Contemporary Traces of the Modern Soundtrack

Lectures

Developed for Soundtrack, RMIT Media Arts, from 1998

  • Blood Simple

    1985 - Ethan & Joel Coen (USA)

    Introduction to Audio-Vision

    sound design
    film score
    soundtrack mix

  • Goodfellas

    1992 - Martin Scorsese (USA)

    Dialogue & editing

    dialogue placement
    drama through speech
    voice-music mix dynamics
    intensity

  • Talk Radio

    1987 - Oliver Stone (USA)

    Voice & ether

    wave transmission
    ghost effects
    vocal timbre
    studio space design

  • Hail Mary

    1985 - Jean Luc Godard (France)

    Symbolism & collage

    Jean-Luc Godard & Francois Musy’s collaborations
    musique concrete
    silence, sound & space
    multiple symbolisms

  • Colors

    1989 - Dennis Hopper (USA)

    Spatiality & frequency

    Dolby Surround
    planar & dimensional mixing
    bass, Hip Hop & slang
    guns & death

  • Contact

    2000 – Robert Zemeckis

    Transcendence & diffusion

    Hyperspace & surround sound
    dimensional transgression
    radar and sonar activity

  • The Straight Story

    1999 – David Lynch (USA)

    Aging & psychoacoustics

    David Lynch & Angelo Badalamenti collaborations
    rumbles, sub-sonic swells & distended reverb
    digital silence and deafness
    muzak

  • Taxi Driver

    1976 - Martin Scorsese (USA)

    Interiority & psychosis

    Bernard Herrman & jazz
    urban musicology
    sonar cityscapes & psychological terrains
    bodily gunshots

    To be archived

  • Stand By Me

    1987 - Rob Reiner (USA)

    Voice & memory

    ellegaic devices
    flashback & voice-over narration
    musicological effect
    the past of Rock’n’Roll

  • Some Kind of Wonderful

    1985 - Howard Deutch (USA)

    Teen energy & rhythmic propulsion

    Record production as score
    private listening states
    rhythmic cues

  • Oedipus Rex

    1970 - Pier Palo Pasolini (Italy)

    Myth & realism

    Pier Palo Pasolini’s politicization of Folk
    vocalization of non-actors
    source music
    folk threads

  • Black River

    1993 – Kevin Lucas (Australia)

    Landscape & contemporary opera

    Political/musical clash
    terrain, colonialism & musical occupation
    vocalising oppression

  • One From the Heart

    1983 - Francis Ford Coppola (USA)

    Artificialism & modern opera

    Hollywood unreality
    location & fabrication
    production design & staging
    sung voice-over

  • Heat

    1995 – Michael Mann (USA)

    Ambience & musical vaporization

    Michael Mann & the MTV-effect
    hovering chords & impressions of instruments
    transparent sonic textures
    fusing styles

    To be archived

  • Magnolia

    1999 – P.T. Anderson (USA)

    Song form & vocal multiplicity

    song scoring
    antiphonal structures and psychological dissonance
    performance

    To be archived