Film Music - IN EXAM

Question 1

What is the music in a film known as

Answer 1

the film score or soundtrack

Question 2

What is each piece of music within the score known as

Answer 2

The cue

Question 3

Film music and sound effects can be divided into how many categories

Answer 3

2

Question 4

What is the first category film music and sound effects can be divided into and explain it

Answer 4

Diegetic:

• This refers to any sound which comes from an on-screen source.
• E.g. A car screeching its brakes, a cellist playing live.
• If you can see the source of the sound, it’s diegetic.

Question 5

What is the second category film music and sound effects can be divided into and explain it

Answer 5

Non-diegetic:
- Refers to any sound which comes from an off-screen source.
- Includes most of the music score, any underscoring or off-screen sound effects
- Eg. an off-screen helicopter arriving which you hear before you see, or someone calling from another room.

Question 6

What is background music often referred to and what does it do

Answer 6

• It’s often referred to as underscoring
• It adds to the mood of the scene, reinforcing dramatic developments and aspects of character

Question 7

There are two other types of sound which are non-diegetic, name the first one and explain it

Answer 7

Parallel sound:

• This is when the music and sound complements the on-screen action.
• Eg. a children’s playground with the sounds of nursery style music, ice-cream vans, laughter and squealing.

Question 8

There are two other types of sound which are non-diegetic, name the second one and explain it

Answer 8

Contrapuntal sound:

• This is when the music and sound contradict the on-screen action.
• Eg . the music is dark and sinister like Jaws, while the images show children playing normally in the playground.

Question 9

Explain the concept Mickey mousing

Answer 9

• When the music is precisely synchronised with events on screen this is known as Mickey-Mousing
• Eg. someone slipping on a banana skin could use a descending scale followed by a cymbal crash.
• Mickey-Mousing is often found in comedy films.

Question 10

Why do film music composers use leitmotifs

Answer 10

To help build a sense of continuity

Question 11

What is a leitmotif

Answer 11

• A leitmotif is a recurring musical idea (a melody, chord sequence, rhythm or a combination of these) which is associated with a particular idea, character or place

Question 12

What are leitmotifs manipulated to do

Answer 12

Match the action and mood of a scene

Question 13

How can leitmotifs be altered

Answer 13

They could be altered by:

1. changing the rhythm or pitch
2. changing the instrumentation or accompaniment
3. adding new material
4. developing fragments of the idea

Question 14

What does a composer do

Answer 14

• The Composer creates all the music for the film.
• However, he is restricted by the timing of scenes, the amount of other dialogue and SFX in the scene and by the type of mood to be created.

Question 15

What does the sound producer do

Answer 15

• The Sound Producer is responsible for producing all the sound in the movie, from recording dialogue up close to filming scenes and recording the dialogue later.
• He reads the script and decides all the required sounds from speech to sfx

Question 16

What does a sound editor do

Answer 16

• The Sound Editor’s role is to create all the SFX and to put all the elements together; Music, dialogue and sound effects

Question 17

What are the three types of sound we might hear in a film soundtrack

Answer 17

Firstly lets look at the three types of sound we might hear on a film soundtrack:
• Dialogue
• Music
• Sound effects

Question 18

What are sound effects

Answer 18

• Sound effects create a sense of the ‘reality’ of the place where the action is taking place whilst music adds an emotional depth to a scene.