The global and transnational relationships of silent film music among Japanese, US and German silent film

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K12990
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 01050:Aesthetics and art studies-related
• Research Institution: Keio University (2023); Nagoya University of Foreign Studies (2019-2022)
• Principal Investigator: SHIRAI Fumito 慶應義塾大学, 商学部(日吉), 准教授 (20772015)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 映像音響研究 / 無声映画伴奏 / グローバル・ヒストリー / 日独比較研究 / 音楽学 / 映画学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research involves investigating the global and transnational relationships of silent film music among Japanese, US and German silent film from the 1910s to the 1920s. Based on the materials collected from archives in Japan, Netherland, the USA and Germany, this research clarifies the contemporary distribution process of the praxis across the national borders and local characteristic developments of accompaniment styles. These results have been presented at renowned international academic conferences. Furthermore, several papers have been published in Sekai ha eiga de dekiteiru [The world is constructed of cinema!] (co-editor, 2021, in Japanese), Beethoven to Taishu bunka [Beethoven and mass culture, 2024, in Japanese] and The Routledge companion to global film music in the early sound era (Chapter 36, 2024, in English).

Free Research Field

映像音響研究、音楽学、表象文化論

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、音楽学や映像学の成果を組み合わせて新しく確立しつつある映像音響研究という分野において、研究アプローチが困難であった無声映画期の実践の地域を越えた広がりや変遷を明らかにした点にその学術的な意義がある。
映像と音声が同期するという現在では一般的と思われているメディア史上および美学上の前提に対して、歴史資料に基づき再考を促すことで、現在大きく変遷を遂げ続けている映像音響メディアの可能性を問い直す意義を持つ。