Sound Off!

While brainstorming for this post, I remembered the song that inspired the climax for my first screenplay over a decade ago. For a prodigal son just out of the club scene, the song “Rise Up” was a game changer for me.

But, in retrospect music has been a game changer in our society for centuries. Particularly in the film industry for nearly 100 years, the first 20 or 30 years of film were muted moving pictures.

The silent film era is almost unimaginable to most audiences today. Imagine sitting in a theater for up to 30 minutes watching pictures move across the screen and hearing no words. I doubt if many of us would stay awake all the way through.

Fortunately, filmmakers realized the importance of sound in film after a few decades. Many consider the first “talkie,” The Jazz Singer the film that killed the silent film era. Although many theaters acquired live musicians to play a musical score for a film, The Jazz Singer was the first film to have synchronized recorded sound in the movie.

The presence of sound in pictures gave the film industry another dimension, it literally gave film a voice; engaging another sense of the audience. They could hear the conversations of the characters on the screen and be pulled deeper into their reality. After all, talking is a basic form of communication.

Talking?

Sound has changed both film and communication in good and bad ways. In fact there were many who mourned the death of silent film. Perhaps it was distracting from the essence of moving pictures. Here’s a link to The Jazz Singer, the first film with synchronized sound.

https://youtu.be/-iX2lg4eYwQ

Or maybe it was fear of what was really being said in a film. On second thought, considering some of the language and dialogue in today’s film, the mourners were on to something.

It’s possible we should have just continued with film scores. There is no denying the impact music has played in the success of film. I haven’t met at generation Xer who doesn’t get excited the moment they hear the first few notes of John William’s Star Wars theme.

I can remember growing up watching and listening to classics like White Christmas and Blue Hawaii over and over with my parents. These films may have not been the hits they are without the element of incredible music scores and soundtracks which set the beat of the films. It’s incredible.

Keeping the Beat!

 For nearly a century Hollywood hasn’t missed a beat. They have learned how to cross market and promote films with incredible soundtracks. It must be noted that most songs in films are specifically written for the films, mainly for copyright reasons.

The cost for studios to continuously purchase copyrighted works from record labels would be astronomical. The upside of this though is the wealth of film-inspired music that has shaped the industry. Some of my favorite post-golden age musicals are listed below.

• 1970s

1. Grease
2. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
3. Saturday Night Fever

• 1980s

1. Footloose (my personal favorite)
2. Flashdance
3. Dirty Dancing

• 1990s

1. Aladdin
2. The Lion King
3. Step up

Chances are there are a couple of movies which have motivated you. What films have songs that have inspired you? The impact of sound and music to moving pictures is so obvious most marketing firms have implemented the use of music—a catchy tune—in television commercials. Who can forget that Folgers commercial or the Kit-Kat or Coca-Cola anthems?

More recently the marketing firm for Asics shoes has taken sound in commercials to another level.

While the oft forgotten character of music has almost disappeared from the silver screen, if you’re writing a screenplay don’t leave the sound off!

 

Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Truamatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at Spiritual Perspectives of Da Single Guy and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.