Understanding music for film and TV

Diegetic Music – Diegetic Music is music that is part of the story/film e.g. a radio or an instrumental being played in the film/story is called Diegetic Music

Non–Diegetic Music – Non-Diegetic Music is music that is played in the background to create atmosphere and ambience e.g. A harp being played in the background and it’s not part of the film/story is called Non-Diegetic Music

Wild Track – Wild Track is background ambience of the real sounds recorded in the location of where the film is shot. E.g. a lion’s roar in an African plain is called a wild track

Composition Track (soundtrack) – A composition track (Soundtrack) is built up of sound effects, Film scores and Dialogue.

Foley – A Foley Artist uses props to create artificial sounds to the visuals of the film to highlight the important features in a film. (Voice overs count as Foley) E.g. the noises of punches are made by Foley artists

Temp Track – Temporary tracks are songs that the director would like the composer to make similar songs to.

In this part of ‘I Am Legend’ Dr. Robert Neville (Will Smith) turns on his iPod and starts singing along to 3 Little Birds, This is an example of diegetic music as it is part of the film’s world and is interacted on screen. The song is playing as a reminder that despite possibly being the last man on earth there is good moments to be had and the weather as well as the song is lightening the mood of the entire film in that one scene and at the end of the scene the sudden realisation of the fantasy world Dr. Robert Neville slipped into has disappeared. The music works very well with the scene as the director is trying to create a relaxed and light moment in a chaotic world and it makes the scene very successful

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In this part of ‘Green hornet’ Kato has just designed the ‘Black beast’ and Brett Reid and Kato take it out on their first ride together. This is an example of diegetic music as it is part of the film’s world and is started on screen as Brett Reid plays the song and starts singing along. This film is an action-comedy film so the aspect of this scene is to be funny and entertain the viewer and this scene does that so it serves its purpose. The music suits the scene because it is trying to be humorous and it achieves it this piece of music was also a success.

 

 In this part of ‘The Walking Dead’ Dale has been attacked by a walker and is going to turn into one and the only way to prevent that from happening is by killing him. This is an example of Non-diegetic music as it is not part of the films world and is being added over the actual scene. The song is playing with a slow tempo to highlight the fact that a main character is dying and that the overall scene should be upsetting to viewers and emotional hence the music selection, It creates the atmosphere for what is going on

 

In this scene of ‘Hangover 3’ the film and trilogy has come to an end and it is recapping them in their journeys and adventures. This is an example of Non-diegetic music as it is not part of the film’s world and is being added over the clips. The song playing is talking about Alcohol and hangovers and the film is called hangover so in theory it fits and suits the film very well. It creates the atmosphere for an ending.

   

 In this documentary the ambience playing in the background is the wild track that was post recorded by a crew to pick up the animal noises so that they are loud and standout to the audience more. The Wild track used in this documentary works very well as the noises are the noises recorded from the area.

   

 In this scene of ‘Shaun of the dead’ a punch is made to sound incredibly loud by foley artists to add emphasise on how hard the punch really is. The punch at about 0:05 was probably recorded with meat or lettuce. If you watch the scene you can see that they exaggerated sound fits it really well and makes the scene a successful one