To celebrate Halloween, the Music Department put on a screening of the 1931 film “Frankenstein,” at the Green Music Center. The SSU Wind Ensemble performed a live musical soundtrack by Michael Shapiro during the film. The event took place on Thursday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m. 

This specific event was supposed to happen in 2019, but was cancelled due to the fires during that time period. The performance was then pushed to 2020 and cancelled again due to COVID-19. With all the flooding that happened on Sunday, band director Andy Collinsworth was unsure of if the event was going to occur.

The basic storyline of “Frankenstein” is that a mad scientist, Doctor Frankenstein wanted to create life from a mixture of different dead bodies; however, instead of making an almost human-like creature, a monster was born. 

Collinsworth explained why the SSU Wind Ensemble chose the film “Frankenstein.” 

“This musical score was written for wind instruments. The most important question is ‘Why did the composer choose this film instead of other movies to write a score for?’ With the exception of the opening title which lasts for about 45 seconds and the closing credits which is also about 45 seconds, there’s no music in the movie. If you place yourself within the context of film, historical talkie films have only been around since 1929. So this [Frankenstein] was a very early ‘talkie’, and this is really before the days of soundtracks in the conventional text were added to films or movies… With any scary movie, you need music to add to the suspense, it also adds to the ambiance, because if you turn the volume down on a horror movie, it does not make it very scary,” he said.

Chrystal Dael, a sophomore at SSU, talked about how the viewing experience was very different with the live ensemble there. 

“I really loved the orchestra, it was actually one of the reasons why I wanted to go. Watching with a live orchestra increased the intensity of the movie. I wasn’t that scared of the movie, however the live music really built up the tension and made it so realistic since I was hearing it live. Other than that, I would love to see them play once more because the music  definitely adds up to the experience,” she said.

In regards to the film itself, Dael said “It was a good experience to watch a film that’s very different from modern movies. It was a learning experience for me since I don’t watch movies often, especially older ones. I expected their acting to be less ‘progressed’ since I saw it as a really old movie but watching it really impressed me and showed me how acting back then was very exquisite, and how it was already very well mastered.” 

Abigail Barnabas, a freshman at SSU said “It was my first time watching a movie that old. It was kind of slow for me but that would be because of the times, 1930 movies and 2000 movies are very different. I loved the experience.” 

Dael also said that the GMC handled COVID guidelines very well, while also elaborating with “They all checked our vaccination records, and gave us a green bracelet; they strictly followed the rules. I also noticed how people didn’t sit beside other people other than the people they came with and left at least a chair between. So the fact that not only the GMC were careful, but also the people definitely made me feel safer during the event.”