Music in Movies

[Ernest Buckley]

SO last night I`m watching a movie called DayBreakers and the music was nothing to talk about because it honestly didn`t get my attention the entire movie until one scene where a trombone or French Horn solo comes in out of nowhere and I thought to myself... how strange... The music up to that point was I guess for lack of a better term, appropriate... it was neither here nor there. It didn`t get my attention but then this sound that was so out of place...

 

Just got me thinking how up to that point in the movie, everything was moving along and then suddenly, this short 10 second solo that threw the whole thing out of whack for me.

 

I can also think back to the `90s... I took my little sister at the time to see Free Willy 2 or 3 or 14 and suddenly right in the middle of the film, a Michael Jackson tune.... just seemed really out of place and made me laugh because of how absurd the whole thing was.

 

Can you guys think of any movies where the music is completely inappropriate or mistimed, completely ruining the scene or effect?

 

I know there are many movies where the music rocks and completely takes it over the top... Inception was probably the last film I saw that really got my attention with the music but not in a bad way. Obviously, the Rocky movies, all 50 of them had great music to go with the scenes.

[Lee Knight]

I read once about how movie music can either foreshadow action, enhance current action, or react to action. The film composer, I forget who it was now, said that he loved the third option the most and would react whenever appropriate. His thinking:

 

By reacting, the music better supports the natural reaction of the viewer and in turn enhances not the on screen action as much as the natural reaction taking place with the viewers mood.

 

I listen to movie music very differently now, because of that. Some very melodramatic scores or not necessarily having the silly effect because the music is over the top, which might at first seem the case. Rather, they're having that cheesy effect because they are either telegraphing (very cheesy) or only concurrently reflecting the action.

 

Interesting stuff.

[The Pope]

I always thought the piano notes in "Eyes Wide Shut" were annoying. It did fit in a certain way, though.

 

I sometimes try to mentally determine how the movie would say something completely different with a different score. Apocalypse Now without "Wonderful World" playing during the bombing scenes would have a much shallower meaning, I think.

[Johnny-Boy]

Many films that use actual songs instead of background instrumental music distracts me. Songs tend to take over the film scene instead of enhance them.

 

Of course there are exceptions like "As Time Goes By" in Casablanca. That fit perfectly in the film.

 

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[Hard Truth]

For me Speilberg is the current director most likely to abuse music in a film. I feel like he hits me on the head with a hammer while superimposing graphics saying "feel sad now!"

 

A lot of times the music in a movie will make me say to my girlfriend "I have bad feeling about this place" because the music is signaling fear too obviously. I have a subwoofer and hear music cues that many people don't hear at home. Low pitched tones can be very effective at creating fear or unease if subtle enough.

 

Generally film music is most effective when it is as invisible as good editing and lighting. Sometimes obvious music can work, as in Apocalypse Now, when the right music and visuals etc. come together with synergy.

 

I though the music on the Lost TV show was usually very effective. The music in Twin Peaks was great, it was obvious, but worked in the somewhat ironic context of the show. Danny Elfman is usually excellent and can be unobtrusive when required. He will be considered one of the all-time greats.

 

I very rarely like vocal and lyric songs in movies, it usually takes me out of he story, but there have been times when it has worked.

[Lee Knight]

 

I very rarely like vocal and lyric songs in movies, it usually takes me out of he story, but there have been times when it has worked.

 

 

Here's a good example of it working...

 

[YOUTUBE]bEbSkybMuqs[/YOUTUBE]

[blue2blue]

 

 

 

I can barely watch 70s and 80s movies because of the obligatory insertion of numerous pop tunes -- how utterly annoying and distracting they typically are, geez!

 

I saw both Easyrider and Midnight Cowboy the night they both debuted in Westwood, and, of course, not only would both become huge -- if somewhat unlikely -- hits, their mega-hit status would all but ensure countless marketer-mashes of inappropriate or clumsily chosen music wedded with typically formulaic hollywood drivel. Unfortunately, the marketers missed the fact that it was probalby more the unexpectedly contrarian charms of those movies that sold audiences on them, than the Graduate-like soundtracks dominated by pop tunes.

 

To my way of thinking, movie music should serve the movie -- not the marketing agenda of some multi-national megacorp looking to pump up ancillaries.

 

That said, the brain-dead, soulless lumps of nescience we laughingly describe as the movie-going public sucked it all up like so much high fructose corn syrup, one horrible movie wedded to one annoying soundtrack after another until I could barely stand to go into a theater.

 

 

PS... obviously, the saving grace in Casablanca is that the song is performed onscreen (or a good semblance of it, anyhow), and in a very human, real-feeling manner that completely fits the plot and the song's place in it.

[nat whilk II]

I could not emotionally connect the Dropkick Murphy's "Shipping Up To Boston" tune with what was going at the point it's inserted into The Departed soundtrack.

 

The song invokes current violence or that adrenalinated moment when you decide to jump over the rail and into the fray - very different thing from brooding on possible violence to come after things play out in a tricky and unknown future...

 

YT has embedding disabled, so link here - song at 0:57

 

 

 

nat whilk ii

[nat whilk II]

Here's a tune in a film that IMHO knocked it out of the park:

 

Aimee Mann's "Wise Up" in Magnolia (won't make a lot of sense if you haven't seen the film. 'tho)

 

[YOUTUBE]qJ_phQnNE80[/YOUTUBE]

 

nat whilk ii

[blue2blue]

 

I could not emotionally connect the Dropkick Murphy's "Shipping Up To Boston" tune with what was going at the point it's inserted into The Departed soundtrack. The song invokes current violence or that adrenalinated moment when you decide to jump over the rail and into the fray - very different thing from brooding on possible violence to come after things play out in a tricky and unknown future... YT has embedding disabled, so link here - song at 0:57 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrc1prw96-Y nat whilk ii

 

Yeah... that's exactly why I hate so many contemporary movies. I think your critical comments are on the nose. The song might well work someplace else in the movie (doubt I'll ever find out) but it really doesn't work there.

 

But, of course, it was all about selling the song instead of telling the story.

 

Pathetic.

[Richard King]

 

 

Great minds think alike. THAT is the exact movie and scene that popped up in my head on reading the original post. I've peobably seen the movie a dozen times or more. The music throughout fits the flick, enen though the vast majority was by one artist (Cat Stevens).

[veracohr]

 

Many films that use actual songs instead of background instrumental music distracts me.

 

 

I just saw Watchmen again a few days ago. That movie uses a lot of actual songs, for the most part well-known and popular songs, but it uses them well I think. Usually in the manner of contrasting the scene drastically.

[blue2blue]

Well, you know, I think there are different rules from movies made from comic books, eh?

 

I mean, it's not like you're debasing great art. It's Saturday afternoon stuff for the 14 year olds.