Orlene McMahon
Lecturer
- Department: Communication, Media and Culture
Professor McMahon has been a part-time film lecturer at 吃瓜tv since 2015. She completed a Bachelor鈥檚 Degree in Arts (English-Music) and a Master鈥檚 Degree in Film Studies at University College Cork (Ireland). After a year out of academia in Paris, she commenced her PhD in 2007 as a member of Gonville & Caius College at the University of Cambridge. Combining her two passions, cinema and music, her doctoral research focused on the music and composers of the French New Wave. Since receiving her doctorate in 2012, she has taught at Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris IV), 吃瓜tv, and the 脡cole normale sup茅rieure (ENS).
McMahon's areas of research include French New Wave cinema, postwar European cinema, film music, and the more general fields of film history, theory, and criticism. Her first book聽Listening to the French New Wave: The Film Music and Composers of Postwar French Art Cinema聽was published by Peter Lang Oxford in 2014. Her most recent publication was a co-authored chapter聽on how music is used to explore the themes of memory, trauma, and the past in the films of Alain Resnais for the book聽Music in European Cinema.聽Current research interests focus on the topics of cinema as therapy and the relationship between psychology and film.
Education/Degrees
- 2014 鈥楳a卯tre de conf茅rences鈥�, Qualification from the French University System, CNU 鈥� Section 18 鈥� 142182420021.
- 2012 Ph.D. (Film Music), University of Cambridge, Gonville & Caius College, UK.
- 2006 MA Degree in Film Studies with First Class Honours, University College Cork, Ireland.
- 2005 BA Degree with First Class Honours (Joint Degree 鈥揈nglish &Music), University College Cork, Ireland.
Publications
Book
- , Oxford: Peter Lang, 2014.
Chapter Articles
- 鈥楩ugue States: Music, Memory, and Trauma in the 1960s Films of Alain Resnais鈥�, in Music in European Cinema, Ed. Michael Baumgartner and Ewelina Boczkowska, New York: Routledge, 2020.
- 鈥楯acques Rivette: Un cin茅aste 脿 la sensibilit茅 musicale moderne鈥�, in La musique fran莽aise de film, identit茅(s) et sp茅cificit茅(s), Ed. J茅r么me Rossi, Lyon: Symetrie, 2016.
- 听颈苍 Music and Sound in Documentary Film, Ed. Holly Rogers, New York: Routledge, 2014.
Journal Articles
- 鈥楢n Analysis of the Soundtrack in the Work of Malcolm Le Grice鈥�, Senses of Cinema, Issue 38 (Jan-March 2006), British Artists鈥� Film & Video Study Collection Research Papers, Central Saint Martin鈥檚 College of Art and Design (Spring 2006).
Journal Reviews
- Conference review of 鈥楾he signifying body: Hendrix, 31 August 1970, 2.00am鈥�, Professor Nicholas Cook, JCMP Research Group International Seminars, Observatoire Musical Fran莽ais (Universit茅 Paris-Sorbonne), February 23, 2013, in Volume! La revue des musiques populaires, Volume 10, Issue 2 (2014).
- Book review of Tuning In: American Narrative Television Music, Ron Rodman (UK: Oxford University Press, 2010), Music, Sound and the Moving Image (Liverpool UP), Volume 7, Issue 2, pp. 201鈥�206 (Autumn, 2013).
- Book review of From Pac-Man to Pop Music: Interactive Audio in Games and New Media, Karen Collins, ed. (UK: Ashgate, 2008), Music, Sound and the Moving Image (Liverpool UP), Volume 4, Issue 1, pp. 123-129 (Spring 2010).
Conferences & Lectures
- 鈥楳usic, Motion, and Memory: Temporal Soundscapes in Chris Marker鈥檚 La jet茅e鈥�, Music and Screen Media Conference, Research Centre for Audio-Visual Media, University of Liverpool (June 2014).
- 鈥楳usic in French Cinema: The Evolution of Film Music in France from 1895 to the Present鈥�, The American University of Paris, Summer Film Institute Events, Paris (July 2012).
- 鈥楥ellular (Film Music) Composition: Jean-Claude Eloy鈥檚 Score for Jacques Rivette鈥檚 La religieuse (1966)鈥�, International Musicological Society, Music and Media Study Conference, Berlin (June 2010).
- 鈥楲a Nouvelle Vague: A Musical Revolution?鈥�, Josai International University Media Studies Department: Alternative 鈥楽ociety for Cinema and Media Studies鈥� Conference, JIU, Tokyo (May 2009).
- 鈥樏塩outez le cinema! : Rehearing the Nouvelle Vague, Fifty Years On鈥︹��, Studies in French Cinema Annual Conference: Screen Sounds, King鈥檚 College London (April 2009).
- 鈥楴ouvelle Vague, New Music? : Listening to the French New Wave鈥�, Royal Musical Association Research Students鈥� Conference, King鈥檚 College London (January 2009).
- 鈥楥hallenging Conventions: An Audiovisual Collaboration from the 鈥淔irst Wave鈥� of Irish Film鈥�, 17th International Screen Studies Conference, Glasgow (July 2008).
- 鈥楥hallenging Conventions: An Audiovisual Collaboration from the 鈥淔irst Wave鈥� of Irish Film鈥�, Third Annual Music and the Moving Image Conference, NYU Steinhardt, New York (May 2008).
- 鈥楺uestions of Intermediality arising from The Tristan Project鈥�, Sight of Sound: Intermedia, Interdisciplinary Research Training Network Conference, Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CRASSH), Cambridge University (November 2007).
Research Areas
- French New Wave Cinema
- Postwar European Cinema
- Film Music
- Film History
- Film Theory
- Film Criticism
- Cinema as Therapy
- Psychology and Film
- Interdisciplinarity