Is Film Music A Genre?
Film music is one of the most important aspects of a film. No question about it. It's selected and created intentionally for one specific purpose: to support the film and its story. But, does this make film music a genre?
Here's what I learned from 2+ decades working in the film and television industry:
Even though film music can contain different genres of music, film music itself is not a genre. It's the overarching category of all musical components in a film. Genres such as the score and the soundtrack are part of the film's music.
Even if you are just starting out in film music, it's useful to know why film music is not a genre of music. If you're looking to getting into film music, it's important to know, what film music is and how it works!
Why Film Music Is Not A Genre
Basically, a genre is a category of music, characterized by a particular style, form, or content.
Film music for a specific film can contain many different musical genres. Such as the originally composed film score and the soundtrack. The Soundtrack contains songs from different artists. It's often abbreviated OST.
In film music, the score is composed by a film score composer, who generally writes, records, and produces music specifically for every scene where music is needed. The filmmakers and the composer discuss in a spotting session what music is needed in which scene. The composer takes spotting notes and uses them to create the music in the right mood, emotion, and intention.
--Spotting Notes picture--
The film score is what most people think of when they think of film music. In many cases, the film score alone can make up the whole film music.
But often it is combined with several different genres, like pop songs, rock songs, or classical music works. This other part of the film music is called the Original Soundtrack (OST).
These songs or classical music pieces are commonly not created by the composer. The film producer makes a contract with the artist and publisher of the desired song and they both agree to a license fee for the film producer to use the song in the film.
Are there any films without film music?
In the early days of film, it wasn't possible to have music synced to the moving picture. These films are called "silent movies". To give the audience of silent movies a sense of emotion, mood, and tone of the scene they were seeing, often a piano player or small orchestra accompanied the film. Composers have been writing music and the musicians in the movie theater played it live on stage to the moving picture. With the publication of several books with different pieces of music written for specific moods and dramatic situations, it was even possible for a musical director to choose music for specific scenes.
What was the first film with a score?
The first film score was written by Camille Saint-Saens. In 1908 he was commissioned to compose music tailored to the film "L'Assistant du Duc de Guise". The score was applauded by critics, but because of the additional expense of this process, it wasn't adopted at the time.
The standard process at the time was much faster and cheaper to manage. The musical director only had to choose a piece with the fitting mood for the dramatic application from the wide variety of music that was already written.
Why is there Music in a Film and why does it matter?
The right selection of music for a film has the capacity to bring each scene to life. Film music, either the soundtrack or the film score can convey the desired emotion, mislead the audience as a storytelling effect for each scene of a movie and create an appropriate atmosphere. While most films today use music as a storytelling tool to move the narrative of a film forward, there is still a small number of films that don't use music at all. Neither original songs nor originally composed music. An example would be "The Celebration" directed by Thomas Vinterberg or the Alfred Hitchcock classic "Rope". While in these cases, and others, this has a very dramatic effect on the story and the overall feel of the film, a film without music is the exception. In today's film production landscape music is an integral part of most if not almost all films produced. The right selection of music for a film has the power to bring each scene to life. Film music
10 Great and Famous Examples of Film Scores and Soundtracks (1930-Today)
| Composer/Artist | Title of Film | Release Year | Type of Film Music | Music Excerpt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Steiner | King Kong | 1933 | Film Score | LINK |
| Erich Korngold | The Adventures of Robin Hood | 1938 | Film Score | LINK |
| David Raskin | Laura | 1944 | Film Score | LINK |
| Dimitri Tiomkin & Ned Washington | High Noon | 1952 | Theme Song | LINK |
| Henry Mancini | Breakfast at Tiffany's | 1961 | Song | LINK |
| Elmer Bernstein | To Kill A Mockingbird | 1962 | Film Score | LINK |
| Various Artists (Steppenwolf, and many more) | Easy Rider | 1969 | Soundtrack | LINK |
| John Williams | Star Wars | 1976 | Film Score | LINK |
| Hans Zimmer | Rain Man | 1988 | Film Score | LINK |
| Michael Giacchino | Up | 2010 | Film Score | LINK |
What are the different roles in a Film's Audio Post Production
Although most prominent and most recognized, Score and Soundtrack are not the only things you hear when you watch a movie. But, what other roles are there in the creation of the audio mix of a film?
Different roles include the sound supervisor, the sound designer, the foley artist, dialogue editor, music editor, music supervisor, and the re-recording mixer. All these roles are crucial to a pleasant experience for the audience of a film.
Let's explore them a bit further:
The Sound Supervisor is responsible for and oversees everything that happens during the audio post-production of a movie. From communication with Directors and Producers, and managing the crew, and the timely completion of their tasks to overseeing the budget.
The Sound Designer has to come up with creative ways to create believable sounds that resonate with an audience and fulfill the director’s vision for the film.
The Foley Artist is probably one of the most underrated creatives when it comes to the sound of a film. There films especially in the genre of animation, where every footstep and every movement is done by a foley artist. They are great performers as well and sometimes use strangely common things to create the sounds that we see on the screen.
The Dialogue Editor makes the actors sound great. Dialogue Editors clean up wind- and mouth-noise in the on-set captured dialog recording
The Music Editor is responsible for the tone and flow of a film's music. Especially ensuring that score and soundtrack serve the Director's vision for the film
The Music Supervisor works with the Director and producer to choose already existing music, that drives the film’s story and then is responsible for obtaining the right license to use the music in the film. A lot of work and back and forth can go into the negotiations with artists, publishers, and labels.
The Re-Recording Mixer balances and mixes all the different parts of the audio production of the film. The Re-Recoding Mixer works closely with the director and other Executives to make requested changes to bring the aural vision of the film to life.