Hello, and welcome to my third blog post on the music of movie introductions. Today's post will be about how different types of music can create certain effects.
There are three main uses of music that you can use for the introduction of a movie. The two that come to most minds first are vocal music and instrumental music, as they are good at setting tone as well as creating memorial moments. The final type is diegetic sound. It is not truly music, but it has the same affect. The lack of music can greatly amplify the weight of emotional moments, as well as increasing tension and building suspense. It does this by only showing the sounds that would occur in the situation, not including music that does not truly exist in that world.
Link to video that explains diagetic sound more in depth.
Despite diegetic sound being an option, I feel it should only be used when it would sere the purpose of building tension, suspense, etc. If it's not used too often, there would essentially be an empty void of music throughout the movie. This could be well done, but it would be very difficult to pull off, resulting in music being a better option.
Another major piece of knowledge I learned is that it is a good idea to try and give a setting with your music. This probably sounds weird, but after learning this I realized how often it's done with movies. Imagine a movie taking place in ancient Japan. Do you think you would hear something like death metal or hip-hop while watching the movie? it would most likely use traditional Japanese instruments, such as a flute or other classical instruments. Likewise, there is a high chance you hear music by artists like Michael Jackson in movies that take place in the 80s.
One goal for movies similar to those with the drama genre is to make the audience feel the impact of certain situations. The goal is to give them goosebumps. Often times, this is a critical point in the movie that is meant to carry serious emotional weight. The example I'm providing is the scene in Ratatouille where Anton Ego tries the ratatouille and gets a flashback of his childhood. This combines instrumental music with diegetic sound by having some music play in the background until he drops his fork, where the most prominent sound is the sound of the fork dropping. This is immediately followed by more light hearted music, representing Ego's happiness after trying the Ratatouille. To those who have seen the full movie, you can see how the combination of music techniques was able to amplify the already immense emotional impact of the scene. My favorite part has to be the fork dropping, because I interpret the sound as representing the weight of Ego's malevolent feelings falling when he is reminded of his past, which just gives me chills.
By practicing all these techniques I believe I can create a spectacular film opening. I already took some inspiration from the Ratatouille scene, as I plan to incorporate a mix of diegetic sounds and instrumental music to create a unique opening that will amplify the emotion of the big moment, which is the doctor telling the main character that he has cancer. The only technique I won't use in the opening will be the one that creates setting, as the introduction serves more as an exposition to the character rather than an exposition to the world.
I believe I might add more part to the music part of the blog, but I will confirm if I do in tomorrow's blog post, as I don't know if the subject would warrant an entire post. Anyways, thank you for reading and I hope you continue staying updated with the blog. Farewell, and I'll see you next time!
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