If a course based on the book includes a final paper developed incrementally across the semester, it will follow logically through the work suggested in Chapters 6, 8, 10, 12, and 15. Recall that Chapters 6 and 8 explore the writing of scene analyses and the short papers we called “screening reports." The final sections of Chapters 10 and 12 focus, respectively, on a compare and contrast exercise and the building of a historical argument. In Chapter 15, the several earlier elements contribute to grounding a critical essay whose objective is to draw the sound track and music into a thematic reading, especially a reading that shows how these elements support or resist the dominant directions or emphases of the narrative. [The preceding text, btw, is a compressed and edited version of the opening paragraph of Chapter 15, page 509.]
One possibility— workable only with a small class, to be sure —would be to assign each student one of the films covered in the Film Score Guide series. Thus, reliable background and other basic information about the music and underscore composer would be readily available, and for the final paper (the work of Chapter 15) the student might well find material that would lead to supporting or challenging the arguments or point of view of the volume's author.
- 2008
- √18. Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard's The Dark Knight. May 2, 2016. Vasco Hexel
- 2007
- 15. Ilan Eshkeri's Stardust. IAN SAPIRO. July 2013
- 2000
- 17. James Newton Howard's Signs. January 14, 2016. Erik Heine
- 1997
- √9. Mychael Danna's The Ice Storm. MIGUEL MERA. June 2007
- 1996
- 7. Gabriel Yared's The English Patient. HEATHER LAING. February 2007
- 1993-94
- √12. Zbigniew Preisner's Three Colors Trilogy: Blue, White, Red. NICHOLAS W. REYLAND. December 2011
- 1989
- √4. Danny Elfman's Batman. JANET K. HALFYARD. September 2004
- 1974
- 16. David Shire's The Conversation. October 8, 2015. Juan Chattah
- 1972 ff.
- √11. Nino Rota's The Godfather Trilogy. FRANCO SCIANNAMEO. October 2010
- 1966
- √3. Ennio Morricone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. CHARLES LEINBERGER. September 2004
- 1960
- √19. Elmer Bernstein's The Magnificent Seven. May 31, 2017. Mariana Whitmer
- 1959
- √12. Miklós Rózsa's Ben-Hur. ROGER HICKMAN. March 2011
- 1958
- √13. Jerome Moross's The Big Country. MARIANA WHITMER. June 2012
- 2. Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo: A Film Score Handbook. Feb 28, 2001. David Cooper
- 1956
- 5. Louis and Bebe Barron's Forbidden Planet. JAMES WIERZBICKI. June 2005
- 1954
- 14. Leonard Bernstein's On the Waterfront. ANTHONY BUSHARD. December 2012
- 1951
- √10. Alex North's A Streetcar Named Desire. ANNETTE DAVISON. February 2009
- 1947
- 6. Bernard Herrmann's The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. DAVID COOPER. August 2005
- 1942
- √1. Max Steiner's Now, Voyager: A Film Score Guide. Jul 30, 2000. Kate Daubney
- 1940
- √11. Franz Waxman's Rebecca. DAVID NEUMEYER AND NATHAN PLATTE. December 2011
- 1938
- √8. Erich Wolfgang Korngold's The Adventures of Robin Hood. BEN WINTERS. March 2007
