The reach of music on film is limitless – One youth’s experience of the soundscape of film

Music is a language itself. A universal language, a language that every human can understand, even though not everyone can speak it. This workshop taught me how to express the language of music into words and articulate why a song could elicit feelings of despair, joy, even rage.

Armed with the practised ear of an artist, Alex was able to break this abstract concept of music into words even the everyman could understand. His passion and enthusiasm were infectious, despite on virtual screen. No doubt this sparked a renewed appreciation for film music, for me and the other participants.

I am an aspiring storyteller myself, and for many years, I had (with no small amount of bias) thought that the story was the most important component of a film. But now I see, with fresh eyes, what integral role music plays in the melody of a film. Writing and cinematography are merely the hardware of a film. Music is its software.

Many of the seemingly enigmatic pieces in film become more intelligible when you recognise that the same precision a watchmaker uses when assembling a piece is channelled into song by a composer. Every note you hear carries significance. At its very roots, film music tells a story. It’s always there to emphasise an element on your screen. Instruments arise and vanish with increasing speed as tensions mount. Notes fall like raindrops. A fusion of synth and classical orchestra evokes futurism.

All of us know John Williams’ unmistakable Star Wars theme. The triumphant theme, buoyed by the full force of the brass section, immediately leapfrogs FOX’s fanfare with a higher note, throwing the viewers right into the galaxy’s edge. Williams achieved this effect so seamlessly because he made full use of the “colour” – the defining quality or characteristic – of the brass section. It is worth noting that the colour of an instrument isn’t fixed, it corresponds to what’s happening on-screen at that moment.

Compare the use of brass in the Star Wars theme to Alexandre Desplat’s score for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in which brass often creeps in to add a sense of foreboding to the scene.

Everything I’ve mentioned so far is but one thread in the giant tapestry that is music. Music is as old as man himself. We’ve come a long way from 1895 when musicians had to improvise to monochrome films. Today, sound and picture can be seamlessly synchronised with a few clicks. With the proliferation of music apps, barriers to entry are lower than ever – virtually anyone can be a musician.

Of the people, by the people and for the people; this is the draw of music. It evokes emotions that ennoble us as human beings. Not just in film, but in all aspects of life. Such is the reach of music; it is truly limitless.

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