Alesik Valdez
Prof. Stupin
MUS 006. Sect. 1965
7 May, 2018
The Symphonic Story of a Boy and His Mother In the 1960 film, Psycho, not only was the genre and topic new to audiences all around the world, so was the groundbreaking score. Never had anyone attempted and successfully used music like the kind that Bernard Herrmann created for this film. Herrmann focused on the fact that this movie was very much a story that played into one’s mind, and he knew that the music had to add onto the horror. For this reason, the orchestra was purely played with strings. Not only would this cause for more of an atmospheric effect, the score built around the strings gives the film that much more of a punch. Herrmann illustrates how to bring out the raw emotions …show more content…
Norman is a man who Marion meets at his motel. He runs the motel with his unseen mother. With certain mentions and hinting at Norman’s mother comes in a different theme from all the others. Known as the mother theme, it’s questionably classified as one of Norman’s themes. A surely confusing classification at first, but as the story unfolds and the theme gets played more often, the audience gets a feels as to what meaning the theme truly holds. When looking at the mother theme after knowing of the entire story, the song can most definitely be defined as a form of foreshadowing. What’s special about this tactic of foreshadowing is that it’s not typically what’s found in films. Most media will hint at certain points of a story with physical cues. There is typically something shown on screen or a character may even have some dialogue that implies much more than what is revealed at first. Not often do you find that the foreshadowing device is hidden underneath all of the meat and distracting aspects of a film. Not many people will pay that close attention to what the music is trying to portray to the audience because they are automatically more gripped by the pictures and videos themselves. Using the music to foreshadow the ending of the plot is a sneaky and craftful way to introduce the music to the viewers. Once the ending is revealed and the music is cued at the perfect time for the audience to put two and two together, that’s the biggest reward. Being able to draw your own conclusion before the movie reveals it in truth is a rewarding feeling. Music splaying out the end contents of the film creates a big shock. The film allows for everything to naturally fall into place exposition wise, and musically. It’s a perfect match up of the two. Though this would not be as effective without the music. If the mother theme was omitted and just the film played, the
Prof. Stupin
MUS 006. Sect. 1965
7 May, 2018
The Symphonic Story of a Boy and His Mother In the 1960 film, Psycho, not only was the genre and topic new to audiences all around the world, so was the groundbreaking score. Never had anyone attempted and successfully used music like the kind that Bernard Herrmann created for this film. Herrmann focused on the fact that this movie was very much a story that played into one’s mind, and he knew that the music had to add onto the horror. For this reason, the orchestra was purely played with strings. Not only would this cause for more of an atmospheric effect, the score built around the strings gives the film that much more of a punch. Herrmann illustrates how to bring out the raw emotions …show more content…
Norman is a man who Marion meets at his motel. He runs the motel with his unseen mother. With certain mentions and hinting at Norman’s mother comes in a different theme from all the others. Known as the mother theme, it’s questionably classified as one of Norman’s themes. A surely confusing classification at first, but as the story unfolds and the theme gets played more often, the audience gets a feels as to what meaning the theme truly holds. When looking at the mother theme after knowing of the entire story, the song can most definitely be defined as a form of foreshadowing. What’s special about this tactic of foreshadowing is that it’s not typically what’s found in films. Most media will hint at certain points of a story with physical cues. There is typically something shown on screen or a character may even have some dialogue that implies much more than what is revealed at first. Not often do you find that the foreshadowing device is hidden underneath all of the meat and distracting aspects of a film. Not many people will pay that close attention to what the music is trying to portray to the audience because they are automatically more gripped by the pictures and videos themselves. Using the music to foreshadow the ending of the plot is a sneaky and craftful way to introduce the music to the viewers. Once the ending is revealed and the music is cued at the perfect time for the audience to put two and two together, that’s the biggest reward. Being able to draw your own conclusion before the movie reveals it in truth is a rewarding feeling. Music splaying out the end contents of the film creates a big shock. The film allows for everything to naturally fall into place exposition wise, and musically. It’s a perfect match up of the two. Though this would not be as effective without the music. If the mother theme was omitted and just the film played, the