Class Write-up

As promised, this is what I will be sharing with my class before I premiere the film. It contains cited reasons for the use of music in early films, as well as examples of where this has been utilized in my film. I hope you learn a lot!

My A/V project, an experiment in sound, is ironically a silent film. When working on my Blackboard project on film music, I was interested to find out Gorbman and Brown’s explanations for the use of music in early silent films. Brown’s “Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music” states that film music was used because early Greek tragedies had used it for more effect on their audiences. It was also done to cover up the noise from projectors, which were not yet soundproofed, as well as to psychologically ease the audiences’ fears of darkness and silence.

According to Gorbman’s “Unheard Melodies,” silent film music provided aid to transitions, mood for scenes, and attention to certain details. It was used especially well in melodramas to “mark the entrances of characters, to provide interludes, and to give emotional coloring to dramatic climaxes and to scenes with rapid physical action” (Gorbman 34). I have utilized this in my film, The Great NJ Wallet Robbery.

In the first and last few seconds of the film, a projector sound is heard before the music begins, as well as after it ends, to emphasize the need for music to cover up the projector sounds. Whether it is the sneaky, suspicious theme for Jack the Thief, or the romantic theme for Katherine, the music marks the entrances of these characters, and tells us everything we need to know about them. The chase between Donald and Jack, as well as the climactic railroad scene, show how music aids the fast pace of these scenes and gives mood, as Gorbman stated. Ever since I began making films, I had always wanted to experiment with a silent film. This project has finally given me the opportunity to do so, and the Gorbman and Brown readings have enhanced my knowledge of early film music to make my film even better.