This is a review of a book of Russell Lack, "Four frames Under"
"there were precendents for the conventions of cinema, of course, and no less for film music, although flm represented something of a technological quantum jump forward.."
(p.9)
"the chase sequency id important as it illustrates a tendency amongst the early film makers to try to escape from the text-based device of an inter title card.."
(p.7)
"by 1929 European alternative sound systems had sprung up. and with them monopoly positions on exhibition,...
The sound era arrived not through any kind of stylistic choice on the part of film makers, themselves, but through the efficient exploitation of a range of competing technologies, each designed to exclude alternatives"
(p.19)
"Possibly the more successful in terms of entertainment vaue- was a live spokedn accompaniment presented by actors or comedians" (p.20)
"Since the majority of silent films were shot without much of a creative consideration for the sounds or music that would accompany them, it is important to make a decision between those film and those that were shot with the intention of being sound-synchronised during their exhibition or 'performance' " (p.42)
"The link between the silent and sound eras was the musical short a form that ensured jazz reached jazz influenced more mainstream film music" (p.45)
MASS EXHIBITION & PERFORMANCE
"The music-hall culture established itself in Britain during the second half of a century as the most popular form of mass-entertainment was mirrored in other countries" (p.47)
"Mass exhibition and a high turnover of audiences became something of a science.." ".. A further development was he employment of stage singers who led audiences in collective sing-alongs .." (p.49)
"the enduring symbol of he silent era, the lone piano player seated in front of the cinema screen, was something akin to a lightning conductor" (p.59)
"An important aspect of musical reception is obviously the private experiences and values that we bring with the listeners.." (p.65)
"both music and language are based upon an articulation of sound into discernible units and a kind of grammar, although in case of music this grammar may be metaphorical."
(p.176)
"Between written language and its prounanced sound lies a world of discontinuity. Saussure differentiated two orders of that relationship:
The SYNTAGMATIC element of language has to do with the positioning of a sign in any particular sentence; PARADIGMATIC elements are the relationship of a signle word to other words, which might have filled its place but have been displaced by it." (p.177)
CRITICAL LANGUAGE AND MUSIC
"The repetition of key musical phrases i the soundtrack seems to offer the listener a kei with which to unlock the whole mystery, both of the fragmented music and of the apparent passage of souls of sould between VERONIKA AND veronque. The tremendous emotional impact of the music might partly cosist of this feeling of being on the edge of understanding it." (p.181)
QUARTET BOOKS
1997
