Well, it wasn't much of a search being that only as I currently write this developed the idea that I was on mission to find the perfectly fitting song. As I was watching "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" (which i fell asleep during the middle hour of, which to my credit wasn't entirely my fault, i did previously see three other movies right before viewing this one) I came upon the greatest song that I ever saw in a film. This song, appropriately called "Ecstacy of Gold" fits perfectly with the scene and evoked the exact feeling that the visual does. But there is no more time for my faint, nebulous appraisal, I will begin my analysis without giving much away to those who have yet to see this classic.
From the start, the scene opens with "the ugly" stumbling on a tombstone, which reveals that he found the cemetry he was looking for where the money is located. This is accompanied by ominous piano playing shortly followed by what sounds like an oboe solo. It is lightly played though, as the character discovers where he looks upon the immense vastness of the cemetry which extends as far as the eye can see. Then as the ugly is signaling the sign of the cross, the oboe sounds celestial but this is evanscent, because right after he makes some unknown irritable noise and throws whatever papers he is holding at the time. Afterword, he fills up with excitement because he now possesses all he needs to find the gold, the music builds up with a crescendo of that recurrent ominous piano 4 note riff as to illustrate the theme of false religiousness. Then he starts walking though the cemetry and the bass also rises into prominence. Then we hear a quick lifting effect in which you know leads up to something in the film and the audience is wondering what will happen to this character as in relation to him finding the treasure. Our thoughts are answered with opera singing. This is evokes the feeling of excitment and personally makes me want to start running which is very convienent because the character starts running in excitment to find the gold (thus the name esctasy of gold.) Just as he stops running, the full orchestra plays in unison as he looks around for the tombstone with the gold buried underneath. This serves as the bridge between the momentary evelation in excitment because it calms you down before the big lift. Then you are engulfed by this blend of the opera singing, the sound of the marching snare drum, and the full orchestra that is so powerful which fills me up with enthusiasm. Then we hear a raise in pitch from the opera singer as if signaling a following cut off with appropriately follows. Gumbling and gong hits make us feel as if something has weakened in the character; maybe he has given up on the search, the cemetry too vast for him. No, a cool sounding opera riff preseeds the music and we are thrown back in the thrill of the chase. But now we hear new prominent trumpet playing which offers a new aspect of the song. Then our character looks as if he found the tombstone he was looking for. The music now levels off as soon as he sees something and we hear prominent lower brass playing instead. Then a new element is heard, a heavenly sounding chorus which at one point is the only thing that is heard which as if one is taking a big breath of air, waiting for that big moment to come. Then in the last hurrah of sorts, all elements of the previously heard song is blasted in our faces with the camera moving continually faster, as if an ecstasy is upon us. Then finally it ends, the character zooms past the screen illustrating that this ecstasy smacked him suddenly without even time to stop.
This sets up the quite scene where he digs only to find... well remember I said I didn't want to give anything away.
Well that's one of my favorite songs ever, enjoy. You can follow my analysis while watching the scene on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdNh9f2Wwm0
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Interesting analysis, rather accurate I would say. I never saw the film but I watched the clip. Then I watched it without sound, and then without the actual scene. I would say that the music does fit what is happenening in the film very well. I really like when he sort of looks up at the cemetery and then when the operatic vocals come in. The music does mirror the ecstacy of the scene. I'm glad you brought this up, because as I watched the two seperate clips without the music, then without the image, it was very seperate. It shows how important music and sound is in a film. And for lack of better examples, I think Requiem for a Dream did a really interesting job in manipulating sound with image, which gave it that artistic appeal.
ReplyDeleteThe music is really beautiful and appropriate in this scene.
One of the great musical and visual scenes in film. Does the three-way duel between the three eponymous (anti) heroes take place before or after this? I forget. But, the way Leone drags out the scenes, using Morricone's score to maximum effect, is evocative, and unforgettable. Your analysis was excellent, and well worthy of a refugee from that 7th period music class.
ReplyDeleteWill you show your (former) band teacher this posting? Perhaps it will mollify his annoyance at you for jumping ship. Or did you post this to assuage your own guilty conscience? Either way, it's another Sand-bag original. Touche'
Good topic and analysis, Sanbeg...
ReplyDeleteIf it'd been one year ago, I would have been able to say a lot more about the technical art of film scoring. But my memory is pretty terrible, so I forgot (and sadly, this is the future film scoring major speaking). Here's the stuff I remember:
The scenes are spotted first (deciding where music is appropriate), and then the "film grammar" is decided. Film grammar is pretty much what'd you think it is, the changes in mood of a scene, potential places for certain effects, cues, yadda yadda. So it's pretty much breaking down a scene. Then you have to interpret the moods into music, keeping in mind technical considerations with sound, such as... if a man is speaking (low voice), you will not have lower brass playing, as it will interfere with the timbre of his voice, vice versa for females. Then comes the synchronizing... then... i forgot...
Music is largely ornamental in a film, save a few spots. This scene you picked out is one of them. But it's still obvious that the composer and arranger followed the basics of film scoring to create quite a masterful little piece.
I think a filmscorer is often just as much of a storyteller as a screenwriter, yet they don't get 5% of the credit...