Camera Stylo 2015 Issuu

caméra stylo • 59 WHEN MUSIC ASKED IMAGE TO DANCE JULIA BENEY is a fourth year student at the University of Toronto with a Specialist in Cinema Studies, and a Minor in English. Julia’s primary interest include: genres (specif- ically science-fction), animation, and flm music. In addition to an academic life dedicated to the study of cinema, Julia also makes short flms, with the inten- tion of becoming a director. John Williams is a Hollywood composer who wrote some of the most unforgettable flm scores, including Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977) and Super- man (1978) – scores that are arguably better, or more memorable, than the flms themselves. John Williams is known for his romantic, melodic music, with themes and motifs that are iconic and have become part of contem- porary popular culture. Emilio Audissino, in his book John Williams’s Film Music: Jaws, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the Return of the Classical Hollywood Music Style, argues that Williams is a “neo-classical” composer, meaning, Williams’ music has the same style, functions, and approach as the classical Hollywood composers of the studio era.1 Tis categorization is prob- lematic because it reduces Williams to his simplest traits and ignores the ele- ments of Williams’ music that greatly difer from studio era scores. One such element is Williams’ partnership with Steven Spielberg, a partnership that not only shapes both artists’ work, but one that complicates how – if at all – Wil- liams can be categorized as a neo-classical composer. Tis paper will analyze Williams’ scores within the flms of Steven Spielberg, analyzing Williams’ approach and style, and the function of his music within Spielberg’s flms. Tis essay will also identify how this partnership raises Williams’ music up from a subordinate position to the flmic image. Tus, this paper will address, and problematize, Williams as a neo-classical composer in order to better understand how composers like Williams – who maintain a strong partnership with a director – can be categorized, and attempt to illustrate a new “model” in which director and composer relationships can be understood. • Te Classical Score In order to understand Williams’ music in relation to the music of the classical studio era, it is crucial to frst understand what embodies a classical Hollywood score. To clarify, when I use the term “classical” I refer not to the classical era of music (Mozart and Beethoven, for instance) but to the classical era of flm, also known as the studio era, roughly 1920 – 1960. In the classical studio era, music is subordinate to the image, serving only to support the narrative. As such, music is just one element aiding in the transmission of narrative information.2 Te classical score is not meant to stand out on its own, but rather to assist in guiding the spectator through the flm in a manner that produces the appropriate responses, at particular times, within the narrative. Tus, the classical score can be identifed through specifc traits, which, according to Kathryn Kalinak, are: unifed, romantic, and symphonic, including the frequent use of the leitmotiv,3 which I will return to later. Based on the provided rough description of the classical studio era score, it is evident that the principles of composing and editing music for flm have caméra stylo • 61 not changed entirely. John Williams’ music can, arguably, be described as based in the traditions of the classical score: his music is symphonic, often romantic, aids the narrative by triggering specifc emotions at specifc times, and swells with spectacle or action. Nevertheless, John Williams’ music is not subordinate to the narrative – it is the narrative’s partner. Tat being said, the flms of Williams and Spielberg still strive toward intelligibility, and thus, dialogue is privileged, but Williams’ scores rarely go unnoticed. As a matter of fact, Williams steps around Claudia Gorbman’s “invisibility” and “inaudi- bility,”4 so the spectator is almost always aware of his music, and if not, the spectator can feel the pull of his music. Williams’ scores do not trail behind the narrative, they carry the narrative and it is this efect of Williams’ scores that makes Spielberg’s flms memorable, and makes Williams and Spielberg’s partnership unique. • Musical Partners In order to better understand the success of Williams and Spielberg’s partnership, it is frst important to understand Spielberg’s relationship to music and Williams’ attitude toward directors. Williams has made 25 flms with Steven Spielberg, from Te Sugarland Express in 1974, to Lincoln in 2012,5 all of which embody an important relationship between music and image. According to Williams, “the best directors, for me, are people who are also musical, I think it’s part of the art of – of what they do.”6 Interesting- ly, Spielberg comes from a fairly musical background – his mother used to play the piano with, and for, Spielberg throughout his youth.7 Additionally, Spielberg has been credited saying: “If I weren’t a flmmaker I’d probably be in music. I’d play piano or I’d compose.”8 Tus, Williams’ appreciation for musical directors is embodied in Steven Spielberg, who thinks musically – an aspect that comes out in his flms and afects the manner in which Williams approaches his flms. • Te Williams Approach According to John Williams, Spielberg “has a wonderful sense of rhythm in his flms,” and as a result, when Williams composes for Spielberg he is “trying to fnd out just exactly how fast is it or how slow is it, because the flm is telling [Williams] what the tempo is.”9 Interestingly, Williams goes on to note that Spielberg’s flms have “phrases” – meaning, certain scenes or sequences of Spielberg’s flms have a particular feel and rhythm – to which Spielberg replies, “that’s because I make my pictures with Johnny in mind.”10 Consequently, an interesting dynamic is created since Williams is not just re- sponding to the flms provided to him – like a classical studio era composer – 62 • caméra stylo but Spielberg is actually tailoring his flms for the music. Tis back and forth relationship breaks away from the classical model as Williams’ music, rather than being subordinate to Spielberg’s work, is more on an equal plane – they are partners. In their process, Williams and Spielberg discuss the thematic material and, once that is decided, begin to look at the rhythm of the flm – whether it’s speeding up or slowing down, or swelling into something larger.11 Fur- thermore, the discussions generally revolve around musical accents on certain cuts, or the lack of accents on cuts, which allows Williams to prepare for a signifcant musical accent, or piece, later on.12 Te efects of this particular approach can be seen in E.T.: Te Extra Terrestrial (1982) when Elliot takes E.T. into the woods on Halloween night to attempt to phone (E.T.’s) home. Williams refrains from placing a musical accent on the change of scenery from the sunset bathed street to the dim light of the forest; instead, he uses long musical phrases to tie the two scenes together. Tese musical phrases resume – steadily increasing in intensity – as Elliot bikes through the woods, continuing to refrain from accenting action in the image, most noticeable when Elliot stops and E.T. makes his bike jerk forward, an action which has no musical accent. Williams refrains from the use of accents so that when E.T. drives Elliot’s bike of the clif, the long phrases of the music, which has been leading up to this point, swells into a signifcant musical moment. Williams cues the next big swell when Elliot laughs in excitement in the air, which then goes into a segment of the main theme of the flm, with the fnal accent holding of until Elliot lands and falls, which is mimicked by the music. Based on the short analysis of cueing in this scene, it can be said that Williams scores this fight in a very classical manner, his music cued by narrative moments, supporting the action of the scene and compensating for the visual spectacle. • Te Style of Williams Whether or not John Williams can be considered a neo-classical composer is increasingly debatable when looking at his style. According to Audissino, Williams’ use of a symphony orchestra, specifcally one that is larger than that used in the studio era, is another trait that makes Williams neo-classical.13 Although this is accurate, as many classical era composers used symphony or- chestras,14 it is the manner in which Williams utilizes this symphonic orchestra that complicates the categorization. Williams will often use very romantic music and make it larger than life, to the point where, like in E.T., the music almost stands on equal grounds with the image, if it does not surpass the image. Tis grandiosity and musical embodiment of wonder is illustrated in caméra stylo • 63 Jurassic Park (1993) when Grant, Ellie, and Malcolm frst see a brachiosaurus at the park. Te music starts out low and ebbing, drawing on the terror of the flm’s narrative, as Allan looks out the car window at something unknown, creating suspense. Ten, once the music begins to lead into a more melodic phrase, the flm follows with the image (and call) of the brachiosaurus. Te music at this point is romantic and grand, enhancing the sense of wonder created from the sight of a live dinosaur. Williams adds accents into the score, building up to the main section of the phrase when the brachiosaurus stands, timed so that the height of the phrase cues the brachiosaurus’ landing.

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