If anyone knows me, they understand the importance of music in my life. As this is a film class, I find it necessary to give a bit of attention to the importance of music in the films we watch, as they contribute to our individual experiences of the viewing process. In his book The Soul of Cinema: An Appreciation of Film Music, Larry Timm (2003) states that a movie without music is like a bath without water. Something very crucial is missing! There is an endless array of favors that music in general does for the films it enhances. I've recently spent some time entertaining myself with a few silent films lent to me by a friend (and film aficionado). In silent films in particular, music is something in which the history and fame of the movie industry can attribute itself.
A very basic, general role that music played for the silent movies in their beginning was ‘to provide additional emphasis to the moods and action on the screen’ (Timm 2003, p. 58). If you are to watch a screen project images in silence, you would become bored and inattentive. The music, while mostly unbeknownst to you, is what MAKES the scenes of a movie jump out, it brings characters to life, carries you into the situation, allows your imagination to fill. The music swells when your heart needs to, mellows when you should be. It allows you to interpret what the director was trying to convey without even knowing it.
Who came up with the idea that music could (and should) enhance action in film? Interestingly enough, music was added not for the effect it had on the picture itself, but as a way of "blocking out the unwanted mechanical sounds of the projector" (Timm 2003, p. 58). As it turns out, movie makers found that the music could vastly improve the quality and enjoyability of a silent film. However, a poor score at the same time could completely shipwreck a good film.
In this way, the role of a “good score” for a movie -according to musicians who accompanied the silent movies with live music- is as follows: It has been found that the score for a silent film makes up forty to fifty percent of the film’s entertainment value (Gaston). Because of this, directors know it is a key factor to have a good score in the movies they produce in order for it to be a success to the audience. The goal of the director in placing a score for a film is to make the music epic and feel-able, yet invisible to the audience, undetectable to the subconscious.
You may find it interesting that particular instruments were chosen for particular genres or for particular scenes in silent films. Initially, the piano was used to cover up the noisy projectors, and it was a simple instrument to have in the theater, and did good enough job in relating mood. Soon, when audiences wanted more and as technology improved and theaters were enhanced, full orchestras were available in the pits of movie theaters to preserve history like never before. Eventually, organs were also used not only to provide music, but to produce sound effects like thunder, gunshots, police sirens, and bird calls while movies were progressing into the sound era.
In the progressions of music in cinema, the base of music was to create mood. This type of theater music was eventually given a name, called “mood music”. Mood music was used to help convey and amplify the moods the director wishes to represent in each scene on the screen. During silent film production, some actors used a musician on set to play a song to get them in the right mood, such as asking them to play a certain song that could bring them to tears for a sad scene.
Music has been such an epic part of cinema entertainment from the beginning, and will continue to make progressions in its art while maintaining its history in the wonderful music that entertained audiences and animated pictures so many years ago. For the purpose of this class and as we ponder the question of sacred films, I would say that we should pay attention to the uses of music in film that help us to reach those emotional highs and lows which contribute to our understanding and experience of a given film. Think about the films you've seen that left a strong impression on you emotionally, or even spiritually- was the music a factor in that experience? The idea of sacred films, I would argue, has just as much to do with our journey through the viewing process and what is involved in that process as it does with the content itself...
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