Glossary of Film Music terms

ADR – Automated Dialogue Replacment – the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a soundtrack, after it has been shot on location.
ATONAL – Music that lacks a tonal centre and tends to have an unsettling effect.
COMPILATION SCORE – A musical score cobbled together primarily from pre-existing music, usually classical works. 
COMPOSITE  – Used to describe a score using a combination of original music, pre-existing classical pieces and pre-existing popular music.
CUE – musical segments created specifically for moments in a film.
CUESHEET – A detailed listing of musical cues matching the visual action of a film so that composers can time their music accurately to match the visual images.
DIEGETIC MUSIC – Where the sound is visible on screen or where the source is implied to be present by the action/story of the film.
DISCORDANT – conflicting musical notes that clash or are harsh sounding.
EMPATHETIC SOUND – Music or sound effects whose mood matches the mood of the action.
FOLEY – A means of supplying additional sound effects, and matching them to visuals.
IMITATION – This is when a melody in a polyphonic texture is repeated shortly after its first appearance in a different voice, usually at a different pitch.
LEITMOTIF – use of a musical phrase to identify with a particular character, place or idea.
MICKEY MOUSING – Where the music is synced with the actions onscreen.
NONDIEGETIC MUSIC – Where the source of a sound is not visible on the screen i.e..background music.
REPETITION – This is where the sounds or sequences are often repeated.
SOUNDTRACK – The music and sound recorded on a motion picture film. The word ‘soundtrack’ can often mean a commercial recording of a collection of music and songs from a film sold individually as an audio CD.
THEME – The term used to signify a recurring melody of significance in a film. A Leitmotif is a specific kind of theme.
UNDERSCORE – musical accompaniment to dialogue.

Popular Film Composers

Which composers have given us moments of musical genius, with tunes we can hum away at work to or tunes that evoke a certain memory or feeling in us.

There are many film music composers in the industry, but the list below are some of the more popular ones who may have taken us on many a magical, musical journey at some point in our lives.


John Williams – Superman, Schindlers List, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, ET, Harry Potter, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Hook, Saving Private Ryan.
'So much of what we do is ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves, so it’s gratifying to have something you have done linger in people’s memories.'


Jerry Goldsmith – Star Trek, Planet of the Apes (1968), Von Ryan’s Express, Man From UNCLE.
'I like the variety. But basically my choice of films is a small intimate film. Quiet film, no action, just people in relationships. That’s what I like the most.'


Ennio Morricone – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, The Thing, The Untouchables and a few Darlo Argento thrillers.
'I come from a background of experimental music which mingled real sounds together with musical sounds.'


Vangelis – Chariots of Fire, Blade Runner, Alexander, 1492: Conquest of Paradise.
'When the teachers asked me to play something, I would pretend that I was reading it and play from memory. I didn’t fool them, but I didn’t care.'


Hans Zimmer – Gladiator, Inception, Sherlock Holmes, Batman.
'A good score should have a point of view all of its own. It should transcend all that has gone before, stand on its own two feet and still serve the movie. A great soundtrack is all about communicating with the audience, but we all try to bring something extra to the movie that is not entirely evident on screen.'


Danny Elfman – Batman, Beetlejuice, A Nightmare Before Christmas, Alice in Wonderland, Hellboy 2, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
'I think that there’s a lot more freedom in the low budget, the independent films where, unfortunately, you don’t have the money, necessarily, to get the orchestras in there to play a lot of stuff. But, you have a lot more freedom.'


Maurice Jarre – Lawrence of Arabia, A Passage to India, Fatal Attraction, Dr Zhivago.
'In that long sequence, when Lawrence enters in the desert to rescue a lost man, Lean listened the music I wrote and wanted to extend the scene to let my work stay completely'


James Horner – Aliens, Titanic, A Beautiful Mind, Braveheart, Avatar.
'The mood of the film dictates a certain sound in my head and that is what I try and connect with right away, way before I’m writing melodies or anything like that. I’m trying to find an orchestration for the film that says what I want to say musically.'


Howard Shore – Se7en, That Thing You Do, Gangs of New York, King Kong, Lord of the Rings, Twilight.
'There is considerable dramatic latitude to writing film music but, in terms of pure music, of what you would write for a record or a concert hall, there’s a lot more room.'


Bernard Herrmann – Vertogo, Taxi Driver, Cape Fear, North by Northwest, Psycho, Fahrenheit 451.
'I have the final say, or I don’t do the music. The reason for insisting on this is simply, compared to Orson Welles, a man of great musical culture, most other directors are just babes in the woods.'

Functions of Music

Musical scores made for the movies can be as simple or as complex as the composer chooses, but as an overall goal of this music, its job is to add value to the film itself and the audience’s experience.

An easy job? Probably not!!
For most people, I guess the music is ‘just there’ and pops up when the time is right. It may be quiet, loud, intrusive, or added as background music to a particular scene, and then it disappears as quickly as it had appeared.

                   Is there a formula to how this music should be written?

The people who write this music come from a variety of musical disciplines so maybe each one of them has a method of coming up with a score for a film.

                   It would surely matter if they had in fact had the film in front of them or does it?

Making music specifically for a film scene would require this visual knowledge but for composing music that could be added as a atmospheric track, it may not matter.

Overall though, film music does have a function, in fact a variety of functions and these would in fact be dictated by the director of a film who I guess would pass his thoughts onto the composer and /or musicians working on the score.
The way that people work together in this audio-visual marriage, of course would depend on the people themselves and the film being made. 

Late American composer Aaron Copland wrote that film music had to achieve a balance, and that it should be “secondary in importance to the story being told on screen” while notably adding to the dramatic and emotional content of the film – but without diverting the viewer’s attention from the action.

A comment he made about the effectiveness of film scores, Copland said, “I’d love to be able to have audiences see a film with the music, then see it a second time with the music turned off, and then see it a third time with the music turned on. Then, I think they’d get a much more specific idea of what music does for a film.”

This I think is a really good idea, but I think it would be difficult to actually do this. To sit through a film lasting an hour and a half with no music could be a strange experience. Perhaps with shorter clips, the same result could be achieved.

In 1949, Copland outlined five categories of film music function:

• Creating atmosphere.
• Highlighting the psychological states of the characters.
• Providing a neutral background filler.
• Building a sense of continuity.
• Sustaining tension and then rounding it off with a sense of closure.

In his book, An Analysis of Film Technique, Raymond Spottiswoode described the functions of film music, by it’s usage in the early Thirties. He saw music performing the following roles, independently or in combination:

• Imitation – where the score imitates natural sounds or the tonal use of speech.
• Commentary – The score takes the part of a spectator commenting on the visual film, usually ironically.
• Evocation – Where the synchronised score is given its fullest positive value. Silence as well as sound is deliberate. Leitmotifs act as emotives and assist the visual film towards insight into the characters they are attached to.
• Contrast – Where the score contrasts with, and so may heighten the effect of the visual film.
• Dynamic use – Where the correspondence of sight and sound brings out the rhythm of cutting rates.

More recently, in the book Music for New Media - Composing for Video Games, Paul Hoffert writes about how music and it's functions help tell a story when they are coupled with images.

He states, 'A good media composer can manipulate the user's experience by using specific musical functions that include :

Drama, Action, Humour, Characterisation, Narrative, Setting and Ambience.'

If there is good relationship between the director and composer (doesn’t HAVE to be) and that they have an awareness of the ‘reason’ why they are choosing a style of music, or using the music in a certain way, then there is every chance that it will work and that the audience will enjoy what they are watching.

       

Creating a film score

There are plenty of videos on the internet about film scoring, but I thought I would post a couple on this blog that I felt were quite good.
The first one is an interview with Bryan Tyler who has composed music for The Fast and the Furious 3 and Constantine.
Then it is Hans 'Batman' Zimmer, which is followed by Danny Elfman who has made many scores for director, Tim Burton and his movies.

DJing the Score

One of the ways I like to listen to music in a film is when it is presented in a live fashion and therefore diegetic. The film may be about a particular band or singer, and their rise to success and/or failure, but throughout the film you get to listen and watch rehearsal sessions & gigs.  
Two of my favourite films are The Blue Brothers and The Doors by Oliver Stone.

One thing I also enjoy watching is when a DJ is playing music in a film. This could be what the actual film is about such as ‘It’s All Gone Pete Tong’ which follows the life of Frankie Wilde who battled against a hearing disorder and learnt how to cope with this and continue djing, or perhaps there is a certain part of a film where a DJ plays a tune i.e..record shop in Human Traffic. This could be in a club, shop or just a case of messing around on a pair of decks at home, but to watch this and hear the music is, to me a ‘real life’ kind of experience.

There is film called Once, a love story starring musicians Glen Hansard from the band, The Frames and Marketa Irglova. In this film there are instances when music is being played on a bus, in the street or in a music shop.  

I guess in some cases, adding music like this to a film would be part of the films subject, but if not it can add a different dimension to what people are watching and listening to.

  DJ mixing scene from the film 'It's All Gone Pete Tong'.

From the film Human Traffic, one of the main characters works in a record store waiting for those vinyl junkies to come in and spend some money.

   

One of my favourite films La Haine, where the music being played starts off from a DJ in his flat. Notice that there is no doubt that (if watched from the beginning of the scene) it is diegetic music, but if you started to watch after the shot of the DJ, you could say it was non-diegetic.  

 

  

Film Composer - John Williams

"I played it [theme to Jaws] on the piano for Steven Spielberg, and he said, 'Well, I don't think that will work.' And I said, 'Well I think it will work in the orchestra; you'll sense the presence of the shark, even if we don't see the shark, when we hear the music, we'll have the sense that the shark is getting closer, even if we're not able to show that.' That's a very good technique." John Williams 

“I think the score was clearly responsible for half of the success of that movie Jaws.” Steven Spielberg 

Even if your name is Steven Spielberg, it’s probably a good idea to listen to and possibly agree with the ideas that John Williams has to offer when it comes to composing music to film. As we all know, the theme to Jaws is one that has certainly worked in terms of creating a tension or mood within a films narrative, and has been one of many for composer John Williams. 
A household name for many years now, John Williams is what some may say “the very best composer in Hollywood” and has worked on some of the most popular films that have been made over the last 35 years.  
He has remained loyal to directors such as Steven Spielberg and Oliver Stone and has scored more sequels to films than any other composer, with Jaws, Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Raiders of the Lost Ark being amongst those he has worked on. 
The list of nominations and awards he has won over the years clearly shows that he has been a man on top of his game. The list of awards he has won are 5 Academy awards, 7 BAFTA Awards, 4 Golden Globe Awards and 21 Grammy Awards, as well as other awards given for his contribution to music. His 47 Academy Award nominations make him the second most nominated person, after Walt Disney. 


“So much of what we do is ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves, so it’s gratifying to have something you have done linger in people’s memories” 


Regarding the style of the compositions and music of John Williams, I guess you could say that he just makes good wholesome music, which is full of melodies and tunes with fanfares and marches, we will remember. Perhaps you could say this about the majority of film music (because whilst watching, we then associate the music with the visuals), but John Williams seems to be able to construct a film soundtrack that perfectly compliments the whole mood of a film. 
His music is said to be from the classic tradition, based on the style of the late-romantics of the 19^th century, and in particular Richard Wagner and his use of leitmotifs.
The musical skills of John Williams go beyond film music and have included playing jazz piano in New York clubs, being Principal Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, composing music for television and also being commissioned to compose music for the 1984 Summer Olympics and the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty. 
With recently Academy Award nominations for The Adventures of Tin Tin and War Horse (both 2011) and a work in progress on Spielberg’s new film Lincoln, it seems John Williams work is not yet over, and may still be in demand for years to come.

  

Mickey - Mousing

MickeyMousing is where the physical action that takes place onscreen has an accompanying music sound to help reinforce that action. The music is timed to  (or in sync) with the visuals. 
An example of this would be in an old Disney cartoon where Goofy may fall flat on his face and TOOT!! – a big trump from a tuba sounds out.

Here is an example in an old Popeye cartoon where nearly all the onscreen action has it’s own musical note or phrase.

Another animated example. 

Mickey Mousing is not only used in cartoons, but in live action too. Here a clip from the 1933 film, King Kong where the ‘grabs’ and the ‘stabs’ are in sync with the music.

In this clip from Dr.No , James Bond (Sean Connery) gets rid of a spider in his room using his slipper and is mimicked by the stabs of brass in the score.

Another example of this mimicking style would be when ‘Eye of the Tiger’ was written for Rocky 3. The training scene (mentioned in an earlier blogpost) had been filmed with Queen’s ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, but permission was not given to use it, and so Survivor were asked to write a song with a riff, that would match Rocky Balboa’s punches.
There are probably many examples where this technique has been used, but we as viewers don’t think anything of it as we are ‘too busy’ watching the film.

Many critics and film composers look down upon Mickey Mousing with the idea being that it is lazy, cheap and old fashioned for a soundtrack to ape the visuals, but with composers such as Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer sometimes using this technique, I guess it’s not that bad a thing. 
At times, it is nice that we don’t really notice the music but at other times it may be more important for the music to have more of an impact. I guess the technique of Mickey Mousing is a very obvious way to help the viewer relate to what is going on onscreen, perhaps even patronizing the audience but if used well and in a creative way, the results achieved can be rewarding. 

Enjoy this fight scene from the TV Batman series of the 1960’s which uses Mickey Mousing in an almost comedic way. 

The Leitmotif

A leitmotif is a technique used in music, and when used repeatedly can represent a theme, a part of the action or story or a character. Composers can use leitmotifs to help build a sense of continuity in a film and can also be manipulated to match the mood or action of a particular scene. A main theme could be changed throughout a film by:

• Adding new notes or material.
• Developing part of the original theme
• Changing the pitch or rhythm
• Changing the actual sound of the theme by using different instruments and/or accompaniment.

A leitmotif is usually a short melody, but could also be a chord progression or a rhythm.


In the Oxford dictionary, it states that a leitmotif is ‘a recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition, associated with a particular person, idea, or situation’.

This idea of using music in this way has been used by many film composers, but known as being perfected by composer Richard Wagner in the 1800’s in his cycle of four opera’s, Der Ring des Nibelungen, where he uses dozens of leitmotifs that are related to specific characters and situations throughout.

A couple of examples of the use of leitmotifs in modern cinema could be:

John Williams – Star Wars (see below), Jaws, Indiana Jones

Danny Elfman – Batman

John Barry – James Bond

Don Davis – The Matrix (Neo) 


In the film Star Wars, whenever anyone mentions The Force or anything to do with being a Jedi, John Williams had (more often than not) decided to introduce a certain piece of music that would be associated with it. And it may also be that no character had actually mentioned the word, but the idea of it may be present within the storyline.
The particular piece of music that would be associated with the idea of The Force will have been played at many times during the six Star Wars movies and even though it may have slightly changed in how it sounds, the basic structure, melody or chord progression will be the same.
We as viewers/listeners may notice this if paying attention but even if not, the association made may be unconscious but still very effective.

In the case of the above clip, the leitmotif is referring to the idea of The Force. 


Staying with the film Star Wars, another example of a leitmotif and it’s use would be the music that is used when Darth Vader or The Empire is present at that particular time in the story. Here the music (The Imperial March) is associated with both a particular character and the wider context in which he is part of.
Due to the popularity of the Star Wars franchise and it’s music, the theme can be instantly recognised as being that of the bad guy and has been used on many occasions, whether in the actual films or for other purposes.     


Here is the original score.

This video shows the clip where Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader fight, ending in Luke finding out who his father actually is. At this point of the video (1.48) The Imperial March starts to play.   

Now, two more videos just to show the wider use of this theme.