawn from Leonard Meyer's music theories. Neoformalism describes and explains the filmic system focussing on the overall form and style, not only on the interpretation of the film's contents and meanings. In particular, the analysis concentrates on the function(s) and motivation(s) of a series of devices, whose interplay is at the basis of the film's formal system. Being one of the film's devices, music carries out specific functions and responds to specific motivations. Yet, film music is also music. Hence, Neoformalism is coupled with Leonard B. Meyer's theories. According to Meyer the meaning and emotional effect of a tonal piece of music derives from the way in which the composition plays with the listener’s expectations and anticipations, which are based on a shared knowledge of norms and conventions. This interest in norms and conventions and in the psychology of perception links Meyer's studies to Neoformalism. And their common interest in the 'whole,' in formal stabilisation, and closure makes Gestalt Psychology a fitting overarching theoretical framework to integrate Neoformalism with Meyer's musicology. The combination of the micro-configuration of the music and that of the visuals produces a macro-configuration in which the whole is something different from the sum of its parts. In this audiovisual interaction, three areas of musical agency are identified in the film: music can have a perceptive function; an emotive function; a cognitive function. The findings are valuable for both the disciplines involved. To film scholars, it presents film music as a topic that can be handled with more confidence and breadth, because the musicological analysis of the musical text (the score) is not required in this approach. To musicologists, it provides a way to deepen their understanding of and insights into the formal and stylistic ways in which music interacts and combines with the other cinematic components. Table of Contents Table of Contents i List of Figures and Tables iii Declaration of Authorship v Acknowledgements vii Introduction ix Chapter 1: A Review of Typical Positions and Potential Issues 1 1.1 Film Music in Music Studies 1 1.2 Film Music in Film Studies 12 Chapter 2: New Positions and Proposals to Solve the Issues 27 2.1 Proposals to Overcome the Separatism 27 2.2 Communications Model VS Perception Model 37 Chapter 3: Neoformalist Film Analysis 47 3.1 Neoformalism. An Introduction 47 3.2 Neoformalist Film Analysis 60 3.3 Neoformalism and Music in Films 68 Chapter 4: Music as Music: Gestalt and Audiovisual Isomorphism 73 4.1 Music as Music 73 4.2 Music and Gestalt Qualities 79 4.3 Analysing the Filmic System: Macro and Micro Configurations 91 Chapter 5: Music as a Film Device: Functions and Motivations 101 5.1 Music and Motivations 101 5.2 Functions 106 i Table of Contents Chapter 6: A Selection of Case Studies 131 6.1 Are All Gaps 'Fantastical' and Meaningful? 131 6.2 Anempathetic Effect, Proper 136 6.3 Tell It with a Song. Cognitive Function of the Lyrics 141 6.4 Opening Credits, Prefiguration, and Title Music 148 6.5 Music As the Connective Tissue of Emotions: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg 155 Chapter 7: Full Film Analysis: Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. The Extraterrestrial 163 7.1 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) 165 7.2 E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982) 180 7.3 Conclusions 191 Conclusions 193 Bibliography 203 Filmography 227 ii List of Figures and Tables 1. The father's guilt, from Traviata 5 2. Acceleration 116 3. Pauline waters the flowers, from Pauline et Paulette 117 4. Nazis singing 'Die Wacht am Rhein', Casablanca 146 5. The Peoples singing 'La Marseillaise', Casablanca 146 6. Yvonne's Extreme Close Up, Casablanca 147 7. The Hateful Eight Opening Credits, The Hateful Eight 152 8. Opening Credits, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg 157 9. Finale, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg 160 10. 'Communication Motif', Close Encounters of the Third Kind 166 11. 'Mystery Motif', Close Encounters of the Third Kind 169 12. Comparison between Pinocchio and Close Encounters of the Third Kind 179 13. 1982 Version (left) and 2002 Version (right), E.T. The Extraterrestrial 186 14. Ascending perfect fifth in the E.T. score 189 15. The Sound of the Heart, E.T. The Extraterrestrial 190 Table 1: Set of Functions 128 iii iv DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I, EMILIO AUDISSINO declare that this thesis and the work presented in it are my own and has been generated by me as the result of my own original research. Film Music as a Film Device. A Neoformalist Approach to the Analysis of Music in Films I confirm that: 1. This work was done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree at this University; 2. Where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at this University or any other institution, this has been clearly stated; 3. Where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed; 4. Where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work; 5. I have acknowledged all main sources of help; 6. Where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself; 7. Parts of this work have been published as: ‘A Gestalt Approach to the Analysis of Music in Film’, Musicology Research 2 'Music on Screen. From Cinema Screens to Touchscreens' (Spring 2017): 69-88, http://www.musicologyresearch.co.uk/publications/emilioaudissino- agestaltapproachtotheanalysisofmusicinfilm Date: 28 July 2017 v vi Acknowledgements Acknowledgements The research for this study was financed with a Vice Chancellor's Award in Film from the University of Southampton, and the bulk of this was written during my stint in their Film Department. I would like to offer my warmest thanks and appreciation to Kevin Donnelly, my always friendly and helpful supervisor, with whom I had a number of extremely pleasant and enlightening consultations – namely, he pointed me to Gestalt Psychology as a perhaps better fit than Cognitivism for my work. My thanks also go to Francesco Izzo for his musical advice. And I also extend my appreciation to all the other people I had the opportunity to work with at Southampton: Tim Bergfelder, Mike Hammond, Sally Keenan, Lucy Mazdon, Paola Visconti, and Michael Williams. I would also like to acknowledge the Worldwide Universities Network that awarded me a 'Research Mobility Programme' grant to spend a period of study as 'Visiting Scholar' at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S.A. I was graced with the opportunity of penning the parts about Neoformalism there, in Neoformalism's birthplace. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to David Bordwell, Kristin Thompson and Jeff Smith, who were so kind as to welcome me in their community during my visit, and to offer me invaluable advice and seminal directions for my research. The good parts in the following pages are the fruits of such consultations; any bad part is to be imputed solely to my misunderstanding. vii viii Introduction Introduction Film music is a complicated field because it is a composite subject matter. It is about music and it is about film, which means that two separate disciplines can claim they are entitled to study it. Film music is part of the film, and so film scholars have (should have) an interest in it.