Today I'm heading to NYC for the Music & the Moving Image conference at NYU. I'm giving my first paper presentation at a national conference! I may or may not be super nervous. Here's the abstract:
While this is ultimately nothing like my chapter in Chicks Unravel Time, it is about 1960s Doctor Who and does use "Tomb of the Cybermen" as a talking point. It's really helped me get my mind straight on the first chapter of my dissertation, which has been very helpful.
If you're in the New York area and want to check out the conference, it's $85 and all about super awesome movie, tv, and media topics! The conference runs June 1–3, 2012 at the Steinhardt School of Music. I can't wait!
ek
Changing Faces, Changing Sounds: Doctor Who (1963–89, 1996, 2005–) and the Use of Stock Music
This paper explores a transitional period in the television programme Doctor Who, as its production shifted from newly composed music to reliance on the BBC’s vast library of stock music for material. From Doctor Who’s inception, it relied heavily on newly composed music created before recording the episodes, which was then mixed in on a soundboard as the cameras rolled. To make cues as easily editable as possible, they were amelodic and designed to be faded in and out without obvious breaks. When the show shifted production teams and regenerated their lead character, it became more ambitious with editing and recording techniques, and ditched newly composed music to use that money in other areas.
This meant using more stock music, which can be more melodic and have longer musical phrases.
To avoid making the ins-and-outs of the musical cues obvious by cutting into the middle of a musical phrase, the production team would let a song play for a few minutes, sometimes throughout entire scenes. While this was a cost-saving measure, it came with the added effect of providing a new style of musical treatment. This would later impact the 108 missing episodes of the show; a more noticeable presence provided cohesion of narrative that would make soundtrack versions and reconstructions a viable way to revisit the show’s missing stories. This paper considers the differences between newly composed and stock music in Doctor Who, and the implication their use had during its transmission and ultimately on the show’s fifty-year legacy.
While this is ultimately nothing like my chapter in Chicks Unravel Time, it is about 1960s Doctor Who and does use "Tomb of the Cybermen" as a talking point. It's really helped me get my mind straight on the first chapter of my dissertation, which has been very helpful.
If you're in the New York area and want to check out the conference, it's $85 and all about super awesome movie, tv, and media topics! The conference runs June 1–3, 2012 at the Steinhardt School of Music. I can't wait!
ek
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