Undergraduate Course: Film Music post-1950 (MUSI10072)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course combines historical, theoretical and analytical approaches to music in films from the second half of the twentieth century. The course is organized around a series of films and key readings, with each class focusing on a particular idea or issue, supported by suggestions for follow-up viewing, listening, and reading. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to explore how the role of music in film may be viewed in political terms. Examples of class topics might include music and the films of the French New Wave, interrelations between the music industry and the film industry, the pop performer on screen, the aesthetics of surround sound.
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| Course description |
Classes will include an introduction to the historical and industrial context of a series of key moments in the period 1950-2010, the close-reading of a series of set films and their scores/soundtracks, and will also include student presentations. The first classes will introduce the landscape of film scoring and source music in Hollywood filmmaking at the point of divorcement - the point at which the major studios were forced to sell off their theatres, signalling the end to a 20+ year period of vertical integration ¿ and explore the aesthetic impact on film music of this industrial/economic shift. Other key moments to be explored will likely include: the interface between Hollywood and the French Nouvelle Vague in the 1960s; the rise of Film Studies as a discipline and its impact on filmmaking/scoring; music and political filmmaking, energised by developments in technology; the impact of other platforms/formats on film scoring (e.g., television, video games, music video). Set films will likely include Vertigo (Hitchcock 1958), The Music Lovers (Russell 1970) Apocalypse Now (1979), Wings of Desire (Wenders 1987), Chungking Express (Wong 1994), The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Students should normally be undertaking music as a major component of their degree programme. Students of film taking music as a minor component should consult the course organiser. |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
A primary focus of this course is to enable students to develop an awareness and understanding of academic approaches to film music, drawing on both musicology and film studies. Students will be expected to discuss and analyse the use of music in films, drawing on a range of approaches. Students will thus develop analytical skills
and critical awareness. Through study students will also develop research methods, the ability to read critically, the ability to evaluate arguments and articulate their conclusions in written and spoken presentations.
Students will familiarise themselves with a number of set films, which will form the basis of the classes. They will develop an awareness of the impact of technology and economics on the aesthetics of film music. They will also familiarise themselves with theoretical texts concerning film sound and music.
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Additional Information
| Course URL |
www.music.ed.ac.uk |
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
The course is supported by a weekly film screening. Students should ensure that they can attend both the class and the screening. |
| Study Abroad |
Only available to students who will be present for the semester in which the course is taught. |
| Keywords | Film film music |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Annette Davison
Tel: (0131 6)50 2426
Email: A.C.Davison@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Annabelle Evans
Tel: (0131 6)50 2422
Email: Annabelle.Evans@ed.ac.uk |
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