One of the things I love most about film as an art is that it's a combination of several different art forms. Film is a beautiful blend of photography, acting, storytelling, computer arts, costuming, sound, and music. That last art form is the one I'm going to discuss because I feel it goes underappreciated.
When people often discuss a film's qualities, the music used in a film is often near the bottom of the list. Many would say that a film's visuals, acting, and storytelling is more important and worthy of discussion. While it's true that a film definitely needs those qualities to function properly, film also relies on music just as much and, outside of some unique cases, can't function without it.
Music is almost always used in film to convey a certain mood to accompany the visuals. Music is one of the most effective ways to convey happiness, sadness, fear, bravery, surprise, and comfort when you pair it with the visuals. You may not consciously know it, but music is making you feel the emotion that the director wants you to feel.
If you think that I'm overselling the importance of music in film, then you should try an exercise I love doing. Imagine a scene from a film or an entire film without any music at all. Does the scene and/or film still have the same emotional weight without music?
Is "Star Wars" still as exciting without the triumphant John Williams theme? Do the action scenes in "Star Wars" still hold the same intensity without the fast-paced rhythm of the music? Does the "Married Life" scene from the movie "Up" still have the same emotional weight without Michael Giacchino's score? Is "Halloween" still as terrifying when you remove it's uneasy and dread inducing theme?
Many of you who try this will probably figure out that the scenes/films that have their music removed no longer have the emotional punch that they once have. Music in film is about psychological manipulation. It guides your emotions and helps convey the emotion that the images are already trying to do, but usually can't by themselves.
For example, say there is a scene in a film where you see a woman running down a hall with her back toward the camera and the camera is following her. Without music, this scene is rendered emotionally neutral, but you can effectively add a variety of emotions just by adding different types of music. If you add a fast paced comedic theme, the scene plays as lighthearted and fun. If you a tense and uneasy theme, the scene plays like a tense horror film where the woman is running for her life from a potential stalker/killer.
I bring this all up because I feel that music in film should be discussed more and given just as much respect as things like acting and directing. The average movie goer should know the names of other film composers besides John Williams and Hanz Zimmer. These are the people who are responsible for adding emotion to a film and deserve more notoriety than they often get from the film public. So, the next time you see a film with music you like, look up the composer's name in the credits and view the rest of their work. You might be impressed with what you find.
