| Time flies! In the blink of an eye, Chinese film has undergone 110 years of ups and downs. Shanghai was merely a small fishing village 700 years ago; however, in the 1920s or so it has become a worldwide eye-catching metropolis also known as "the Far East Pearl" or "the East Asia Paris". In this fashion trend leading metropolis, changes have taken place in individuals’ lives. One of the changes was watching movies and it slowly became a part of individual’s life. In the 1930s Shanghai, films were going through the transition from silent films to sound films. What a refreshing experience for the audience to enjoy a film with sounds! Therefore leaning about the songs from films gradually became a major entertaining activity among individuals. Film music, as a part of film soundtrack, presents flourishing state in creative composition. The completion of a film not only takes the efforts of directors and actors/actresses, but also accompanied with the contribution of composers and singers. Modern Shanghai fulfilled the first "Golden Era" in Chinese Films.The film songs in the 1930s, as parts of contemporary pop songs, not only enhanced the qualities of the films, also provided the researching purposes in the historic significance and artistic values. They work both as part of films and separate units. Nowadays, there are more and more musicologists begin to study contemporary film songs. This graduate thesis is based on the purpose which I will try to thoroughly organize and testify on the film songs from the 1930s (1930-1937 to be exact). To present a vivid image of the tight and intertwined connection between film songs and films, as well as in which means the film songs were broadcast, the promotion effects from the media and the influence created by film songs.In this thesis there will be three components, introduction, body, and conclusion. In introduction, I will introduce several basic information including the origin and meaning of the topic, current study situation both home and abroad, application of research methods, and rules of definitions mentioned in the paper. In the first chapter, I will discuss the origin, creation and development of film songs in shanghai promoted jointly by the society background and the development situation of films; in the second chapter, I will introduce the composing environment of the film songs in the 1930s including song composers, singers and work pieces. I will also pry into the composing traits and artistic characteristics of film songs by analyzing the typical work pieces; in chapter three, in the media point of view, I will probe into the broadcasting and promotion of film songs by media communications in the 1930s, thus film songs became popular songs and sung by all the people at that time creating a significant influence in the society; In conclusion, I will draw the conclusion that film songs in the 1930s connected closely with shanghai from both how it was composed and how it was performed. We will be able to relive the flourishing days of shanghai with the help of very valuable video footage. Therefore, the co-existing and mutual influencing relationship among film songs, films and mass media together directed the development of modern shanghai music culture. This relationship still has impact and inspiration on the composing and broadcasting of contemporary film music. |
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