The Dramatic Film Score: Music in a Movie

The Dramatic Film Score
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The Dramatic Film Score
Music plays an important role in making a film more enjoyable. It comprises the use of beats, instrumentals, or choral pieces that are introduced at specific points during the film to make the film have a greater impact on the viewer and hence more memorable. The original music written to company the movie is called a film score. The technique is associated with several composers who came to Hollywood and made different films that had a great impact on the audience. The process that began as a simple introduction of sound in the film has spiraled into the use of different sound effects, with a result of a great impact on the audience that makes the film memorable.
The introduction of sound in films began back in the late eighteenth century with a famous composer called Max Steiner. At first, the process was intimidating as directors could not fathom how any music could be added to their work. They believed that it would be a distraction or at worst, it would interfere with the meaning of a scene. Their concerns were valid because incorrect use of music in a movie can interfere with its meaning. Consequently, the first music scores introduced between 1927 and 1933 did not have any significant impact on films. However, in 1933, the influence of music scores on film changed significantly, with the introduction of the scores in “King Kong”, produced by David O. Selznick. The composer responsible for these changes was Max Steiner, who moved to Hollywood in 1929 after being a conductor and orchestrator of Broadway musicals.
Many music analysts consider “King Kong” as the first “Dramatic Film Score” following its impact in the film industry. The composer changed the way film scores are supposed to be written and the music tells the story almost on its own. Consequently, as music and film became synchronized, image and movement were rhythmically matched, which completed the synchronization process, leading to the formation of Dramatic Film Scoring. This technique is known as mickey mousing, which was derived from some of the early 1928 Disney animated cartoons, whereby every movement and gesture of the characters is imitated in line with the music (Kim & Um, 2020). This mickey mousing technique helps to enhance the structure and the viewing experience of the audience by showing how certain events should be interpreted. It not only allows the music to become part of the action, but also intensifies the viewer’s experience.
Max Steiner is known as one of the early composers to use the mickey mousing technique in a dramatic film. He successfully connected the sight and sound in the “King Kong” film, leading to a great impact of the film on the audience. For example, at the point when King Kong repeatedly stabs a person hiding underneath a shelter, the sound that accompanies every stab creates an immense feeling to the audience. Steiner is also credited together with other early composers for their work in establishing different ways to synchronize music with film with the help of “click track” (Canvas Rutgers, 2021). Therefore, because of the role that Steiner p...