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Timothy Valdez

Mr. Gango-6
24 October 2014
Music and its Importance in the Cinematic Process
The film industry is well known to be a business, but it is not just that, it is a form of art
that can entertain people by stimulating their emotions through sights, sounds, and color. Music
can enhance the elements of sound in films by using specific tempos or rhythms to go along with
the scene. These scenes are greatly affected by the elements of music in three subset areas:
emotion, transition, and mood.
The incorporation of music in films began in the 1920s. The first films with sound were
referred to as talkies and the first talkie was The Jazz Singer, directed by Alan Crosland. This
film was about a jazz singer who sang a lot of jazz music. The movie was presented a special
academy award for being a Pioneer, outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the
industry (The Jazz). Croslands work inspired then up and coming director named Alfred
Hitchcock to create films that incorporated different sound elements. In his film Blackmail, he
used music that operated at very loud volumes to accentuate scenes where the main character
was prompted as bold (The Jazz).
Along with the rise of talkies with regular background music, jazz music also came into
the media and film industry in the 1920s (Davis). Jazz was very unique because it involved
syncopated fast and slow paced rhythms that were unlike any music genre at the time. Jazz was a
style based off of two cultures music combined; White and African descent cultures. Jazz was
always changing in the context of its use (Davis). This upbeat type of music is relevant because it

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shows how music changed films because they started to be something that could get people
excited and energetic. It gave birth to movie scenes filled with dancing and drinking.
Music can be played and performed in many different ways, with each having its own
role in creating emotion. One of the elements that can help music create emotion is tempo, which
is how fast or how slow the beat of the music is going. Tempo carries the emotional implications
of art. For example, music is rushed in moments of eagerness, vigor, and gaiety. This rushed
tempo creates a fast paced scene with action moments (Tempo). Another example of how tempo
can carry emotions is through slow music. The source of despair can be drawn out of a slow
tempo (Musical).
Another musical element used in filmmaking is tempo, which enhances the viewers
perception of the film (Dyja). An example of how tempo can affect perception is through the
movie Aladdin, which uses multiple tempo changes in the song Arabian Nightsto capture the
audiences attention (Aladdin). For example, when the movie begins, the tempo is very slow and
the camera is moving slowly through the streets of Agrabah, capturing the life of native
individuals. The slow flowing tempo can create a mysterious perception of the city.
Since music can be performed and played in many different ways, it can be implemented
in films in many different ways: title music, diegetic music, and non-diegetic music, which can
all create perceptions.
Title music is usually played when the title or credits are being shown in a film. It is
usually used to help introduce to the audience the overall theme of the film (Musical). An
example of theme music being used can include Goldeneye and how its syncopated rhythm of
quarter notes and eight notes bring excitement and energy into the audience. For example, a
composer, musician and sound engineer, made a comment regarding Goldeneye, which is one of

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the James Bond movies. Tina Turner brings back Bond themes in a big, big way. Right away:
mystifying and edgy. Right away: seductive (Neely). He mainly looks at these three pieces of
music, Goldeneye, The World is not Enough, and Die Another Day. This is a direct indication of
how music enhances and creates different emotions.
An example of music being used can include the title scene of Star Wars, a film by
George Lucas. In the beginning of the movie, a huge bold sound of trumpets comes out and
immediately,a sense of adventure is brought out. A regal and very fanfare style of music is being
played by these trumpets, which are using quarter notes to make music. These quarter notes are
defined as musical notes that are one beat of length in a given tempo.
Another way of music being exercised in films can be through non-diegetic and ambient
diegetic sounds. Diegetic sounds occur when someone or something is visually playing an
instrument or making sounds. Ambient diegetic sounds occurs when a person is seeing playing
the piano or playing an instrument (Dyja). Non-diegetic sounds occur when a sound does not
have a traceable source and also creates different emotions that drive the mood of a scene (Dyja).
Non-diegetic sounds can occur in a scene where something is falling. An example of a nondiegetic sound could be the chromatic scale, which is a scale with a combination of descending
notes.
One of the most influential and commonly used ways directors use music in their films is
by creating partial and overall moods in a story. A mood is simply the vibe or the word that
describes the actions the character is displaying. If the movie is based on a book, the director
usually has to make sure that the movie has the right mood to set the right scene (Cinema).
Music can help achieve this goal by playing slow and sad music during a depressing scene or fast

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paced happy music during a festival or celebration. Moods are probably the most essential part of
filmmaking and they are created by music (Twyman).
These moods create emotions that are important in filmmaking because they help the
audience decide whether the movie was satisfactory or not. Emotions are triggered when
dynamics are imputed in the movies music (Musical) A Dynamic is a musical term where the
volume of the music is changing and varying from six different volumes: pianissimo, which is
very soft, piano, which is soft, mezzo piano, which is medium soft, forte which is loud, mezzo
forte which is medium loud, and fortissimo which is very loud. These different levels of
dynamics help affect ones emotional response (Musical). A dynamic of fortissimo, or very loud,
could bring a shocking feel to a scene because the music is so loud..
Musical films derive their interest from emotion and since the film is musical, music is
what drives the overall achievement and success of the film. The musical film business
transformed films because it was a new source of entertainment (Development).
An example of mood being created is by the Monty Norman original James Bond
theme.The music sounds both inconspicuous and exciting by the use of syncopated rhythms
(Twyman). Syncopated rhythms are ones that are played in the off beats of a given tempo. The
movies theme music created a type of spy theme and suspenseful mood and the music was very
successful (Dyja). Indeed the film was about a spy and the mood created by the music reinforced
that theme. Barry Neely, the musician and sound engineer commented of how the Norman
original James Bond theme supports the spy genre by making a dangerous mood. The beauty of
this piece is the subtle elements that add a dangerous feeling to it all. The vibraphone line
accentuates the brass section by playing the melody line in unison, but the added, flowing layer
of the vibraphones sound stops it from being too strong (Neely).

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Another way music aids filmmaking is by allowing for transitions between scenes in a
given film. In every movie, there are emotion changes and perspective changes, and these
changes need background sound to make the transition smooth. In a transition, there is a small
point in time where scene A ends and scene B starts(Bayes). The transition is so important
because it is crucial that it does not lose the audiences attention. Music fills the awkward gap
with sound that changes the mood or perspective of the scene. When a scene has music played at
a slow tempo with a variety of whole notes, which are four beats long, sadness and misery are
invoked.
The filmmaking industry is a huge industry that is very successful due to its incorporation
of music to enhance the viewers perception and opinion. The process of music being in films
allows for emotion, transitions, and mood to occur. Emotions are created by the manipulation of
dynamics because the volume of the music can arouse different feelings such as vulnerability,
fear, and sadness. Transitions occur when scene A and scene B start and end at the same time.
The element that smooths the transition of scenes is tempo because the music can be slow in one
scene and fast in the next such as changing perspective. Lastly, mood is created when music is
implicated in movies by using styles of music to change the tone and theme. Based on the three
subsets and their examples, music can entertain people by stimulating their emotions through
sights, sounds, and color.

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Works Cited
Aladdin. Dir. Ron Clements and John Musker. Perf. Robin Williams. Walt Disney Studios Home
Entertainment, 2008. DVD.
"Alfred Hitchcock's BLACKMAIL Events & Exhibitions at The Detroit Institute of
Arts."Detroit Institute of Arts. 1 Feb. 2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.
Bayes, Jeffrey. "Space Between the Scenes: The Art Behind Scene Transitions." Filmmaking
Tour Guide. N.p, 6 July 2011. Web. 1 Oct. 2014.
"Cinema." DK e-encyclopedia. 2004. eLibrary. Web. 03 Oct. 2014.
Davis, Francis. "Jazz-religious and circus."TheAtlantic Monthly. 01 Feb. 2000: 88. eLibrary.
Web. 12 Sep. 2014.
"Development of the musical." Hutchinson Encyclopedia. 2011. eLibrary. Web. 03 Oct. 2014.
Dyja, Eddie. "How music is used in musical films.Suite.N.p, 29 May 2012.Web. 12 Sept. 2014.
"Musical Expression: Tempo and Dynamics.Inkling. N.p, n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2014.
Neely, Barry. "Reviewing and Analyzing the James Bond Themes One by One."Barry Talks
Music. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.
"Tempo: Definition and Uses in Musical Forms." Education Portal. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.
"The Jazz Singer (1927)." Filmsite Movie Review. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Twyman, Debbie. "Music in Films."Film Appreciation. N.p, 5 Oct. 2009. Web.1 Oct.2014