MUSI 238 - Music in Film

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as FILM 238) A study of music in sound cinema from the 1920s to the present. The course focuses on the expressive, formal, and semiotic function that film music serves, either as sound experienced by the protagonists, or as another layer of commentary to be heard only by the viewer, or some mixture of the two. Composers studied include Max Steiner, Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith, Danny Elfman, and others, as well as film scores that rely upon a range of musical styles, including classical, popular, and non-Western. Specific topics to be considered this semester include music in film noir and the movie musical. Mr. Pisani.

Prerequisite: one course in music (not performance) or film.

Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.