Re: JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH

Students,
You should email your weekly comments on Journey to the Center of the Earth, specifically about the music score. The score is not that easy to assimilate (grasp), at least in the way one commonly hears a pop song or even most movie scores with themes.
    So it's better to study the score for that film at home, where you can listen to a music cue repeatedly, use the time bar to go back and start the cue again, etc. You should use home study for at least one score this year. Otherwise there isn't much learning that's going to happen if one sees the movie on Friday, where (except for dedicated students who might return to view the movie at least one more time on their own) one is not likely to appreciate a score in one sitting.
    Remember, a score is more than music (although in badly scored movies that's all it is)! It involves commentary on the story, theme, action, and characters. It also expresses subtext (we know that Alec/Pat Boone is thinking of Jennifer because we hear an arrangement of the sang to her). It bridges scenes by sound bridges (music from one scene or moment in a scene carries over into the next, as when the visitors enter while the couple is in a romantic mood and the romantic cue continues for a few seconds after). It gives dramatic emphasis to a moment or object, such as the famous mountain cue. It tells us how to "read" a scene, such as when the professor first handles the rock given him by Alec. It expresses the nature of an object, such as the use of a medieval instrument called The Serpent, which captures the essence of that prehistoric beast. It can be used ironically as when the romantic cue is used just before Alec asks to join the expedition to the center of the earth. And, of course, it can prepare the viewer for the kind of film that follows by setting the mood in the credit sequence.