FPA 289 2011
film music
outline page
 

Cinema has never been silent. From the Lumière family’s first public screening at the Grand Café in Paris on Dec. 28, 1885 to the present, "moving pictures" have used music scores to influence and shape the viewer’s experience. Due to the predominance of the visual mode in Western culture such manipulation is rarely noticed by the spectator and thus film music is often experienced but not heard.

  

This course intends to address this cultural bias by focusing upon the soundtrack and the music score. We will survey the history of sound in cinema, examine various film genres, time periods, and styles, analyze specific films, and study a few selected composers and directors. We will also widen our definition of film music to include television, computer applications, video, music video, etc. in order to gauge the impact that music has in our lives.

The course will consist of 13 lecture presentations illustrated with audio and video clips.
  Schedule
Lecture notes will be posted on the web when possible.
Assignments:
 Students will be required to complete three film journals. The journals will consist of a questionnaire and a film log. Students will complete a journal for each of the three categories listed on the assignment page. The assignments are due starting in week five (Feb. 8th, 2011). See schedule page for details.
Students will be required to rent and view videos to complete the course.
  All assignments are required by the last lecture, April 11th, 2011. It will be the student's responsibility after that date to deliver their assignment(s) to the instructor's mail box in the Goldcorp Building on the SFU Vancouver campus. There will be a penalty for late assignments. Assignments will be considered late if they have not been received by 12:00 pm Monday April 16th in the aforementioned mailbox or via email.
     
Frequently Asked Questions:

Q. Can I hand my assigment(s) in late?

A. Yes - though there is a reward for handing them in on time. All assignments are due at the latest by April 16th 12:00 noon in my box in the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, SFU Vancouver Campus in the main office of Contemporary Arts. If you fail to make this deadline you must e-mail me with reasons why you will be late and when the outstanding journals will be completed. If I don't hear from you the final mark will be based on whatever completed journals I have.

Q. Will the lecture notes be placed on line?

A. Highly likely. Depends on my ability to find the time.

Q. Can I use a European film with subtitles for category X-ENG?

A. Yes - that is the intention. Any non-English language film. No films from North America, the British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, etc. Thus I'm sorry but no Quebecois films either.

Q. I won't be able to answer all of the log questions because some of the information required seems to be unavailable. Is this ok?

A. Yes. There will be questions which are not applicable (NA) for any given film, video, game, etc., or there is some information that is simply not available. This is to be expected.

Q. Can I use web sites to get information? How do I cite my sources?

A. Yes. That may often be the only source for the information. You may use standard footnotes to cite websites or collect them at the end of the questionaire. You must cite all of your sources. See page on plagarism.

Q. The movie I like has very little music. Can I still use it?

A. Emphatically no - unless - you are willing to write extensively about how the lack of music works! For the purposes of this course, you must find films with a reasonable amount of music.