What you can tell about movies from their soundtracks

We all know the importance and value of soundtracks to a film, yet one can tell a lot about what a movie is aiming for based on its choice of background music.

Has the reader ever noticed that different films opt for a consistent type of music throughout a film? One can argue that it is to add a certain aura or atmosphere to the movie, yet at the same time it can also tell one about what the director was aiming
to achieve with the project.

Take movies that have plenty of rock and metal in their soundtracks, more often than not one will find that such films often do not make it to the nominations of the academy awards. The fact is that they were never meant to; the music tells us that the film
was aimed at entertaining audiences and making a few million in box office revenue.

On the other hand take a different type of action movie, such as Gladiator, and notice how the action and violence becomes almost artistic and poetic when there is beautiful classical music playing in the background. That movie is hoping to connect with
audiences and present a piece of culture and art. Oh and they may also be aiming for an Oscar.

Then there are the in-betweens, which more often than not end up failing. They either use rock to present art or classical music to present hardcore action. Many have tried to work with this tricky combustible mix, yet not many have passed.

One such movie, which is one in a million that actually did pull off the combination, was Warrior, which used rock and classical music to great cinematic effect. Not only did it compliment the action but it also added depth to the scenes where it counted.

While many argue about the visual style being important for a film the soundtrack is just as critical and the selection of background music can be more revealing of the movie’s ambitions than anything else at times.

So the next time one is watching a movie just give the soundtrack a listen and you will know whether you are watching a ‘War Horse’-esque movie or a ‘Mission Impossible’.

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Posted by Musa Afridi on Jan 24 2012. Filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry