The Spectre of Sound: Music in Film and Television Book

This major new study focuses on film music as a device that controls its audience by using emotion as a powerful tool. Kevin Donnelly emphasizes the manipulative and ephemeral character of film music. He discusses not only traditional orchestral film music but also film music's colonization of television and the relation of pop music and film. Film and Television Music challenges accepted notions of film music as restricted to film by looking at its use in television and its influence in the world of pop music. It questions traditional assumptions about "valued" film music, either from "name" composers or from the golden era of classical Hollywood. Focusing on topics as diverse as horror, pop music in film, ethnic signposting, television drama, and the soundtrack without a film, this original study introduces a range of new perspectives on one of the most complex and fascinating aspects of filmmaking. Read More