Wednesday, June 18, 2014

"Close Encounters of a Third Kind" Analysis

One interesting aspect of the film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” is the use of music as both within the plot and in the construction of the film. Throughout the film, both the aliens and the humans use music as a communication method. There is one scene showing the a group of Indian people humming and singing the same five notes over and over again, as communicated to them by the extraterrestrials. There is another scene, in which an elderly man tells the researchers through an interpreter, “He says the sun came out last night. He says it sang to him”, meaning the aliens had communicated with him through music. The hand signals that Claude Lacombe and aliens both use is a method used by music teachers to teach the sofege scale in the Kodaly curriculum, which is very commonly used in modern education. The notes that the scientists use to attract the alien’s attention are G, A, F, F (an octave lower), and C. This use of music in this way influences the audience of the film to feel that the aliens are more human and less threatening. Even the choice of using a tuba as the voice of the mother-ship in the climactic scene, gives the aliens a much less threatening and frightening feeling than a more harsh instrument voicing, such as a mechanical electric guitar or shrieking string instrument.
In conjunction with the use of music within the plot, the scoring of this film is different than most. Most films are edited and then the score is produced to match that edited film. In this film’s case, the score was written first by John Williams and then the film was edited by Steven Spielberg to match the music. This makes the music much more of a driving force in the pacing of the film, and gives it a more lyrical feeling. Throughout the film, the tune of “When You Wish Upon a Star” is incorporated into John William’s score, being played by toys, and when Roy is about to board the mothership. This familiar tune once again, gives the aliens a very magical, and benevolent feeling, at least partially because of it’s association with the Disney Corporation and the many good feelings that many Americans associate with it’s films, parks and merchandise.

Throughout “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, music is important both within the plot and in the construction of the film, effecting the viewer’s comfort level with the aliens, as well as the pacing of the film.