Books

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Croatian Film’s Audiovision – Examples of Contemporary Compositional Practice, published by the Croatian Film Association in 2024, presents an overview of film music in Croatia from the 1980s to the present day. It brings together the perspectives of various composers into a coherent and engaging volume that fills a twenty-year gap in this specific field of research, which emerged after the publication of the author’s book Music from the Screen: Croatian Film Music from 1942 to 1990—the first professional publication in the Croatian language to systematically address film music, more specifically the works of Croatian composers in Croatian cinema.

Through analyses of the music from Croatian films The Diary of Diana Budisavljević (2019) directed by Dana Budisavljević, That Wonderful Night in Split (2004) directed by Arsen Anton Ostojić, F20 (2018) also directed by A. A. Ostojić, The Conversation (2022) directed by Dominik Sedlar, Fishing and Fishermen’s Complaints (2020) directed by Milan Trenc, A Patriotc Man (2013) directed by Arto Halonen, and Visitors from the Galaxy (1981) directed by Dušan Vukotić, the book reveals the cinematic applicability of compositional techniques used by younger and middle-generation Croatian film composers. They are: Alen and Nenad Sinkauz, Mate Matišić, Dalibor Grubačević, and Igor Paro—as well as two veterans, Tomica Simović and Alfi Kabiljo.

The book is written in Croatian.

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Theory of Film Music through the Theory of Film Sound was published by the Croatian Film Association in 2012. In this book, the theoretical aspects of music as an element of film sound are examined through five sections.

The first section, titled “The Acoustic Foundations of Tone and Their Use in Film,” explains the biological origins of sound (through the study of the organ of hearing, the ear) and its physical origins (through the study of the acoustic foundations of sound, that is, the sound wave). Acoustics divides sound into tone and noise, and even the basic parameters of tone—loudness, pitch, timbre, and duration—can be used in film in specific ways.

The second section, “The Classification of Film Sound,” divides film sound into three basic components: speech, noise, and music. Their definitions in the literature are examined and compared, and a “transitional” point connecting all three categories is sought: namely, in film, speech can function as noise, noise as music, and music as noise or speech.

The third section, “The Temporal Dimension of Film Sound: Time as a Characteristic of Film Music,” considers time as a specific musical category. Many components of music are marked by this dimension: rhythm, tempo, meter, melody, harmony, and form. Viewed from the perspective of film music, the ways in which these elements participate in shaping film discourse are explored.

The fourth section, “The Temporal Dimension: The Integration of Music and Other Film Elements,” seeks to establish a connection between film time and musical time. It discusses synchronous and asynchronous sound as elements of film projection time, as well as simultaneous and non-simultaneous sound as elements of film dramatic time.

The final section, “The Spatial Dimension as a Criterion for the Classification of Film Sound and Film Music,” addresses space as a visual and auditory element of film. It becomes clear that space—especially the space of the film narrative—is a fundamental criterion for one of the basic classifications of film sound and film music: their division into diegetic and non-diegetic music, or sound. By comparing earlier theories, the book demonstrates that space has always been a criterion, although a systematic terminology took a long time to develop.

The book is written in Croatian.

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Kubrick’s Musical Odyssey, published by Pozitiv film in 2011, traces the maturation and evolution of film director Stanley Kubrick’s relationship with music. It represents a kind of journey through Kubrick’s film oeuvre from a musical perspective which, of course, cannot exclude the exceptionally important visual component of the director’s films. This evolution includes the growth of the author’s musical eclecticism, as he made equal use of traditional film scoring alongside elements of contemporary music (his debut film Fear and Desire, 1953), jazz (Killer’s Kiss, 1955; The Killing, 1956), and classical music (first employed in Paths of Glory, 1957). The only Kubrick film accompanied by a typical Hollywood score was Spartacus (1960), but already in his subsequent films he began combining different musical styles by different authors (Lolita, 1962; Dr. Strangelove, 1964).

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) represents the pinnacle of Stanley Kubrick’s filmmaking, not only in visual but also in auditory terms. His charismatic selection of works from the classical music repertoire attracted numerous analysts who sought meaning and reasons for their use. In his later films, Kubrick attempted to recreate the specificity of musical usage from 2001. He came closest in A Clockwork Orange (1971), where the atmosphere of the selected classical music stood in opposition to the depicted scenes. In Barry Lyndon (1975) he abandoned the ironic counterpoint that had contributed most to the multivalence of the relationship between music and image. Works from the classical music repertoire continued to be used in all of Kubrick’s later films (Barry Lyndon; The Shining, 1980; and Eyes Wide Shut, 1999). Indeed, the use of non-original film music (classical musical works, songs) allowed him to be a “director of music,” that is, to keep music under his own control—a goal he pursued throughout his life.

The book is written in Croatian.

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Brainstorming – Notes on Film Music

“Pointing to the fact that film music, as an artistic discipline, has been considerably marginalized in this country, the author focuses in this book precisely on this phenomenon, examining it, on the one hand, as a distinct artistic value with its own autonomous quality, and on the other as a boundary art that stands equally within the realms of music and film. In this sense, through selected examples the author discusses Croatian, American, and European cinema, or, from a genre perspective, an appropriate corpus of feature, animated, and documentary films; alternatively, by focusing on the modes of presentation of this type of music, she analyzes the soundtracks of certain film classics and contemporary repertory hits, as well as specific compilations and film music concerts. The texts collected in the book were published in the magazine Vijenac in the period from 2000 to the end of 2002.” (Zlatka Sačer)

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Music from the Screen – Croatian Film Music from 1942 to 1990

Music from the Screen is the first book on film music published in Croatia; it contains analyses of the film music of seventeen Croatian composers. At the same time, it provides a historical overview of the development of film music from 1942 to 1990 in Croatia. A total of 58 films are discussed (feature, documentary, and animated), and the book also includes musical score excerpts as well as photographs featuring scenes from selected films. It is divided into three sections. The first addresses the beginnings of film music in Croatia, and analyses works of classical composers who also composed for films. The second sections focuses on the generation of the 1930s, and brings forth composers who were employed as film composers in Music department of Dubrava film studio. It also discusses composers who primary wrote popular songs and chansons and became interested in film music along the way. The third section is titled ‘Jazz… Animated Film… Jazz’ and explores usage of jazz in feature films and animated shorts, mainly filmed by authors from the famous Zagreb school of animation.

The book includes a bibliography, an extensive index of names and titles, and an index of terms. It is written in Croatian.

Publications

„Film Music in Croatia Today: Between Marginalization and Revival“, in: Music Beyond the Concert Hall, eds: Dragana Jeremić Molnar, Biljana Leković, Radoš Mitrović, University of Arts in Belgrade, Faculty of Music, Belgrade, 2025, pp. 74-86.