Tuesday 24 September 2013

The power of music

The other day I was watching a movie and it crossed my mind, yet again, that without the background music that accompanies so much of the drama we watch on television and in the cinema, the experience would not be nearly as emotive or powerful.

Imagine watching a film all the way through with no music in it. I can't recall ever having seen one - even the silent movies have music. It's almost as if the producers feel they have to stimulate our emotions and reactions through music. But what about books? They can be immensely moving and powerful simply through the words written on the page. So why then can a film not achieve that same result without music? If words alone can stimulate our imagination, why do we need music to create the suspense in, say, a murder scene? After all, everyday life doesn't have a musical backdrop.

But I love the way music stirs our emotions. My favourite film of all time is "Out of Africa" and it's probably because I adore John Barry's wonderful soundtrack. It would be really interesting to watch the film with just the dialogue to see how different it would be and whether the acting and the story itself would be enough to hold my interest to the end.

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