Memo to Film Producers and Directors who insist on wall-papering their movies with the latest “songs” by various artists:
John Williams DID NOT score Star Wars with pop songs, or “beats.” He instead called upon the resources of the symphony orchestra, and traditional dramatic values (refined over the centuries in the world of opera and ballet) – the full-range language of music – with a view to supporting and enhancing the story and impact of the film.
The results? Consider the following:
The first-released installment of the Star Wars movie saga, Episode IV: A New Hope, was originally released in 1977. The now-familiar musical themes or “leading motives” of the soundtrack are ubiquitous today, with the result that John Williams’ music associated with the franchise is likely the most “popular” music on the planet. Yet, this music is almost 40-years-old.
By way of contrast, how many pop songs of the 1970’s can you recall today? I could list several here, but those song titles are probably even less familiar than, say, a list of the Vice Presidents of the United States, and very few remember their names today.
Finally, one of the most obvious movie elements that “dates” a film – that makes it seem old-fashioned, out-of-date – are songs that were at one time “popular,” because by its nature, “popular” music does not remain so. On the other hand, symphonic, orchestral underscore, where appropriate, general retains its freshness and stands up over the long term.
As suggested above, symphonic scoring better supports the drama of a film, the emotions of the characters, emotions that the film director wants to enhance for the viewers’ experience. Orchestral music can usually accomplish this more effectively than popular songs. This is because the compositional techniques used were developed and refined over a long period of time – centuries – according to the drama-intense traditions of opera and ballet.
Alternatives to consider: Rather than inserting a potpourri of popular songs into your movies, it would be interesting to experiment with the concept of a competent film composer creating his own original “songs” specifically for the project, songs whose melodic themes are drawn from those in the master score. This makes more sense dramatically, since generally pop songs are separate entities, not written specifically for the movie, but found and inserted by music supervisors and directors (often featuring some “name” artist, employed as a promotional tool; not at all “art for art’s sake”).
Last word: Hit popular songs usually have to be licensed, which can require a lot of money from an already budget-strapped project. If you had from the start employed a composer, or at least a composer & songwriter team, to create and produce ALL the unique music and songs for your film – specifically for your film – you would not have that problem.
Music with Media, Mostly ... 