MUS 1303 - Music and Movies

Credits: 3 hrs.

This course follows the development of music in films as a total art work, Gesamstkunstwerk, and studies how the music impacts story and perception within film. The entire breadth of film music history will be explored from the early pre-sound films that had live music scores written for them, through the twenty-first century. Students will explore pre-film ideas of how drama and music have functioned together from the late Romantic period through the early Twentieth Century in order that they may gain a framework in music to understand how to interpret the use of music along with story. Students will explore the films and music of the following eras: Silent film (1895-1928), Sound Era (1928-1944), The Decline of the Hollywood Studio System (1944-1959), New American Cinema (1960-1976), The Classic Revival (1977-1988) and the Fin de Siècle and the New Millennium (1989-present). General Education Course that Satisfies SLO: Critical Thinking; AK: Fine Arts