50 Movie Music Moments comprises a wide-ranging collection of analyses of some of the most fascinating uses of music in modern Hollywood cinema. Considering narrative strategies, filmmaking techniques, functions of film music, audience engagement and conditioning, cultural implications, and intertextuality, the case studies gathered here introduce music as a crucial element of film.
In 50 examples drawn from popular and critically acclaimed Hollywood films from the late 1950s to the present, the collection showcases the many dimensions of film music and its role in cinematic storytelling. Each example includes an analysis addressing the film’s context and providing a close reading of how music, narrative, and visual elements of the scene interact. Case studies exploring the role of music in film include Amadeus, Gladiator, Baby Driver, The Dark Knight, Philadelphia, Schindler’s List, and Black Panther.
This invaluable collection offers an ideal resource to support undergraduate and graduate courses in film music history, film scoring, and filmmaking, as well as readers with a general interest in music in film.
1. Original Score (Bespoke Composed Underscore) 2. Quoted or Adapted Classical Music as Underscore 3. Use or Adaptation of a Pre-Existing Popular Song (diegetic) 4. Use or Adaptation of a Pre-Existing Popular Song (non-diegetic) 5. Use of an Original / Theme Song 6. Outliers
Biography
Vasco Hexel is a composer, author, and educator. He led the Master’s Programme in Composition for Screen at the Royal College of Music, London from 2008 to 2020 and most recently was a visiting lecturer in film music at the University of Cambridge.
