Music for film and media
The 1920s witnessed the great flowering of the film score. Film score means when the score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to enhance the dramatic narrative and the emotional impact of the scene in question. Film composers use music to create atmosphere, sync with on-screen action, and create iconic themes associated with characters in movies. Songs such a pop songs or rock are not usualy known as part of the film score, some songs do also form part of the film's soundtrack.
Emotional Amplification
Music intensifies the emotional impact of scenes, whether it's joy, sadness, tension, or excitement. For instance, a swelling orchestral score can make a triumphant moment feel epic.
Narrative Support
Scores and soundtracks often guide the audience through the story by providing subtext or reinforcing themes. For example, a recurring musical motif (or leitmotif) associated with a character can subtly remind the audience of their presence or significance.
Atmosphere and Setting
Music establishes the tone and atmosphere of a scene or setting. A haunting melody can create suspense, while a vibrant, rhythmic score can evoke adventure or action.
Pacing and Structure
Music can control the pacing of a scene, providing a sense of movement or stillness. Fast-paced, rhythmic music can heighten action sequences, while slow, ambient music can make moments feel contemplative or ominous.
Character Development
Musical themes tied to specific characters (e.g., Darth Vader’s "Imperial March" in Star Wars) deepen the audience's understanding of their personality, motives, or transformation.
Cultural and Historical Context
Music can signify a time period, culture, or setting, immersing the audience in the world of the film. For instance, traditional instruments and styles might be used in period dramas or films set in specific regions.
Engagement and Memorability
A powerful score or catchy song makes media more engaging and memorable. Iconic themes (e.g., John Williams' Jurassic Park theme) stay with audiences long after they’ve left the theater.
Emotional Resonance
The right music can evoke deep emotions, connecting the audience to the characters and story on a visceral level. This can make a scene more poignant or thrilling.
Suspension of Disbelief
Music helps create a cohesive and immersive world, making it easier for audiences to accept fantastical or fictional elements.
Heightened Tension
In thriller or horror genres, music builds suspense by using techniques like dissonance, silence, or sudden crescendos. It manipulates audience expectations, keeping them on edge.
Cognitive Cueing
Music provides cues to the audience about how to interpret what they're seeing. For example, a lighthearted score signals comedy, while a dark, brooding soundtrack suggests danger.
Creating Iconic Moments
Music can elevate a scene to iconic status. Imagine the shower scene in Psycho without Bernard Herrmann's screeching violins, or the opening crawl of Star Wars without its rousing theme.
Building Connection Across Media
A well-designed soundtrack can extend beyond the screen. Songs and scores can become cultural phenomena, aiding marketing efforts and creating additional revenue streams.
Leitmotifs
Recurring musical themes for characters or ideas (e.g., the "Hedwig’s Theme" in Harry Potter).
Diegetic vs. Non-Diegetic Music
Diegetic music exists within the story world (e.g., a character playing a radio).
Non-diegetic music is background score meant only for the audience’s perception.
Use of Silence
Strategic absence of music can amplify tension or focus attention on other elements of the scene.
Experimentation with Genres and Sounds
Directors and composers often experiment to achieve unique effects, such as Hans Zimmer’s use of ticking clocks in Dunkirk to heighten urgency.
What do film scores do exactly?
A film score refers to the original music that accompanies a film. In most cases, movie music is written by a film composer hired for the production. The movie score heightens the film's emotion, creating an aural mood for each scene, along with sound effects and dialogue.
What impact do film scores have?
The dissonance and intensity of the score mirror the shock and horror of the scene, amplifying the emotional impact on the audience.
-Music for Film-
Imperial march
"The Imperial March" is the theme music that represents the authoritarian Galactic Empire. As Anakin Skywalker is stripped of all individuality, he, in essence, becomes one with the Empire as Darth Vader; hence the reason the march is often associated with him as well.
What is the harmony of The Imperial March?
How does the harmony help with the opening riff? The first three beats is a single note of G repeated. On the fourth beat, there is a chord of Eb-F#-Bb of G minor, giving a dark colour to the sound by confirming a minor key for the march.
The structure of Imperial march
The Imperial March is written in a four-beat time. At the very start of the song, the riffs which occur are written in a way that makes them accelerate through the 4 beats of the bar.
Rhythm: In the rhythm of the piece, the pattern begins with a single note on the first beat. On the second beat, this note is accompanied by a fast triplet rhythm, creating a sense of increased motion. The third beat features the same note and triplet combination, seamlessly flowing into the fourth beat, which starts with the triplet and then comes to a decisive halt. This rhythm, reminiscent of a drumming or marching beat, is a defining characteristic of the Imperial March.
The Imperial March: The Imperial March is composed in the key of G Minor. According to the Theorytab database, G Minor is the 5th most popular key among minor keys and ranks 13th overall. This key contributes to the dramatic and powerful nature of the march.
-Sonic features-
Sonically: In music, "sonically" refers to the characteristics and qualities of sound, including timbre, dynamics, texture, fidelity, ambiance, and tone. It describes the overall quality or style of a song and how these elements contribute to its unique sound.
Instrumentation: Instrumentation involves the arrangement or composition of music for various instruments. It refers to how different instruments are combined in a musical work, whether in chamber groups, jazz bands, rock ensembles, orchestras, or other types of musical groups. Instrumentation can greatly impact the texture and overall sound of a piece.
Purpose of Instrumentation: The purpose of an instrumentation system in music is to organize and combine instruments effectively to achieve a desired sound or effect. In a broader context, in fields like engineering, instrumentation systems are used to measure, observe, and control various variables, providing numerical values for specific conditions.
Instrumentation in Industry: In an industrial context, instrumentation refers to the design, installation, maintenance, and calibration of measuring instruments used to monitor and control processes within a plant. Instrumentation technicians ensure that these devices function accurately for automation and process control.
Texture: In music, texture describes how the various elements of a composition—such as tempo, melody, and harmony—are combined. It refers to the layers of sound within a piece and how they interact. Texture can be described as thick or thin, depending on the number of layers and their complexity. It might involve a single melody (monophonic), a melody with accompaniment (homophonic), or multiple interweaving melodies (polyphonic).
Other Terms for Texture in Music: Different types of musical texture include:
Monophonic: A single melody line without accompaniment.
Homophonic: A melody accompanied by chords.
Polyphonic: Multiple independent melody lines interwoven.
-Example-
This is an example of Soft romantic texture of music.
The texture is used in a more calm and romantic scene can help with how you view it. in this clip it shows a soft like and thinner texture to create a scene for a calm and romantic scene.
you would want a thinner like texture to create a calm, flow like sound that enhances the soft momentum of the scene.
this is an example of a suspended scene.
Texture in a suspenseful scene can have a big impact on how you view the scene, for example, there could be a battle scene, you would want a thiker texture to the scene to create a dramatic finish.
Just like in Jaws, the shark scene.
this specific scene creates suspense in the scene, the low strings or bass sound creates a scary like sound, this may be taken from a instrument such a cello.
this scene used a thick texture to create a striking scene that give off a tense dynamic.
anaylasis- Dirty Harry 'rooftop sniper scene'- Clint Eastwood
As the scene opens, the first sound the audience is able to hear is the church bells. a bell is often symbolic of the beginning of something important which could signify to us as the audience that something important is about to happen in the g, building tension and engaging the audience. This is followed by a contrasting sound of windchimes. These feel out of place creating an eerie atmosphere in which the audience feel uncomfortable. Following this, a distinct and defined drum beat begins to build up The contrast between the wind chime and the drums further add to the uncomfortable atmosphere. This could also be symbolic for the sound of a heart beat hastening which signifies to the audience that something unsettling will happen soon. A similar pattern of drum beats can be head for a while but is interrupted by more windchimes. This vast juxtaposition breaks the rhythm. as a result, the audience will be feeling a constant juxtaposition of calm/ safety and panic. after a short silence, further contrasting the music, the uncomfortable windchime noise Resumes. This adds to the already tense atmosphere and makes the viewer sit on the edge of their seat. as Scorpio seems confused there are some cymbals between the windchime sounds which are out of place showing the confusion he is feeling in the scene before coming bac in to the defined drumbeat which the audience now knows is a sign everything is going on track- this is an example of a leitmotif. the windchime soon can be heard again and the beat suddenly sops. there is a long period of science where we can hear every ay sounds such as children's laughing, cars and dogs barking which is drastically contrasted to the situation on the rooftop, making the audience curious about wat will happen. After Scorpio knows exactly where the targets are again and he smiles the drum beat comes back in but sounding louder and more defines. this makes him seem almost unstoppable as he is ready to shoot the victims. the drumbeat gets faster and faster until we can hear a helicopter and a dramatic orchestral crescendo sound which is louder than all the other sounds n the scene making the audience feel a sudden sense of fear. music builds up dramatically and a loud ticking sound can also be heard, this could reflect the sounds of a bomb or a clock showing that Scorpio is running out of time making the audience feel under pressure. the pace speeds up more dramatically before a sudden silence as he gets caught.
Timber:
An example of timbre is the tone or color of a voice or an instrument's sound. The timbre of musical instruments, such as a piano playing an A4 note in comparison with a guitar playing the same note, distinguish the difference between the two instruments and how their timbres differ.
What is timber in music?
In the musical world, timbre is known as tone colour or tone quality under the field of psychoacoustics. It is also recognized as the colour or the quality, and tone of a sound that makes it unique. We define timbre as the heard sound quality of a musical note, sound, or tone.
How to identify the timbre of a song?
Ways to Describe Timbre in Music
Piercing: high-pitched, loud sound.
Nasal: few overtones and loud basic pitch.
Flat: lower in pitch.
Silky: smooth, soft voice.
Mellow: few upper harmonics with strong, fundamental tones.
Warm: bass and vocals stand out while higher sounds don't.
Breathy: able to hear airflow.
Production Techniques:
Music production techniques involve a range of different elements that you can use to make your songs sound good. They have everything from series sound processing like EQ and compression to parallel sound processing with reverb and delay.
What are the 5 stages of music production?
Music production is the creative process of composing, recording, arranging, editing, mixing, and mastering audio to create a final piece of music.
Compositional features consist of The Melody, harmony, tonality, structure and rhythm is essential to create effective music for films and media.
Melody: Melody is the way notes and pitches are organized horizontally to create a memorable and recognizable sequence. It is often built from motifs or short melodic fragments, like the famous opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Richard Wagner popularized the use of the leitmotif, a recurring melody associated with a specific idea, person, or place.
Harmony: Harmony occurs when multiple notes are played or sung simultaneously, either as intervals (two notes) or chords (three or more notes). Harmony supports the melody and adds depth to the music. For more information, you can explore intervals and chords to understand how they function within harmony.
Tonality: Tonality, or tonal music, is centered around a tonic, which is a specific note that provides a sense of stability and rest. Tonal music typically involves establishing this tonic, moving away from it, and then returning to it, creating a sense of resolution and balance.
Rhythm: Rhythm refers to the pattern of sounds and silences over time, creating a sense of movement and momentum in music. It is often described as the "heartbeat" or "pulse" of a piece, providing the underlying structure that drives the music forward.
Structure: The structure of a piece of music is the way its elements are organized into different sections. These sections can be defined by keys, melodies, lyrics, or chord sequences. Structure helps composers shape their music and create balance, and different musical periods have featured various structures and forms.