This dissertation examines music's role in cinema in the early years of synchronized sound film in the United States and France. Working against the historical and technological determinism that often plagues narratives of the transition to sound, I investigate the myriad ways in which directors, producers, and composers approached the new technology. Films acted as artistic manifestoes on the new technology and its aesthetic potential as filmmakers experimented with the musical soundtrack. Through multi-site archival research and close analyses of films and their music, I point to the heterogeneity of film music practices during synchronized sound's nascent years, considering early sound films as sites of aesthetic contestation and negotiation. / Music

The lyrics of Sammy Cahn played a dominant role in shaping the Golden Age of American light music. He remains the most successful lyricist in cinema history, in terms of Academy Awards and Nominations, yet he has received little acclaim for his achievements. This thesis explores the diverse constituents of his creative genius, focusing on his ability to “romance the vernacular”, and write “bespoke” material on request. The argument follows a chronological path, tracing the major influences on Cahn’s life: vaudeville and musical theatre, the growth of the film industry, and the collaborators and performers who helped him achieve a level of mastery that he sustained for nearly fifty years. Particular emphasis is placed on his relationship with Frank Sinatra, on both a personal and professional level. Cahn had an acute awareness of the human condition and his ability to convey a range of emotions to match mood and moment displayed consummate craft and intellect, with a self-confidence that bordered on bravado. His contemporaries in the Golden Age of popular song have received due recognition, yet little has been written about Cahn, whose appreciation of the interaction between spontaneity and creativity remains unsurpassed by fellow lyricists. He had an intuitive understanding of the vernacular and an instinctive ability to write to order. The imagistic texture of the lyrics coupled with the prosodic intonation demonstrate an intimate correlation between personality and composition which is supported by biographical content. The argument, augmented by an audio-documentary, develops systematically through a study of the lyrics, focusing on the cultural and musicological significance of Cahn’s oeuvre. The material for both the written text and the two accompanying CDs are from personal archives and the Margaret Herrick Library in Los Angeles, which is the repository for the Sammy Cahn Collection, bequeathed to that institution after the death of Cahn in 1993. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)

La proposition centrale de cette thèse est double. D’une part, il s’agit de jeter les bases d’un modèle historique qui réunirait tous les dispositifs audiovisuels qui associent des images animées à une chanson populaire qui leur est préexistante sous un même paradigme culturel que nous baptiserons « phono-cinématographie ». Celui-ci aurait débuté vers la fin du XIXe siècle, avec l’invention du kinétoscope d’Edison, pour aboutir à nos jours avec l’émergence des vidéos musicales interactives sur Internet. D’autre part, il s’agit de nous interroger sur le rôle a priori central que les Beatles occupent au sein de cette histoire de la chanson populaire mise en image. Notre hypothèse principale est que le vidéoclip, tel qu’il s’est institutionnalisé au début des années 1980 pour ensuite se perpétuer jusque dans les années 2000, n’a rien d’une pratique culturelle (voir même d’un média) figé(e) :bien au contraire, cette pratique/ce média a été l’objet de réélaborations continues tant sur le plan de la production, de la diffusion que de la fonction.<p>Notre approche se situe à cheval sur l’histoire du cinéma, de la musique populaire et de la télévision. En nous appuyant sur certaines propositions théoriques et certains concepts formulés dans le champ des études cinématographiques ainsi que dans le champ des performance studies, nous serons particulièrement attentif aux questions de représentation qui se déploient dans ces différents dispositifs phono-cinématographiques :à savoir, les premiers films chantants (les phono-scènes Gaumont et les Vitaphone shorts), les juke-boxes équipés d’un écran (les Soundies et les Scopitones) et enfin les vidéos musicales télévisées (les films promotionnels et les vidéoclips). / Doctorat en Information et communication / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished