MUS2001 ¨C Film music

Course content

This course explores the multifaceted relationship between music and the moving image as it has developed over the history of cinema.?We will discuss music's diverse uses and functions?across film history, from silent film and classic Hollywood film scoring?to more recent approaches that differently?inform,?challenge, or even contradict our narrative perception. By investigating the historical, technological, and aesthetic discourses surrounding music and moving images, this course invites students to explore?how music supplements and enriches?cinematic visuals, and?to uncover?music's?sometimes surprising influence on viewers'?emotional experience. The course focuses primarily on?stylistic developments, questions of interpretation and aesthetics, and understanding film music in?historical context (economic, social-political, technological).?We will also discuss some important?composers' careers and stylistic innovations throughout the class.?Students will?leave the course appreciating?the extent to which unspoken rules of soundtracks and film scoring make the combination of music and image so powerful.

Learning outcome

By the end of the course, the student will:

• be familiar with the language and experience of sound and music in film.
• be familiar with the elements of soundtrack production and its relationship to the moving image.
• have developed awareness of historical, commercial, and social factors in the entertainment industry.
• be able to perform a music-image analysis as a basis for discussion of roles that the soundtrack plays in film.

Admission to the course

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for?in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about?admission requirements and procedures.

Overlapping courses

• 10 credits overlap with MUS4001 ¨C Film music (discontinued).

Teaching

• 10 double sessions (involving lectures and seminar activities)

Obligatory activities

• Compulsory attendance to 7 of 10 lectures/seminars.

• Qualification assessment: Submission of an essay draft which must include: an abstract; a detailed plan outlining the main arguments and materials used in each section; an annotated bibliography.

Information about the assignments and the deadlines will be given during the teaching and in Canvas. You have to hand in the assignments within the deadlines, and you are responsible for familiarising yourself with the requirements for the compulsory activities.

The compulsory activity is only valid within the current semester. All compulsory activities must be approved in order for you to sit the exam. You are responsible for keeping track of any absences, and for checking that you have everything approved.

This is how you apply for a valid absence from compulsory activities.

Examination

• Term paper (10 pages, each containing approx. 2,300 characters, spaces not included).

You have to fulfill the requirements of the compulsory activities to sit the exam.

Language of examination

The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.