Film music and music in film

Do you dream that your own soundtrack will start playing when you open your front door in the morning? That the entire world will turn into a puls raising montage when you exercise? Unfortunately that's just a dream, but in the world of movies it is standard practice.

Music has, as you can see in The Artist, ever since the time of silent movies been a part of film. Already in 1935, the first Oscars statue was awarded for best film music and since then then it hasn't stopped. Either the film is about the musicians, like Jackie & Ryan, Inside Llewyn Davis and Monica Z, or it is about the intrinsic power of music to heal and change people like in La famille Bélier or Tango Libre. In addition, there are films that deal with music's ability to bring people together like La Vie en Rose and Quartet. Of course, there are also the documentaries like 20,000 days on earth and Searching for Sugarman, about the real people behind the music.

If you just use the word "film music", most people think of the musical score written for the movie. The ones that you recognize immediately after just a few tones. There we have classic examples like Pippi Longstocking and the Lord of the Rings and countless others. Where the melody gets lodged far into the cortex after just a single watch.

But to say that music requires instruments is to lie. Nowadays one can almost call choir singing movies their own genre with examples like A Song for Marion, Boychoir, and Så som i himmelen. They are about the joy of doing things together, which everyone who sings in a chorus can attest to.

In short, film and music have a passionate relationship that does not seem about to end in the first place. Try some of the examples and see for yourself:

Published: 25/09/2017   Last updated: 25/09/2017