Diegetic Withdrawal and Other Worlds: Film Music Strategies before King Kong , 1927–1933

Slowik, Michael

doi:10.1353/cj.2013.0061

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 28 publications

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“…Dialogue between two characters is seen as diegetic, while background score music is seen as non-diegetic (Jørgensen, 2011). It is suspected that the first film to use scoring and sound film music was the film King Kong, which was shown in 1933 (Slowik, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diegetic and nondiegetic sounds in film scoring of Pengabdi Setan film

Alam,

Permana,

Indriani

2023

PTVF

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Background: This research examines the 2017 film Pengabdi Setan scoring function. Joko Anwar wrote and directed the film Pengabdi Setan, released on September 28, 2017. This film is a remake of a 1980 film of the same name. In this film, the score is essential for visually confirming symbols or incomplete messages. There are two types of sound: diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound. Purpose: This research aims to determine how diegetic and non-diegetic sound were used to create a horror atmosphere in the film Pengabdi Setan. Methods: The authors described the audio analysis results in the form of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds using a qualitative descriptive analysis. Documented assessment and observation were employed as data collection techniques. Results: The results indicate that infrasonic sound (infrasound) and sub-bass frequencies in the form of non-diegetic sounds emotionally impact audiences. The typical frequency is 31 Hz, and although it is inaudible to the human ear, the audience can sense the vibrations of this frequency. This frequency can typically only be perceived as a “chest rumble.” In general, both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds in the film Pengabdi Setan contribute to completing the defective message symbol. The combination of infrasonic sound effects, sub-bass, and musical composition validates the visual messages or symbols. Implications: This research can theoretically serve as a resource for future researchers interested in studying diegetic and non-diegetic sound in film. Directors and cinema sound engineers can use this research to construct diegetic and non-diegetic sound in their films, particularly horror films.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diegetic and nondiegetic sounds in film scoring of Pengabdi Setan film

Alam,

Permana,

Indriani

2023

PTVF

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Before Kong Was King: Competing Methods in Hollywood Underscore

Platte¹

2014

J Soc American Mus

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In many histories of American film music, Max Steiner's score for King Kong (1933) marks a new era by establishing norms in original, symphonic underscoring that would dominate Hollywood for decades. Kong's reign, however, eclipses diverse approaches to underscoring practiced at studios before and after its release. In this study, I compare the methods of Max Steiner at RKO and Nathaniel Finston at Paramount to show how both influenced film music implementation and discourse in the years leading up to Kong. Steeped in the practices of silent cinema, Finston championed collaborative scoring and the use of preexistent music in films like Fighting Caravans (1931). Steiner preferred to compose alone and placed music strategically to delineate narrative space in films, as in Symphony of Six Million (1932), a technique he adapted for mediating exotic encounters in island adventure films preceding Kong. Although press accounts and production materials show that Steiner and Finston's methods proved resilient in subsequent years, Kong's canonic status has marginalized Finston's role and threatens to misdirect appraisals of Steiner's other work. Considering Finston's practices at Paramount alongside Steiner's pre-Kong scores at RKO illuminates the limitations of using only Kong as a model, and shows that Finston's perspective on film scoring in the early 1930s provides a corrective balance for understanding film musicians' work before and after Kong.

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Kurt Weill'sThe River Is Blue: “Film-Opera” and Politics in 1930s Hollywood

Graber¹

2017

J Soc American Mus

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In early 1937, Kurt Weill and playwright Clifford Odets collaborated on a Spanish Civil War film that they hoped would lead to a new kind of political–musical picture. Originally titledThe River Is Blue, the film was eventually released in 1938 asBlockadewithout the involvement of either Odets or Weill, but recently uncovered archival material of the abandoned project reveals new facets of Weill's musico-dramatic thought. The discovery of Odets's first draft of the screenplay shows an extraordinarily close collaboration between composer and screenwriter as the shot numbers in the script align exactly with numbers in Weill's score. Read together, these two documents show Weill attempting to combine different paradigms of film scoring that were popular in the 1930s. There are moments of typical Golden Age–style scoring with mickey-mousing and leitmotifs, but there is also evidence of older practices such as the use of popular songs. Weill's score also displays the influence of the Popular Front, elements of Eisensteinian montage, and anti-Wagnerianism. These show Weill working toward what he termed “film-opera,” not a filmed version of an opera but an entirely new genre that combined elements of musical theatre and movies.

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Diegetic Withdrawal and Other Worlds: Film Music Strategies before King Kong , 1927–1933

Cited by 5 publications

References 28 publications

Diegetic and nondiegetic sounds in film scoring of Pengabdi Setan film

Diegetic and nondiegetic sounds in film scoring of Pengabdi Setan film

Before Kong Was King: Competing Methods in Hollywood Underscore

Kurt Weill'sThe River Is Blue: “Film-Opera” and Politics in 1930s Hollywood

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