Film Music Essay

592 Words3 Pages
Film music Everywhere we go music follows us, making us desensitized (accustom, used) to it. Our habituation to music means we easily overlook music’s role in our lives, and even more so in film. Music’s function is deeper than simply background music. If you focus on the songs the director chooses, you will have a much greater understanding of a film. Most films contain 45 to 90 minutes of composed music. With the thousands of films made around the world since the advent of sound in 1927, that means that more orchestral music has been written for the movie house than for all the concert halls put together. Music is used in films for various aspects. Firstly, music expresses emotions. In the days of silent film, the only methods to express how a character felt were the dialog cards, the actor's face and the music score, all of which worked together to convey the necessary emotion. In a silent film, if a character delivers what appears to be a tense or dramatic speech, tense and dramatic music is sure to accompany it. In modern filmmaking, the same can be said to be true. Secondly, music is a basic and effective way to heighten the drama of a given scene in a film. Regardless of the genre (drama, comedy, romance), a film score can add to nearly any scene. In an action scene, the music will match the action in terms of power and intensity. In a comedy scene, the music can be expected to be as light or silly as the action taking place in the scene. In a horror film, the music is atonal, which means that is not related to a tonic note and therefore has no sense of key. Thirdly, music can establish the mood at the beginning of a movie or scene. Music is often used to help set a tone, before any dramatic action takes place. For example, at the beginning of a horror film, shots of an empty street may have a scary music accompanying them, to prepare the audience
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