The power of music is that it is transportive. In a very simple way, music is a method of time travel because when you have strong connections to a musical piece, if you hear it, you can be transported to the memory that music is connected to. Perhaps this is why a song is often associated with a time loop repetition, like “I Got You Babe” by Sonny & Cher in Groundhog Day or “We Trying to Stay Alive” by Wyclef Jean in the Star Trek: Discovery episode “Magic Make the Sanest Man Go Mad.” But even without a time loop and repetition to evoke the concept of these transformative memories, music and film can create these memories that can take you to worlds far from your own with just the opening fanfare.
John Williams’ music from Star Wars has been transporting people to a galaxy far, far away since the Main Title Theme accompanied the opening crawl in 1977, but it would be five years before there would be a home video release (VHS), so fans who wanted to relive the film’s moments outside of the theatre did so with the album, and the album peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. While this was a major achievement for an orchestral soundtrack, the importance of music and film did not begin in 1977.
Music and film have a history going back to practically the birth of film. It’s well known that early films were silent, but, much like the theatre tradition, music was added very early on as a way to bridge the narrative when the words were lacking. Think of a dance. But music carries with it emotionality, and its tempo, rhythm, or even its style can evoke very different things. In the beginning, much of the music was left up to the film’s exhibitors. Going to a high-end movie palace, you might see a film with an orchestra accompanying, playing classical cues. If you went to a small house, it might be the same film but a singular piano playing the tunes of the day. These would create a very different viewing experience, so eventually, the studios would try to impose specific songs onto the films, either through a music book or by sound-on-disc, which was the first step towards sound synchronization with the picture. Some exhibitors/markers would push back against the studio-prescribed music as their audiences had grown accustomed to seeing films presented with a certain type of music, and they didn’t want to alienate their audiences. It would only be once films were truly synchronized that they would usually be presented the way they were originally intended. However, people would still find ways to experiment with different soundtracks of the day with films, which is how the whole “Darkside of Oz” thing of pairing The Wizard of Oz with Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” got started because there is some synchronicity with the album and the film.
The ability to synchronize sound to the picture allowed composers hired on a film to write directly towards the picture. One of the results was “Mickey Mousing,” when the score mirrors the action on the screen. It is most apparent in early Walt Disney films, hence the name, but also in action films like Errol Flynn’s swashbuckling films. This is a technique that can often be derided because it is viewed as cheesy because every hit and action perfectly synced makes them too aware of the mechanism rather than swept up in the experience. But “Mickey Mousing” can be done very effectively, going back to John Williams for this, “The Fist Fight” scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark is an example of “Mickey Mousing,” where many actions are matched to the music, but not every single one rather making it feel like the music works in concert with the action rather than mimicking it. It makes the moments that are synced stand out, like an exclamation in the score (or a punch in the fight on screen), but you don’t become as aware of the mechanism.
Music in film has also evolved over the years. Song had been a part of movies from the earliest “talkies,” with musicals quickly becoming a popular genre, but the songs had always been diegetic, either sung or listened to within the story of the film, they were not used as part of the score, the score remaining instrumental. In 1967, the most popular film of the year forwent an instrumental soundtrack and used existing songs. This film was The Graduate. Its success would set a precedence, and many films would forgo original music or use a combination with pre-existing tracks.
Regardless of whether the music is original or pre-existing, its placement, selection, arrangement, etc., is done to maximize the emotions of the film, and when done at its most effective, it stays with you long after the credits roll.
Music by John Williams is a wonderful new documentary on Disney+ that looks at his career and music and is well worth the watch, but I also encourage you to think of your own relationship with music and film and the memories it inspires.
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