Thursday, September 19th, 2019

Time	Event
8:00a	The Creepy 13th-Century Melody That Shows Up in Movies Again & Again: An Introduction to “Dies Irae” The number of iconic scenes in cinema history can and do fill textbooks hundreds of pages long. Doubtless most of us have seen enough of these scenes to know the basic grammar of feature film, and to recognize the hundreds of references in movies and TV to classic cuts and compositions from Hitchcock, Kubrick, or Kurosawa. Visual and narrative allusions might leap out at us, but music tends to work in subtler ways, prompting emotional responses without engaging the parts of our brain that make comparisons. Case in point, the videos here from Vox and Berklee College of Music professor Alex Ludwig demonstrate the widespread use of a musical motif of four notes from the “Dies Irae,” or “day of wrath,” a 13th century Gregorian requiem, or Catholic mass traditionally sung at funerals. Of course, we know these notes from the iconic, oft-parodied Amadeus scene of Mozart composing the “Dies Irae” movement of his Requiem in his sickbed, as ultimate frenemy Salieri furiously transcribes. Once you hear the magisterially ominous sequence of notes, you might immediately think of Wendy Carlos’ themes for The Shining and A Clockwork Orange. But did you notice these four notes in Disney’s The Lion King, Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope, or It’s a Wonderful Life? What about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or Home Alone? Both Vox and Ludwig show how the “dies irae” theme appears over and over, cueing us to peril or tragedy ahead, orienting us to the terror and unease we see onscreen. For almost 800 years, these four notes have signified all of the above for Catholic Europe, as well as, Vox notes, soundtracking the supposed future day when “God will judge the living and the dead and send them to heaven or hell.” The “dies irae” has permeated narrative cinema for almost as long as film has existed. The oldest example in Ludwig’s compilation comes from a 1927 score written by Gottfried Huppertz for Fritz Lang’s silent Metropolis. Ludwig also brings his musicological expertise to bear in Vox’s exploration of “dies irae” references. He sums up the net effect as creating a “sense of dread,” bestowed upon modernity by hundreds of years of Christian theology as expressed in music. Film composers were only the latest to pick up the cultural thread of fear and threat in "Dies Irae." Their work stands on the shoulders of Mozart and later composers like Hector Berlioz, who lifted the melody in his 1830 Symphonie fantastique to tell a story of obsessive love and murder, and a nightmare of a witch’s sabbath. Later came Franz Liszt’s 1849 Totentanz (Dance of the Dead) and Giuseppe Verdi’s 1874 Messa da Requiem, a very recognizable piece of music that has made its appearance in no small number of movies, TV shows, commercials, and temp scores. Vox and Ludwig show the “dies irae” phenomenon in film to be a slow cultural evolution from the ornate, sacred pomp of medieval Catholic rites to the ornate, secular pomp of Hollywood film production, by way of classical composers who seized on the theme’s “sense of dread” but remained at least ambivalent about happy endings on the day of wrath. Related Content: Why Marvel and Other Hollywood Films Have Such Bland Music: Every Frame a Painting Explains the Perils of the “Temp Score” Hear 9 Hours of Hans Zimmer Soundtracks: Dunkirk, Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight & Much More All of the Music from Martin Scorsese’s Movies: Listen to a 326-Track, 20-Hour Playlist Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness The Creepy 13th-Century Melody That Shows Up in Movies Again & Again: An Introduction to “Dies Irae” is a post from: Open Culture. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, or get our Daily Email. And don't miss our big collections of Free Online Courses, Free Online Movies, Free eBooks, Free Audio Books, Free Foreign Language Lessons, and MOOCs. (Comment on this)
11:00a	Martin Scorsese Makes a List of 85 Films Every Aspiring Filmmaker Needs to See Image by "Siebbi," Wikimedia Commons Before the rise of institutional film schools—ensconced in university walls with all the formality that entails—those seeking to learn the craft did so by apprenticing themselves to studios and master directors, and by watching lots and lots of movies. If we take the example of some of the most interesting filmmakers working today, this still may be the best way to become a filmmaker. Werner Herzog’s Rogue Film School, for example, forgoes the trappings of classrooms for a much more rough-and-tumble approach—and a direct confrontation with the medium. Kevin Smith dropped out of film school, as did Paul Thomas Anderson, spurred on partly by a love of Terminator 2. “My filmmaking education,” revealed Anderson, “consisted of finding out what filmmakers I liked were watching, then seeing those films.” It’s more or less how Quentin Tarantino learned to make movies too. You could hardly do better—if you’ve decided to take this independent route toward a cinematic education—than apprentice yourself under Martin Scorsese. Or at least find out what films he loves, and watch them all yourself. Last year, we featured a list of 39 foreign films the estimable director of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Hugo, Goodfellas (etc., etc., etc.) recommended to a young filmmaker. Today, we bring you a list of 85 films Scorsese referenced in the course of a four-hour interview he gave to Fast Company. “Some of the movies he discussed,” writes FastCo, “Others he just mentioned. But the cumulative total reflects a life lived entirely within the confines of movie making.” Shoot on over to Fast Company to read Scorsese’s commentary on each of the films below, and see an aesthetically pleasing version of his list over at MUBI as well. Like I said, you could hardly do better. Ace in the Hole All that Heaven Allows America, America An American in Paris Apocalypse Now Arsenic and Old Lace The Bad and the Beautiful The Band Wagon Born on the Fourth of July Cape Fear Cat People Caught Citizen Kane The Conversation Dial M for Murder Do the Right Thing Duel in the Sun The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Europa ’51 Faces The Fall of the Roman Empire The Flowers of St. Francis Force of Evil Forty Guns Germany Year Zero Gilda The Godfather Gun Crazy Health Heaven’s Gate House of Wax How Green Was My Valley The Hustler I Walk Alone The Infernal Cakewalk It Happened One Nght Jason and the Argonauts Journey to Italy Julius Caesar Kansas City Kiss Me Deadly Klute La Terra Trema The Lady From Shanghai The Leopard Macbeth The Magic Box M*A*S*H A Matter of Life and Death McCabe & Mrs. Miller The Messiah Midnight Cowboy Mishima Deeds Goes to Town Smith Goes to Washington Nashville Night and the City One, Two, Three Othello Paisa Peeping Tom Pickup on South Street The Player The Power and the Glory Stagecoach Raw Deal The Red Shoes The Rise of Louis XIV The Roaring Twenties Rocco and his Brothers Rome, Open City Secrets of the Soul Senso Shadows Shock Corridor Some Came Running Stromboli Sullivan’s Travels Sweet Smell of Success Tales of Hoffman The Third Man T-Men Touch of Evil The Trial Two Weeks in Another Town Note: An earlier version of this post appeared on our site in 2015. Would you like to support the mission of Open Culture? Please consider making a donation to our site. It's hard to rely 100% on ads, and your contributions will help us continue providing the best free cultural and educational materials to learners everywhere. Also consider following Open Culture on Facebook and Twitter and sharing intelligent media with your friends. Or sign up for our daily email and get a daily dose of Open Culture in your inbox.  Related Content: Martin Scorsese Creates a List of 39 Essential Foreign Films for a Young Filmmaker Martin Scorsese Reveals His 12 Favorite Movies (and Writes a New Essay on Film Preservation) Wes Anderson’s Favorite Films: Moonstruck, Rosemary’s Baby, and Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel Quentin Tarantino Lists His Favorite Films Since 1992 Akira Kurosawa’s List of His 100 Favorite Movies Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness Martin Scorsese Makes a List of 85 Films Every Aspiring Filmmaker Needs to See is a post from: Open Culture. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, or get our Daily Email. And don't miss our big collections of Free Online Courses, Free Online Movies, Free eBooks, Free Audio Books, Free Foreign Language Lessons, and MOOCs. (Comment on this)
2:00p	Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour Teaches a Course on Creativity & Leadership Imagine a famous magazine editor, and smart money says the image that comes to mind has a bob haircut and sunglasses. No one has defined the role of magazine-editor-as-cultural-force, and so consistently lived it, more than Anna Wintour, and the online education company Masterclass has somehow convinced her to take her hand off the wheel of Vogue — and put aside those oversized shades — just long enough to star in a course about how she steers that behemoth of a publication through the waters of fashion. "I know many people are curious about who I am and how I approach my work," Wintour says in the trailer above. "This is a class for those who want to understand my leadership style, and then understand the experiences that have helped me become an effective leader." You may well have already heard a thing or two about Wintour's leadership style, the famously exacting nature of which has provoked different reactions from different people (and possibly even inspired a bestselling novel and its feature-film adaptation). But as Wintour herself explains it, "you need someone who can push you, that isn't pulling you back" — sensible advice even for leaders of companies, teams, and classrooms who don't mind projecting a somewhat more laid-back image. But even for those who want to project as much individual strength and resolve as possible, "it's really, really important to surround yourself with a team whose opinions that you trust, who are not in any way frightened of disagreeing with you, and you have to listen." In her Masterclass, Wintour teaches, in other words, "how to be a boss." That phrase appears at the top of its syllabus, whose twelve lessons include "Anna's Management Tips" and "Editorial Decision-Making" as well as "Photographers and Models," "A Look Back at Iconic Covers," and "Transforming the Met Gala." Though geared toward viewers with an interest in the business of fashion (case studies include the careers of Miuccia Prada and Michael Kors), "Anna Wintour Teaches Creativity and Leadership" also offers principles for any human endeavor that requires invention, group work, and meeting hard deadlines over and over again. You can take the course individually for $90 USD, or as part of a $180 yearly all-access pass to every course on Masterclass, including another one on creativity by a similarly productive cultural figure, similarly recognizable by personal style alone: David Lynch. FYI: If you sign up for a MasterClass course by clicking on the affiliate links in this post, Open Culture will receive a small fee that helps support our operation. Related Content: Annie Leibovitz Teaches Photography in Her First Online Course Margaret Atwood Offers a New Online Class on Creative Writing David Lynch Teaches an Online Course on Film & Creativity Enter “The Magazine Rack,” the Internet Archive’s Collection of 34,000 Digitized Magazines Photographer Bill Cunningham (RIP) on Living La Vie Boheme Above Carnegie Hall George Orwell Blasts American Fashion Magazines (1946) Based in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities, language, and culture. His projects include the book The Stateless City: a Walk through 21st-Century Los Angeles and the video series The City in Cinema. Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall or on Facebook. Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour Teaches a Course on Creativity & Leadership is a post from: Open Culture. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, or get our Daily Email. And don't miss our big collections of Free Online Courses, Free Online Movies, Free eBooks, Free Audio Books, Free Foreign Language Lessons, and MOOCs. (Comment on this)
4:00p	Musicians Around the World Play The Band’s Classic Song, “The Weight,” with Help from Robbie Robertson and Ringo Starr Playing For Change, a "movement created to inspire and connect the world through music," has released its latest video--this one featuring musicians from five continents playing "The Weight," a classic song from The Band's 1968 album, Music from Big Pink. Amongst the musicians you'll find The Band's own Robbie Robertson and The Beatle's Ringo Starr. In our archive, find other Playing for Change takes on The Grateful Dead's "Ripple," The Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter," Bob Marley's "Redemption Song," and Ben King's "Stand by Me." For more, visit Playing for Change's YouTube channel. Would you like to support the mission of Open Culture? Please consider making a donation to our site. It's hard to rely 100% on ads, and your contributions will help us continue providing the best free cultural and educational materials to learners everywhere. Also consider following Open Culture on Facebook and Twitter and sharing intelligent media with your friends. Or sign up for our daily email and get a daily dose of Open Culture in your inbox.  Related Content: Watch The Band Play “The Weight,” “Up On Cripple Creek” and More in Rare 1970 Concert Footage Martin Scorsese Captures Levon Helm and The Band Performing “The Weight” in The Last Waltz Jeff Bridges Narrates a Brief History of Bob Dylan’s and The Band’s Basement Tapes Musicians Around the World Play The Band’s Classic Song, “The Weight,” with Help from Robbie Robertson and Ringo Starr is a post from: Open Culture. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, or get our Daily Email. And don't miss our big collections of Free Online Courses, Free Online Movies, Free eBooks, Free Audio Books, Free Foreign Language Lessons, and MOOCs. (Comment on this)

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