Girls On Film - Duran Duran
Duration
Girls on Film is three and a half minutes long which is about the average length of New Wave songs and most of modern rock.
The song is allegro with a tempo of about 120-130 bpm. Most of the note values in the verses are very short especially the bass-line and vocals, with the vocals occasionally adding in a held note to create rhythmic interest. This elongation is heard most obviously in the chorus with the vocal hook.
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The catchy guitar riff starts with two short accented notes and ends with a held out one. It repeats this three times with an on the beat rhythm. However, on the fourth repetition the rhythm is syncopated. This unexpected shift in rhythm creates a surprise and makes the music feel danceable and fun. This choppy rhythmic guitar is a classic trope of New Wave songs.
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The drums play a vital roll as the main rhythmic accompaniment. They make the song danceable and lively, a must have in New Wave songs. There is a strong emphasis on beats two and four while the high hat is played rapidly throughout almost the entire song. The snare is performed similarly to the guitar in that it repeats on the beat a few times and then becomes syncopated for one repetition.
Overall, the note values in the song follow a pattern of "short, short, long". In the vocals the note values in the verse are short, then in the chorus they are long. The guitar riff has two short notes and a longer one. This pattern is used to create rhythmic interest and danceability in the song.
Dynamics + Expressive Techniques
There is almost no dynamic variation in this song. Although the dynamics in parts may change slightly, the overall volume of the song is very consistent.
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There are a number of musical flourishes such as guitars playing one off power chords or patterns that do not contribute to the melody or accompaniment and are instead used to decorate or ornament it. Thus providing added interest and variety to break away from the song feeling overly repetitious. These are heard a number of times throughout the song often played by guitars with heavy overdrive.
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There are many examples of articulation in the song, especially heavily accented notes and staccato. The accented notes are most recognisable in the drum beat on beats two and four, and in the vocal hook in the chorus. Staccato is used a lot in this song to create a fast choppy and rhythmically diverse feeling without the need for complicated rhythms.
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Overall the song doesn't explore dynamics a great deal however, it uses expressive techniques to highlight the melody and ground itself into the New Wave genre with the use of stylistic indications.
Texture
Throughout most of the song, homophonic texture is used. The song utilises a vocal melody and varying rhythmic, chordal, and harmonic accompaniments.
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During the verses the texture is quite thick with lots of different parts. The parts also move around quite a bit so when combined, give the illusion of even more parts than there really are. In the short transition between verse and chorus the texture becomes very thin with only two guitar parts playing. This leads up to the burst of texture when the chorus begins.
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The other time when texture is manipulated is during the bridge. During this part of the song the vocal melody stops and we are instead left with an instrumental with no real driving melody. The closest thing we get to a melody is a synthesiser playing a simple melodic pattern. This change in texture makes it feel like a dance beak which plays into the idea of New Wave being danceable.
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Texture in this song is made thinner, sometimes even monophonic, to emphasise shifts between sections of the song where the texture is much thicker, or homophonic.
Tone Colour
The Instruments heard in this song are an electric guitar, a bass guitar, two vocal parts, a drum-kit and a synthesiser in the bridge. The vocal parts have a rounded tone colour with little attack on the notes except for the accented hook in the chorus. The electric guitar has a bright, resonant tone colour. It is a little more piercing than the vocals and there is a strong start and end to each note. The bass guitar is warm and focused; each note has its own little bounce which helps to create a sense of movement. The drum-kit has a clear, strong and very focused tone colour; it feels confident and deliberate and demands the listener's attention.
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"Duran Duran" uses a variety of tone colour in its instrumentation and this makes the song feel vibrant and exciting. This quirky style of production is another characteristic of New Wave that this song utilises.
Pitch
"Girls on film" is in the key of A minor. The melody is very simple and doesn't have much range in pitch, making it easy for almost anyone listening to be able to sing it regardless of whether or not they have had any musical training. The electric guitar is in a very similar range to that of the vocals which makes them sound unified.
The vocal harmony is also very simple with most of the harmony being in thirds. It is used very sparingly to create some variation in repetition or drive the melody into a new section. The only time vocal harmony is explored any further in this song is the chorus when the harmony uses contrary motion to create tension and resolution.
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The song uses a "i IV VI" chord progression which isn't very common. It is likely a variation of the "i iv V" chord progression which is very common in songs with minor tonality. The addition of the "VI" chord does create some tension which is resolved when it comes back to the "i" chord.
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The bass-line, in my opinion, makes the most interesting use of pitch out of all the parts in this song. In the verses it repeats a rapidly moving 4 bar pattern with slight variations in each one. It starts with the bassist alternating between two notes and then playing either an ascending pattern or two accented notes. In the chorus it mimics the vocals and adding in the same patterns from the verse. Although it may sound simple, the bass-line is explored so exceptionally well that it feels like its own little song underlying another song. This bass-line however, was an exception to the norm. Most New Wave bass-lines focused on supporting the other parts without providing much to the song on their own. These iconic bass-lines are part of what made early "Duran Duran" songs so iconic.
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The pitch in this song is very simple since it is not the most vital part of the genre. New Wave was more focused on accessibility, danceability and fun, rather than impressive incredibly high or low notes.
Structure
This song uses a classic pop song structure with a slight variation in that there is a third verse after the bridge. This pop song structure was often used in New Wave songs:
- intro
- verse 1
- chorus
- verse 2
- chorus
- bridge (instrumental)
- verse 3
- chorus/outro
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The intro starts with the overwhelming sounds of many camera shutters overlapping, setting the scene for the song (and music video). Then the drum kicks in, followed shortly by the classic guitar riff and the bass-line. The vocals come in and kick off the first verse then in lead up to the chorus there is one bar of monophonic guitar. The chorus offers more of the previous verse with the addition of the catchy hook.
The second verse plays, this time with the inclusion of guitar embellishments. Unlike the first chorus, the second chorus has additional vocal lines to break away from the repetitiveness.
In the bridge there is no driving melody, only the drum beat and bass guitar can be heard. Then halfway through, the guitar and a synthesiser come in. The third verse follows, similar to the second only with different lyrics. This leads into the final chorus which repeats three times before fading out to silence.