What is film music?
When it comes to understanding this industry, understanding film music is perhaps the best place to start. Film music is music written to serve and support the elements of a film. It is not for the audience to enjoy as they would when they go to a concert or music venue; instead, it is created specifically and solely to serve the picture.
It can incorporate familiar genres of music such as classical, jazz, or pop, taking just a single style or a combination of styles to enhance what’s on the screen. The music should not draw attention to itself but instead evoke emotion in the viewers. When properly coupled with a film, film music helps the viewer become more deeply involved in the film, without even realizing that the music is there.
It is also important to know that film music is not to be composed as, let’s say, a symphony would be, including a sonata followed by three movements, or a pop song, which includes verses, choruses, and bridges, or any other structure that you would see in different music genres. Since film scoring is crafted based on a specific mood, story, events, characters, scene cuts, and tempos, you are not limited to a specific structure or defined parameters – this is the exciting part of film music.
Next, it’s important to look at the film-music industry and understand how it functions, starting with film production.
