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Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music

Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music

Paperback

Film StudiesMusic Theory

ISBN10: 0520085442
ISBN13: 9780520085442
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: Oct 18 1994
Pages: 396
Weight: 1.47
Height: 1.09 Width: 6.24 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Since the days of silent films, music has been integral to the cinematic experience, serving, variously, to allay audiences' fears of the dark and to heighten a film's emotional impact. Yet viewers are often unaware of its presence. In this bold, insightful book, film and music scholar and critic Royal S. Brown invites readers not only to hear the film score, but to understand it in relation to what they see.

Unlike earlier books, which offered historical, technical, and sociopolitical analyses, Overtones and Undertones draws on film, music, and narrative theory to provide the first comprehensive aesthetics of film music. Focusing on how the film/score interaction influences our response to cinematic situations, Brown traces the history of film music from its beginnings, covering both American and European cinema. At the heart of his book are close readings of several of the best film/score interactions, including Psycho, Laura, The Sea Hawk, Double Indemnity, and Pierrot le Fou. In revealing interviews with Bernard Herrmann, Miklós Rósza, Henry Mancini, and others, Brown also allows the composers to speak for themselves. A complete discography and bibliography conclude the volume.

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Music Theory