Hitting the Right Notes: Film Directors and Composers in Harmony is a unique, multi-disciplinary volume co-authored by scholars from both media studies and music theory. The book features a chronological and systematic approach that concentrates on analyzing representative scenes from a broad spectrum of mainstream movies as exemplars. With a distinctive focus on versatile analytical tools from film studies, music cognition, and music theory, each chapter supplies background on the time period, director, composer, and their working relationship, then a close reading incorporates both visual analysis and musical elements beyond pitch and harmony. Robust yet accessible, Hitting the Right Notes highlights up-to-date ways of understanding film music, directly demonstrates their application across eras and genres, and displays the artistic magic directors and composers create together. It is essential reading for those interested in film and music.
Preface: What to Expect in This Book Foreword: “The Magic of Music” by Mark Watters Introduction: See Me, Hear Me, Feel Me 1 The Sounds of Silents 2 “Welcome to Sherwood Forest”: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) 3 “Think I Might Go on a Piece”: Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) 4 “Round Up the Usual Suspects”: Casablanca (1942) 5 “It’s the Pictures that Got Small”: Sunset Boulevard (1950) 6 “I Led Too Dull a Life”: North by Northwest (1959) 7 “We Always Lose”: The Magnificent Seven (1960) 8 “You Don’t Sell the Dream of a Lifetime”: Once Upon A Time in The West (1968) 9 “Forget It Jake; It’s Chinatown”: Chinatown (1974) 10 “He’s Coming Back For His Noon Feeding”: Jaws (1975) 11 “This is What It Means to Be a Slave”: Blade Runner (1982) 12 “You Sho’ is Ugly”: The Color Purple (1985) 13 “The Most Beautiful Thing in the World is a Match Well Made”: Emma (1986) 14 “Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys”: Batman (1989) 15 “God Bless White America”: BlacKkKlansman (2018) 16 “Is It Getting Crazier Out There”: Joker (2019) 17 Directors Who Compose and Compilation Scores 18 Making the Magic: Concluding Comments Acknowledgements Appendix: Director/Composer Combinations for Further Studies Index
LESTER D. FRIEDMAN is an emeritus professor and former chair of the Media and Society Program at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. He is the author, co-author, and editor of over 20 books on film genres, American cinema of the 1970s, American Jewish cinema, British film of the 1980s, and Health and Humanities including most recently Citizen Spielberg, 2nd Edition.
CHARITY LOFTHOUSE is an associate professor of music at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
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