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The Dark Side of the Rainbow: Pairing The Dark Side of the Moon with The Wizard of Oz.



History

In August 1995, the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Journal Gazette published the first mainstream media article[ about the "synchronicity", citing the Usenet discussion group alt.music.pink-floyd. Soon afterward, several fans began creating websites in which they touted the experience and tried to comprehensively catalogue the corresponding moments. A second wave of awareness began in April 1997, when Boston radio DJ George Taylor Morris discussed "Dark Side of the Rainbow" on the air, leading to further mainstream mediaarticles and a segment on MTV news.


In July 2000, the cable channel Turner Classic Movies aired a version of Oz with the Dark Side album as an alternate soundtrack. Turner Entertainment Co. has owned the rights to the film since 1986.


Synchronicity

There are various approaches regarding when to start synchronizing The Dark Side of the Moon audio with the film. Several involve the MGM lion as the cue. Most suggest the third roar, while some prefer the second or first. Others suggest starting the album not immediately after the lion's roar, but after the lion fades to black—exactly when the film begins. Viewing recommendations include reducing the film's audio and using captions or subtitles to follow the dialogue and plot.


The iconic dispersive prism of the album's cover purportedly reflects the movie's transition from black-and-white Kansas to Technicolor Oz; further examples include music changes at dramatic moments, such as the tornado near the start of the movie aligning with the screaming section of "The Great Gig in the Sky", and thematic alignments such as the scarecrow dance during "Brain Damage". This synergy effect has been described as an example of synchronicity, defined by the psychologist Carl Jung as a phenomenon in which coincidental events "seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality."


Detractors argue that the phenomenon is the result of the mind's tendency to think it recognizes patterns amid disorder by discarding data that does not fit.[6] Psychologists refer to this tendency as apophenia, or confirmation bias. In this theory, a Dark Side of the Rainbow enthusiast will focus on matching moments while ignoring the greater number of instances where the film and the album do not correspond.


Coincidence versus intent

Pink Floyd band members have repeatedly said that the reputed phenomenon is coincidence. In an interview for the 25th anniversary of the album, guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour denied the album was intentionally written to be synchronized with the film, saying "Some guy with too much time on his hands had this idea of combining Wizard of Oz with Dark Side of the Moon." On an MTV special about Pink Floyd in 2002, the band dismissed any relationship between the album and the movie, saying there were no means of reproducing the film in the studio at the time they recorded the album.


Dark Side of the Moon audio engineer Alan Parsons in 2003 dismissed the supposed effect:

It was an American radio guy who pointed it out to me. It's such a non-starter, a complete load of eyewash. I tried it for the first time about two years ago. One of my fiancée's kids had a copy of the video, and I thought I had to see what it was all about. I was very disappointed. The only thing I noticed was that the line "balanced on the biggest wave" came up when Dorothy was kind of tightrope walking along a fence. One of the things any audio professional will tell you is that the scope for the drift between the video and the record is enormous; it could be anything up to twenty seconds by the time the record's finished. And anyway, if you play any record with the sound turned down on the TV, you will find things that work.

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason told MTV in 1997, "It's absolute nonsense. It has nothing to do with The Wizard of Oz. It was all based on The Sound of Music."



Here You can Watch the Whole Matching Video:



The best "coincidences":


4:12 On The Run starts when Doroty fall of the fence.

8:00 The clocks in Time starts when the singing scene stop.

14:42 Time ends when Doroty leave the house.

14:58 The fucking tornado scene.

17:12 Dorothy sleeps, and the song slow down.

19:26 Money starts when she opens the door.

33:17 The song explodes and everyone starts to dance.

33:41 Any Colour You Like starts when Dorothy leaves the city.

42:31 The heartbeat is syncronized with Dorothy's hands.

44:47 Just see.

52:11 this is amazing During Time, the caracthers jump with the beat O.O

55:34 When she falls, the song explodes.



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