Final paper and spotting

Detail for spotting final

– 1. Make sure you tell us whether film, plot, or character driven.

• 2. Make sure the cues are there with timing, etc. e.g.• #1. Robin Hood Fights Little John (1:23 - 1:55) • Music assigned to Little John proceeds• with variations, fading out as Robin and • Little John laugh. Major, 3/4, fast, strings• and woodwinds, light, cute, soft, plucky. • A Mouse when RH lands. Excellent spot for matching• friendly and humorous relationship between RH and LJ

• 3. Check to see if some cues for no music

• 4. Make sure you have some entries on•• Meter• Tempo• Mode (major or minor)• Dynamics • Instruments • Pitch (scales, leaps, etc.)• Melody, counterpoint, harmony• and so on

• 5. Make sure you correlate music and action

• 6. Make sure you discuss fades, dissolves, wipes, etc. • in relation to music

• 7. Make sure you include stingers, mouses, etc.

• Make sure you tells us WHY you think music occurs as it does!

Paper example

– An example of a film review for final paper •

The Vision

• Directed by George Jetson

• Music by David Canucope

• The music for The Vision centers around a single overarching theme (film driven) which slowly develops in complexity and ultimately arrives at a single, very loud, held harmony precisely when the main character (Jack Parr) sees the vision of a roasted turkey, two-thirds of the way through the film. The balance of scored and non-scored film is appropriate to the manner in which the film moves from more relaxed idle conversations to the various mini-points-of-arrival containing brutal Foley effects and "Moused" orchestral sounds as the various turkey vultures prepare for their final assault on the main course.

• The entire first two-thirds of this film contain a series (7) of ever-increasing-tensioned scenes which ultimately lay the foundation for the film's major point of arrival. Each of these scenes is louder, faster, and thicker-textured than its predecessor, leading the audience irrevocably to the principal "vision." The theme is slowly transformed from a simple, almost child-like melody in a major key, to a complex, dissonant, minor-key abstraction near the point of arrival.

• There are several allusions to other styles and music in this film, particularly to Bernard Herrmann (as in the turkey shower scene). I found these allusions unnecessary and at times annoying since they detracted from the overall direction of the film (e.g., I know that the turkey is headed to Paris and need not be told by the obvious quote of the French national anthem here). I particularly thought that the reference to Turkey in the Straw during the love scene to be outrageous.

• The post-point-of-arrival film and its correlated music slowly become (as it was in the beginning) simpler, more consonant, slower, and major in key. This has the effect of resolving the film's conflict and giving the vision that Parr sees the centerspot in our mind's view of the entire film (apropos of the film's title). The end credits then verify the entire film by quickly (over just three minutes) reviewing the entire process.

• The music for this film differs significantly from the other music for films by this composer (principally The Mockingbird Rancher, Chicken Little, Duck a la Ronge, and Dove Pudding) mostly in the use of contrast and lack of subtlety in Mousing certain scenes. Since this is Canucope's first film, the inadequacies I note here can be excused as mistakes of a novice film scorer. Canucope's most recent film (Bird in the Hand) demonstrates how far he has come from the days of obvious quotation and simple parroting of other composer's work.

• On balance, Canucope's music for The Vision works beautifully to enhance the film's basic structure, reinforcing (without overdoing it) the underlying procession of tension as we approach Parr's vision and then appropriately resolving that tension as the film approaches its ending moments. While there are times (especially when the composer Moused the carving knife's actions) that I wished for slightly less explicit musical correlation, the music overall seems appropriate and effective for this film. I particularly suggest that the reader pay attention to the scoring for the scene when Bugs Bunny appears out of the belly of Parr's vision (Alien, anyone?) and the accompanying appropriation of Stalling's music at this moment. Clearly this film deserves it rightful place as the favorite among all films for Thanksgiving fare.

• There’s another example of an analysis for the final paper on the website. Look it over as well.

• You’re a film music reviewer telling us why you think that the music is good or bad.

• Be sure to compare your film’s music with music of other films by the same composer.

Dies Irae

• Don’t forget to listen for this in your film score. Not all films have it, but many, many do. So listen!