Like the vast majority of mainstream films it made heavy use of an orchestral styled score to emphasise mood, atmosphere and emotion. More often than not, I think, this music tends to be a sort of pseudo classical music when used to underscore stories that are biographical, historic, or concerned with emotional events. Genre films tend to have their own soundtrack conventions – atonal music in horror films, electronica or ambient works in science fiction and so on. All this comes into the category known as ‘non-diegetic’, which is to say that it is not heard as a part of the story, as for example when a character switches on a radio and a certain song or piece of music is heard.
It’s this non-diegetic music with which I often find I have a problem. There are certain conventions that work on us psychologically in generally predictable ways. Sadness is evoked by minor chords, ‘borrowed’ minor chords in major scales or ‘suspensions’ (which as I understand it involve short moments of dissonance resolving into consonant harmonies). Yearning, specifically I read, can be expressed by a technique known as ‘appogiatura’ in which a non-chord note appears in the melody. Happiness, of course, is associated with major chords. Strong rhythms, shifting dynamics and build-ups enhance action sequences. And so on. It is one of the wonderful mysteries of music that these musical structures have these effects upon us, and I’m not suggesting that all films should do without them. My problem lies with the sense that I am too often being spoon-fed. The soundtracks tend to drench me in the required emotion, rather than allow me to arrive at my own conclusions from the dialogue, the acting and the storyline itself. In doing so, for me, they detract from the impact.
There are excellent films that do almost completely without non-diegetic music. The Dardenne Brothers’ ‘Two Days One Night’ (about which I wrote in this blog several months ago) is a striking example. The Coen Brothers’ ‘No Country For Old Men’, or Woody Allen’s ‘Annie Hall’ also. Even Alfred Hitchcock chose not to use it in his films ‘Rope’ and ‘The Birds’. It’s pretty clear that it is possible to evoke a strong response in viewers without this element in the mix. Or if it is deemed appropriate by the director, why not keep it to a minimum? Francois Ozon’s ‘Frantz’ I found to be a deeply moving film that used its soundtrack music sparingly and wasn’t afraid to do without it entirely in key scenes. When I watch a film like this I feel I am able to make discoveries and draw conclusions for myself, without being told what to feel, often in unsubtle terms.
By all means include music in the soundtrack creatively. It can be used, for example, to make an ironic commentary on what is being shown, or to add an element of emotion that is not included in what we are seeing/hearing within the story. Yann Tiersen’s music in ‘Amelie’ for example adds a whole extra and often-humorous layer to what is shown and said onscreen. Some films, like the wonderful ‘Koyaanisquatsi’, have been built around existing pieces of music. Just don’t ladle it on, as so many mainstream films and so many of the well-known film-music composers seem to want to do. Or maybe I’m just being some sort of art-snob, and should just accept that most people prefer it that way. I don’t know. I just feel that films in general would be better off and the experience of viewers would be enriched without it.
As for ‘Professor Marston…’, well, it wasn’t the worst example by any means. The score was tasteful and on the whole quite pleasant, I’ll give it that. It’s just that, for me, it added nothing whatsoever to the film, and I wished there was some kind of facility on the DVD player by which I could turn it off and enjoy the experience without being told so obviously what to feel.
No comments:
Post a Comment