Due to COVID-19, the festival is postponed to July 23-26 with a new submission deadline of May 22. This was announced after the article went to press.
A new film festival is almost here and you should listen up.
The Columbus Association for Performing Arts, in partnership with the Drexel Theatre, Gateway Film Center and Columbus Film, will showcase mostly independent filmmakers at Cinema Columbus, which is now July 23-26 due to COVID-19.
“Cinema Columbus is a fantastic, collaborative opportunity for the city’s many film industry resources to come together and showcase Columbus as an international destination for the best up-and-coming films and filmmakers,” says CAPA President Chad Whittington.
Apart from an intriguing storyline and strong cinematography, an essential element of a great film is its soundtrack. The Ohio State University musicology professor Dr. Arved Ashby explains that a film soundtrack functions in important ways and provides continuity, which allows choppy scenes to flow together.
“If you watched your favorite movie without music, you’d be astonished how jumpy and discontinuous it is, and even how confusing it is,” he says. “The music is there to make these edits, cuts and changes immediately invisible and imperceptible.”
Another important element is what Ashby refers to as emotional and narrative queuing.
“The music is there to mediate in that way between me and what’s happening in the scene,” he says. “Without it, it would be much harder to tell where we’re going and how.”
However, independent film soundtracks are a little different. Ashby says that indie films often consist of pre-existing songs due to high costs associated with original orchestra scores.
The songs chosen for indie films are often more ironic, are an inside joke between the filmmaker and audience, and can even be the inspiration for a particular scene.
“Some regional movies might not have music at all – trying a more documentary approach,” Ashby says. “If it’s handmade, smaller-run filmmakers, the music is going to be much less mainstream, predictable and more interesting.”
In the future, he speculates that filmmakers will turn more towards electronic soundtracks.
“It’s not music, but because of that it’s even more powerful,” Ashby says. “More and more I think we’re going to get music that’s more impactful, more malleable and even end up cheaper than more old-fashioned sounding music.”
Natalie Caswell is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
