Although we often accept film music without question and sometimes even without noticing it, this does not mean that its contribution to the film experience is insignificant. Music has a tremendous effect on our response, greatly enriching and enhancing our overall reaction to almost any film. It accomplishes this in several ways: by reinforcing or strengthening the emotional content of the image, by stimulating the imagination and the kinetic sense, and by suggesting and expressing emotions that cannot be conveyed by pictorial means alone.
Because music has a direct and very significant effect on our reaction to film, the term “background music,” which is so often applied to the musical score, is a misnomer. Music actually functions as an integral or complementary element. In spite of its direct effect on us, however, there is general critical agreement that the role of music in film should be a subordinate one.
Two schools of thought exist on the proper degree of this subordination. The older, traditional view is that the best film music performs its various functions without making us consciously aware of its presence. In other words, if we do not notice the music, it is a good score. Therefore, the music for a “good” score should not be too good, for really good music draws attention to itself and away from the film.
The modern view, by contrast, allows the music, on appropriate occasions, not only to demand our conscious attention but even to dominate the picture, so long as it remains essentially integrated with the vital, dramatic, and rhythmic elements of the film as a whole. At such moments, we may become conscious of how intrinsically beautiful the music is, though we should not be so moved that we lose sight of its appropriateness to the image on the screen. Both modern and traditional views are therefore in agreement on one essential point: music that calls too much attention to itself at the expense of the film as a whole is not effective.