Watch the film City Lights: Correctly identify the 5 music cues and give a description of the music as it relates to function and musical fundamentals (i.e. orchestration, tempo, register). Comment on how music used to create humor, pathos and romance. More details below…
Some instructions on completing the City Lights cue identification assignment.
The assignment requires some attention to detail on your part as you analyze a film scene.
The films for this week increase in their sound design synchronicity as the film production technology advances through the 1920’s.
Yet, our feature film for this week is a bit of a conundrum. It is a silent film that was produced 4 years after the declamation of spoken word in cinema. That film being Chaplin’s City Lights.
This week’s module also introduces the Spotify Playlist as an important reference guide to the music of films from here on out. The playlist this week includes tracks for our feature film, which I describe in detail throughout the module, as well as some contemporary music selections that hopefully support your understanding of the concepts of melody, motive, and texture.
I hope that as you progress through this week’s module you are able to develop your own unique relationship with this film, its touching story and its music which is at times jocular, at times syrupy sweet, and at other times heartbreakingly sublime.
You should become familiar with the melodies of the score, the leitmotifs, that the module identifies BEFORE watching the film. They can be found in the Spotify playlist with timings and titles provided for you in the module. It will be almost impossible to use correct terminology and or identify leitmotif variations without being familiar with the music BEFORE watching/listening to the film. See the previous lesson page with timings for each principle melody.
The scene that I ask you to analyze is found at the end of the film, it begins with the inter-title, AUTUMN.
As you complete the assignment you should be able to correctly identify the leitmotif used in each of the 5 cues labeled below and discuss how they function (recall the 11 functions) within the scene (this includes being able to describe the visual part of the scene that each cue is synched with, for example, “As the screen cuts to a medium shot of the tramp moping down the street we hear…”).
You should be able to:
-Identify the principal melody used
-Describe the music of each cue (such as instrumentation, and quality of the melody, for example, “The tramp melody here is at a slow tempo and features low strings instead of the established clarinet on the melody.”)
-Consider how each of the cues are different from the use of the same melody earlier in the film (just choose one example to reference). Is there a function of film music being served, like, coherency or implying the significance of unseen events?
This is a very specific scene which acts as a denouement to the storyline. The scene, which begins at 1:20:20 in the film (at the ‘inter-title’ Autumn) goes to the end of the film 1:26:49. I have found that students may still be working on how to discern the beginnings and endings of music cues in a scene. As such, I thought that it might be helpful to you if I provide the timings for each cue. You may wish to use these as a guide as you analyze each cue, or if you feel confident that you can discern the cues yourself just compare your findings with what I provide.
Each cue is given in the standard SMPT format: Hour: Minute: Second
Therefore, I am giving you the timings for each music cue. You part is to demonstrate that you recognized these leitmotifs as they existed throughout the film and connect them to their use in the following cues.
Cue 1: 1:20:20 – 1:22:20 (this means that the music cue starts at 1 hour, 20 minutes, and 20 seconds into the film and ends two minutes later)
Cue 2: 1:22:22 – 1:23:18 (this is a new cue, with a different musical theme being featured, make sure that you correctly identify which musical theme it is from the five listed in the lesson)
Cue 3: 1: 23:20 – 1:23:53 (this cue is only, 33 sec’s in length, can you correctly identify it? If not, review the lesson page that gave you the Spotify links)
Cue 4: 1:23:57 – 1:25:13
Cue 5: 1:25:16 – 1:26:49 (hint: this is a very special cue. Which musical theme is it? Where in the narrative was this musical theme played before? Why is its placement in the film significant? Notice, its featuring of the minor scale and darker timbres.)
I expect you to be able to use the correct titles for each leitmotif (Tramp, La Violetera, Home Theme, Love Theme, Violin Caprice) that you reference.
Just five little cues but, they make big statements on how the narrative has developed. This was verifiably the most arduous project of Chaplin’s career; a project in which he served as director, producer and composer. I hope you find the experience of digging into the film with its score a rewarding experience. I look forward to reading your observations!
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