Date of Award
5-2017
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Music
Department
School of Music
First Advisor
Stephen Lias
Second Advisor
Nathan Fleshner
Third Advisor
Jamie Weaver
Fourth Advisor
Mark Seaman
Abstract
This thesis illustrates the transitional period between silent films and fully-scored sound films. Connecting the history between producers, directors, and composers reveals how and why film scoring became an accepted practice by the mid-1930s while shedding light on the commonly-overlooked composers whose innovations in these early films paved the way for future film composers. The principle objective of this project is to score selected sequences of Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) by synthesizing contemporary film scoring practices with techniques commonly used in horror films of the 1930s. An accompanying analysis of the score will explain the purpose of each cue and how it functions to appropriately enhance the already-completed film.
Keywords:
Film, Music, Horror, Universal Monsters, Cinema, Film Score
Repository Citation
Deterling, Ian, "Mystery of the Wax Museum: An Original Film Score for Orchestra and an Analysis Outlining the Evolution of Film Music Through American Horror Films of the Early 1930s" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 104.
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/104
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
