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March 1995, Week 1

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From:
allison johnson <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 1 Mar 1995 12:57:35 CST
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----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>>As far as realism, I have yet to have an experience where a complete
>>orchestra plays in the backround as I ride off into the sunset with the
>>heroine!
 
>Come to think of it, it's curious indeed how easily we accept this
>'nonrealistic' music to accompany the image . . . Are we just used to it, or
>is there a reason? Even when there is a *real* orchestra present in the
>cinema, it's hardly a problem.
 
>Leo Bankersen
 
   I think that, to an extent, we are just used to it--it's a formula, a clue
that tells us "Happy Ending" that has lasted since the Silent days when music
and sound effects meant everything.
 
   BUT, think about the shower scene in PSYCHO--the music that accompanies that
scene (& recurs at appropriately scary moments) really exemplefies what music &
a good sound system can do to enhance the film-watching experience.
   My husband and I enjoy a wonderful surround sound system with, of course,
a *large* screen t.v. But anyway, it IS funny how "out of place" that music
seems if you think about it, and yet it's there to evoke a FEELING--at the end
of the "typical" western, it lends an air of accomplishment, of finality--a
sweeping, uplifting crescendo of music for a "happy ending."
   It's the same with the JAWS theme. The music rushes towards us, slowly at
first, creeping, then it pounces--just like the shark. I think in any of these
situations a surround sound system truly makes you feel "in the movie," and I
have never experienced any distracting quality from it, luckily.
 
Alli Johnson
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