Music in Films

[BookStop]

Lioness is doing it for school. Why can't we? That is, talk about music in films and why it is important.

Sometimes it makes a wonderful background that hardly get noticed, but you take it out and Wham!, why is this so boring...

Sometimes it embodies the characters personality - Darth Vader.

Sometimes it adds creepy atmosphere to what would otherise lack true terror.

Sometimes it burrows into our subconcience and, like the smell of movie theater popcorn, just makes us happy.(Indiana Jones does this for me)

What movies out there would not be as appealing, scary, cheerful...without the music that accompanies them and why do you think that is?

[Lady of Winterfell]

I would say all movies most likely. I always notice the music in movies, and I can't imagine watching one without it. It really does set the tone for the movie and adds another emotional element. I buy quite a few movie soundtracks because it has such a big impact on me. For example Gladiator, Braveheart, LOTR (all 3 movies), Forrest Gump, Legends of the Fall, Meet Joe Black, Black Hawk Down...and lots of others.

[daisybee]

I am quite a fan of soundtracks too; they add so much to a film when done right.

I mean imagine Jaws without the score; or even that scene from Ghost; and almost all of QT's films have a soundtrack so well constructed its like another character.

The Lost Boys soundtrack has some of my favourite songs on it...

I can't imagine Top Gun without its soundtrack either.

[chrispenycate]

And if you change the music the mood of a scene can change completely.
Which is a problem, because generally nowadays the music is performed (and frequently composed) directly on the edited copy, where previously it was prepared with a stopwatch.
The editor often needs a music bed to set the rhythm of the final pictures, and the director gets used to the atmosphere generated by the original music, so wants exactly the same – but different, because he hasn't got the rights on the first piece.
Obviously, if you supply an aproximative 'demo' cut with samplers, the final version with real instruments isn't quite right – better, perhaps, but not right, while if you record the final version before the edit, they'll change the cut, so it needs doing over, and the sort of people who come to our studio don't have the budgets to pay musicians twice…
What's more, if you've got the dialogue when you're mixing the music you can leave space in the correct frequencies for the voices to come through without the music interfering with the comprehension; but you still generally try and make it take second place to the sound effects (thats the punctual sound effects; the music can predominate over the ambient effects) unless you make the sound effects part of the music.
*notices that everyone has gone quiet and looks around
Ahem, a bit technical?

[BookStop]

Sometimes music is such a flawless fit that it seems so natural. I cannot even imagine Cowboy Bebop without the Seatbelts' music to acompany it. What would've happened if the director had gone crazy and picked pop or classical music instead of jazz? Ahhh, Chris, you are blowingm y mind, here.

[Highlander II]

I love movie music.

John Williams and Michael Kamen are two of my all time faves for music scores.


You don't really realize how important the music is to the scene until you see something like a deleted scene that was shot, but never edited in, so it has no incidental music, thus watching the scene, it seems really flat.

However, on the flip side, Darren Aronofsky's "The Fountain" has an ingenious use of a 'lack' of incidental music. There's a great scene where Tommy's walking around the bedroom and all you here are his feet hitting the floor and the boards creaking. It's subtly ominous (b/c he's going to discover that Izzy's not in the house), but it's not 'creepy'. It works beautifully.

[mirinda]

Have to agree with you about The Lost Boys daisybee.

Some more that wouldn't be any good without the music The Bourne movie. The Matrix.

Anyone notice that more often than not the actors movements are timed perfectly to the beat of the music?

[Lioness]

I've thought of another soundtrack that I really love - the soundtrack for Stardust. It just enhances the scenes in so many ways.

And Star Wars just wouldn't be the same fitted to the Sound of Music soundtrack or something. (haha, that would be funny )

[The Procrastinator]

The Hi i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i llls are aliiiiive....with the sound of lightsabers...

You're right it just doesn't have that ring.

Seriously, and speaking of rings, I just love, love, loved Gollum's Song at the end of the Two Towers. What a way to end the movie, reflect on the character, and capture the feel of the story all in one fell swoop.

I also loved the original Superman soundtrack - parts of it give me goosebumps, taking me back to how thrilled I was as a kid watching that in the cinema. John Williams...where would we be without you.

Seconding the mention of Gladiator, some of that was just amazing. It adds another dimension to the "sensual" pleasure of that film - in the sense of adding another aesthetic layer to a movie already filled with evocative aesthetic qualities, not to mention the storytelling and the emotional depth of many of the scenes - especially Lisa Gerrard's contributions. (No I did not mean sensual as in the pleasure of watching Russell. Though that is certainly a major bonus...)

[Lioness]

John Williams is ledgendary. What would film music be without him. He's done so many excellent soundtracks...Harry Potter, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Superman...the list goes on (I say that because I have run out of ideas for film titles...)

[nj1]

If your talking soundtracks to movies you gotta mention the contributions made by Queen. The soundtrack for Highlander is brilliant, I absolutly love 'who wants to live for ever' when his missus (Heather?) is getting older while he stays young and It's a kinda magic suited the film perfectly. and who can forget Flash Gordan - 'FLASH AHH AHH' , cheeseyness at it's best!!

[Highlander II]

There was a 'musical score' soundtrack thing for Highlander released several years ago - w/ the other incidental music (or some of it) - where they incorporated parts of songs like 'Who Wants to Live Forever' and the like. I *think* the Highlander music may have been Michael Kamen... but don't quote me on that. (tho, I do know Kamen did the first X-men!)

My favorite from that Queen album is the title track - "A Kind of Magic", which isn't even played in the movie, it's played over the credits, then used in HL:II when Connor goes to the bar.

The 'Indiana Jones' theme is one of my all-time favorites.

[Quokka]

Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, half the scenes wouldn't be the same without the music.

[Tansy]

Tarantino is a genius when it come to picking music in his films, can you imagine the ear scene in Resevoir Dogs without Stuck in the Middle With You?

[Corina]

Originally Posted by BookStop

Lioness is doing it for school. Why can't we? That is, talk about music in films and why it is important.

Sometimes it makes a wonderful background that hardly get noticed, but you take it out and Wham!, why is this so boring...

Sometimes it embodies the characters personality - Darth Vader.

Sometimes it adds creepy atmosphere to what would otherise lack true terror.

Sometimes it burrows into our subconcience and, like the smell of movie theater popcorn, just makes us happy.(Indiana Jones does this for me)

What movies out there would not be as appealing, scary, cheerful...without the music that accompanies them and why do you think that is?

Thank you for posting this! I completely agree, movie music is so over looked and under appreciated. I think it's a real gift for someone to be able to conduct music that would fit a scene in a movie. Movie music is one of my favorite things to listen to