MUSIC IN FILM

Music in Film: Soundtracks and Synergy discusses a broad range of films – from classical Hollywood through to American independents and European art films – and offers a brief history of the development of music in film from the silent era to the present day. In particular, this book explores how music operates as a narrative device, and also emotionally and culturally. By focusing on the increasing synergy between film and music texts, it includes an extended case study of Magnolia as a film script which developed from a pop song. Emphasis is also placed on the divide between the ‘high culture’ of the orchestral score and the ‘low culture’ of the pop song.


September 2004
144 pages

978-1-903364-65-9 (pbk)

£12.99

£11.04 with 15% online discount - add to basket

Pauline Reay is a lecturer in Film and Media Studies at various UK educational institutions, with a background in the music industry.

‘The book is an invaluable contribution to widening an understanding of film music and its place within the pleasures and meanings of cinema.’
John Mundy, Popular Music

'A thorough overview of the major developments in mainstream film music, this introduction develops into a welcome and much-needed focus on the pop score and soundtrack with excellent and original choices of case study films and performers.'
David Butler, University of Manchester