Film - involving the use of moving images - was born around the turn of the 20th century. Music and sound has always been part of the movie theatre experience though before the technology of synchronised sound, music was often provided live.

The wurlitzer organ was an instrument that was suited to this and it could be built to provide a full musical texture alongside pneumatically controlled sound effects including cymbals, bells, whistles and car horns! See the video.

Composing scores for films has been something musicians have done for well over a hundred years. It is impossible to mention everything but here are five spanning a period of 86 years:

• Max Steiner - King Kong (1933)

  • This orchestral score terrified audience members. In this clip, its use of a slow tempo and dramatic stabs from brass creates a sense of anticipation as King Kong approaches. A turbulent and busy texture with fast and frantic violin rhythms maintains a sense of fear as King Kong is on screen, helping to heighten the audience's tension.

• Jerry Goldsmith - Planet of the Apes (1968)

  • Goldsmith composed an experimental score to go with this dystopian film. Just as the film is about the disintegration of human society, so his score dismantles the pre-conceptions of melody, harmony and rhythm by using awkward and unconventional melodic intervals, highly dissonant harmonies and unpredictable bursts of rhythmic ideas. The erratic nature of his film score is what makes it so effective.

• Vangelis - Chariots of Fire (1981)

  • Vangelis is a famous Greek composer who is known for using synthesisers in his film scores. The creation of sweeping soundscapes and catchy melodies helps bring out a sense of blissful euphoria in this film which is about two British runners entering the 1924 Olympics.

• Michael Giacchino - The Incredibles (2004)

  • Giacchino has composed for quite a few Pixar films and his score for The Incredibles is, well.....incredible! It's essentially a jazz big band score with extremely high, squealing trumpet notes and improvised saxophone solos, mainly based around a metre of 5/4! The excitement of the film is hugely enhanced by this music.

• Hildur Guðnadóttir - The Joker (2019)

  • This psychological thriller contains some quite disturbing scenes. Guðnadóttir's score for strings includes a slow and eerie melody on top of a two-note ostinato that is punctuated in the bass and timpani. Contrast between quiet rests and fortissimo melodies is unsettling. Overall it is extremely effective in creating a sense of fear and tension.

The film music industry has historically been very male-dominated. Though there have been some big films with female composers like Guðnadóttir, females are still highly underrepresented (check out Emily Bear, Rachel Portman and Morgan Kibby).

John Williams started his career as a jazz pianist. He became recognised as a composer in the 1970s and rose to fame after working with Steven Spielberg on Jaws (1975). From here on, his film music career escalated and many people now regard him as the most successful film composer of all time. Some major works of his include:

• Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

• Superman (1978)

• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

• Jurassic Park (1993)

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)

This clip from Jurassic Park is very typical of John Williams' style. At this point in the film, the characters are completely bewildered by the sight of dinosaurs. Williams' score captures this feeling really well.

From 0'33, the principal melody comes in. It is at a steady tempo and in a clear major key, played by orchestral strings. It lends a tender warmth to the atmosphere of the clip, enhancing the characters' feeling of wonderment.

The climax of the clip is reflected by a large swell in the music at 2'22 with the soaring, distinctive melody heard (notated below). John Williams' scores are often highly melodic and rely on a large and luscious orchestration, similar to the symphonic style of many Romantic composers like Richard Strauss.

George Lucas was the creator of Star Wars. He approached John Williams to help him with the music and requested that tracks from classical orchestral music were used as a soundtrack for the film. Pieces such as Holst's Planet Suite were included in early ideas.

"Mars" heavily influenced what John Williams ended up writing for the film. The loud and bold brass melodies that play above an unrelenting rhythmic ostinato in the accompaniment help to portray the expansiveness of outer space.

The film was a huge hit. It centres around the adventures of Luke Skywalker, the hero of the original trilogy, as he embarks on a rescue mission to find Princess Leia. He ends up becoming a Jedi and fighting the evil Darth Vader and the galactic Empire. The original films are a great watch, and there are 6 more afterwards if you enjoy them!

The set work focuses on 3 main sections in the opening of the original film:

• The heroic music for the opening credits can be seen on the first video which are representative of Luke Skywalker.

• A short section representing the twinkling immensity of outer space which can be heard at the start of the second video.

• From 0'13 this leads into a new theme, representing the Rebel Blockade Runner. This is the big ship (the baddies) attacking the small ship (the goodies)!

You need to be familiar with the music up to 0'40 in the second video.

Accent, added 4th, anacrusis, arpeggio, ascending, atonal, augmented intervals, bitonal, chromatic, cluster chord, contrary motion, countermelody, crescendo, cross rhythm, demisemiquaver, disjunct, dissonant, dotted notes, doubling, fanfare, fermata, fortissimo, glissando, homophonic, imperfect cadence, leitmotif, major, melody dominated homophony, homorhythmic, imitation, modulation, ostinato, parallel harmony, pedal (tonic/dominant/inverted), perfect cadence, quartal, repeated notes, ritardando, roll, sextuplets, simple time, slur, staccato, stepwise, syncopation, ternary form ABA, thematic, through-composed, tremolo, triad, trill, triplets.

Agitated, [having a sense of] anticipation, attention-grabbing, bold, bright, brisk, broad, busy, celebratory, [having a sense of] certainty, [having a sense of] conviction, courageous, curious, daring, deep, determined, distinct, dramatic, [having a sense of] drive, eerie, emotional, energetic, energising, epic, erratic, exciting, exhilarating, expansive, expressive, [having a sense of] fear, firm, frantic, full, grand, gripping, heroic, immense, insecure, interesting, intriguing, invigorating, isolated, lyrical, majestic, [having a sense of] momentum, mysterious, mystical, ominous, piercing, powerful, pronounced, [having a sense of] propulsion, regal, resolute, resounding, romantic, rousing, satisfying, strong, suspenseful, swift, [having a sense of] tension, thrilling, turbulent, [having a sense of] turmoil, twinkling, unnerving, unpredictable, unrelenting, unsettling, varied, vibrant, warm.