Ha, excellent! What you wrote, I always felt and knew. But never actually realized. ("Never underestimate the pleasure you provide to an audience by telling them something they already know" attributed to Robert Dicke I think). And as I started reading, I was definitely certain you would get to the opening sequence of Down by Law. Well done, and great examples. I'll read it again....
“What oft was thought and ne’er so well expressed” eh? Thank you very much. And thank you for that Robert Dicke line - that’s excellent and I’m definitely stealing that for my data viz masterclasses
Walkman culture - how you can reject compromise and still be well-mannered!
[or be seen to be well-mannered].
And in the streaming [Video on Demand] world you do get a little bit of this - especially in movies from other countries or that are made for an international audience.
When needledrop does what it does - it makes me think of the dissonance between picture and word in picture story books.
The pictures can say so much more than the words - and/or they say it differently.
A great exemplar for today is Stephen Knight's THIS TOWN.
[especially Fiona and the record shop scenes - and the tapes that Dante makes with his own songs].
In Australia there is LADIES IN BLACK which has been using music from the last 25 years - the sort of music you would hear in a department store - but which was never heard in the 1960s when it was set.
That’s a really good point about picture books - comics too. And you make me realise that really it’s all different ways of pulling off the Kuleshov effect ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuleshov_effect) - editing, music choice, words and images, juxtaposing elements to make the audience invent the story that makes them all work together.
I’m now wondering how much of my love of film and music is a generational thing. As you say, in the 80s particularly, the two were inextricably tied together. If hit singles didn’t come from movie soundtracks then they probably came from TV adverts. Half of the cassettes I owned in the early 90s were movie soundtracks. And with the advent of video, films were suddenly so much more accessible than they had been previously.
I hadn’t at all considered how that legacy might have impacted film makers of that generation though. Based on the examples cited here, in the best way possible. I would suggest The Umbrella Academy is a televisual example using music in a very similar way. I think it’s one of the most striking things about the show.
Now feeling the urge to go off and rewatch Asteroid City!
You’re right about TV too - I completely failed to mention the soundtracks to both Killing Eve and The Bear which were full of fantastic needle drops (by which I mean they mimicked my Spotify playlist perfectly).
I also need to rewatch Asteroid City to check it was as good as I thought it was
I think I was too enthralled with Jodie Comer to pay attention to the Killing Eve soundtrack but there are some incredible tracks featured in The Bear.
I watched Asteroid City twice in a pretty short space of time and I actually think it was better on second viewing so I think you’ll be fine. I’m definitely ready for a third watch!
Ha, excellent! What you wrote, I always felt and knew. But never actually realized. ("Never underestimate the pleasure you provide to an audience by telling them something they already know" attributed to Robert Dicke I think). And as I started reading, I was definitely certain you would get to the opening sequence of Down by Law. Well done, and great examples. I'll read it again....
“What oft was thought and ne’er so well expressed” eh? Thank you very much. And thank you for that Robert Dicke line - that’s excellent and I’m definitely stealing that for my data viz masterclasses
Walkman culture - how you can reject compromise and still be well-mannered!
[or be seen to be well-mannered].
And in the streaming [Video on Demand] world you do get a little bit of this - especially in movies from other countries or that are made for an international audience.
When needledrop does what it does - it makes me think of the dissonance between picture and word in picture story books.
The pictures can say so much more than the words - and/or they say it differently.
A great exemplar for today is Stephen Knight's THIS TOWN.
[especially Fiona and the record shop scenes - and the tapes that Dante makes with his own songs].
In Australia there is LADIES IN BLACK which has been using music from the last 25 years - the sort of music you would hear in a department store - but which was never heard in the 1960s when it was set.
That’s a really good point about picture books - comics too. And you make me realise that really it’s all different ways of pulling off the Kuleshov effect ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuleshov_effect) - editing, music choice, words and images, juxtaposing elements to make the audience invent the story that makes them all work together.
Loved learning about and exploring the Kuleshov effect with you, Tobias!
So this power of story invention goes quite far.
[also reading the Wikipedia article I discovered CREATIVE GEOGRAPHY].
I’m now wondering how much of my love of film and music is a generational thing. As you say, in the 80s particularly, the two were inextricably tied together. If hit singles didn’t come from movie soundtracks then they probably came from TV adverts. Half of the cassettes I owned in the early 90s were movie soundtracks. And with the advent of video, films were suddenly so much more accessible than they had been previously.
I hadn’t at all considered how that legacy might have impacted film makers of that generation though. Based on the examples cited here, in the best way possible. I would suggest The Umbrella Academy is a televisual example using music in a very similar way. I think it’s one of the most striking things about the show.
Now feeling the urge to go off and rewatch Asteroid City!
You’re right about TV too - I completely failed to mention the soundtracks to both Killing Eve and The Bear which were full of fantastic needle drops (by which I mean they mimicked my Spotify playlist perfectly).
I also need to rewatch Asteroid City to check it was as good as I thought it was
I think I was too enthralled with Jodie Comer to pay attention to the Killing Eve soundtrack but there are some incredible tracks featured in The Bear.
I watched Asteroid City twice in a pretty short space of time and I actually think it was better on second viewing so I think you’ll be fine. I’m definitely ready for a third watch!