New Zealand Film Music in Focus: Music by New Zealand composers for feature films

Abstract

New Zealand’s film industry is built on a unique heritage of culture and creativity that is widely recognised and respected. Although scholarly research on local feature films has increased over the past thirty years, little academic study of the music in these films has been undertaken. This thesis, carried out from multiple perspectives, seeks to lay a foundation on the subject of feature film music produced in New Zealand. It has investigated general trends in production procedures and the functional use of music with the view to determine whether a unique local style exists. The work is divided into two parts. The first covers some historical material, such as how local sound innovations made it possible to record speech and music with images in early New Zealand ‘talkies’, but concentrates on how the music is produced today. Primary research included detailed interviews with ten film composers and five film directors about such matters as professional techniques, aesthetic preferences, versatility and teamwork. The second part opens with a survey of the literature concentrating on the functions of film music to provide a theoretical framework for the examination of fifteen New Zealand films made between 1964 and 2009. The analyses lead to a model of film music functions that is then used in a case study, An Angel at My Table (dir. Jane Campion, 1990). Music from this film is also diagrammed in an innovative manner that could be a useful tool for comparing films. The study has found that New Zealand film composers, whilst specialists in the industry, do not compose exclusively for film but also for other musical genres. Although pre-existing Maori music and other local styles occasionally appear on the sound track, the originally composed film music examined here has no clear New Zealand voice and the music functions in much the same way as film music composed elsewhere. The majority of filmmakers interviewed indicated a preference for restrained use of music. When local film music is compared with that produced in Hollywood, the only difference to emerge is the sparse use of music in most local feature films. This broad survey contributes to both New Zealand film and music practices as academic fields and could form a basis for further research.