I think sound is the most important part of any film because it has a huge influence on what impact a movie leaves on you. If you had comedy music during Psycho, for example, it would create a more ironic 'black comedy' tone as opposed to its more thriller roots. Or if Monsters Inc was replaced with a horror soundtrack it would no longer be that all-ages family movie but a scary animated one.
The Importance of Soundtrack
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Soundtrack and musical editing for "Mad Max: Fury Road" goes a long way to make action scenes more impressive.
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Soundtrack and musical editing for "Mad Max: Fury Road" goes a long way to make action scenes more impressive.
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I'm a personal fan of John Williams, particularly Star Wars, Harry Potter, Schindler's List, and Saving Private Ryan. I also like the work of Jerry Goldsmith and Thomas Newman, among others.
Unless it's a musical, I strongly disagree. Music is supplemental, not the "backbone" of the movie.
Honestly, the idea kind of disgusts me. Music can be very influential, but I have an awful suspicion that a lot of garbage is excused because of the backing music.
Like Beyond The Black Rainbow. The freaking awesome music just made me hate it more because the rest of that utter tripe didn't deserve it.
Honestly, the idea kind of disgusts me. Music can be very influential, but I have an awful suspicion that a lot of garbage is excused because of the backing music.
Like Beyond The Black Rainbow. The freaking awesome music just made me hate it more because the rest of that utter tripe didn't deserve it.
In the film Beautiful Creatures Gold's music is similar to Vanity Fair: brash and in your face but somehow it works for the film really well.
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I'm a personal fan of John Williams, particularly Star Wars, Harry Potter, Schindler's List, and Saving Private Ryan. I also like the work of Jerry Goldsmith and Thomas Newman, among others.
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I can count on one hand the number of films where the soundtrack was a standout element.
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You could argue the opposite just as easily if not more. They're not called "movies" for their sound.
You can have great image, writing, performances and directing but if the music and sound isn't right, then it's not going to work.
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Without music you would have a very different film though. Even with silent films, the music is extremely important in setting the right tone and feel.
You can have great image, writing, performances and directing but if the music and sound isn't right, then it's not going to work.
You can have great image, writing, performances and directing but if the music and sound isn't right, then it's not going to work.
If the actors aren't right, the whole movie fails.
If the editing isn't on point, the whole movie will be dead in the water.
If the story is riddled so many plotholes it may as well be swiss cheese, the movie will collapse in itself.
Any one of these things can have a tremendous effect on the end product after everything is said and done. It's why you hear so much criticism about found footage movies, if that one element isn't done well it's going to severely impact the experience.
That's why I think movies should be judged as the sum of their parts considering the angle the movie's going for.
If it's a musical, the music will be most important.
If it's a comedy, the jokes will be most important.
If it's a drama, the characters will be the most important.
It's an action, the action will be most important, and so on.
Most movies don't entirely pigeonhole themselves into these categories though, there's far more to the movie than just those things.
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My point is you could any other single element on the same pedestal.
If the actors aren't right, the whole movie fails.
If the editing isn't on point, the whole movie will be dead in the water.
If the story is riddled so many plotholes it may as well be swiss cheese, the movie will collapse in itself.
Any one of these things can have a tremendous effect on the end product after everything is said and done. It's why you hear so much criticism about found footage movies, if that one element isn't done well it's going to severely impact the experience.
That's why I think movies should be judged as the sum of their parts considering the angle the movie's going for.
If it's a musical, the music will be most important.
If it's a comedy, the jokes will be most important.
If it's a drama, the characters will be the most important.
It's an action, the action will be most important, and so on.
Most movies don't entirely pigeonhole themselves into these categories though, there's far more to the movie than just those things.
If the actors aren't right, the whole movie fails.
If the editing isn't on point, the whole movie will be dead in the water.
If the story is riddled so many plotholes it may as well be swiss cheese, the movie will collapse in itself.
Any one of these things can have a tremendous effect on the end product after everything is said and done. It's why you hear so much criticism about found footage movies, if that one element isn't done well it's going to severely impact the experience.
That's why I think movies should be judged as the sum of their parts considering the angle the movie's going for.
If it's a musical, the music will be most important.
If it's a comedy, the jokes will be most important.
If it's a drama, the characters will be the most important.
It's an action, the action will be most important, and so on.
Most movies don't entirely pigeonhole themselves into these categories though, there's far more to the movie than just those things.
Whereas with sound, if the sound is comedic it can turn a serious film into a comedy.
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Sound arguably has a bigger impact on the tone a film or TV show seems to take on though. You could have bad acting but it's not going to affect the tone (unless it's very extreme - hammed up or toned down), you could have bad editing but it won't affect the tone, you could have a bad story but it won't affect the tone (even if it's laughable, it doesn't make it a comedy unless it is a comedy)....
Whereas with sound, if the sound is comedic it can turn a serious film into a comedy.
Whereas with sound, if the sound is comedic it can turn a serious film into a comedy.
You might as well make the argument that "Music is the most important part of any movie because the tone can change if the music is nothing but an ear-splitting jackhammer throughout the whole thing".
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Music is extremely important element of movies. Most highly regarded movies have great soundtracks.
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Soundtrack is very important... Most of the time. I recently watched Dual (1971) and there's no soundtrack. And it works just fine for that movie - the isolated mood is what they were going for.
I love the soundtrack of Ghost (1990). Even the song "I'm Henry the 8th I am" fits beautifully with the story: it's about a widow and even "Willie" and "Sam" are mentioned (two of the movie's characters).
I also enjoy in Rocky (1976) how the music swells right after Rocky and Adrian reunite in the ring and declare their love for each other.
I love the soundtrack of Ghost (1990). Even the song "I'm Henry the 8th I am" fits beautifully with the story: it's about a widow and even "Willie" and "Sam" are mentioned (two of the movie's characters).
I also enjoy in Rocky (1976) how the music swells right after Rocky and Adrian reunite in the ring and declare their love for each other.
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I almost never pay attention to the soundtrack. I know it's important but I don't focus on it, but 'feel it' instead.
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Movie music puts movies over somewhat into opera territory. Like opera, a movie could be recitation of lines of dialog or it can be a rousing emotional experience. The music is the emotional barometer. You could be having a nice day at the beach, kids frolicking in the water, but it's that deep, menacing musical theme that alerts you to the approach of Jaws.
That's something that's been recognized all the way back to the silent movie era. They piano player, organist or theater orchestra prefigures emotional content and "tells" you how to feel, alerts you to something about to happen, tells the guy that his girlfriend is there, tells you that someone has died, or whatever.
Back when I was doing clinical psychology I recall this as a thing. There is emotional content and intellectual content and that applies to real life and movies. In the case of the movie, the music, if it's well done, goes right past your thinking brain and right to the emotional brain. The music makes the difference between a nice day at the beach and the yet unseen, approaching shark.
Color does something very similar, but since movies are mainly either all color or all monochrome, music does the job in most movies. This is why movie composers are such a distinct genre from people who write music for non-visual purposes. Most movie music isn't much to listen to by itself, but a theme, e.g., Lara's Theme in Dr Zhivago non-verbally tells you that he's thinking about Lara as he trudges across the Siberian taiga.
That's something that's been recognized all the way back to the silent movie era. They piano player, organist or theater orchestra prefigures emotional content and "tells" you how to feel, alerts you to something about to happen, tells the guy that his girlfriend is there, tells you that someone has died, or whatever.
Back when I was doing clinical psychology I recall this as a thing. There is emotional content and intellectual content and that applies to real life and movies. In the case of the movie, the music, if it's well done, goes right past your thinking brain and right to the emotional brain. The music makes the difference between a nice day at the beach and the yet unseen, approaching shark.
Color does something very similar, but since movies are mainly either all color or all monochrome, music does the job in most movies. This is why movie composers are such a distinct genre from people who write music for non-visual purposes. Most movie music isn't much to listen to by itself, but a theme, e.g., Lara's Theme in Dr Zhivago non-verbally tells you that he's thinking about Lara as he trudges across the Siberian taiga.
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I almost never pay attention to the soundtrack. I know it's important but I don't focus on it, but 'feel it' instead.
Like opera, it's the difference between a clown story and Pagliacci with its soaring emotionalism. This is what movies aim for, even though audiences in our era are too cynical to believe in this level of emotion.
Last edited by skizzerflake; 3 weeks ago at 03:06 PM.
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Not all film scores are about telling you how you should feel
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I would argue that they're ALL about that, unless it's a sterile documentary or a plumbing lesson.
Guess you've never noticed music in movies being used for thematic reasons
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