Film Music

It is not that music and sound is necessary to include in all films, but part of what can make a film a work of art, and part of what adds to the entertainment and enjoyment of a film; is what we hear as well as see. This can either be the use of an orchestral composition, existing lyrical songs or just sound effects.

After all, it was moving pictures and music that made cinema before so called “talkies” emerged. The slow, low, moody tones of music played over 1922’s Nosferatu, directed by F.W. Murnau, is all that accompanies the visuals of horror on screen, whilst the flow of wind instruments and percussion, both ominous and comical at times, help to further accentuate the tough weather conditions in Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill Jr.

Many orchestral film scores, either composed specifically, or taken from classical pieces, are now easily identifiable and associated with certain films. Whether the entirety of a famous classical piece of music is used, such as in Brief Encounter, where Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2 provides a backdrop for the romance between two lovers, or the music is composed for a film, such as in Psycho or Jaws, film music can become as famous as the film itself.

Occasionally a famous musician might lend their talents to a film soundtrack: Bob Dylan for Pat Garret and Billy the Kid, the BeeGees for Saturday Night Fever and Whitney Housten for The Bodyguard, the latter two who created two of the best selling film soundtracks ever; all allowed for popular music to be showcased in film. Other musicians who provided their own compositions to films, which were also written for and starred them, were A Hard Days Night featuring The Beatles and Purple Rain featuring Prince. This arrangement was not a new occurrence in cinema, but was all too typical particularly during the 1950s with the emergence of the teenpic, including Jailhouse Rock starring (and singing) Elvis Presley.

Soundtracks have become a popular purchase amongst film and music lovers, whether they are orchestral scores, or songs. With the soundtracks that consist of song tracks in particular, a variety and range of music is provided, either from that of a certain decade, or a certain genre. It allows for a compilation of music to be listened to and therefore the film acts as the promoter of that music and the artists.

Notably, many of today’s horror movie soundtracks provide a compilation of current rock and metal, whilst the rom-com is laden with the most recent of popular music.

Some soundtracks go as far as to mesh the film era with the music era: Roger Avery’s The Rules of Attraction is an adaptation of a novel set during the 80s. The film is in fact set during its present day of 2002, but it is the soundtrack that pays homage to its original setting with a number of popular 80s tracks. In 2001, Not Another Teen Movie, a spoof of 80s brat pack/John Hughes teen flicks, consisted of various 80s tracks covered by current bands/singers, including Good Charlotte and Marilyn Manson.

Yet there is the rarer occasion where music appears to not be so essential, particularly when you would most expect it. In one instance, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight included a lengthy chase scene involving Batman’s motorbike, some trucks and a number of police vehicles. With a magnificent set of stunts being performed on screen, the majority of this segment is not boosted by the rumbling, dramatic score by Hans Zimmer, but instead the focus is that of the action, which is only enhanced by powerful sound effects. Another instance occurs during Meir Zarchi’s I Spit on Your Grave and Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: the entirety of both films are almost devoid of any music (a surprise considering the more poignant or gruelling moments of violence), yet what this gives the audience is not any manipulative, extra reminders of how horrific the scenes are, but instead relies on the visuals to do the storytelling. Without the use of music, we are left with a greater sense of cinema verité, making it all the more difficult to distinguish the films as fictional. Other horror films would put greater emphasis on the use of music during the more frightening, climatic scenes, for instance in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Score composer Bernard Herrmann uses the sharp sounds of violins and other stringed instruments, which give connotations not only of a knife penetrating flesh, but also the split personality of the film’s notorious Norman Bates.

Sometimes it might even occur that a piece of film music would be unexpected of a certain genre or storyline. For instance, the main theme for Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust, is not a creepy, synthesised 80s keyboard recording (unlike that written for Cannibal Ferox!), but instead is a soft, easy going and beautiful mix of guitars, violins and wind instruments, which create the most unlikely of scores for such a grisly, gruesome film. Another instance of such use of music in film is that of Terence Malik’s Badlands. Although often using more appropriate haunting music from the work of Orff/Schulwerk, the main theme used for the film – which follows a James Dean-esque rebel who takes his girlfriend on a killing spree – involves a gradual build up of upbeat percussion sounds, particularly that of the Xylophone, strictly deviating from the film’s more bleak tone.

So what is it that makes filmmakers so reliant on the use of music? No doubt certain, more mainstream and commercial films would be under obligation to include music, especially if the production company being used is part of a conglomerate of both film and music production. Aside from this however, what music can assist with in a film’s narrative is that of storytelling. Whether the lyrics associate with the film as a whole or in a particular scene, or the era of the song is relevant, or even if the sound and the flow of the music reflects the action on the screen; the combination of visuals and sounds can be a welcomed addition to the story being told and more often than not, the film experience.