Raiders Of The Lost Ark Analysis

Shiyao Anna Luo
MUS Z315 Music for Film
Raiders of the Lost Ark Viewing Assignment

1. How is music used in this film to create a sense of place? Trace, compare, and discuss the role of musical exoticism in three different scenes. You can either be literal in your discussion (Tibet, Egypt, the Amazon, etc…) or more abstract (the supernatural as a type of “exotic”). How does Williams use unusual harmonies, instruments, or special effects to create an expressive mood?
Generally, when the characters are at different places, the music can remind the audience of that place since the composer uses lots of traditional and local instruments at scenes that are associated with different cultures and countries. Those special instrumentations go along

with the visuals and create a better sense of place when we are watching the film.
At the beginning scene, happens around (00:04:18) when Jones and the other person are in the cave of the rainforest at South America.

While they just enter the cave, it is violins plucking make that background music. I have to say this scene really scares me because I am very afraid of spiders and the music at here plays in synch-point when they find out there are spiders on their bodies. When Jones turns back, the audience finally sees the spiders and there is a sudden sound made by the percussion and then followed by scratching strings’ sound play in a fast tempo. This creates the tensions of seeing those huge spiders and how Jones will overcome this problem. The music is kind of exotic since it is out of the normal music that we will hear from the orchestra, and it captures the dangerous and adventure unpredictable feelings since they are at the cave of the rainforest. Another example is the scene that happens around (00:36:23), which is when Jones and Marion arrived at Cairo. The music is different from what it was before since there was some western orchestra music before this. It adds more local instrument in the underscoring music, and I feel like it maybe some kind of instruments that are similar to flute or piccolo. Also, I hear some traditional percussion’s sound as well. Back into the releasing time of this film, many people may not have a comprehensive understanding of music from those cultures, and the composer basically helps us be more focused on the storyline

and gives us a chance to explore some other genres of music. Also the scene that happens around (00:51:00), which is when Jones is trying to locate where is the Ark and the background music creates a really mystery feeling. At the beginning of this scene the instrumentation is heavily based on woodwind and each time when Jones is looking for information of the Ark, the music becomes like this style, which captures the mystery and unpredictable feelings. When he finally figures out the location, the music keeps building up to that climax point. It is atonal, and even though the composer is using the orchestra to create this music, they totally have the feeling that is associated with the scenes.
Williams uses different instrumentations, especially great at selecting some local instruments to serve as the underscoring in order to enrich the viewing experience.

Also, even those music that are performed by the orchestra, it is more in atonal and really has very little harmonic and melodic effects. By creating music like this, it somehow creates the mystery feelings and that fits the whole concept since finding the Ark is a very mystery journey and everything is unpredictable and I think the music really captures

this.

2. Discuss the role of non-musical sound effects in the film. Try not to focus on the elements that are more or less traditional (dialogue, “everyday” sound effects) but on ones that are exotic, supernatural, or somehow exiting or unusual. Are there any effects that challenge the distinction between “sound” and “music”? How do these sound effects contribute to our perception of the film in the “adventure” genre?
In my opinion, sometimes there is not a very clear and distinguish line between sound and music. People have different opinions when it comes to what is sound and can it be called music, and I generally do agree that the sounds that we hear every day can be music. I took at class before and at the first day, the professor let us do a daily-observation log of the sound that happen in our life but we never consider or think about it before. It was a great experience and it helped me to be more observant and appreciate at what I hear. I think this idea applies to this film because the way that Williams use sound and music kind of blur the ideas of them and he uses the mix of them as well in order to create some specific sounding effect. For example, the scene happens around (01:00:00), and it is when Jones and other people are digging at night and there is a storm coming soon so there are lots of diegetic music happens at this scene, such as the thunders and stormy winds. However, after they open that gate, there are many other sounds that are created by western instruments, such as strings and woodwinds. They are not playing harmonically but in a way to imitate what you see in the film, such as the sound made by the snakes. That creepy feeling is captured by those instruments’ performing, but people may argue whether it can be considered as music since there is no harmony and melody involve, if you just listen to the music and do not look at the visuals, it may just sound like some random notes. But when it goes along with the film, it enriches the audience’s feelings and emotions. I think Williams has great creation at using those sound effects and music, and it is totally different from what Hollywood classical film music did in the past because there is no such feeling of full orchestra playing neo-romantic music, instead he creates some new ideas of how to use western instruments in an unusual way, and I think that is definitely one of the reason why the film would be in the “adventure” genre.

Work Cited
Raiders of the Lost Ark. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman. Paramount Pictures. 1981, Film.