Film Music - A Very Short Introduction.pdf

Film music can be defined as music either directly composed or
expressly chosen to accompany motion pictures. As a practice,
it is as old as cinema itself—the very first projected images
in many places around the globe either captured a musical
performance or was accompanied by one. Even in those places
where accompaniment did not initially attend motion pictures,
it would soon do so. Film music has been both live and recorded,
both newly composed and compiled from existing sources, both
meticulously orchestrated and produced spontaneously through
improvisation. It does not operate in exactly the same way across
time, across cultures, and sometimes even within cultures. Across
the board, however, it is characterized by its power to define
meaning and to express emotion: film music guides our response
to the images and connects us to them.
This very short introduction aims to provide a lucid, accessible,
and engaging overview of film music from the pragmatic (what it
does and how it works) to the theoretical (why it works) and from
the historical (film music as a practice across time) to the personal
(how film music has been practiced by the individuals who have
created it). Although there will be many references to film music
as music, this book is not a specialized study of music, and readers
need no prior musical training.
I am guided by the need to introduce film music through a global
perspective. Although the United States and Western Europe
were the first places where film and music were experienced
together, the story does not end there. When films first came to
Japan was there musical accompaniment? What kind of music
was first heard in accompaniment to films in India or Iran or
Brazil? How did synchronized film scores transform the film
industry in India? In Egypt? In China? How have political events
around the world—World War II, the Russian Revolution, the
Cultural Revolution, and the Islamic Revolution—impacted film
composers and the practice of their craft?
Answering these questions and others like them has been among
my highest priorities. Film music scholarship has developed over
the last twenty-five years into a formidable body of knowledge
on the subject, but its blind spot has been nothing less than most
of the world. As this is but a very short introduction and the world
is a very big place, I have had to make choices about what to
include. I have tried to focus on the major film industries around
the world, but even this endeavor has been limited by the lack of
information about film music in some of the world’s largest film
industries. The choices have been difficult, and I apologize in
advance for the oversights on my part. The situation is much the
same with my viewing selections. At the end of the book there
are suggestions for further reading and viewing. I have chosen to
limit viewing selections to what is currently available on DVD,
the common currency of the moment; it is dismaying to discover
how many films I cannot include because they are not available in
this format. The situation is especially dire when it comes to silent
films with their original scores. Nevertheless, it is my hope that
this very small volume will spark a very big interest in the global
practice of film music.
For the sake of readability, I have followed the practice of The
Oxford History of World Cinema with respect to foreign film titles
and names. Where an English translation or transliteration of a
foreign film title is available, I have used it, with the exception of
films that are distinctly known by their foreign titles. Filmmakers
are referred to by the names they are known by in the West.
This has resulted in some inconsistencies, especially in terms of
Chinese-language filmmakers: John Woo, for example, with the
family name last, but Wong Kar-wai with the family name first.
I apologize in advance for the many inconsistencies produced by
grappling with the world’s many languages through the prism of
only one of them.