Uploaded August 2019 | Updated September 2026, 12 hours ago
crosstowntraffic2018.wordpress.com
This presentation took place as part of the conference Crosstown Traffic: Popular Music Theory and Practice, which was hosted by The University of Huddersfield from September 3 - 5 2018. This event combined the IASPM UK&Ireland Biennial Conference, the 13th Art of Record Production Conference (ARP), an ISMMS conference, and the additional participation of Dancecult.
A recurrent theme within popular music studies has been discussion of how the field can integrate different disciplines and professions, for example exploring both music and its context; involving both practitioners and researchers; and encouraging interdisciplinary and collaborative work. Many different issues make such approaches challenging, and various different popular music focused subject organisations have developed somewhat independently of one another. This conference brought four such groups together, to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and encourage crosstalk.
/// SUPPORT
Popular Music Studies Research Group (PMSRG), University of Huddersfield research.hud.ac.uk/pmsrg/#
Centre for Music, Culture and Identity (CMCI), University of Huddersfield
research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cmci
The International Association for the Study of Popular Music UK and Ireland Branch (IASPM UK & Ireland)
iaspm.org.uk
Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production (ASARP)
artofrecordproduction.com
Dancecult Research Network (DRN) studies into electronic dance music culture
dancecult-research.net
International Society for Metal Music Studies (ISMMS)
metalstudies.org
/// ORGANIZERS
IASPM UK&I: Rupert Till
ARP: Katia Isakoff, Shara Rambarran
ISMMS: Karl Spracklen
Dancecult: Graham St. John
University of Huddersfield: Jan Herbst, Austin Moore, Lisa Colton, Toby Martin, Catherine Haworth, Mark Mynett
/// CREDITS
This online project was edited, collated, and made available online by Chris McConnell, Jack Zissell, and Colin Frank.
/// PRESENTATION DETAILS
Selective use of music and sound in contemporary black and white filmmaking
Matej Dimlic - University of Westminster, London, UK
Email: dimlicm@westminster.ac.uk
/// ABSTRACT
“There’s something about the tonality of the black and white photography that made Bernard Herrmann think about the score in terms of strings only” (Arnold, 2001). By reducing his score to strings only (Vera Miles’s violin) for the 1960’s black and white thriller Psycho, Herrmann had dramatically departed from the rich orchestration of his previous scores for Hitchcock (both Vertigo and North by Northwest were shot in colour). Upon the release of Psycho in 1960, Herrmann claimed to have composed a ‘black and white score’ for a black and white film. Black and white cinematography is often used to suggest authenticity and actuality (Claiming the Real, Winston, 2008). The concept is therefore a particularly valuable storytelling tool in blurring the line between fiction and documentary. This enables audiovisual narratives that can be perceived as both real and imaginary, relying on music and sound as a drawbridge, which reinforces the plausibility of the story and the emotional reading of the film. Such dynamic relationships could otherwise be obscured and oversaturated with the ‘information overload’ of the colour film. This paper questions whether the reduction of visual information coupled with a selective use of music and sound enables a deeper emotional perception of meaning for audiences. The author’s own music and sound design practice in collaboration with filmmaker Marc Isacs – Out of Time, exhibited at the Open City Documentary Film Festival 2017 – is reflected upon and discussed relative to ongoing and future collaborations.
crosstowntraffic2018.wordpress.com
This presentation took place as part of the conference Crosstown Traffic: Popular Music Theory and Practice, which was hosted by The University of Huddersfield from September 3 - 5 2018. This event combined the IASPM UK&Ireland Biennial Conference, the 13th Art of Record Production Conference (ARP), an ISMMS conference, and the additional participation of Dancecult.
A recurrent theme within popular music studies has been discussion of how the field can integrate different disciplines and professions, for example exploring both music and its context; involving both practitioners and researchers; and encouraging interdisciplinary and collaborative work. Many different issues make such approaches challenging, and various different popular music focused subject organisations have developed somewhat independently of one another. This conference brought four such groups together, to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and encourage crosstalk.
/// SUPPORT
Popular Music Studies Research Group (PMSRG), University of Huddersfield research.hud.ac.uk/pmsrg/#
Centre for Music, Culture and Identity (CMCI), University of Huddersfield
research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cmci
The International Association for the Study of Popular Music UK and Ireland Branch (IASPM UK & Ireland)
iaspm.org.uk
Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production (ASARP)
artofrecordproduction.com
Dancecult Research Network (DRN) studies into electronic dance music culture
dancecult-research.net
International Society for Metal Music Studies (ISMMS)
metalstudies.org
/// ORGANIZERS
IASPM UK&I: Rupert Till
ARP: Katia Isakoff, Shara Rambarran
ISMMS: Karl Spracklen
Dancecult: Graham St. John
University of Huddersfield: Jan Herbst, Austin Moore, Lisa Colton, Toby Martin, Catherine Haworth, Mark Mynett
/// CREDITS
This online project was edited, collated, and made available online by Chris McConnell, Jack Zissell, and Colin Frank.
/// PRESENTATION DETAILS
Selective use of music and sound in contemporary black and white filmmaking
Matej Dimlic - University of Westminster, London, UK
Email: dimlicm@westminster.ac.uk
/// ABSTRACT
“There’s something about the tonality of the black and white photography that made Bernard Herrmann think about the score in terms of strings only” (Arnold, 2001). By reducing his score to strings only (Vera Miles’s violin) for the 1960’s black and white thriller Psycho, Herrmann had dramatically departed from the rich orchestration of his previous scores for Hitchcock (both Vertigo and North by Northwest were shot in colour). Upon the release of Psycho in 1960, Herrmann claimed to have composed a ‘black and white score’ for a black and white film. Black and white cinematography is often used to suggest authenticity and actuality (Claiming the Real, Winston, 2008). The concept is therefore a particularly valuable storytelling tool in blurring the line between fiction and documentary. This enables audiovisual narratives that can be perceived as both real and imaginary, relying on music and sound as a drawbridge, which reinforces the plausibility of the story and the emotional reading of the film. Such dynamic relationships could otherwise be obscured and oversaturated with the ‘information overload’ of the colour film. This paper questions whether the reduction of visual information coupled with a selective use of music and sound enables a deeper emotional perception of meaning for audiences. The author’s own music and sound design practice in collaboration with filmmaker Marc Isacs – Out of Time, exhibited at the Open City Documentary Film Festival 2017 – is reflected upon and discussed relative to ongoing and future collaborations.
