Song in Film. Some Aspects of Song Functioning in the Early Sound Films Basing on the Examples from the Soviet and European Cinema History

Elizaveta Parfentyeva, M.A.
Referentin: Prof. Dr. Barbara Flückiger

This project aims at studying its specific, aesthetic and in particular historical aspects, and determining the foundation of filmmakers’ interest in the song of that time (30-40th years). It is based on the history of the song, its role in the European culture in general and its function in cinema in particular.

Once the research is completed, this project will provide a full description of the use of songs in the films of that time period of the Soviet and European cinema history. Also, it may be used as a foundation of the theory of influence of song on the perception of the viewer in contemporary cinema.

This project studies the use of songs as the main tool for creating the image of the protagonist.

Also the researcher is interested in the exploration of the way of using the song in a diegetic and non-diegetic spaces of film.

The project also aims to investigate the process of evolution of the song genres in the context of the history, highlighting the classification of genres and types of the songs. It also seeks to find and understand what traditional mechanisms the song transferred to the cinema, and how this has allowed the song in the film to be made, as in media-art, the tool of the impact. Along with the specific video-information, it contributes to the formation of a certain state of mind and the specific perception of reality in the viewer.

It is also intended to identify the political role of the song in the formation of the ideology of the different nations and the evolution of the song in this context, song writing in mass media and its popularization.