OVERVIEW

The study of the relationship between music and the visual image is an increasingly significant area of interdisciplinary academic inquiry, bringing together work by scholars in film and media, cultural studies, musicology, popular music theory and performance.

The course offers an historical and theoretical overview of music on screen from the silent era to the early 21th century, with a particular focus on Italian film music.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide students with historiographic skills and theoretical tools for understanding the role of music in audiovisual media, with a particular focus on cinema. Students will gain insights into the changes that have affected aesthetic horizons, compositional techniques, technologies, and production systems, spanning from the earliest sound-image synchronization experiments to the present day. The aim is to provide students with a methodological framework enabling them to analyze the pivotal functions of music within the audiovisual system, while contextualizing them within various historical, cultural, and production contexts.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course explores the role of music in audiovisual media, providing an overview of its history, techniques, aesthetics, and production systems. It enables students to acquire knowledge about the significant changes in aesthetic horizons, compositional techniques, and production systems that have occurred since the 1910s in Italy and abroad. The course covers film music terminology and theoretical aspects, including case studies on structural and interpretive analysis, classical scoring, montage, song scores, and sound design. The objective is to equip students with historiographical skills and theoretical tools for understanding film music, and for contextualizing Italian contributions within the international landscape.

Upon completion of this course, students will be familiar with the theoretical frameworks that have developed within the emerging field of film music studies. They will develop an awareness of the cultural and industrial implications of film music, and will be able to conduct music-image analyses as a basis for discussing the roles that soundtracks play in audiovisual dramaturgy.

PREREQUISITES

Basic knowledge of Italian and international cinema.

TEACHING METHODS

Lessons will be held in person.

Although attendance is not compulsory, it is strongly recommended due to the interactive approach in teaching and the frequent use of audio-visuals.

Students with disabilities or DSAs are reminded that in order to request adaptations in the exam, they must first enter their certification on the University website at servizionline.unige.it in the "Students" section. The documentation will be verified by the University's Services for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities and DSA Sector (https://rubrica.unige.it/strutture/struttura/100111). Subsequently, at least 10 days before the date of the exam, an e-mail
must be sent to the teacher with whom you will take the exam, including in the knowledge copy both the School's Teacher Referent for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities and with DSA (Prof. Elisabetta Colagrossi: elisabetta.colagrossi@unige.it) and the Sector indicated above. The e-mail should specify: the name of the teaching; the date of the call; the student's last name, first name and roll number; the compensatory tools and dispensatory measures deemed functional; and required.  The contact person will confirm to the lecturer that the applicant is entitled to apply for adaptations in the examination and that these adaptations must be agreed upon with the lecturer. The
lecturer will respond by informing whether the requested adaptations can be used. Requests should be sent at least 10 days before the date of the call in order to allow the lecturer(s) to evaluate the content. In particular, in case you intend to make use of maps conceptual maps for the exam (which must be much more concise than the maps used for studying) if the submission does not meet the deadline there will not be the technical time needed to make any changes.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course is divided into two parts: a theoretical part, of a general nature, and a historical part, focused on Italian film music. In the latter part, an overview of the Italian archival heritage relating to film music will also be offered.

The theoretical part provides the student with the tools to analyze how music interact with other cinematic devices to produce an interconnected audiovisual system. The various functions that music performs within the film will be discussed: depending on the situation, music can act both as one of the formal devices of cinematographic language, and as an element that actively influences audiovisual dramaturgy. It will also be illustrated how the various functions of the soundtrack have been interpreted by different film music scholars, so that the student becomes familiar with the theoretical frameworks that have evolved during the last decades.

The historical part presents an overview of the history of film music, focusing in particular on Italian cinema. The Italian film industry began to demonstrate a specific interest in the role of music in audiovisual dramaturgy starting in the 1930s, in particular thanks to the activity of the musicologist Guido Gatti at the Lux Film. In this environment Nino Rota began his activity as a film music composer and worked for twenty years. With his subsequent collaborations with Fellini and Visconti, Rota revolutionized the relationship between soundtrack and audiovisual dramaturgy. From an artistic point of view, Ennio Morricone belongs to the next generation: he trained in the field of avant-garde music and made his debut in cinema in the early 1960s, quickly achieving success with his soundtracks for Sergio Leone. The two composers give us a privileged view on film music, since they have left us an important written and oral documentation that allows us to understand from the inside their compositional techniques and their conception of how music must act within the film.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Kathryn Kalinak, Musica da film. Una breve introduzione. Torino, EDT, 2022.
2. Paola Valentini, Il suono nel cinema. Storia, teoria e tecniche. Venezia, Marsilio, 2006.
3. Massimo Mariani, Il suono per il cinema. Elementi per l'analisi e la progettazione della materia sonora nell'audiovisivo. Novara, De Agostini Scuola, 2020.
4. Sergio Miceli, Musica per film: storia, estetica, analisi, tipologie. Milano/Lucca: Ricordi/LIM, 2009, only pp. 305-396 e 631-699.

Non-attending students are required to contact the professor by e-mail in order to agree on the exam programme.

N. B. Books are available at the university library and/or in the bookshop. Audio-visual examples, readings, and in-depth digital resources will be offered on the Aulaweb: although they are not part of the examination programme, these materials will allow some of the issues addressed in class to be explored in depth.

The bibliography may be subject to change and it is therefore advisable to wait until the start of the lectures before purchasing or borrowing.

Erasmus students not proficient in Italian may request a substitutive bibliography, and take the examination in English.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

GIADA ROBERTA VIVIANI (President)

GABRIELE RIGOLA

RAFFAELE MELLACE (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Classes will start on the week of September 16, 2024

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam.

The examination may be taken in English or Italian, at the student's free choice. The choice of language does not affect the exam score.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam evaluates a student's understanding of the course contents and of the relative bibliography. Knowledge of the history of film music will be assessed, with a particular focus on Italian cinema. The student should place the output of Italian composers in the correct historical, aesthetic, technological and productive context. He/she should be able to describe the main techniques of music composition, editing and sound design for the screen. Finally, he / she must be able to analyze the functions performed by the soundtrack in the audiovisual dramaturgy of the film scenes explained in class or in the bibliography.

The evaluation considers the student’s knowledge of the programme (topics presented in class, bibliography, handouts available in aulaweb). In addition, student’s speaking skills, critical skills and acquisition of musicological vocabulary are also taken into account.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

It is strongly recommended to register on the course's Aulaweb, where in-depth materials and course-related news will be provided.