Citizen Kane

The music in Citizen Kane served to set the mood for each scene and it joined the scenes together during flashbacks. When the film first started the music was very low, quiet, dark, and foreboding. Instantly the audience knew that the plot would be somber and dramatic. The first real scene then was of Kane uttering his last word "rosebud" and then him dropping the snow globe and dying. The music quickly changed then to almost a fanfare while the headlines from the newspapers discussed his death. This change in musical tone also helped the audience to understand how the newspaper worked in Kane's life. The music was like a fanfare because he was the unloved hero so it was right that the music advertising his death would be dramatic, loud, and almost triumphant.

The film's music was mostly underscoring that ran throughout most scenes. It was not wall to wall music, but the music was very prominent. The use of underscoring when the scenes changed to flashbacks really helped to make the film cohesive. The underscoring in these scene changes also really helped to set the mood for each flash back.

One thing I noticed in this film was a lot of use of piano. The piano was used for diagetic music but the underscoring also seemed to rely heavily on the piano. The romantic scenes used flutes, clarinets, and the piano; as a result very few strings were used.
Overall, the music in Citizen Kane functioned very well in setting the tone of the scenes as the movie progressed and in creating continuity among the flashbacks.

Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity was created in the film noir style. This style appeared around 1946 and it is characteristically dark and pessimistic. Some of the other distinctive elements are that there are very few music cues, low instrumentation, an unusual orchestral sound, dissonant harmonies, and the occasional use of jazz as diagetic music. Double Indemnity used almost all of these characteristics and the effect was a very dramatic and suspenseful movie.

The opening credits began with very dissonant chords done in the low register that gave the music a very dark, foreboding sound. Throughout the rest of the film, the music never became much lighter. The melody used in the opening credits reappeared every time evil was portrayed which was often when Mr. Neff was talking about murder in the flashbacks. The film noir characteristic of jazz diagetic music was also used in Double Indemnity. When Walter went to talk to Phyllis about "getting off of the trolley car" there was jazz music that could be heard that was coming from a radio up the street. Walter even talked about it asking where the music was coming from, and then later when he closed the window because he couldn't handle it.

One interesting way the music was used in the film was for the flashbacks. When Mr. Neff was talking in the office on the recorder, there was no music, but when the scene changed to the flashback a very quiet, gentle violin melody began to play. This was very helpful in alerting the audience when there was going to be a flashback.

Overall, Double Indemnity was a comprehensive portrayal of the film noir style.

The Sea Hawk

One musical technique that Korngold used in The Sea Hawk was foreshadowing. Near the beginning of the movie, Queen Elizabeth looked at a picture of the Spanish King James and the music became very dissonant and menacing. Later the audience learns the reason for this shift in music, when King James demands that Queen Elizabeth arrest all English sailors. At that point in the movie, Elizabeth was very mad at James for his assumption that he could control her and the music definitely mimicked these feelings. James's picture was actually removed from the wall so that Queen Elizabeth did not have to look at him anymore. The musical shift in tone when Elizabeth first looked at the painting really did not make sense until King James tried to use his power to control the Queen. I thought this use of music for foreshadowing purposes was very creative and well executed.

Another technique that Korngold used in The Sea Hawk was underscoring that became diagetic music. In the scenes where Capitan Thorp comes to court to see the Queen after he sinks the Spanish ship, the music starts out as underscoring, but as trumpeters and buglers are seen trumpets become much more prominent in the music and it is understood that the characters can hear the trumpets. The one problem though is that there is still a full orchestra accompaniment that the audience can hear, but we assume that the characters cannot. This happens several times because trumpets are used to announce people to the Queen. On the ship Korngold made the diagetic music more obvious because he added the rest of the orchestra after the diagetic music was finished. However, in court the music was never just trumpets, it was always a full orchestra the trumpets just became louder to symbolize that they were diagetic.

I also really liked when the underscoring portrayed Captain Thorp's thoughts. When he first started falling in love with Maria the underscoring was gentle and romantic whenever he thought of her or talked to her, but when his crew was teasing him his glare was accompanied with a harsh change in melody and tone to show his irritation at their jokes. The music quickly resumed its gentle melody though because his thoughts did not stray long from Maria.

Overall, the music made The Sea Hawk a very powerful and engaging movie.

Gone With the Wind

The most notable music in Gone With the Wind is Tara's theme. Every time Scarlett gets back to Tara the music is triumphant, upbeat, and hopeful. Scarlett is almost always struggling when she returns to Tara, but the use of trumpets in Tara's melody reminds the audience of Scarlett's love for Tara and her determination to succeed. Tara's theme does not stay triumphant for long when Scarlett realizes just how much has been lost in the war, but the sense of pride that the melody evokes does not waver. Scarlett is frantic when she first gets home after fleeing Atlanta, but she is still determined to stay and make Tara profitable again. The very last scene best depicts Scarlett's love for Tara through the music because Scarlett this time is devastated; Rhett left her and she has hit bottom, but Tara's theme is very boisterous and expectant in the last scene. This tells the audience that Scarlett will make it because her love for Tara will help her through anything.

The rest of the music throughout the film was very important for moving the action forward and for foreshadowing events. One scene that I thought was very poignant was the battle scene with all of the fallen soldiers. The use of the "Dixie" while showing the dead men, and then transitioning to "Taps" was a very strong use of score music. "Dixie" is understood to represent the South, and "Taps" is very powerful because it's always used at a soldier's funeral so the combined use of these songs made the scene very moving.