Researching Anahid Kassabian – Hearing Film
For a large part of my research I have been looking into different ways music are discussed within film to help gain a greater understanding of what to do musically with George. For this part of my research I took a look into Anahid Kassabian’s ‘Hearing Film’. I have previously read her book ‘Ubiquitous Listening’ and therefore thought this book may contain useful information directed more towards film. Kassabian first looks into music and ideology surrounding it, discussing in detail theories of music itself and the language of it. She then goes on to discuss it in relation to film in more detail; talking in depth about music relationships with different components of film. She then furthers this through looking at a number of case studies; which lead to one of the main focus’ of her book – tracking identities. For my research purposes I will proceed to looking in-depth into her thoughts on what music can do to a film as this is most relevant to my research.
Kassabian explains music’s ability on it’s own. One aspect I found particularly interesting was her description of music here – “It crosses over boundaries between unconscious and conscious processes; it contradicts or shifts what seem like heavy-handed meanings in the visuals” (Kassabian, 2001, 89). This to me is a vital part of what film music is meant to be. It can carry a story along without you even noticing it. Coming in and out of a film effortlessly and unnoticed, thus smoothing over the images on screen. This is something which is of particular relevant to me when composing and placing the music within my short film. Not only should it be heard but it should also be discrete and help carry along the story, leaving less for the visual and dialogue to do on its own. I will go into these theories of what music can do in a later blog more focussed on creating the music for George.
Kassabian also takes the approach of looking into music in the following ways:
- “ How is the music’s relationship to the narrative world of the film perceived?
- How do we perceive the music’s method within the scene?
- What does the music evoke in or communicate to us?” (Kassabian, 2001, 41-42)
These are of course important questions to the overall experience of a film. For me, making the music for a film, I think its important to keep focussing on what you want as an end product. Therefor these questions are important to ask when looking at the end product. People perceive films and music differently so what I am trying to do with the music may not always be the way it is perceived by a certain person. That is why it is important to follow certain guidelines to try and achieve music’s full potential; guidelines such as music as a narrative, the use of diegetic and non-diegetic music and also looking into pace, tempo and key. These questions are key when understanding what I want the film to do.
She also later goes onto discuss this idea of Leitmotiv which originates from Wagner music. This is a term used to describe a musical phrase which is connected to something like a place, character or idea. This is an idea I have taken up with George through attaching simple melodies/notes to the character through having them recur throughout the film. I will discuss this more on my blog about my methods used within the music.
I have found Kassabian’s insight extremely useful when thinking about the bigger impact music can have on a film and will continue reading this to further my knowledge. There is indeed a lot more Kassabian discusses in her book but these are a few of the aspects which I found particularly useful within this project.
Kassabian, A. (2001) Hearing Film: Tracking Identifications in Contemporary Hollywood Film Music. London: Routledge.