Original live score for 'Nosferatu'
- Submitting institution
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Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 2860099
- Type
- J - Composition
- Month
- October
- Year
- 2016
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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1
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Scoring for live screenings of Murnau’s horror classic 'Nosferatu' allowed me to explore, with co-author Irene Buckley, two questions: how to place work from a century ago in a contemporary context, by means of sound design and underscoring; and how to unify sonically disparate elements, such as field recording, recorded voice, live viola, cello and pipe organ (specified in the commission).
'Nosferatu' should be experienced live and has been presented at cathedrals and large gothic venues; it has had performances at film festivals (e.g. Organ Reframed at Union Chapel London 2016, Cork Film Festival 2018, New Sounds Silent Films at Brookfield Place New York 2019) and been disseminated on radio (eg. NTS Radio and WNYC).
It connects to the practice of live film scoring (eg. groups such as 3epkano, Minima), as well as horror film scoring (eg. 'Sinister' by Christopher Young, 'Under the Skin' by Mica Levi). Deploying and subverting the expectations of horror scoring allowed us to explore the contemporary re-contextualising of Murnau’s film, drawing upon recurring visual motivic elements, and experimenting with the cognitive dissonance of the music playing against what appears on screen. Pacing at the macro level, as well as within individual scenes, was important in sustaining tension and achieving greater impact in moments of horror. Sonic unity was enhanced by consideration of consistency and change – at times, retaining constancy in certain parameters while altering others slowly in an exploration of timbral transformation.
This strand of research will be further explored in 2021 with the commission of a new live score to the 1927 expressionist film 'Metropolis' by Fritz Lang for Cork Film Festival) – percussion ensemble and electronics.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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