...Hundreds of CDs, a few dozen LPs and a couple of books on film music. Can this prepare me for a 4000 word essay on the development of film music in American cinema? You bet it can. The topic of the essay for the unit of study American Film and Hollywood in my US Studies course will be about the development of film music over the last century, but in particular how it just isn’t as good as it used to be, and there are people to blame for this, which I’ll get to further below. When you’re passionate about film music and you’ve been listening to the works of composers such as Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, James Horner, John Barry, and many others from the so-called Silver Age of American cinema, you develop a certain taste and an in-built aural detector forms in your brain, connected to your ears, that makes you automatically know what separates a good film score from a bad one. Hell, even some bad film scores can have a sense of fun about them, even if they draw attention to themselves because film score aficionados are tuned into their siren-like abilities that lure us in to take notice and enjoy it for what it is. It may have a certain charm about it that makes it unique. Then you take a look back at the Golden Age film scores of Max Steiner, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Bernard Herrmann, Franz Waxman, Roy Webb, Alex North, Dimitri Tiomkin, and you realize that these guys were true musical artists working with an antagonistic studio system, but they delivered so many winners...
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...present day, popular music has been a key component of the film experience. Yet there has been little serious writing on film soundtracks that feature popular music. Soundtrack Available fills this gap, as its contributors provide detailed analyses of individual films as well as historical overviews of genres, styles of music, and approaches to film scoring. With a cross-cultural emphasis, the contributors focus on movies that use popular songs from a variety of genres, including country, bubble-gum pop, disco, classical, jazz, swing, French cabaret, and showtunes. The films discussed range from silents to musicals, from dramatic and avant-garde films to documentaries in India, France, England, Australia, and the United States. The essays examine both “nondiegetic” music in film—the score playing outside the story space, unheard by the characters, but no less a part of the scene from the perspective of the audience—and “diegetic” music—music incorporated into the shared reality of the story and the audience. They include analyses of music written and performed for films, as well as the now common practice of scoring a film with pre-existing songs. By exploring in detail how musical patterns and structures relate to filmic patterns of narration, character, editing, framing, and mise-en-scene, this volume demonstrates that pop music is a crucial element in the film experience. It also analyzes the life of the soundtrack apart from the film, tracing how popular music circulates and acquires...
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...not study and analyze big issues of politics only. It also provides us the stage to study and analyze the political, social and economic situation of a particular society or state from the lens of art, literature, cinema, dramas, etc. Not only that, art and literature are the mirror of the society, so to understand particular society and political system, studying and analyzing art, literature is important. Being a student of comparative politics, here I have a good opportunity to study and compare three distinct images of a particular society. In this term paper, I am going to study three distinct pillars of Indian art and literature, which represent three different images and ideas. Satyajit Ray, MF Husain, and Arundhati Roy are an Indian film director, painter, and writer respectively which represents the postcolonial Indian society. Introduction: India is the country with the world's ancient civilization; however the modern political history of India was shaped only after the India's independence from the British Raj. On one hand, India is the home of the world's second largest population and on the other hand, based on the number of an electorate, India is also...
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...all day, I didn't really have time to post something. Well I would if I wasn't watching Schindler's List again, but when the mood strikes, one should watch that film. So here is an essay that I wrote a couple of months ago for school, which is all about film piracy and why I'm against it. The essay managed to get an extremely high excellence. See how different my writing is when I'm at school compared to when I'm blogging (if I seem to be over-exaggerating a lot this is because I'm just trying to get my point across, as I am supposed to be writing this essay for a 'school magazine'): In 1927, the first sound movie, called The Jazz Singer, was made. After years of silence on film, finally someone had successfully combined talking and music with what was happening on screen. This was the first of many cinematic milestones achieved through advancing technology. Since then there have been several introductions: Technicolour, Cinemascope, 3D, and even a brief trial with Aromascope...all of these opportunities used to try make cinema-going a more involving experience. However, advancing technology has also had a negative effect on the film industry. Since videos have become a form of watching a movie, film piracy has slowly become a huge problem, but even more so since the internet has become more powerful. Internet film piracy has become a global epidemic. As internet usage has expanded and there is now a lot more space to download and share files, pirates have been using this to...
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...FYS: The 1960s-A Decade of Change and Conflict This course is an interdisciplinary examination of the tumultuous decade of the 1960s as reflected in the films, music, texts, politics, culture and social movements of the era. The Civil Rights and Women’s movements, the Vietnam War, the anti-war movement, youth counter-culture, the Environmental movement, and increasing violence and polarization among various groups, are among the major topics we will examine over the course of the entire year. The 1960s witnessed a clash over fundamental American values and ideas about human rights, freedom, community, the pursuit of happiness and the good life, the limits of authority and the moral legitimacy of war, civil disobedience and protest. The first semester will focus on the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War and the Anti-War, Peace Movement. The second semester will deal with the youth and racial countercultures and music, the women’s and the environmental movements. Various forms of media (films, documentaries, and music) will serve as a key resource as well as topic throughout this course. Viewing documentary films will be a regular activity in this class, along with reading texts, class discussion, and developing our writing skills. Learning Objectives 1. Listen and read critically - texts, speech, media and other cultural productions - in order to examine, challenge and reshape themselves and the world in which we live. 2. Express oneself clearly and persuasively in...
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...ROGER B RUEDA WRITING CLASS 10 Kinds of Rhetorical Modes (1) Description Descriptive writing calls for close attention to details. Whether your subject is as small as a strawberry or as large as a football stadium, you should begin by observing your subject closely and deciding which details are most significant. Topic Suggestions: a basketball, baseball glove, or tennis racket a bowl of fruit a character from a book, film, or television programme a child's secret hiding place a city bus or subway train a closet a favourite restaurant a fridge or washing machine a Halloween costume a hospital emergency room a laptop computer a locker a mobile phone a painting a particular friend or family member a pet a photograph a pizza a rest room in a service station a small town cemetery a storefront window a street that leads to your home or school a treasured belonging a vase of flowers a waiting room a work table an accident scene an art exhibit an ideal apartment an inspiring view an item left too long in your refrigerator an unusual room backstage during a play or a concert the inside of a spaceship the scene at a concert or athletic event your dream house your favourite food your ideal roommate your memory of a place that you visited as a child your old neighbourhood (2) Narration At least one of the topics below may remind you of a particular incident that you can relate in a clearly organised narrative essay. a brush with...
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...Film Evaluation Italics ALL film titles are in italics (so are book titles, album titles, video game titles, etc…). If you mention a film once, twice or more – they are always in italics. For example: Avatar is one of the worst films I have ever seen. If you are looking for a poorly written film with amazing visuals, you might want to consider Avatar as an option. Publication You need to select what publication you are writing for. This is a major difference in this essay. This could be print or online based. A publication style will change your tone and voice for writing. The publication will simply be stated under your name on your draft and final draft. Feel free to write for Rolling Stone, Spin, The Onion, Westword, The Advocate (YOUR school newspaper), online sites, etc… If you want something more standard, simply select The Denver Post. If you want to select something more appropriate for your writing style, select a publication that will give you such freedom. You must select a real one though. Evaluation An evaluation is just that – YOU evaluating. This is NOT simply a summary of a film. Do NOT write what happened start to finish. Your goal is: defend what you liked or disliked in the film – feel free to use examples – but SHOW why/how you liked/disliked them. You can select acting, plot, direction, cinematography, CG, special effects, hue/tone, music (soundtrack or score), costumes, genre (romance, horror, etc…) and more. Simply select several...
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...Patterns for College Writing Chapter 8: Exemplification What is Exemplification? What is its basic purpose or value? pages 203-217 Name_______________________________ Using Exemplification Is exemplification used only as a basic essay pattern? In what kind of writing situation is exemplification used? According to the text, what are four purposes for which a writer might use exemplification when writing an essay? Planning an Exemplification Essay How many examples are required for there to be “enough” examples when using exemplification in an essay? What do the two examples given by the text illustrate about the number of examples needed? What is as important as choosing an appropriate number of examples? What do effective writers use to help readers see the connection between an example and the general statement it is illustrating? Structuring an Exemplification Essay What is the basic structure of the exemplification essay? Where is the writer’s thesis usually presented? What problem can result from a poorly organized exemplification essay? How can this problem be avoided? What order or arrangement strategies can be used effectively? Student Writers Read Kristy Bredin’s letter of application and the commentary that follows the student model. What arrangement strategy does Kristy use to support her thesis that she is qualified for the position? Read Grace Ku’s essay “Midnight” and the commentary that follows the student model. How does Grace introduce her topic? Do you...
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...Biographical Films Jenna Nelson December 12, 2014 JASS 248 Professor Erik Marshall Analysis Essay-The Five Heartbeats; The Film Genre of Biopics The Five Heartbeats (1991), directed by Robert Townsend, is a movie that I know all too well. This film effectively portrays the highs and the lows of the music industry and how it affects the members of a group. In this essay, I will analyze the cinematography, mis-en-scéne and the importance of music in films such as this one. I will also expound upon the genre of biographical films and how they contribute to society. Biographical films, or “biopics” represents the life history of an actual person or group. Unlike documentary film, biopics employ actors to play the roles of these individuals: they are dramatized, fictional films. Biopics are often marketed as being “inspired by” or “based on” the lives of famous people including entertainers, royalty, scientists and even criminals. Dennis Bingham conducted a study on biographical films and discusses and history of the biography. He also looks at the various forms of the biopic, including theatrical releases, made-for-television movies and short films. Bingham argues that biopics of women are structured so differently from male biopics as to constitute their own genre. The conventions of the female biopic have proven much more intractable than the male biopic. This is due to society’s difficulty with the very issue of women in the public sphere. The difficulty kept...
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...Essays are generally scholarly pieces of writing written from an author's personal point of view, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of an article, a pamphlet and a short story. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. Almost all modern essays are written in prose, but works in verse have been dubbed essays (e.g. Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism and An Essay on Man). While brevity usually defines an essay, voluminous works like John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Thomas Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population are counterexamples. In some countries (e.g., the United States and Canada), essays have become a major part of formal education. Secondary students are taught structured essay formats to improve their writing skills, and admission essays are often used by universities in selecting applicants and, in the humanities and social sciences, as a way of assessing the performance of students during final exams. The concept of an "essay" has been extended to other mediums beyond writing. A film essay is a movie that often incorporates documentary film making styles and which focuses more on the evolution of a theme or an idea. A photographic essay is an attempt to cover a topic with a linked series of photographs; it may or may not have an accompanying text or captions. Contents...
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... Jazz and music Jazz was a new style of music created by African American musicians, featuring syncopated rhythms and improvisational solos It was so interesting because the improv aspect meant that no two performances could ever be the same Duke Ellington turned commercial radio into a place for music by performing jazz music from the Cotton Club, broadcasted to thousands of Americans Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday coined blues and jazz vocal solos Chick Webb (King of Swing) saved money as a paperboy to buy his drum set, and started playing professionally in Harlem at 11 years old, then later became the best-regarded band leader Louis Armstrong played jazz music on Broadway, a Creole Jazz Band, and at the Cotton Club. He played in many films and toured internationally. He was the man that made the most Americans begin to accept jazz into their culture II. Poetry Langston Hughes One of the most well known names of the Harlem Renaissance His writing reflected that black culture should be celebrated because is it just as valuable as white culture "I tried to write poems like the songs they sang on Seventh Street...(these songs) had the pulse beat of the people who keep on going." said Langston One of Langston most famous work was his essay entitled "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" This essay talks about no great poet ever being afraid of being himself even if he is african american. Zora Neale Hurston The most well known female writing activist during...
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...For other uses, see Essay (disambiguation). Essays of Michel de Montaigne Essays are generally short pieces of writing written from an author's personal point of view, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of an article, a pamphlet and a short story. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. Almost all modern essays are written in prose, but works in verse have been dubbed essays (e.g. Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism and An Essay on Man). While brevity usually defines an essay, voluminous works like John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Thomas Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population are counterexamples. In some countries (e.g., the United States and Canada), essays have become a major part of formal education. Secondary students are taught structured essay formats to improve their writing skills, and admission essays are often used by universities in selecting applicants and, in the humanities and social sciences, as a way of assessing the performance of students during final exams. The concept of an "essay" has been extended to other mediums beyond writing. A film essay is a movie that often incorporates documentary film making styles and which focuses more on the evolution of a theme or an idea. A photographic essay is an attempt to cover a topic with a linked series of photographs;...
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...Educating Rita Comparison of the book and the film “Educating Rita” is a play written by Willy Russel in 1979 that takes place in Northern England at the Open University. To give a short introduction of the play, we meet the two main characters, Rita and Frank. Frank teaches literature and poetry on the Open University, where Rita also wants to learn. She finds herself as being boring, and instead of being a hairdresser, she wants to succeed in what she really wants to do – get herself to know as a person by doing literature and by writing essays. A book and a film are hardly ever exactly the same, often because of the setting and locations, scenes and the number of characters we meet during the play. In the book “Educating Rita” by Willy Russel, we meet a number of characters who have some kind of a relationship to either Rita or Frank. For instance we meet Frank’s girl, Julia, Rita’s husband, Denny and Rita’s family. In the film we meet the same characters including several more as for instance the singing people at the pub besides Rita’s mother and father, the students at the Open University, Julia’s lover etc. One of the reasons, why we meet several more characters in the film is because, it is much easier to put characters into the scenes, even though they are not important or do not say anything. The characters make you visualize the following situations more clear, while the book can only give you a picture of what is written, and of course your own imagination....
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...commonly referred to as “gangster walking”, while classical musician Yo-Yo Ma accompanies him on the cello. The performance cannot be compared to anything else – the blend of street dancing and classical music is truly a unique combination. It’s a combination that we don’t see in everyday life, a distortion of reality – which is most likely why Jonze was drawn to the idea. From his early days as a music video director and all throughout his career, Spike Jonze has had a penchant for escaping the confines of reality. From one of his earliest music videos, which plays in reverse, to films like Being John Malkovich and Where the Wild Things Are, in which he literally brings the viewer in to a new reality. This distortion of reality is a mirror of Spike’s obsession with straying from convention, in narrative and filmmaking technique. While Spike and his characters may seek to escape the confines of reality, what they are really seeking under the surface is acceptance. Spike’s work reveals a common human tension – the desire to be unique, yet also accepted. One reoccurring theme that reverberates through much of Jonze’s work is the idea of a distorted reality. Jonze has proven to be a master of manipulating the techniques of filmmaking to create this effect. During his time as a music video director, Jonze directed a...
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...How to Write a Compare/Contrast Essay Compare and contrast essays are the other big essay types in academic writing. These essays will follow a specific question and are fairly easy to complete. There are several ways to write this type of essay. The most important thing to remember is structure. Many wonderful essays fall victim to the woes of bad structure, making any ingenuity to fall by the wayside. Go over the rules on how to write a general essay, and then structure your compare/contrast essay in one of the following two formats: 1. Introduction 2. Your introduction — like the five-paragraph-essay, should open generally (with a quotation, anecdote, generalization), and lead into the thesis statement. 3. Topic 1 4. This next portion of your essay (which may consist of one paragraph or several) should cover only the first topic of the comparison and contrast. Compare/Contrast essays take two topics and illustrate how they are similar and dissimilar. Do not mention topic 2 in this first portion. 5. Topic 2 6. This next portion of your essay (which may also consist of one or more paragraphs) should cover the second of the two topics. Do not discuss Topic 1 in this section. Since you have already gone into great detail about it, you may allude to Topic 1 briefly; however, do not analyze Topic 1 in this section. This portion of the paper is to discuss Topic 2 in great detail. 7. Topics 1 and 2 Together 8. Now that you have analyzed both Topic 1 and Topic 2 independently...
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