Class Presentation (10 minutes, including any film extract/s)
 Examination of the use of

music / musical content in one of the films listed as possible viewing for that week, or of the
student’s choice, to be presented in a tutorial.
 A table of musical cues for the entire film
will be submitted to the tutor at the end of the presentation.
 Class presentations will
commence in Week 3 tutorials and the schedule for presentations will be finalised by W2.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra – Richard Strauss Main title

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Felix Scenes of space weightlessness
Mendelssohn
Chopin Waltz Frank Pool jogging in the spaceship’s
centrifuge
Sinfonia Antarctica – Ralph Vaughan Bowman passes through the Star Gate
Williams
Atmospheres - Gröygy Ligeti Black screen at the beginning

Diegetic and non-dietetic sounds

Moving scores and minimalistic dialogues
Use of diegetic sounds to give HAL life
 Sounds within the realm of the movie
 Dialogue and subtle humming tones – given a subtle personality
Silence vs. soundtrack
 Minimal dialogue to add depth given
Feelings
 Non-diegetic sounds to manipulate audience
 Isolation, time to reflect

True sound design – integral part of the film

Pre-existing tracks by a wide variety of composers – used as temporary tracks
 Back-up? Thoughts on Kubrick using North’s score if he couldn’t get the rights to the
music
 Kubrick – however good the film composer might be – why use music that is less
good?
 Use of original music from North’s score – title sequence vs. Kubrick’s choice
o Not as much edge and ominous – dark feel gives menace of technology and
disconcerting of space exploration
Silence
 North composed for some scenes that ended up being silent in the final production
o Deliberate – frank’s death scene completely silent, creates tension and a
sober mood
 Dave dismantles HAL
o All of HAL’s speech is pre-recorded non-diegetic sound
o His voice deepens and slows
o Sings ‘Daisy’
Room
  Diegetic sounds of footsteps in silence, wine glass breaking, fork and knife – familiar
but stand out because they are the only sound (only signs of life)
o Unsettling

Blue Danube
 Waltz to accompany image of space travel
 19th century ball music to space
 Why? But why it works
o Cutting the space ships – everything in nature turns – all the space ships turn,
world turns, waltz is turning!
Herrmann
 Vulgar – took it at face value
 Use of such music in space is out of context
What makes it work?
 Understanding the waltz
 ¾ time signature, space rhythm
chose a specific waltz: Vienna waltz
 recording by Herbert von Kara
 written between 1850-1900, rhythmic irregularity
 lingers slightly on the second beat – lingers over the air (mimics physics, space)
 mimics orbital rhythm in the planets
 subliminal weightlessness

Background information:
 title, year, director, genre
 composer (background, relationship with director/process)
Synopsis
Music
 overview of musical content
o creative process and/or final product
 style
 key functions
What work is the music doing in the film?
 Examples
o One/two representative extracts
o Explain their importance
o Illustrate a specific point with the examples – why is there a musical cue
here? How does it work?

Christopher Heathcote
- Kubrick employs idea of gesamkunstwerk (total work of art)
- Use of temp tracks:
o “However good our best film composers may be. Why use music which is less
good when there is such a multitude of great orchestral music available from
the past and from our own time?”
- Great plot and character
 - Themes
o Space exploration
o The reason for believing in the existence of intelligent extra-terrestrial life
o Impact of the discovery
- Experience of the film:
o Non-verbal experience
o Attempts to communicate more to the subconscious and to the feelings than
it does to the intellect
Background 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke
- Based on the short story “The Sentinel”
- Novel “2001: A Space Odyssey” written concurrently with the
screenplay, published soon after the film was released

Synopsis
Music There is an unused score composed by Alex North (who had previously
worked on his last project Spartacus and Dr. Strangelove)
Kubrick chose to abandon North’s music in favour for the pieces of
classical music, which he had chosen earlier as “guide pieces”/temp
tracks for the soundtrack
Interview with Michel Ciment – Kubrick explains:
 However good our best film composers may be, they are not a
Beethoven, a Mozart or a Brahms. Why use music which is less
good when there is such a multitude of great orchestral music
available from the past and from our own time? When you are
editing a film, it's very helpful to be able to try out different
pieces of music to see how they work with the scene...Well, with
a little more care and thought, these temporary tracks can
become the final score.

17th Aug
Background information:
- 2001: A Space Odyssey was a screenplay developed by Stanley Kubrick and science-
fiction author Arthur C. Clarke
- Wanted to tackle a film that was a non-verbal experience and burrow down into the
audiences’ deep subconscious
o Clarke: “arousing emotions of wonder, awe… [and] even, if appropriate,
terror”
o He aims for an open-endedness with philosophical and allegorical meaning
- “The Sentinel” (1977)
o Kubrick wanted to expand further ideas expressed in this novel
 Themes: limits and consequences of technology, nature of existence,
evolutions of humans (past, present and future)
- Kubrick and Clarke develop a novel and screenplay at the same time
 - Classical Hollywood: music supplements the action on screen and never
overshadows it
o Subversion by 2001: A Space Odyssey – turns away from this, Kubrick draws
on classical status of pre-existing musical selections to augment the role of
music
- Music is neither a post-production afterthought nor background nor incidental, but
rather core to the ideas and meaning of his films
o To analyse the music of 2001: A Space Odyssey, we must look at Kubrick
deeply as the source – he is the powerful and dominant auteur
o By rejecting Alex North’s score, Kubrick was in favour of the temp-track list of
musical works which he eventually used when directing and editing
o It was his deliberate choice to use these pre-existing compositions – because
he felt it was the right music for his film and believed its potential to imbue
the film with extra meaning
- 1) Kubrick selected the musical works 2) genre of the composition is classical
western art music and pre-existed recordings 3) Kubrick designed the music editing

Style:
- Film music functions in 2001: A Space Odyssey: emotive, informative, guiding
temporal and rhetorical
o Ligeti and Khatchaturian – communicative emotive qualities, provide deep
atmosphere and mood
- BUT no music suggests the emotions of individual characters; the characters
appear largely devoid of emotion
- Most of the musical works create a sense of time, impose a rhythm for the on-
screen narration and therefore have a temporal function
- Use of repeating musical works throughout the movie: rhetorical function lies on the
repetition of specific musical works throughout the film narration and works as an
inner-comment
- Gorbman: music in 2001 functions as a signifier of emotion, givers narrative cues,
unifies the scenes and the shots and provides continuity
- Underscoring
o Music doesn’t function like it normally does in other classic Hollywood films
o Music and dialogue almost never co-exist: counterpoint-type relationship
make us infer that music is kind of dialogue within the narration
 The relative lack of dialogue and extended visual sequences rely on
music to “explain” the scenes in the film’s story
- Music goes beyond emotions and atmospheres, and takes on a narrative role
o Function of music is scientifically enhanced by the ambiguity inherent in the
visuals
- Theatrical tradition:
o Overture, intermission and “final bow”
o
Brief synopsis: 2001: A Space Odyssey is an epic science fiction film made in 1968. The film
centres around a space mission to Jupiter with a team consisting of David Bowman, Frank
Pool, and the sentient computer called HAL. As their journey progresses
Background: screenplay process (Arthur C. Clarke – aims for the movie, themes)
Overview of musical content: film composition process (Alex North)
 Initially Kubrick met with various composers to develop an original score for his film,
however there was lack of communication in addition to Kubrick not entirely
knowing himself what he wanted for his music to entail
 At one point through this process, Kubrick gives a huge sum of money to his assistant
to “go buy all the classical music you can find downtown.”
 And in this process Kubrick develops his temporary tracks by listening to a record
one at a time on a turntable
 The studio pressures him to hire a composer to make an original score and this is
when Alex North comes in (whom he had done other projects with such as
Spartacus)
 The film has approximately 40 minutes of dialogue in a two-and-a-half-hour movie
 Kubrick tells North in their initial meetings he wanted to keep some of the temp
traps – North retorts he can compose similar music to replace them
 Finally
Style:
 Use and choice of temp tracks
Key role
 Narrative role
 Atmospheric role (space weightlessness with Mendelssohn and sound-silence
diegetic/non-diegetic noise)
 Theatrical role (overture scene with Strauss)
o Opening sequence with the sun rising over the Earth and the moon
o Refers to Nietzsche philosophical novel (same title Sprach Zarathustra)
o
 Giving/evading emotions of characters (diegetic sounds to give HAL life, has its own
music, almost a leitmotif – Ligeti’s requiem at three places of the movie)

19 Aug

Richard Strauss – Blue Danube Waltz Cue: ___ - 00:41:07

Ligeti (repetition) 00:45:47 – 00:46:57
 00:49:09 – 00:53:34
o mixture of diegetic sounds of spaceship and choral (spaceship, sounds of
oxygen from the spacesuits)
o monolith has its own motif – living, conscious, emotional
o repetition of scene + same music as Dawn of Man – apes/man touches the
monolith
o 54:27 – trigger of diegetic sound, high pitched ringing overlay of Ligeti
o Cue for music to cut – moves to new section of Jupiter mission 18 months
later
Jupiter Mission 18 Months Later
54:44
 56:15 – diegetic sounds of exercise at the same time as soundtrack
 57:21 – monolith (soundtrack with this angle of HAL), emotional
 58:06 – ends

58:41
 diegetic soundtrack, jazzy, from BBC telecast
o ends – 58:57
1:03:31 – music cues again to travel of spaceship (Strauss?)
 1:03:58 – first scene of dialogue and music, between HAL and Frank
 1:05:38 – diegetic music, singing happy birthday
 1:06:23 – playing chess
 ends – 1:07:20

moments of silence and sounds of breathing – isolation (around ~1:13:45 – ends 1:18:52)
 16:50 – moment of experiencing vastness and loneliness of space, breathing
quickens, contrasts with sounds of inside having noise of machinery work in
background
 breathing is broken around 18:52 with sounds of machinery scanning

1:24:40
 sounds of switches clicking off – rest of background noise is cut off (ears of HAL can’t
hear and we as audience no longer hear background noises)
 1:27:08 – reading lips – no sound

intermission – 1:27:24 – ends at 1:30:00

music starts 1:27:50 after intermission sign
 black screen

1:30:40
Dave dies!!! Every time we are cut to him, he is floating quickly away in silence

1:35:10
Sounds of machinery tracking

1:39:24
computer malfunction, kills hibernation technology

1:54:55
 HAL sings daisy
 Pitch is low and tempo gets slower and slower
 Ends 1:55:42
1968 science fiction epic – 2001: A Space Odyssey
directed by Stanley Kubrick
2001 follows a space mission to Jupiter
40 mins of dialogue – no expository dialogue
various interpretations of 200: at the basis of each opinion
21 Aug. 18

It’s been fifty years since the release of Stanley Kubrick’s science-fiction epic 2001: A Space
Odyssey. The space opera follows Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood as astronauts on a journey
to Jupiter with the computer HAL 9000 after the discovery of a mysterious black monolith
with a profound effect on human evolution.

Since 1968, 2001: A Space Odyssey has produced many various interpretations. Diligently
due, as it was Kubrick’s intention to create such a film that was open-ended with
philosophical and allegorical meaning. Working closely with sci-fi author, Arthur C. Clarke,
they expand a screenplay that explores the limits and consequences of technology, nature
of existence and the evolutions of humans – past, present and future.

It was essential that 2001 was more than a film; a non-verbal experience that buried deep
into the audience’s subconscious. Music was a key figure in making sure this idea was
stylised in the movie. Kubrick subverts the traditional Hollywood idea of music
supplementing action and instead augments its role within the film. Music is neither a post-
production afterthought nor background, nor incidental – but rather core to the ideas and
meaning of his film.

It’s essential to look back at Kubrick when we analyse the music of 2001. Any time music is
heard within the film, it is because of his careful and deliberate consideration. During the
production, Kubrick had in fact rejected an entire original score composed by Alex North in
favour of using his temporary tracks consisting of western classical music. It was his belief
that these pre-existing compositions felt more suited to the film and had more potential to
carry its underlying meaning. No other composer could do such work other than the
“greats”.

1) Kubrick selected the musical works 2) genre of the composition is classical western art
music and pre-existed recordings 3) Kubrick designed the music editing

As mentioned, 2001 did not follow classic Hollywood guidelines of film scoring. There is
approximately 40 minutes of dialogue within the two-and-a-half-hour run time and from my
various screenings there really isn’t that much music altogether. Kubrick avoids 70s sci-fi
clichés of Theremins. Music doesn’t function like it normally does in other classic Hollywood
films: music and dialogue almost never co-exist – giving the two a counter-point relationship
and make us, the audience, infer that the music is the dialogue to the narration.

Theatrical Role
 Space Opera
 Overture
o Music implies the curtain of the film – more specifically tin the beginning of
the film, the first appearance of the Atmosphéres in conjunction with the
total black screen simulate the curtain, signifying the viewer-listener: [to]
clear up your mind and get involved in the experience
o
 Intermission
  ‘Final Bow’

Begins with a black screen and György Ligeti’s orchestral work Atmosphéres. Kubrick wanted
to have an introduction to the film and imitate the theatrical structures from Hollywood’s
Golden Age. This beginning scene emulates the old style of an overture – the audience sees
nothing but black and rely on the music to give fragments about what is yet to be
discovered (power of the monolith).

Emotive/emotion function – giving emotion to an object

 Overall scoring
 HAL 9000 given emotions
 Humans have no dialogue

The monolith – is accompanied by Ligeti’s Requiem for soprano, mezzosoprano, two mixed
choruses and orchestra. If we look at this track as diegetic, we can interpret the Requiem as
the voice of the monolith. If music is used to give emotional depth to characters, then we
must interpret HAL as

Semiotic qualities (stylistic polarities) – if we distinguish the musics as tonal and nontal, we
can infer that the first are related to human presence from the hominoids to the humans of
the very near future (emotions, moods, acts and awareness), while the latter depict and
signify the unknown, the transcentdal and the alien: a non-human state of conciousness

Changing the perception of movement and time/creating atmosphere

 Space activities, music makes it weightless
o Spanning motion of the waltz mirrors and accompanies the spinning
movement of the Space Station and when the airhostess walks on the circular
corridor
o Also the use of the waltz to blend the cuts of scenes: when the ape sends the
bone spinning in the air and then we get to the cut to the Space Ship
 Use of classical western music – elements of this genre of music being seen
‘superior’/’high-art’, humans triumphant over technology (?) or is it…

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

 Opens the film like an old fanfare opened Greek tragedies or early operas
 Proceeds the black screen overture – the track wakes up the viewer, mimicking the
theatre curtain
 Hails the beginning of a great philosophical, atypical work of art

Music as markers of film parts

 Structure of the film, each part is marked by music (even the ones without title
cards)
 Prologue – Richard Strauss
 Jump cut million years – Johann Strauss
 18 months later – Adagio from Gayaneh
 Beyond the infinite – uses mix of Ligeti and music made by Kubrick
 Film actually ends with the third fanfare in Thus Spoke Zarathustra and by doing
that, Kubrick created the feeling of a cyclic structure even in the music
SLIDES ORDER

Background
 Kubrick
 Arthur C. Clark
 Movie ideology

Musical Style
 Alex North
 Classical music serves a number of functions in 2001 – creates an atmosphere;
parallel motions; follows the narrative drama
 At times film is closely edited to fit musical choice and/or structure/gesture of the
music
 Spotting/selection – temp track
 Avant-garde selection of music – reflects avant-garde film genre

Creating a non-cliché soundtrack to space

 Kubrick does not employ cliché of space music – music doesn’t even function like it
normally does in other classic Hollywood films
 Lack of dialogue – music acts as dialogue/markers of interpretation for what is
happening on screen
 Non-traditional sci-fi scoring – instrumentation (Theremins), non-original temp
tracks
o Waltz

Theatrical Structures
 Gesamtkunstwerk / Space Opera
 Follows theatrical tradition – overture, intermission and ‘final bow’
o Overture: first appearance of the Atmosphères, in conjunction with the total
black screen, simulate the curtain, signifying an invitation to the viewer-
listener: “clear up your mind and get involved in the experience”.

Markers for sections of the film – structure of the film is laid out by musical cues (even for
the parts that have no title)
 Overture, prologue, Dawn of Man, jump cut to the future, 18 months later, beyond
the infinite
o Video example – cut from each beginning to another

Leitmotifs
 Repeated music established as a leitmotiv, they function as signs which evoke a re-
conceptualisation of certain associations
 The recurrence of certain works establishes and communicates various meanings.
Furthermore, the use of musical leitmotivs in 2001: A Space Odyssey is not
stereotypical, nor cliché.
 o Zarathustra: appears in dawn of man (beginning of civilisation) and virgin-
birth of Star-Child
 Circular structure to the narrative
o Ligeti Kyrie used three times: (1) the discovery of the monolith by the
hominoids (2) the encounter of the monolith by the specialised scientists (3)
Dave’s Star-gate
 Leitmotiv for alien consciousness – the duration of his composition
(around 33 minutes for the entire movie), non-human character given
an entire composer as a leitmotiv
 Music connects the scenes together; diminishes the space and time
distance among them
 Provides unity and connotes the idea and the question of
consciousness through the contact with an extra-terrestrial
intelligence
 Giving non-human characters emotions
o Question: who are the main characters?
o Tonal vs. non-tonal

Silence and diegetic/non-diegetic music

22 Aug. 18

E. Classical/Avant-garde music vs newly composed score in 2001

 EX 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, directed Stanley Kubrick)
o Richard Strauss, Also sprach Zarathustra (1896); Gyö rgy Ligeti, Lux Aeterna (1966)
o Classical music serves a number of functions in 2001. It creates an atmosphere; parallels
motion; follows the narrative drama.
o At times film is closely edited to fit musical choice and/or structure/gesture of the
music.
 Opening - apes realise they can use bone as a weapon - realisation comes
through the music - based on Nietzsche work
 Monolith - Ligeti
o Different commercial pressures on Kubrick influenced his choices.
 Waltz
 Pieces were popular in the 60s

o Spotting / selection - Temp track.

 Maintain control !!!
o Alex North had to mimic some of the initial temp track cues.
 Difficult position for the composer - simulation of the Strauss piece
 EX - of North's original music in the opening sequence
 Using contemporary language (music) for science fiction
o The avant-garde in 1960s/1970s Hollywood.
 EX Planet of the Apes (1968, music Jerry Goldsmith).
o After WWII - difficulties reconciling concert music with film music that was presented in
concert venues.
o This has broken down considerably in past 30 years (minimalism/changing orchestral
repertoire).
Issue of using classical music by 1960s - in relation to directors wanting to get away from the cinema
cliches of using a composed score
Having greater control - shots and then music was added later
 As part of that - Kubrick - wanted to get away from that and use pre-existing music
 Shape the aesthetic around the temp track
North
 Use temp track as ideas of what he wanted
 Tension between director/autuer and control of the musical score