Sound Effects in Amadeus Term Paper

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Amadeus is the fictional story about the supposed relationship between Mozart and another composer, Antonio Salieri. In the story. Salieri, is insanely jealous that God has given such extraordinary talent to a person as crude as Mozart, and he is gradually driven mad by his jealousy. He commissions Mozart to write a Requiem, which Salieri then plans to steal. He plans to then murder Mozart, and posing as Mozart's loyal friend, perform the Requiem, with Salieri's name on it as the composer, to play in honor of his dead companion.

Sound editing plays an important role in this movie, and not just because the movie tells the story of two composers. Sound editors used background sounds as well as music to great effect in this movie, in particular to signal shifts in time or location, or to help guide the viewer's attention to the most important feature in an ongoing scene.

The movie opens with the sounds of Antonio Salieri's attempted suicide, after he shouts his confession that he contrived to make Mozart die. The suicide attempt is experienced auditorally only - his confession, his scream, his fall to the floor. This pivotal opening action in the movie occurs only by sound effects. This is a foreshadow of just how important sound effects will be in this movie.

In a scene shortly following that one, a priest enters the madhouse.

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As he moves through, the piano can barely be heard, gradually becoming louder, under the sounds of the inmates. The sound of the piano, which plays ordinary and pedantic music compared to Mozart's, demonstrates Salieri's frustration at his comparative lack of talent, and sets up the scene with the priest where Salieri tries to get the priest to recognize at least one of his pieces.

The priest, who took music lessons, does not remember any of Salieri's compositions, but he does recall one of Mozart's. Without the sound of the music, Salieri's anguish would not make any sense. Without sound, there is no story.

As Salieri tells his story, sound is used to draw us into the memory of when Salieri's father dies and the next transition, to a concert at the Archbishop's. It enhances the effect of delving back into Salieri's memories.

In another memory of Salieri's, we are introduced to Mozart first by his high-pitched, unpleasant laugh, a sound that also closes the movie. Later, the sound of Mozart's music is used to humiliate Salieri in front of others, as Mozart plays his piece and improves it immensely, before getting completely carried away and mocking it musically.

Abrupt changes in sound are also used to signal changes within….....

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