Music vs. Movies: Soundtrack of a Script

    One of the pressing issues facing a film production is the music overlaid upon the picture. Does the music fit the mood? Does it amplify the power of the scene? Perhaps silence could even be effective? Nah, music is overwhelming in its reach! (Heh, I kid. Silence can make the emotions flow of the screen in the right context, as I'm sure you've seen at some point.)
    Most likely, the three of us will detail moments where music and movie come together perfectly. These posts will detail the scene, perhaps even find it out there on the web, and explain why WE think the two go together quite splendidly. A meeting of the minds between all the writers here, so to speak. We lurrrve discussion, so if ya think differently let us know!
    Alrighty, since there will be movie clips here, I can see that reading these can take a while. Therefore I'll only post two for now, and only because the first one is quite a doozey.

    The first comes from 2002's The Rules of Attraction, based on the same-titled novel by Bret Easton Ellis (same guy who wrote American Psycho). Now this movie is not for the light-hearted and pure. Fraught with sex and drugs and social carelessness that could only have brewed from party-starved college hipsters, this flick is not bashful to demonstrate drug use, copulation, and even suicide in all its awkward and gory details. Yes, suicide included. Which turns attention to the segment I would like to show to the class. The movie contains significant bounties of humor, true, but the overall tone is quite depressing, and this particular scene actually illustrates suicide. I won't give away the reasoning, for the storyline is a magnificent one to discover on one's own, but the scene coupled with the music absolutely breaks one's heart. WARNING: THIS SCENE IS PRETTY EXPLICIT, AND THEREFORE NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT BEAR WITNESS TO A REALISTIC EXAMPLE OF SELF-DEATH. Otherwise, please continue to this link:
Scene from The Rules of Attraction
    Kay, so, now that you're had your share of sadness for the day, let's delve into this. The cinematography at times shines, mainly the scenes with the rings and razor blade and the dripping faucet. To me, the music hits the home run though. A sad song without any context, Nilsson's "Without You" only further pushes the feeling after the lifeforce begins draining. The song warbles more and more as she further and further drifts from consciousness. I find the distortion quite effective; it sounds haunting and other-worldly. Suddenly, the music cuts and the shot zips to the dripping faucet. An example of silence having more effect than music, methinks! Though personally, I think having the overhead bathtub shot before the dripping faucet would be even more powerful, but either way sure gets across the feeling of bitter, lonely conclusion. The movie decorates itself with things like this, that make a person question themselves and their actions. I do recommend a viewing in full!

    And now you know why I couldn't leave the post like this, hanging on a depression. I've picked a moment in film that surely will U-turn your emotions. The scene comes from last year's Indie flick (500) Days of Summer

    The leading gentlemen has, well... just accomplished something he's been desiring for some time. The scene happily depicts his mood through an amusing musical number, using Hall and Oates' jolly number "You Make My Dreams".
The scene from (500) Days of Summer
    Duno, it's so happy, you feel compelled to dance along with Joseph Gordon-Levitt through the streets of L.A. It gets consecutively more random, from a chorus of strangers to the cartoon bird straight out of Song of the South. If you haven't seen the movie itself, be aware of many offbeat surprises like this.
    How's that for a roller coaster post? Hopefully you don't leave here questioning your very character on account of conflicting emotions!