Undergraduate Course: Film Music to 1950 (MUSI10075)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course combines historical, theoretical and analytical approaches to the role of music in film up to the mid-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 discussions of mainstream "classical" scoring, early experiments in synchronized sound, film scoring and the Second World War, film music and gender, the role(s) of song, film and music and the avant-garde. |
| Course description |
Each teaching block on the course has a different focus: block 1 - the silent era; block 2 - the synchronized sound era. The students will work towards a presentation in either the first or second block. In each block, there will be an exploration of historical context, incorporating a discussion of technology and economics as well as aesthetics, theoretical arguments (for or against film music, what film music 'should' aim to achieve etc.), and examples of analysis/interpretation. Each week's screening will form the basis of the lecture/seminar to follow. In relation to the silent era, students will have the opportunity to present practical work, which may then feed into their first assessed project. This might include an exploration of improvisation to silent film: whether historically informed, or based on current techniques and tools, and/or an exploration of producing sound effects to image/speaking to film. In the classes focused on the sound era, students will present on scholarly literature and/or analyses of particular film sequences.
Films will likely be drawn from the following list, but will also include examples from early one/two reel films, and examples of experimental shorts (both silent and sound): Way Down East (1920) Metropolis (1926), Applause (1929), King Kong (1933), 42nd Street (1933), Rebecca (1940) The Big Sleep (1946), The Red Shoes (1948), Scott of the Antarctic (1948).
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Students must have studied Music as a Major component of their degree programme for at least two years at a University elsewhere. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Familiarity with a range of academic approaches to film music (historical, theoretical, analytical)
- Awareness of the impact of technology and economics on the aesthetics of film music
- The ability to discuss and analyse the use of music in films in a critically-informed manner
- The ability to respond creatively to a selected film extract
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
2-hour Seminar in weeks 1-5, 7-11.
2-hour Film Screening in weeks 1-5, 7-11. |
| Keywords | Film,music,historical,film music |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Annette Davison
Tel: (0131 6)50 2426
Email: A.C.Davison@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Hugh Black
Tel: (0131 6)51 5926
Email: hugh.black@ed.ac.uk |
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