Writing Theme Songs & Understanding Their Impact on the Audience

By Rosie Record

B&H article available here

Jaws, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Star Wars; you can probably hum the theme song to all of these films. John Williams is the master of composing iconic and memorable themes that transcend time. Gladiator, Inception, Interstellar, The Dark Knight; Hans Zimmer’s themes are immediately recognizable and stunning. Themes are an incredibly powerful tool within film. They can add another dimension of emotion, meaning, and interconnectedness to the story and characters if executed properly. This synergy creates an enhanced experience while the audience watches a world unfold before them on screen.

So how do you create a powerful theme song? Keep it simple, create a good foundation, play with variations while keeping it cohesive; but also, seeing music as a language of its own and utilizing the question-answer formula creates dynamism in a score. When a theme is associated with a character or concept in the film, and referenced effectively, it can have an incredibly powerful impact on the audience. Being aware of the different psychological effects music has when combined with the visuals will also help you carve out the perfect viewing experience for your audience.

Question-Answer Formula

When I started composing and researching music, my background in linguistics came to the forefront. I remember staring at my DAW and realizing how writing music can be likened to speech cadences and sentence structuring. And I’m not the only one seeing this connection, Daniela Sammler, Cognition and Neuroscience researcher at the University of Leipzig, has been conducting research into this topic and has found there to be an innate connection between music, language, and communicating. Now, you can do a deep dive into music theory and neurocognition in music, or you can try this:

Try playing a song you’ve never heard before and pausing it in the middle. Does it feel resolved? How can you listen to something you’ve never heard before and know it’s incomplete? It’s similar to when you’re half-listening to someone and you realize they’ve asked you a question. And why would you pick up on when someone has asked you a question? Have you ever noticed when someone asks a question there’s an upward inflection at the end to denote this? Did your internal voice just go up as you read that? When you’re half-listening to someone and there is a change in the speaker’s intonation, your mind picks up on the difference. This same inflection transcends speech and can be applied to music in what’s often referred to as the question and answer. Likewise, it can catch the audience's attention, just like a half-listening husband realizing his wife asked him if he has been listening.

The question-answer formula is a sequence of two distinct musical phrases, where the first phrase ends in a question inflection and the second phrase is a direct response or answer to the first. To accomplish this question inflection you need to know your key signature and your home note or tonic. For instance, a C Major key signature would start the scale on C, and C would also be the home note. The question of a theme goes up (or down) from the home note of your scale, while the answer generates a completed feel as it finds its way back to the home note. Now this formula is meant to be played with, not a simple 2 bar question, 2 bar answer. You can have any combination of questions and answers thus creating a conversation, and it could even end in a question if it fits the visuals. Being aware of this grammatical approach to music will add a lyrical interest to any melody. So explore the question-answer formula, know your home key, and try to create a conversation within your music.

A theme has the power to make an audience feel like they know something. Humans are creatures of habit and take comfort in the known. Even with key changes, different instruments, different intensity or tempo changes, utilizing a familiar melody makes the audience feel a sense of comfort because they feel like they know and understand the theme. The sense of understanding, of ‘home,’ or feeling a song is complete can be attributed to the intrinsic grammar of music. Maybe that’s why the key signature’s root note is called the home note.

Keep it Simple

The director and composer should always think of the score holistically. Having a consistent collection of instruments, using themes effectively and variations of that theme all create a sense of cohesion. While the concept of a theme is straightforward enough, the application can be very involved. It’s great to have a question-answer melody that can be built upon, and generally the more simplistic the more memorable; just look at Jaws. While there is absolutely more to that score than the ominous two notes, those two notes are what everyone remembers. So…

• Keep it simple. A simple tune provides an excellent foundation. You should also experiment with variations on that tune. Can you change keys, alter, loop or delete bars to make the theme span different emotions or situations?

Build Connections

If a theme is associated with a corresponding person or object, the repeated union can build up a subconscious interconnectedness. Star Wars was able to have a theme for almost everything, for the overall film, for certain characters, and film motifs. It can strengthen the emotional attachments or help make mental connections, so if the visuals don’t show something, the audience will think of it anyway because the music acts as a stand-in for that character or object. Just think of the theme song for Darth Vader and the Empire. While it might be used as the ringtone for an in-law to denote dread, most people will immediately filter to a memory of Vader’s dark figure walking the halls and that iconic helmet breathing heavy. That’s the power of nostalgia and effective theme songs.

• What are you associating the theme with? A character, item, concept, feeling? You can have a theme for every character if you want, just make sure you can connect them and make them make sense as a story.

What Else?

• Themes can also be simple musical elements. Hans Zimmer’s theme for the Joker in the Dark Knight is a single elongated note, that just vibrates and fills the audience with discomfort.

• Pick a main instrument. Having a consistent base instrument grounds the theme and makes any departure from that instrument more significant. For example, if you are using a piano for the main theme, and then create a variation of the melody while using violins to denote sadness, the audience will pick up on the shift.

• Remember, a theme does not have to be repeated multiple times to be effective; use the theme when relevant and impactful.

• Themes can be used for end of scene/transitions to create a sense of “to be continued…”

• It’s very effective to bring back the original theme song when there is a moment of conclusion within the film. This solidifies a sense of completion.

Theme Variations

If music is like a language, you know that people pause, stutter, get excited and speed up or elongate their words when they’re sad. That same concept can be applied to creating variations of your theme. Alterations to the theme can be accomplished with augmentation, added complexity, melody abstraction, etc.

• Change the key signature. For example, going from D minor to E minor creates a positive shift of sentiments with that simple upwards movement on the keys.

• Move the melody up an octave to increase a sense of urgency or completion, move the melody down an octave to slow things down or create a sense of dread or sadness.

• Double or half the rhythmic values of the melody.

• Change meter. This abstraction of the melody creates auditory interest while keeping the same color and tone of the original theme.

• Alter harmonic progression.

• Play with bitonality or polytonality by combining two or more keys together (ie. Stravinky’s using C and F sharp major keys together in Petrushka).

• Fragment or break the melody into pieces and reassembled in a different order. You might discover something really cool!

• Change phrase length. For example, Playing 2 bars of the original 4 bar theme; the audience will be anticipating the conclusion of the melody, but by cutting it short they know there is something more. For an even more subtle, yet incredibly impactful example, think of the end of Inception when just the last note is cut short as the screen goes black on the spinning top. That minor incompletion of the melody plus the hard cut creates a gripping cliffhanger. Was he still dreaming?

A Second Narrator

Themes can be a powerful tool within a film. A successful score can magnify emotions, cue a sense of suspense, make the audience feel a profound connection to characters, and want to delve deeper into the world on screen. With the right questions and a handful of techniques, you can create and vary a theme to fit the evolving visuals. Utilizing the question-answer formula for construction and thinking of music as a language altogether can completely change the way you score a project.

When you think of music as a conversation, you realize the score is almost like another narrator for the film. And when a score is given the latitude to be a complementary narrator working in tandem with the visuals, the partnership is electric!

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5 Approaches to a Film Score

By Rosie Record

Music is an incredibly powerful tool within film and media. It can add another dimension of emotion, meaning, and connection to the story if executed properly. Choosing the right type of music for each scene, character, etc. is most likely a challenge for all directors, however, when the visuals and score are effectively combined, they feed one another and build each other up, resulting in a beautiful project. This synergy, if you will, creates an enhanced human experience while the audience watches a world unfold before them on screen. That’s a lot of pressure for directors trying to decide on music for their projects. So below are 5 generalized approaches to a score and the possible psychological impact it can have on the audience.

#1. Go with it

This is a simple and effective approach. Akin to what Meg Ryan says in the adorable romantic comedy French Kiss, “happy - smile. Sad - frown. Use the corresponding face for the corresponding emotion.” Or in this case, use the corresponding music for the corresponding scene. When the tone of the score matches the visuals of the film, it reinforces that sentiment with the audience. Dead Poets Society and Under the Tuscan Sun are a good example of beautiful, supportive scores that match the tone of the visuals.

The score can take a back seat to the visuals, however, it’s important to realize when the score is not necessarily noticeable, it doesn’t mean the score is not impacting the overall experience. This is never more apparent than when you watch a film with music that just doesn’t go. Discordant music can completely take the audience out of the moment and suspend belief in the world the director tried to create. Now, as simple as that concept is, the director must consider this- what does happiness or sadness actually sound like?

#2. Go against it

‘Going against’ is like a serene song over a chaotic scene; like classical music playing over a violent car crash. This is otherwise known as soundtrack dissonance. A very prominent example of this is Clockwork Orange. Another good example is Good Morning, Vietnam playing “What a Wonderful World” over a montage of violence from the Vietnam war. Or even Lilu Dallas in The Fifth Element, fighting a pack of Mangalores with a beautiful alien opera singer intercut between fight scenes. Another approach could be a song that is purposely unfitting and clashes with the visuals. A great example of this from American Psycho, when Bateman hacks a guy up to the song “Hip to be Square.” Or Queen playing while Shaun and his buddies take on a hoard of zombies in Shaun of the Dead.

Either way, this method adds a mental interest; the contrast can signify the duality of a scene, amplify the drama or add a humorous touch by having the audio and visual not quite match up. Mentally what’s happening is the audience’s feeling of being embedded in the world with the characters is taken away and instead switched to the mentality of onlookers. While they are still engaged in the world and still relate to the characters, the subtle change can give them a chance to see things in a different way, find humor in violence, tap into their own empathy, etc. Meaning, while the audience can always think and feel what they think or feel, this technique offers them a reprieve from being informed and led by the visuals.

#3. Theme

Jaws, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Star Wars; you can probably hum the theme song to all of these films. John Williams is the master of composing iconic and memorable themes that transcend time. Gladiator, Inception, Interstellar, The Dark Knight; Hans Zimmer’s themes are perhaps less hummable but are immediately recognizable and stunning.

While the concept of a musical theme is straightforward enough, the application can be very involved. It is essential to have a question-answer or antecedent-consequent melody that can be built upon. Generally the more simplistic the more memorable; just look at Jaws. While there is absolutely more to that score than the ominous two notes, those two notes are what everyone remembers. Furthermore, the director must decide if the theme should be applied to certain characters, objects, emotional or metaphorical cues. Or if the theme is applied to the overall film, variations of the theme need to compliment the different visual scenes. This can be accomplished by a change in key, different instruments, only utilizing certain sections of the theme, etc.

If a theme is associated with a corresponding person or object, the repeated union can build up a subconscious interconnectedness. Star Wars was able to have a theme for almost everything, for the overall film, for certain characters, and film motifs. It can strengthen the emotional attachments or help make mental connections, so if the visuals don’t show something, the audience will think of it anyway because the music acts as a stand-in for that character or object. Just think of the theme song, otherwise known as leitmotif, for Darth Vader and the Empire. While it might be used as the ringtone for an in-law to denote dread, most people will immediately flicker to a memory of Vader’s dark figure walking the halls and that iconic helmet breathing heavy. That’s the power of nostalgia and effective theme songs.

Another possible effect of an overall theme is to make the audience feel like they know something. Humans are creatures of habit and take comfort in the known. Even with key changes, different instruments, different intensity or tempo changes, utilizing a familiar melody makes the audience feel a sense of comfort because they feel like they know and understand the theme. They can still be surprised by the visuals and not know the plot, but take comfort in knowing or anticipating the next notes of the score. This happens subconsciously and doesn’t detract from the film, it simply creates a pleasing continuity and deeper connection to the characters, ideals, and story overall.

#4. No Theme/Ambient Music

There are films that don’t really have a theme because they consist mainly of songs by other artists, songs frequently heard on the radio. However, in this case, no theme means ambient music. Meditative type music is excellent at enabling a person to reflect inward. Similarly, ambient music can often act as a mirror for the audience.

The Grey and The Revenant are gorgeous examples of this. There are twinkles of themes coming through, but they aren’t theme-driven like a John Williams’ score. Another example of a beautiful score that does not necessarily correlate to the visuals is The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. The music, while stunning, seems to just drift along on its own, like a companion to the film.

Have you ever listened to a song and swelled with an emotion then listened again and it just wasn’t the same? Music has a transmutable power. When music doesn’t seem to have an intent or denote something specific, when it simply fills up the screen and the audience, it allows the individual’s mind to reflect inward. When in conjunction with a film, it allows the audience to feel like they are tapping into the characters and the world. Because the music is not informing the audience, it allows them to think for themselves, but because they are engrossed in the world on screen, they then apply those feelings back to the film. This can cause the audience to self-identify more with the characters because they think the character is thinking what they are thinking or feeling what they are feeling. Ambient music may not have this impact with the audience, but it shouldn’t detract from the visuals either, making it a great approach to add fullness to the audience's viewing experience.

#5. Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Music Comparison

Although Birdman uses clever applications of this technique throughout the film, this is more of a technique used to punctuate certain moments, not a driving style.

Diegetic sounds come from inside the world on screen. For example, a blender in the background of a cafe scene, phones ringing in the background of an office scene. Likewise, diegetic music is music that comes from within the film’s world. Non-diegetic music is from outside of the world, like the score. Although interwoven seamlessly, non-diegetic music has an omnipresent effect when compared to music from inside the film. A simple example of this is when a song playing as part of the score switches to an audio source within the film, like a car radio or a character’s headphones; and can sometimes be denoted with a shift in the quality of music. However, there can be much more subtle and ingenious ways to execute this technique.

The Truman Show is a character within a world within a world, and another audience inserted between Truman and us, the real audience; making the diegetic and non-diegetic musical classification like Inception. Music heard by the audience viewing Truman is still part of the film world, therefore diegetic, although it’s not part of Truman’s world, therefore it’s non-diegetic to his character. This added musical complexity really helps solidify the terrifying concept.

A hilarious example of this is from Blazing Saddles, as Bart rides across the landscape to a non-diegetic big band song, and then continues to ride right up to Count Basie and the musicians themselves; revealing the music as diegetic in a ridiculous way. When watching a film an individual can become enveloped, making it almost as if they have been transported into that world. Diegetic and non-diegetic comparison can momentarily snap the audience from that sense of being transported; it’s almost like breaking the 4th wall, only with music.

This can add humor by disrupting expectations, it can deepen immersion or effectively redirect the audience’s attention, humanize the character or further manipulate emotions, or remind the audience they are onlookers, so it needs to be done carefully. The juxtaposition adds auditory interest and if not meant to add humor is usually more effective if it goes from the non-diegetic to diegetic to non-diegetic, or from the score, the character’s music, and then back to the score. This way the audience gets sucked back into the world after the brief reminder that this music is the character’s reality and they are still the audience.

Conclusion

Scores can be true labors of love. They can take on a life of their own and breathe soul into a film, or they can distract the audience and detract from the film. The 5 generalized approaches in no way encapsulate all of the fantastic techniques and options a director can use when creating an auditory element for their film. However, it gives an idea of some of the more prevalent approaches and perhaps can inspire a unique take for an upcoming project.

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