Description
Hailed as a leading innovator of visual montage, unique storytelling style, and ground-breaking cinematography, Jean-Luc Godard is a prominent pioneer in sculpting complex soundtracks altering the familiar relationship between sound and image, but his achievements in sound have been largely overlooked. Such a lacuna in the extensive research on Godard's work is unfortunate, as Godard's lifelong preoccupation of exploring self-reflexively all aspects of filmmaking particularly affects film music. With the novel approach of metafilm music, extrapolated from Jean-Luc Godard's oeuvre, this book not only closes up a crucial gap in Godard research, but also offers detailed analyses of the music as metafilm music in Contempt, Alphaville, Band of Outsiders, Pierrot le fou, First Name: Carmen, Histoire(s) du cinéma, among other films and video productions. The innovative scholarly concept of metafilm music, enriching the burgeoning field of music in audio-visual media, describes how Godard thinks about film music with film music. This book thus provides a thorough examination of Godard's self-reflexive approach to film music which has resulted in a lifelong creation of multi-layered soundtracks pushing the envelope of film music and sound to the limit.
Table of Contents
Introduction: For Ever Metafilm MusicPART I: METAFILM MUSIC, FRAGMENTATION, REPETITION, AND QUOTATION1. Gapped Music in Godard's 1960s Films: Dissection of the Musical Unity as a Self-Reflexive Exercise2. Leitmotif Technique Revisited: Indexical Function of Multiply Repeated Musical Fragments in Godard's 1960s Films as Manifestations of Metafilm Music3. The Undoing of the Leitmotif Technique: Quotation, Fragmentation, and Repetition in Godard's 1960s Films with Beethoven, Schumann, and Pseudo-Bach as Metafilm Music4. Quoting Popular Songs: Chanson and Canzone as Metafilm Music in Godard's WorkPART II: METAFILM MUSIC AND GENRE REFERENCE5. Referencing Silent Film Music: Metafilm Music, Mise en Scène, Acting, and Storytelling6. Referencing Music-Specific Genres and Genre-Specific Music: Metafilm Music, "Cinéma-en-kit" Musical, and Pastiched Film Noir Music7. Referencing Film Music as a Genre: Metafilm Music, Prototypes of Film Music as Genre Mash-Up, and Melodramatic CommutationPART III: METAFILM MUSIC, MUSIC MAKING, AND FILMMAKING8. Music-Making as Metaphor for Filmmaking I: Metafilm Music in One Plus One and Prénom: Carmen9. Music-Making as Metaphor for Filmmaking II: Metafilm Music in Soigne ta droite (Une place sur la terre)Conclusion: Two or Three Things I Know about Metafilm Music(s)NotesWorks CitedIndex
