1. Music For Film Function of Film Music

2. The 5 Functions of Film Music
Source music (diegetic music).
Sense of time or place.
Paralleling the action (“Mickey-Mousing”).
Emphasising the emotion.
Themes for characters / places (leitmotif).

3. Source Music (Diegetic)
This is music that is created within the scene that characters would be able to hear.
It might come, for example, from a radio in the corner of a room, a band playing at a gig, somebody playing a piano.
Example 1 – School of Rock (the band are playing so that all characters can hear)
Example 2 – The Matrix (Neo & Trinity are in a club so they can hear the music playing in the background.)

4. Source Music: School of Rock

5. Source Music: The Matrix

6. Music to give a sense of Time or Place
This is music that is written to give a sense of authenticity to a scene either for its location and country, or its place in time. It is achieved by:
using traditional instruments (e.g. bagpipes for Scotland, Sitar for India).
Using traditional musical forms (e.g. a waltz for Vienna in the 17th Century).
Example 1 – Braveheart (Uilleann pipes being a traditional instrument)
Example 2 – Hero (traditional Chinese instruments)
Example 3 – Titanic (The Hills of Connemara – traditional Irish folk tune).

7. Time or Place: Braveheart

8. Time or Place: Hero

9. Time or Place: Titanic

10. Paralleling the action (‘Mickey-Mousing’)
This is where musical events are synchronised so that they carefully match any physical actions that happen on screen.
Whilst originally a comedic device used in numerous cartoons (hence the name), it is also a technique used in action films to make the scene more exciting.
Example 1 – The Picnic (a 1930 Mickey Mouse cartoon)
Example 2 – King Kong (the music matches Kong’s actions)
Example 3 – Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade (video analysis of the scene)

11. Mickey-Mousing: The Picnic

12. Mickey-Mousing: King Kong

13. Mickey-Mousing: Indiana Jones

14. Emphasising the Emotion
This is where the music in the scene is written to have an emotional effect on the audience.
It could be used to:
Create tension in a horror film or a thriller.
Emphasise the romantic or love aspect to a scene.
Accompany an action scene to make it more exciting.
Example 1 – Psycho (dissonant strings used to create tension)
Example 2 – Gone With The Wind (music swells with character’s emotions)
Example 3 – Rocky (triumphant music to accompany training montage)
Example 4 – Titanic (string trio playing ‘Nearer My God To Thee’ as they face certain death)

15. Emotion: Psycho

16. Emotion: Gone With The Wind

17. Emotion: Rocky

18. Emotion: Titanic

19. Themes for character or places (Leitmotif)
This is where the composer will create a melodic musical theme for a particular character or place in the film.
Example 1 – Doctor No (leitmotif for James Bond)
Example 2 – Superman The Movie (leitmotif for Superman’s heroism)
Example 3 – Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (leitmotif for the Galactic Empire)

20. Leitmotif: Doctor No

21. Leitmotif: Superman The Movie

22. Leitmotif: The Empire Strikes Back