Movie themes are often very romantic in nature. I don’t mean mushy lovey romantic – I mean the romantic music period . The Romantic period was about 1820-1900. It was characterized by highly emotional harmonies, flowing melodies, virtuoso pianists and huge orchestras. Wagner, a romantic composer, made the motif famous (small thematic lines representing an object, person or other important story element). These little motifs would be played in his operas reminding the listener of who someone or something was. For instance in his famous “Ring” series, he told the story of large women warriors who rode horses into a battle field and picked up the dead to take to the gods. Every time they came you would hear a three note theme representing them. Many of you know it as the theme to Elmer Fudd’s song “Kill da Wabbit”.
Movies use this Romantic method of using motifs and themes over and over. They tie the whole movie together. Remember the two note motif of “Jaws”? Every time you hear it you know a shark is somewhere around…
Listen to the original version of King Kong. Then listen to the remake Part I (all the other parts are posted if you want to listen to them for extra credit). Compare the two.
On the first scene, if you don’t want to watch the entire scene you can skip from 2:05 to 4:00 when the themes come back in. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPEuxGiD_tA&feature=related
There are two main “scarey motifs”. How many notes does each one have? Did you hear the three note “sad” motif? How is different from the scarey motifs? How is it the same? Anybody catch the “Jaws” theme (two note motif) for a quick second?
What is the brass doing?
What are the winds doing?
What are the strings doing?
Which percussion instruments stand out?
What is the harmony like at the most dramatic moments?
Now listen to the latest remake end scene (Part I required - the rest are extra credit) and compare the two. Can you find the motifs/themes?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpRV2f015UA (Part I)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQHm2s4neHY&feature=related (Part II)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOUJWWqktNk (Part IV)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JweDH50bAKI (Part V)
Which do you like better? Why?
The first "scary" part is when everybody's all, "OMG KING KONG FLEE FOR YOUR LIVES!"
ReplyDeleteThen it's "scary" because King Kong and that one girl are all like "OMG AIRPLANES OMG OMG OMG" and King Kong is all like 'NOES' and the girl is all like 'I'M SCARED OUT OF MY MIND!' and everybody's yelling because everything is scared of everything else.
Then it's apparently sad when King Kong gets shot. What? I thought you just spent the ENTIRE MOVIE making him out to be a monster that should die and you had all the main characters try to kill him. Anyway. He's all like 'What? I'm invincible! Oh noes! DARN YOU AEROPLANES! *thwack swipe crash of airplane*'
I liked part one better than the original because it seemed like there were more parts that blended more smoothly. It seemed more suspenseful, too, partly because of the vocal whatever.
I agree with Kitty, and it was hilarious to watch but to bad king Kong died :-(
ReplyDeleteSo in the first one the winds seemed to be making the sounds where you were worried and like serious situation sounds. The percussion that stood out to me was the cymbals that sounded at the fortes. The theme in this one was the three notes that sounded danger before and after he died.
ReplyDeleteThe second version sounds more intense and like there is a trial. The brass is doing a lot more. And the addition of a voice like sound makes it really ominous. Near 155 the bursts of brass sounds sound like something really bad is happening and that's when the fight is.
The two do sound like they are about the same thing. I feel like the second one uses more instruments and a more complicated arrangement.
The scary motif in each of the videos had 3 notes. The scary motif were faster than the sad motif. The percussion that was heard the most was the bass. I heard trumpets trombones the most for the brass. I heard flutes the most for the winds. I don't know about the strings.
ReplyDeleteThe difference between the two that interests me is how very little the old version utilizes percussion compared to the new. In the old version most if not all of the build up and suspense is carried by the brass and strings and only the occasional percussive note comes through the mix. The new arrangement however, uses lots of fast quick beats to build up the suspense. I good example of this is 1:16-1:28. The heavy timpani hits add a ominous tone behind the quick and flighty string section.
ReplyDeletei think the brass are more active during the scary part, and theres not a whole lot of wind, the winds are more overpowered by the brass. The strings are mostly around the end, when the lady gets saved and everything, the happy sad ending thing, where its happy that you got saved but its sad cuz he died. i super like the second one better!!! is so much more intenseifying! i like how the bass drum (i think) is all keeping the beat in the background and that makes it so much more exciting! the cymblos do stand out but the bass drum makes it so much better it wouldnt be good with out the bass. the bass do a lot in both of the songs and they are kinda the main part of the music that makes you want to know whats happening. The scarey motifs are 3 notes. i really liked the second one better it was super instrunmental but i liked it pretty well! oh, now i hear the voice i had to look for it!!! :) i really like the last like 30 seconds of the second one its so cool!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI think it is very intresting to listen and compare songs out of movies, especially movies that are so distant from each other. In the old King Kong, I find it very amusing on how simple the music was in terms of when it came in and out and how it was used to depict scenes. The first scary part is when the airplanes roll in and the brass section gets really intense. Another thing that I noticed in the older one, the instruments climb up and down the scale when king kong is climbing up and falling down the empire state building where as in the new one, that is thought to be the least dramtic part music wise and is replaced by a less dramtic but far more emotional piece. The Newer King Kong, is by far longer and more complex. Each part is like its own story with a different type of concflict (parts 1&2 king kong fights the airplanes and parts 3&4 King Kong dies) I like the newer one better because it it conveys a little more emotion (Parts IV&V) and gave each scene a little more detail and also helped convey the characters emotions better with out there being a video. The older one is too generic and in a nutshell.
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ReplyDeleteAnother good epic is john williams 2 part piece known as battle of the heros from star wars. it just bleeds masterpiece......
ReplyDeletePart 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pcSHcCYtaI
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIl7-rDOuTM
The motifs of this song were the cymbal clashes. These added excitement. The instruments all blended together well.
ReplyDeleteThe remake was different because it had a little opera at the beginning. It also seemed that there was more going on musically in the remake. I liked the remake better because it seemed more exciting.
I think the motifs are that when king kong takes the girl (scary or suspensful moment) and the second is when he is killed (sad). I think it is much easier to pay attention to the second clip mainly because their isn't anything to distract or cover up the background music. I agree with Emily saying that the cymbol clashes stood out and that they add excitement. During the original scene when the planes were attacking, it sounded like strings were the only things playing, while the remake had an orchestra type sound. I like the original because it was one of the first movies to have music as a motif to add character to scenes.
ReplyDeleteThe Scary Parts Are the ones where you actually see King Kong. This is some old style music, normally listened too on a record player, Thus the effects of the music have a TOTALLY different feel than modern music. The percussion sounds a little lacking in some places and the other instruments sound right spot on. I think the Percussion lacks because of the quality of the recording.
ReplyDeleteKing Kong is a different motif to pick up on because i think its a lot less easier to hear than "Jaws". The actual parts that are the "motifs" are whenever King Kong is getting shot by the airplanes towards the end of the scene but it was hard to hear because of the quality of the recording. The newer one is better to hear and a much more intense and emotional piece to listen to. but on both of the recordings, the instruments were projecting the idea of an intense movie sequence which is, what i think, their designated job.
ReplyDeleteI thought the original king kong had very dramatic music and it was in black and white which made it very different from the remake, where as in the remake, king kong is much more real looking the in the other one and also, they both have very dramatic music but in different ways. for example, in the original the music very very harsh and loud which made it very interesting but in the new one, the music was lighter and sounded better and it also told a story kind of because it was soft and sounded romantic and it was telling how king kong was sad about the girl.
ReplyDeletei love this kind of background music in the old movies. they make me laugh. this one was pretty intense, to say the least. at first, its all buuuummmm bummmm bumm with the brass. and the strings/woodwinds(?) doing a really fast riff. it was super eerie. the brass really stands out. the timpani is the only thing that pops into my head when the percussion comes in, it's probably the bass drum too, but i wanna say it's the timpani. i think the strings and the woodwinds play practically the same general thing. and the brass plays stronger and louder to show the intensity of the piece. not that bad of a choice, not my favorite type of thing to listen to, but not a bad choice
ReplyDeleteThe scary motifs in both the original and the remake had three notes. The scary motifs were when he was climbing to the top of the building and when King Kong was being shot. Then there was the sad motif once King Kong fell. It was much slower than the scary motif. In the original one I heard alot of trumpet and a little flute. I heard the strings more when he had died.
ReplyDeleteOne of the first scary parts was when king kong was climbing up the skyscraper, and the planes were coming at him. The music had made the part more dramatic while he was climbing up. i thought the trombone stood out to me the most out of the percussion instruments. I also thought they chose good music to go with the theme.
ReplyDeleteBy the way Happy Birthday to SingDiva1994 and to Barbie!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletethis is old but it doesnt sound like that old cheesy stuff you usually hear in movies from this era. many things interest me about this piece. the drums for instance are awesome and just add to the intensity of the motif. timpani drums and symbol crashes mostly stand out. the horns had the melody and i love that. it is the perfect fit.
ReplyDeletethis is an overall really good example of scary movie music
The two songs are very different. Personally I like the newer version. It seemed to cause more emotion. The original seemed mostly focused on strings and brass. The new version had more percussion and I think I heard a choir at one part. The second could probably bring more fear just through instrument choice.
ReplyDeleteI liked the second (newer) one better because I thought that it was more prominent and emotional. I think that each motif has at least three notes. The three note "sad" motif is different from the scary motif because the sad motif has that down, sad feeling while scary motif keeps you on the edge. I think I heard the two note motif in the second one at around 1:38 into the audio. The cymbals stood out to me the most because they just surprised me and the strings went really well with the brass. In the first one, I just remember the brass.
ReplyDeleteMy log on is not working-
ReplyDeleteThe Pig Wrangler/Chris Waite
I didn't understand the purpose of the first video. I didn't here any music. Although I did here an angry monkey and gun fire.
Part1- I thought it sounded like music in star wars. The marimba stood out.
Part2- It sounded like a fight scene. There was a lot going on and i loved it. It got my pumped up. It sounded like the bad guys theme song
Part4- Let down. I was hoping for a climax but was disappointed.It is a love scene.
Part5- This is the lovy dovy sceen. It sounded like there is romance in it. The strings make it very romantic
The second one (newer) is a much better one, for it was made to fit the mood of the art of the film. It has an ominous feel, a calm feel and a "giant monster" feel. Where the original was mostly "giant monster" feeling. Now they use drums to signify the monsters destruction and size. In the newer one they use stringed instruements for ominus feeling and calm feeling.
ReplyDeletemy favorites are the 4th and 5th. i love the vocals very calm and relaxing with the strings playing a soft full melody.
ReplyDeletei like the new one. to me it seemed a little more smoother.
ReplyDeleteI like the new king kong because it sounds more dramatic, it sounds better and you can hear the whole orchestra. Not having anything to look at makes you listen to the music more and you can just hear the music better. The first one was in black and white and the music got dramatic when king kong was shot and when he fell off the building, you could hear the horns. But there wasn't that much music.
ReplyDeleteThe first scary motif was pretty much just a chromatic scale going up, stopping to backtrack two notes then continuing upwards which matches with kk climbing the sky scraper. The second scary motif was um....well...i dunno how to really describe it. It wasn't a scale but it used parts of the chromatic scale...? And the brass was included which gave it a more...fleshed out feel i guess. The sad part was a chromatic scale going down, which matches up with kk going down. sad face :( anyways...the winds add a kind of on edge feel and to the whole piece and the strings add the sad feel to it. And i can't really hear the percussion very well but i think the tympani (is that how you spell it..?) was in there somewhere. And it was loudest at the most dramatic parts (at least, i think so..). Anyways, compared to the old version, the new version is very...polished. The feel of it is still the same but there doesn't seem to be as much of a differentiation between the volume of the dramatic moments in each of the videos. Like....the older version gets louder in the dramatic moments whereas the newer version seems to keep the same volume throughout the piece. But i can actually hear the percussion in it which is good. But i think i like the older version better because it's not so "polished" like the new version and it's almost funny to listen to because it's so dramatic. Though this doesn't apply to the music..I also thought the "monkey" they used in the movie was hilarious xD it's so horribly cheesy and fake :D it makes me laugh.
ReplyDeleteUHM WELL, The first one was a lot scarier than the rest. I like when the vocals are in it because it adds a more peaceful feeling. I thought the video actually made a difference in the way I feel about the song, but probably because when the video was playing I was laughing at the awful monkey instead of listening.. jaja.
ReplyDeleteI thought i already did this one,guess not!!:( I really like king kong and the way it makes me feel. No I don't mean,'oh,this movie was soooo sad,ans i might cry.'though i am pretty shure I did.It's more like,'it sent goose bumps up my spine and they did not go away for like,ever!!'Ilove that the trumpets and the drums and every other instrament out there help that feeling happen.I don't think the feeling would have happened if it was only one instraments.
ReplyDeletesorry,that was supposed to be 'instrament',not 'instraments'
ReplyDeleteI didn't hear the strings or the wind at all because the brass was so overpowering. I guess it was really hard to hear the wind and strings, but I know they were there during the part where the lady got saved, because brass is more for the part where King Kong is being attacked by the airplanes.
ReplyDeleteThe second one was so much more intensifying-I like that one better. In this one, I could hear the brass and the drums, but the brass still overpowered everything else. I could also hear the strings a little bit, but I still couldn't hear the wind. This one sounded more like a victory peice, or an "attack" peice.
In this blog, I think that the christian music was invented to create a different type of music other than rock n' roll. I think it was made to show others different music and different types of lyrics.
ReplyDeletethis is intense you can totally tell how the movies can scare you so much because of the music it always has such a big part in the film when its fast and you can really hear the drums but when its sad like when king kong dies its slow. so really in movies if they didnt put music in it we would probably not feel as emotion as we do when there is music in it
ReplyDeleteIn the original movie, the first motif had three notes and they were slow, but they slowly built to have a very quick tempo. Part I had the three note motif too, but then it changed to a four note motif that was quicker and it drew you in even more.
ReplyDeleteI can hear the brass mostly in the low harmony notes.
The stings make up most of the motif.
The bass drum stands out the most because it's played when all the other instraments are mostly silent.
The harmony at the intense moments in the song was loud and almost over powering the melody.
Lauren Smith
in the original one the bras is not so dramatic same with winds but in the new they are crazy dramatic and the percussion is off the hezzy in both but thte old one seems more lathargic old one like cheesy music compared to new one
ReplyDeletethe brass plays a baaaa da da baaaaa da da and when the kong goes higher on the building the brass get a higher pitch. the winds kind of play around with a scary sound when he climbs up.the same goes with the strings but when he gets to the top the strings and the brass kind of fight with each other with the same note going back and forth. percuss i didnt really hear anything but the clash of the symbals on the more intense parts
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its started off very fast and sharp like fast and to the point. the brass was very loud and strong. the winds i didnt really hear. the strings very fast and mellow like just tagged a long for the ride on the brass. the percuss came out better this one you could hear the drums pounding and racing with the brass.
The first one had many symbols and was intense yet smoothe at the same time with the brass building as kong climbs higher and higher then back down. Compared to the newer one, it was not as intense untill king kong is being shot down and falling, where as the new version was more strings and drums and intense sounding majority of the time.
ReplyDeletein the first version when ever king kong was shown climbing the building the brass would play four notes each one higher than the next ex.(c,d,e,f) then in the next four beats there would be four notes but one step up from the last so it would go (d,e,f,g) going off my example as before.
ReplyDeleteWhen the planes were shown on the screen the trumpets would play a high note then go down a two notes ex. (f,e,d) da du dum. if that makes any sence.
in the newer version, the first thing i noticed was that the music is increadibly more complex that the first one, the trumpest are playing stedil higher notes, but alternating with lower ones. the strings are being used to acent the bass. the drums are playing quarters making the piece have anticipation of what will happen next
personaly i liked the newer version of the king kong music the best
The brass is kind of leading the scary and panic of the song being constant and loud for most of the song. The strings remind me of the lady in the movies who is always screaming just adding more drama. The percussion is more noticeable in the remix it seem more intense I like the remake better. Because of the percussion at certain points it is really in the focus. then all of a sudden its gone the BAM its back with one loud strike then stops then BAM again and joins back with the brass in leading the song.
ReplyDeleteThere are 8 notes per motif. No I did not hear the 3 note motif. It has less notes per motif. It is the same because it still gives off the scary feel in the mood, and variations of tempo in the song. I don't think that I heard the Jaws theme in this piece.
ReplyDeleteThe brass are playing the higher pitched noises in a patterned rhythm. The winds play the eairy noise at the begining, then the flutes play a higher pitch piece in the middle of the piece. Tye strings play at the very end of the piece, the happier sound. The timpini was the main percusion instrument at the end of the piece playing the main low base notes, which were pounded. The harmony at the most dramatic moments were scattered notes and almost a cayotic yet stable feel to it. The theme is this song is terror then a sort of happy ending feel to it.
Part 1 EX. Credit
In part one the brass is playing the main notes and progression. The winds are playing the almost stacodo like notes. The percusion instrument that stands out the most is the timpani because of the large base notes played thought the song. The harmony is played in a major i think, in the most dramatic point. The theme of this piece is constant terror.