Joshua Smith

Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Clark, Maribeth

Area of Concentration

Music

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the development of the film score and its artistic effect, particularly from the Sci-fi and Western film genres. I discuss the beginning of film as an art form which incorporated sound with moving image. I examine the aspects of film scores, particularly of the two Western films that I discuss, which are able to establish narrative through composing music from landscape. The films which I explore from a musical background are Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Ethan and Joel Coen’s No Country for Old Men (2007), and Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood (2008). I discuss the controversy surrounding Stanley Kubrick’s executive actions in 2001: A Space Odyssey against the film’s original composer, Alex North. I chose these films because they all share certain commonalities between them that can be considered commonplace in classic American Western and Science Fiction films: themes of American colonialism and exceptionalism, consequences of technological advancement, a patriarchal or masculinized lead-role which enacts or defends against violence, and an emphasis on film score and soundtrack. It is also worth mentioning that the time set aside for shooting No Country for Old Men overlapped somewhat with the shooting period of There Will Be Blood, and coincidentally enough in the same locale. The piece that I will be analytically exploring is Arvo Pärt’s Fratres which is prominently featured in There Will Be Blood. In addition to this essay I have composed 3 pieces: Steel Chacmool, a piece written for string ensemble, inspired by Arvo Pärt’s work; Traffic, an electronic composition using Xylophone and Upright Bass MIDI; and Starfire, also an electronic composition using percussive bell, Ruan, and synthesizer MIDI. I’ve composed these pieces with the intent of establishing a narrative or image through listening to them either by themselves or in combination with moving photography. The compositions that I have prepared are loosely inspired by the works which I discuss in the essay.

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