For the love of the sound

I have always had this fascination for the music used in films. I often think how audiences would have reacted to a movie if there was no music. This fascination first started when I was about 12 years old and I watched the movie Romeo + Juliet  (and that's 'plus' not 'and'). The original film was produced in 1936 by George Cukor 1936 Romeo and Juliet by George Cukor. This movie was a modern day version (modern being 1996) of the original Romeo and Juliet and included guns, drugs and gangs instead of swords, cultural stigmas and hierarchy yet the prose was still kept in Shakespearean vernacular. However what stuck out for me the most was the great touch of the music selected where it heightened emotion and brought understanding to a piece long before a verbal answer had been given. 

Songs like "Little Star" by Stina Nordenstam was used in the scene where Juliet is sitting in her bed thinking about her first few encounters with Romeo and the costs he comes with to love. The vocalist having a soft baby voice highlighted the moment of Juliet being a young virgin woman on the brink of a young crush and love affair.

Another great song in the film was a song by The Wannadies called "You and me song" which showed the young lovers in the height of their excitement of young love and certainly helped to accelerate and showcase what the two young adults were feeling. 

Possibly one of the most famous scenes from Romeo + Juliet was the first time they met through a wall to floor aquarium Romeo and Juliet Aquarium scene . The scene sees the attraction between them ignite and increase as they stare wondrously at each other, almost as if they were having a muted conversation. The music to this scene was a song by Des'ree (Kissing you) and went on to be one of the more remembered song choices of the movie.

Just these few examples of great song choices showed how one did not need a full orchestra to receive the same effect of wonderfully delightful transparency which makes the audience feels like the songs are "talking to them" and only to them. I feel an almost kinship with the person who was in charge of choosing the songs (if I enjoy them) as one doesn't have to be told through words how to feel. One simply feels and breathes the information, letting your mind wander in and out of the scene almost as if you are referencing it to your own life, thought, wander, feeling. 

Magic.