Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

Musical Narrative

1:15 - Mellow strings play romantic theme (with some dissonance). This is swiftly overpowered by a less sentimental sound.

1:30 - More sinister theme heard: Relentless split chord motif in cello. Ominous choir heard, with solemn brass theme. Exploits stereotypical ‘heroic’ association with brass: something powerful, but ambiguous in terms good or bad.

1:39 - Thunder crash2:13 - Thunder crash

2:22 - Elizabeth and Will meet. We get a brief, unresolved snippet of the romantic theme. Once again, it is overpowered by the relentless cello. Foreshadows Elizabeth and Will’s romance as having interruptions and obstacles. It also demonstrates that their romance underpins the story.

3:58 - The chime of a bell is heard.4:02 - Split chord motif is heard straight after.

4:12 - The Jack Sparrow theme is heard for the first time (LEITMOTIF = Classical – refer to page.146): Describes it as a union between ‘musical and narrative processes’. In the 1930s/40s, characters’ entrances were imitated by their leitmotif (p.149) Explicit definitive major triad in brass (4:15): an overt contrast to the ominous brass of Lord Beckett. Brass is used to represent potency, but not good or bad.

Rain falls on teacups. Abandoned music stands are shown and the sheet music blows away - does this put emphasis on the role of non-diegetic music? The image illustrates that diegetic music was intended to occur (most likely bright wedding music), but its absence is made deliberate within the narrative and thus facilitates and legitimses the need for a score.

Alternation between Elizabeth and the approaching soldiers.

Lord Beckett’s flag waves ominously.Elizabeth drops her bouquet of flowers and runs: Mickey-mousing.

Lord Beckett (split chord idea, not necessarily motif) states that Elizabeth and Will have been sentenced to death. This illustrates Beckett as the antagonist.

This serves many functions: 1) It’s a way of introducing the majesty of

Jack’s presence, without actually seeing him. The music creates expectation, and thus excitement.

2) Sparrow’s theme facilitates a neat transition to the next scene on the ship (4:20).