Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Soundtrack ‘Design’ in Hitchcock's Thriller Sextet

Soundtrack ‘Design’ in Hitchcock's Thriller Sextet When Hitchcock scholars deal with soundtracks, typically they concentrate either on the musical content and expressive function of underscores composed for the later films or, regarding the entire oeuvre, on the use of source music and sound effects as important plot elements. Thus far little work has been done on Hitchcock’s use of the multiplane soundtrack (the composite of dialogue, sound effects, and music both diegetic and extra-diegetic) as a structural element. Hitchcock of course was an aurally conscious director, but it seems that the concept of sonic architecture was especially important to him before his move to Hollywood. Indeed, a 1934 interview informs us that Hitchcock at least considered making a dramatic film in which a significant amount of ‘cutting’ would be done not prior to audio dubbing and music scoring but, rather, afterward. This article deals with the multiplane soundtracks for the British films that constitute Hitchcock’s 1934–38 so-called thriller sextet ( The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Secret Agent, Sabotage, Young and Innocent, and The Lady Vanishes). Specific musical cues are considered only insofar as they bear on large-scale structure (such as the whistled fragments of the ‘Mr Memory Theme’ in The http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The New Soundtrack Edinburgh University Press

Soundtrack ‘Design’ in Hitchcock's Thriller Sextet

Wierzbicki, James
The New Soundtrack , Volume 1 (2): 157 – Sep 1, 2011
Download PDF
19 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/edinburgh-university-press/soundtrack-design-in-hitchcock-s-thriller-sextet-l19WODyAsS
Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
© Edinburgh University Press
Subject
Articles; Film, Media and Cultural Studies
ISSN
2042-8855
eISSN
2042-8863
DOI
10.3366/sound.2011.0017
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

When Hitchcock scholars deal with soundtracks, typically they concentrate either on the musical content and expressive function of underscores composed for the later films or, regarding the entire oeuvre, on the use of source music and sound effects as important plot elements. Thus far little work has been done on Hitchcock’s use of the multiplane soundtrack (the composite of dialogue, sound effects, and music both diegetic and extra-diegetic) as a structural element. Hitchcock of course was an aurally conscious director, but it seems that the concept of sonic architecture was especially important to him before his move to Hollywood. Indeed, a 1934 interview informs us that Hitchcock at least considered making a dramatic film in which a significant amount of ‘cutting’ would be done not prior to audio dubbing and music scoring but, rather, afterward. This article deals with the multiplane soundtracks for the British films that constitute Hitchcock’s 1934–38 so-called thriller sextet ( The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Secret Agent, Sabotage, Young and Innocent, and The Lady Vanishes). Specific musical cues are considered only insofar as they bear on large-scale structure (such as the whistled fragments of the ‘Mr Memory Theme’ in The

Journal

The New Soundtrack – Edinburgh University Press

Published: Sep 1, 2011

There are no references for this article.