The Bible and Music

Before we discussed G.F. Handel in class today, we separated into groups to depict a scene from any gospel to consider how movie composers think. My group chose to analyze the David and Goliath gospel. The first piece of this little project that I noticed was there is a lot of thinking that goes into just one movie scene. As a movie writer or composer, you have to step back and put yourselves in your future audience’s shoes to find the most ideal pieces. Some of the pieces that are discussed include location, music, what do you leave out, what characters best portray the scene, and the duration of the entire scene. The music is one part that my group did not finalize because it there is so many options and it makes it difficult to narrow it down to one or a few songs.

Another factor that forced our group to keep thinking and brainstorm on a deeper level was the different manuscripts and stories of David and Goliath. Although we thought there was only one version of this gospel that was straightforward, there is a few minor differences in the story. As a movie composer, you have to bring all these versions into mind. One of the groups discussed the frame angles and who they would zoom in on to create emotion. One crucial feature is catching the audience’s emotions to intensify the scene and to form a connection.