Evolution of Music in Film: From Silent Films to Diegetic Soundtracks
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Stop dissonance independent re-structured brushstrokes imagination time dodecaphonism - all the established order and organization of sounds disappeared - Arnold Schoenberg
Electronic music - sounds are created, processed, and recorded electronically - Karlheinz Stockhausen
Musique concrete - recording of different sounds and later processing these in the studio - Pierre Schaeffer
Neoclassicism - a return to formal clarity and went back to Classicism and the Baroque - Sergei Prokofiev
Impressionism - sound becomes a vehicle of the inner sensations produced by the real world - Claude Debussy
Aleatoric music - indefinite music that depends on chance and the freedom of the performer - John Cage
Minimalism - employs limited or minimal musical materials - Phillip Glass
The Pink Panther - Henry Mancini
The Mission - Ennio Morricone
Gone with the Wind - Max Steiner
Psycho - Bernard Herrmann
James Bond - John Barry
Star Wars - John Williams
The cinematograph was invented by the Lumiere brothers. In the first years of silent films, they showed movies while a pianist or small orchestra played along. They performed mixed bags of popular melodies or classical music arrangements, according to the different atmospheres or emotions that appeared on the screen. Sound effects were made with the so-called 'theatre organ'.
Movies with sound began to appear in 1927 with The Jazz Singer, using a record player synchronized with the projector. Film production companies started to hire composers who wrote specific soundtracks for their movies. Diegetic music illustrates an image in which a sound source appears non-diegetic. This one constitutes the true work of the composer, whose aim is to create a sound atmosphere that suits the narration. It helps create a suitable atmosphere for the progress of the action. It has an influence on the audience and it creates particular psychological effects. It holds the story by giving a sense of continuity to the film.