Music and storytelling
How, when and why music is used in movies, tv-shows and games.
Do you ever avoid listening to certain sound tracks in public because you know they will make you cry? Well I certainly do. And that's totally okay, it's actually one of the desired effect of film music - amongst many others.
On this site I'm going to talk more about the why's and how's of film music and the combination of music and storytelling in general. To get the mood settled here's a video you might want to watch.
Disclaimer: proceed with caution, don't watch while in a public area. Side effects may include: crying, loss of words and choked up throat.
Film music
Film music, also known as film score, is the music played in or over a film. The scores together form part of the soundtrack, which also includes the dialogue and sound effects.
Film music achieves a number of things; it establishes setting (70s music in a 70s story), it creates atmosphere (slow music for a sad scene), it calls attention to elements, it reinforces or foreshadows narrative developments (leitmotiv) ; it gives meaning to a character's actions or translates their thoughts (Mickey mousing) ; and it creates emotion.
Film music can be written in any type of music style depending on what kind of story the film tries to tell. Jazz, rock, pop, blues and many more can be used. However the majority of scores are written in the western classical music style.
Any already existing pop songs used in a movie
are not considered part of the score but are part of the soundtrack (this does
not apply for musicals). Film music tends to not have any vocals or lyrics in
the scores unless it's sung by choirs. This rule does have some exceptions when
the song is specifically written for a scene such as James Horner's "My
Heart Will Go On" from Titanic.
