Music and Dance in Film

Question to the class - How is music used in film?

-to create mood

-foreshadowing

-suspense

-characterization

-resolution

-movement/syncopation

-create emotion

-contrast

-irony

-humor

-setting/era/place (when, where or what time and place we should be

thinking about)

-story (Example, La Strada, 1950's italian movie directed by Fellini)

music tells a story in an abstract way

-to sell the movie

Examples:

We watched two trailers for the movie Stalingrad, a hard-core war film

about the battle of Stalingrad from the German perspective.

1st trailor- sentimental, sad, romantic music. The music combined with

one scene with a woman leads us to expect a love story. This trailor

appeals to more women.

2nd trailor- Battle music, rythmic, driving, forward moving plays as

narrator tells us it's going to be a battle to the end. The shot of the

woman is now put into context, there is a gun pointed at her.

Clips

Golddiggers of 1933- 1934 Busby Berkeley movie. These type of movies

were usually vehicles for the stars to get out and sing and dance.

Usually a light, romantic plot, woman who dreams of becoming a star

falls in love with a man who can make it possible for her, yet she

doesn't know this until the end of the movie. Usually happy ending.

Busby adds to the ending one more musical number that makes a social

commentary on the Depression.

The Big Chill- diagetic music is music that exists in the movie world.

nondiagetic music plays just to the audience. This clip demonstrated

both of these concepts. It also uses music to bridge otherwise

disconnected scenes.

We watched clips from the movie Metropolis set to different music.

Metropolis is a German film from the 1920s. It has created many of the

cliches from current science fiction movies.

The different versions we viewed demonstrated the effect music has on

what we are viewing.

Dance

We watched three different movie clips that showed three different

approaches to dance in film.

The Gay Divorcee- 1935 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie. The focus

is on spotlighting the dancers and their talent. The camera is a

spectator and doesn't interfere with the dancers.

Flashdance- 1980's Hollywood/British movie. The camera/director is

creating the dance for us. The director is not showcasing the dancers.

The Tango Lesson- French/British movie. In this clip, the camera follows

the dancers, and we in turn dance also, we're involoved because of the

way the camera works.