Audio Post: Score

Last week we spent time focusing on and getting some experience working with sound FX. This week, we are going to turn our attention to another crucial part of audio post-production: the score. In case you forgot...

The score is the music that is created to go along with a film/video.

Wikipedia says:

"A film score is actually the background music of a film (which is generally categorically separated from songs used within a film). The term soundtrack is often confused with film score, but a soundtrack also includes anything else audible in the film such as sound effects and dialogue. Soundtrack albums may also include songs featured in the film as well as previously released music by other artists. A score is written specifically to accompany a film, by the original film's composer(s)...since the 1950s, a growing number of scores are electronic or a hybrid of orchestral and electronic instruments. Since the invention of digital technology and audio sampling, many low budget films have been able to rely on digital samples to imitate the sound of real live instruments."

What do you think is the purpose of the score? Why do we need music in movies?

Well, actually, not all movies have a score, or sometimes they use music very lightly. But most films have some kind of music to help enhance the emotions/moods of the different scenes. This can be important so that the audience has some direction on how to feel about what they are seeing.

For example, let's say you have a scene of a woman walking down the street. There is no dialogue in the scene, so we don't know exactly what she's thinking. Is she happy? Angry? Determined? Worried? Music can help us easier interpret what she is thinking without her saying a single word! Also, in scenes without dialogue, the absence of sound can make the scenes feel very slow and/or empty, so the music can help to move the story along.

Music can also be created to give specific characters their own themes. These themes usually come in throughout the movie whenever the character appears onscreen. A classic example of this would be Darth Vader's Theme (The Imperial March), composed by John Williams for the Star Wars movies: