Sciandrone, E. (2026) Exploring isomorphic (para-)cinematic storytelling with music: a reflection from the composer's perspective. Doctoral thesis, Royal College of Music.
Abstract
As a classically trained composer specialised in music for media, I have always been fascinated by the imagination that music can stir in audiences. Film music has acted as a catalyst for defining extra-musical content, with film composers devising and relying on effective musical formulas, here referred to as topics, to convey certain situations or emotions. Cinematic narrative has also affected how composers write music for media as opposed to the concert hall. Yet, the potential of cinematic storytelling with music has largely been neglected by music semioticians, with few exceptions in the last decades. My research seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice by exploring working methods, narrative and musical strategies that define isomorphic cinematic storytelling with music, drawing upon my experience as a composer and scholar. I first acknowledge the existence of narrative devices in instrumental and vocal music, exploring how those have been modified or continued in film music, clarifying cinematic-specific narrative devices, and reviewing the literature around the concept of musical narrative. After elaborating upon the key concept of ‘para-cinematic’, I then clarify the scope of this research, by focusing on music that mirrors the cinematic narrative, here defined as ‘isomorphic’. I explain and contextualise the concept of para-cinematic used in the second group of works presented in this research, comprising programmatic works referring to an imaginary media. In this context, I aim to develop music that not only reflects the (audio-visual) narrative at hand but also the imagined editing techniques and camera movements, hence achieving an individual take on concert music by integrating film music strategies with traditional programmatic music, and thus going full circle from my starting point. My analysis and commentary of the works presented as part of this DMus submission divides them into two groups. The first group features cinematic commissions composed between 2012 and 2021, where music has predominant importance in storytelling, with little or no dialogue/voice-over. The second group includes para-cinematic works based on fairy tales. My conclusions then review the selected devices previously identified in the works presented, reflecting on how the techniques and narrative strategies have improved my composing skills and pointing to future ground for further research.
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