Film Music History

It was long back, the beginning of the age of motion pictures. Several efforts were made by various pianist, organist and sorchestra to provide suitable music for films.

Before editing the film would be presented to the music composer and then decisions were made as to appropriate music styles and themes that could be used.

Way back in history and even today, things have not changed. It is music that makes a film!

It was the year 1927, when the first talkie movie Jazz Singer (starring Al Jolson) was created. The release of this movie that consisted of songs prompted a change that made music the most essential element of a film.

Film music composers emerged in the industry to experiment with music when they realised that the soundtracks of the movie was becoming a huge hit. The rest is now history.

As times passed by, new styles and patterns evolved. Music was added along with the opening title of the film and the closing title so as to emphasise on the mood of the film. Later on music provided between the dialogues became the fashion.

This practice left a huge impact in the mind of viewers and a new industry was in its stage of creation. All these contributions made to music was soon recognised by the world and this resulted in acknowledgement of the composers through Academy Award for Best Score.

Film music composers effectively utilised all the events in history. When a threat to the world came in form of a war, several movies were made on the existing struggle for power.

Music played a very important role in these movies to instigate patriotic feelings among the people. An example is Shostakovich who wrote and composed music for the film on Stalin's propaganda.

Most of us might have seen Star wars, Jaws, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Vertigo, Braveheart, Chinatown, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Superman, Planet of the Apes etc.

But how many of us are aware of the fact that the awesome orchestral soundtracks which we heard were composed by John Williams, Bernad Hermann, James Horner and Jerry Goldsmith.

We often watch the movie and enjoy the music and forget the real heroes. So the next time when you watch Robin Hood, The Prince of Thieves and the legendary Titanic, make sure that you'll take a look at the credits to find out who was the one behind those film scores that topped the music charts.