A soundtrack is a powerful storytelling device that connects the audience to the story, characters, atmosphere, and culture explored in a film. Films are not made today without soundtracks that fit their tone, indirectly communicating the scene’s emotional intent to the audience.
Because of emotional resonance, a good soundtrack can be enjoyed separately from its original picture, while still providing the emotional resonance that is essential to constructing a narrative. The score should allow for the narrative’s emotions to be re-lived. Music cannot be separated from film as it is now, having played an integral role in cinema since the early 20th century.
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The Historical Context of Music in Film
Cinema has a unique history with music, starting with the silent film era of the late 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. While these films themselves were silent, when the film was screened in a theatre, a live orchestra would play along with the movie, accompanying its tone and engaging the audience with the film.
Notably, a single musician would improvise music on the spot based on the tone of the movie showing. Eventually, this process improved with the creation of cue sheets allowing musicians to choose the copyrighted music that would best fit the film and accompanying orchestra. As orchestral soundtracks became more prolific, studios developed scores available for purchase and use while showcasing a film — allowing for consistency in every show.
In 1927, “The Jazz Singer” was released, the first production to come out with synchronized sounds, recorded on a Vitaphone sound-to-disc system. This allowed for music and, more importantly, vocals, to be played synchronously over footage, revolutionising music in film. Scores could now be directly recorded and distributed, giving rise to musicals growing in popularity during the 1930s-1950s, with a new kind of performance more akin to theatrical musicals, allowing actors to show off their multiple talents. Reflecting technological progress, 1970s soundtracks incorporated more synthesised music, introducing a more funky, electronic sound.
The Symphonic Impact: How Music and Sound Design Elevate Cinematic Experiences
Movies made with a score or chosen music that is bought, a well-constructed atmosphere, culture, and emotion, have a valuable ability to connect the viewer with the characters and engage in the storyline. Music and sound effects in the film have a powerful impact on the emotion and atmosphere in the scene it is presented in, engaging the viewer with the characters and making the film all the more memorable.
For example, horror movies are defined by their suspenseful and dreadful atmosphere that is created by the intensity of the music and sound effects. Loud sudden noises, creepy sound effects, and unsettling music are consistent and expected with horror films, often creating tension in a room that can linger even after the movie is finished. Horror movies such as “Get Out” and “Alien” use sudden loud noises and silence to build a sense of uneasiness. “Alien” has unique sound design with the noises the alien makes along with sudden noises accompanying an uneasy scene, and “Get Out’s” use of silence and tense score provide a consistent feeling of suspense.
Sound effects go hand in hand with a score. For a range of subjects explored or used in a scene, like a car starting up, gunfire, footsteps, or digitally added noises such as video game sound effects, are sounds needed for the scene to allow for realism or further engagement. A combination of the right music and sound effects for the setting of the performance it is chosen for and an engaging story with talented actors bring the music and movie together resulting in a memorable score.
While a film can have all these equally great traits, its most valuable aspect is that the story can be digestible and tell itself fluently. The narrative of a movie is told by multiple devices; score, sound, visuals, and cinematography all construct the story and make it digestible and memorable. With these devices, events such as foreshadowing, anticipation, and sometimes the plot are executed productively and keep the engagement of the viewer.
The Cultural Resonance of Film Music
Culture plays a pivotal role in the film and the audience it’s intended for. Being able to connect to the audience with something they are familiar with in a format that is easy to follow allows the movie to be enjoyed by anyone. Culture can be portrayed in a number of ways, exploring communities, values, beliefs, and practices. The film can carry out these specificities throughout the story with the right score, atmosphere, and themes.
Conversely, a film can build culture, with a movie being so popular that a collection of people engage in the movie’s culture further than just collecting memorabilia. Certain movies are memorable by their score and become iconic soundtracks, furthering the fanbase of the franchise to exist beyond just the movie. Movies such as “Top Gun” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” were not only commercial successes but also had equally successful scores. This only proves how influential a movie can be, as communities of fans can gather on websites like forums to discuss a movie’s culture, a movie score, the future of a movie or its franchise, and how individual fans show their appreciation for a movie.
Bridging Eras: The Enduring Appeal of Cinematic Musicals
Cinematic musicals have a unique appeal in that they blend performative mediums. Their combination of theatrically derived performance melodies with cinematic narrative techniques places them as a kind of bridge media, connecting the two types of performance. Where theatre and musicals, as live performances, connect the actors to the audience, filmed media features the camera as the fourth wall, altering audience engagement. Thus, the cinematic musical represents the joining of past and modern entertainment media.
This is reflected in the themes of some of the foremost musicals of today. “Hamilton” explores American history through hip-hop music rather than traditional theatrical music, and “West Side Story,” which is a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet set in 1950s New York. Cinematic musicals often depict period pieces or portray fantasy worlds, with the musical numbers immersing the audience into the setting by guiding them through the narrative’s emotional beats.
While musicals have been around since the early to mid 20th century, they remain popular today. Musicals convey art in different forms and, from their start to the present day, they continue to evolve and remain a popular medium, allowing the same enjoyment for those who collect scores or enjoy soundtracks.
Soundtracks and Cinema: The Unbreakable Bond Shaping the Future of Film
Movies are an inclusive medium that can be made for a vast audience, allowing for large communities of people to enjoy and remember an influential movie. Music shapes a movie with its emotional connection to the viewer, enhancing the narrative and atmosphere and ideally creating a lasting impact on the viewer and an ever-growing fan base.
Music continues to be the backbone of almost every movie. Even with silent films, the use of music is important for the audience to stay engaged. Music and scores in a film all contribute to the cinematic value of the film and overall enjoyment. Additionally, soundtracks play a crucial role in the film’s culture and audience, further influencing the movie and music industry. As films continue to be made and enjoyed, the future of movies and their direction has no shortage of discussion.
Without a soundtrack to carry throughout the movie and guide the viewer’s emotions as they watch, much of the potential of the movie would be lost. A movie made intentionally with no soundtrack or little music relies on the atmosphere and the characters to portray the right emotions and feel to speak to the audience, relative to how music would. Soundtracks in movies will likely continue to grow with current societal reflections, musical advancements, technological advancements, digital music, music production, and feedback from audiences.
The music grows along with movies and has the opportunity to use music popular for its time or a score that can become a timeless classic, synonymous with the movie. The future of soundtracks made for film continues to have potential and endless possibilities. As music is crucial to cinematography, it will remain a vital piece of media that is needed for film and is cherished as a piece of the cinematic experience. With no shortage of creativity from film artists, the ability for music to grow alongside movies and further the expansion of film will strengthen the connection between the two.
The Future of Film Music: An Endless Symphony
As we have explored, the integral role of music in cinema cannot be overstated. From the silent film era to the digital age, music has been a constant companion to the visual narrative, enhancing emotional resonance and cultural impact. The future of film music holds endless possibilities, promising to continue its evolution alongside advancements in technology and changes in societal preferences.
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