Yichao

Guan

Harry Potter
The scene begins at the Great Hall of Hogwarts, with a soft flute melody playing
in the background, evoking a relaxed, festive mood, as its the end of the school
term. Everyone greets St Nicholas, the Gryffindor ghost as he floats by. The
screen follows St Nicholas as he floats down the long tables. At 00:17, the screen
reveals Hermione standing at the end of the Great Hall. As St Nicholas welcomes
Hermione, the music changes into a grand but graceful melody of harps and
strings, evoking a warm feeling, as someone dear is back.

At 00:28, this feeling blooms fully into a song evoking friendship and sincerity as
Harry and Ron noticed Hermione standing at the doors. The music reaches a
crescendo, underlining the expected reaction of the audience, as Hermione runs
up to Harry to hug him, the reunion of two good friends. Prior to this, either of
them could have lost their lives to the curse of Tom Riddles Diary.

At 00:43, there is a momentary break in the music, followed by a quieter, slightly
more introverted theme to establish the awkwardness between Hermione and
Ron. The music stays as Ron tries to make up for his awkwardness with a
handshake, and Hermione shows her appreciation to both Harry and Ron for
solving the puzzle.

At 01:13, as Dumbledore stands up to address the school, sentimental strings
enter the music, evoking an atmosphere of anticipation, as the audience is

curious to hear what he has to announce to the school. He gives the honor to
Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout for healing the petrified, and as the
school applauds for them at 01:33, the strings pick up in volume and momentum.
Similarly at 01:51, the music picks up even further to the celebratory cheers of
the students after Dumbledore announces the cancellation of exams as a school
treat. Thus, in this section, the music rises along to the mood of the plot.

At 02:07, the doors of the Great Hall opened. At this moment, the music blooms
with a glissando in the harp, with a final, resounding high note on the strings and
flutes at 02:10 as the screen zooms in to Hagrids appearance. It seems that this
is a moment everybody has been anticipating all along. True enough, for the rest
of the ending scene, Hagrid is the focus. Hence, the music played an important
role in highlighting the importance of a scene. It also played a physical role, in
bringing the attention of the audience to what is happening on screen.

The music keeps its suspense with the high notes in the strings, as everyone took
time to drink in the meaning of Hagrids presence, and his lateness. As Hagrid
walks down the aisles, he talks about how his release papers were delivered by a
confused owl called Errol. Ron realizes that it was his owl, and he was utterly
embarrassed, much to the amusement of Harry. This was supported by the light-
hearted flute response at 02:26. Dumbledore gave him a reassuring nod. This is
mickeymoused by the music at 02:34, as the music went up and down, to the
motion of Dumbledores head.

At 02:39 as Hagrid goes up to Harry, Ron and Hermione to thank them, a low
sentimental melody is played on strings, evoking a profound emotion of
gratitude. At 02:55, as Hagrid talks about how hed be you know where if not
for their help, the main theme comes in on the clarinets, answered by bells. We
realize this leads on to 03:11, when Harry says, Theres no Hogwarts without
you, Hagrid, and them embraces him.

At 03:28, as Dumbledore leads the clapping, bells and harps come into the
background music. It evokes an airy atmosphere and an image of movement,
both emotionally and physically. It also serves as a prelude to the build up in
emotion that is about to occur subsequently.

At 03:35, as Harry joins in the clapping, the strings come in, and the key changes.
At 03:43, the build-up continues as the masses join in the applause, with the
addition of contrabass to provide a stronger, fuller sound. The key of the music
modulates constantly, to evoke the celebratory mood.

Something special occurs at 04:01, when the background music comes into the
foreground as the hall erupts in applause. It gives the audience the idea that its
the finale, and serves as form of technical function, smoothly building the
previous section of the movie to the ending section, usually depicted by grand,
epic orchestral music.

At 04:25, as Hagrid raises his fists into the air triumphantly and Harry gives an
approving nod, the timpani rolls and the music reach the climax. Though the hit

point of the timpani roll isnt synced perfectly with Hagrids fists or Harrys nod,
it still manages to serve as a psychological function, evoking the emotions of the
actors, and conveying the same emotions to the audience.

Finally at 04:43, the theme of Harry Potter plays to the continuum of the
powerful music on horns and builds up gradually, bringing the episode of Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to a conclusive, decisive ending.

Frida
The film begins at 00:00 with a song score, a folk song in Spanish, as the title and
the producer of the film are introduced. The music serves to evoke the physical
location and time period this story is based in, Mexico City.

The first scene at 00:29 opens in a garden with all sorts of exotic plants and
animals. The music that accompanies it is spiritual, evoking the physical
atmosphere of the location. As we look closer, there are figurine statues all over
the place. Thus, the music portrays the sacredness and mystery of the place too.

The screen slowly zooms in unto the men carrying a bed frame and they seemed
to be moving out of the place. As of this moment, as the audience has no idea of
the context and plot of the story, the spiritual music also serves to underline the
audiences mood and prepare them for what is to come.

At 01:03, the location changes, but the details is nevertheless still seemingly
unknown to the audience. The men seemed to have reached the entrance of the
shrine. But the music transits from the prior airy instrumentation to a type of
harmonica, accompanied by a form of harp, albeit still playing the same harmony
and melody. Though this still evokes the air of mystery of the shrine, it also
serves as a form of physical function, ensuring a smooth change in music to what
is to follow.

At 01:29, the music becomes purely harp, however playing with the same
atmosphere of sacredness, as the background noise becomes more apparent. The

scene moves to the roadside, where the men start to lift the bed frame onto the
pick-up truck. Here, the main character is revealed to the audience.

At 01:54, the harp melody, which has no prior resolution, finally resolves in a
major chord, as the title of the movie Frida, is shown on the backboard of the
pick-up truck. This serves to tell the audience that this is a cadence point
signaling the conclusion of the introduction, and things will move on. The truck
then moves on its journey.

At 01:59, the music changes. With the rhythms of the ethnic percussion, harp and
harmonica, the music suggests movement, and is highly representative of the
moving truck along the road. We realize that at 02:21, as Frida flashes back to
her schooling years, the music remains as it is. The ethnical taste of the music,
especially the plucking strings of the harp, furthermore evokes the location and
time period of the storys setting, which is revealed to be Mexico City in 1922.

As Frida runs along the corridors and then tries to catch the boys attention, this
scene is one comprising of a fair amount of movement as well, thus the prior
music fits exactly into this scenario, both psychologically and physically.

Then at 02:49, the music fades away gradually as Frida and the boys sneak into
the theatre on the railing, suggesting that theyre up to no good, and it serves to
bring the audiences attention to the foreground, making them focus on what is
actually happening in the theatre.