Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Louis and Bebe Barron's Forbidden Planet: A Film Score Guide

Louis and Bebe Barron's Forbidden Planet: A Film Score Guide

Wierzbicki, James

Paperback

Series: Film Score Guides, Book 4

FilmmakingGeneral MusicMusic Theory

ISBN10: 0810856700
ISBN13: 9780810856707
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: Jun 30 2005
Pages: 198
Weight: 0.61
Height: 0.49 Width: 5.44 Depth: 8.48
Language: English

Forbidden Planet is a product of the MGM studio, which at the time of the production of this film was hardly in the business of making science-fiction films. Originally planned as a B picture, the 1956 Forbidden Planet was praised for its spectacular special effects and brilliant color cinematography. The plot practically tingles with sexual innuendo and the dialogue is rich in references to Freudian psychology. However, in spite of all this, the film was marketed to a juvenile audience.

Notwithstanding its uncommon look and feel, perhaps the most unusual aspect of the film is the way it sounds. Never before had a major Hollywood effort utilized a score generated entirely by electronic means, yet seldom does one find commentary on how Louis and Bebe Barron's score again and again challenges Hollywood norms.

In addition to placing the composers and film in historical context, James Wierzbicki's study offers a deep and thorough analysis of not only the music as used in the film, but also of the decontextualized music as presented by the Barrons on the 1977 original soundtrack album. The text is generously illustrated with transcriptions and graphs, and can serve as a model for the examination of other extended works of electronic music for which no written score has ever existed.

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