Silva, Liane (2024) World-building through world synthesis: The synthesised score of Blade Runner. In: 2024 21st Century Music Practice, 09 Sep 2024, University of West London, London, UK.

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Abstract

Different film scores can produce alterations in a film’s narrative and its interpretations, and in
particular, the use of different instrumentations can produce different results. This research focuses
on Composition and Songwriting, more specifically, on the use of Commercial Electronic Music
Instruments (CEMI’s) in music composition for film.
The films ‘Chariots of Fire’ (1981), ‘Thief’ (1981), and ‘Blade Runner’ (1982) mark the first few
scores with synthesisers as the main featured instruments, but they do so in different ways. One
useful way to better understand how CEMI’s such as these can be used in film music, is to adapt
Allan Moore’s concept of Authenticity to this context, which is the second stage of this research.
After a brief overview of these films and their scores, I will explain how Authenticity and Authentication can be useful tools to analyse and compose film music, and focus on Ridley Scott’s
‘Blade Runner Final Cut’ (1982/2007). By looking more deeply into a particular example from this film, I aim to understand how the soundtrack of ‘Blade Runner’ authenticates the film’s narrative and worldbuilding, with particular contrast with the other two films. More specifically,
I look into how Vangelis’ score employs synthesised instrumentation in different contexts, how it
combines it with occasional use of acoustic instrumentation, and how this practice influences (and sometimes even changes) the film’s narrative. Additionally, through practical demonstration, I propose new approaches to composition in these contexts.
Ultimately, the goal of this research is to start a conversation surrounding the different uses of
CEMI’s in film music composition, how these can authenticate (or not) different elements, and
how composers can harness this to produce different narrative results.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Other)
Subjects:	Music
Depositing User:	Marc Forster
Date Deposited:	16 Oct 2024 07:01
Last Modified:	16 Oct 2024 07:15
URI:	https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/12780

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