1.1 Film Music

Music in film began with the first silent movies, and its use as an accompaniment to the visuals was born out of necessity. The film projector was noisy, the images on the screen were ghostly and unreal, and the audiences were fidgety and uncomfortable. So music served a varied purpose: to hide the sound of the projector, to give a tangible presence to images on screen, and to soothe the audience (Bazelon, 1975; Darby and DuBois, 1990; Frith, 1986; Gorbman, 1998; Lack, 1997).

At first the music was provided by a pianist who improvised as the scenes changed. Then accompanying music became more sophisticated, and conventions were set for appropriate types of music to play for specific scene types and emotions. Eventually the pianist made way for an orchestra, and the orchestral underscore was born. (Bazelon, 1975; Darby and DuBois, 1990). The next logical progression was for films to include an original popular song, as a catchy theme for the credits, and progressing to films with a soundtrack consisting entirely of pre-existing popular songs (Brand, 1998; Romney and Wootton, 1995).

Rea and Irving (1995) list seven functions of music in a film (see Appendix 2) from the point of view of the director. According to many film music composers, theorists and critics, music in films serves the following functions:

• To enhance an emotional response from the audience. (Burt, 1994; Gorbman, 1987; Kassabian, 2001; Thomas, 1997)
• To aid in the reading of a scene, especially where the message may be ambiguous. (Cohen, 2000; Gorbman, 1987; Gorbman, 1998; Kassabian, 2001; Levinson, 1996; Smith, 1996)
• To add authenticity of time and place. (Burt, 1994; Frith, 1986; Kassabian, 2001; Smith, 1996)
• To serve as a commentary on the action. (Burt, 1994; Kassabian, 2001; Whitaker, 1970)
• To smooth over edits and other such film techniques (like camera angles and metadiegetic techniques). (Burt, 1994; Gorbman, 1987; Gorbman, 1998; Monaco, 2000; Smith, 1996; Thomas, 1997)
• Music can add to the spatial presence, solidity and reality of an object (Gorbman, 1987; Kassabian, 2001; Whitaker, 1970).
• Music can establish the presence of a character or concept in a scene even where the character or concept isn't visible or is obscured (through leitmotif and theme). (Brand, 1998; Burt, 1994; Gorbman, 1987; Kassabian, 2001; London, 2000; Whitaker, 1970)

These are not the only functions mentioned within the literature on film music; however, these appeared to be the major functions, usually mentioned (often indirectly) by many authors. Audiation as a type of film music would enhance emotional response, aid in the reading of a scene (where a character's thoughts/feelings are unclear or need to be reinforced), serve as a commentary on the action from the character's point of view, and can establish the presence of something/someone which isn't visible through theme songs and character association.

Currently, there are two major terms for music used in films, diegetic and non-diegetic. Diegetic music refers to music that has an obvious source in the movie, and seems to belong to the world of the movie, or the diegesis. An example of this would be a character singing, or a radio playing. Non-diegetic music is music that exists outside of the movie's diegesis, which has no logical reason for being in the scene. Most original score music is non-diegetic.

There is a problem, acknowledged by several film music theorists, with this diegetic/non-diegetic duality (Frith, 1986; Gorbman, 1987; Kassabian, 2001; Levinson, 1996). Music is often used as a bridging device between scenes that show a change in time and/or place. Initially the music is diegetic in the first scene but carries over into the next scene, where it becomes non-diegetic. There are also scenes where it is impossible to determine if the music is diegetic or non-diegetic. Levinson (1996) has used the term "quasi-diegetic" to describe this in-between film music. Gorbman (1987) introduced the term metadiegetic. She also mentions metadiegetic music, where the character "'takes over' part of the film's narration and we are privileged to read his musical thoughts." (Gorbman, 1987, 23) Metadiegetic music is the character's audiation. To take this one step further, the character creates a metadiegesis, the character's own reality within the diegesis (the world of the film), which includes metadiegetic scenes and metadiegetic music.

Simon Frith (1986) has succinctly voiced the problem addressed by this thesis. He says:

Does the audience hear the music that the character is hearing in his/her mind? A precedent has been set by interior monologue. If the audience can hear what a character is thinking, why not allow them to hear what the character is audiating?

Terminology has changed; previously, diegetic was source music, and non-diegetic was background music (Atkins, 1983; Huntley, 1972; Bazelon, 1975). Music that was diegetic/non-diegetic was called source scoring. For the purposes of this study, any music that cannot be confidently placed in the diegetic/non-diegetic pigeonhole will be classified as "quasi-diegetic" (Levinson, 1996).

The two films, A Clockwork Orange and 10 Things I Hate About You, were chosen as case studies to investigate audiation in film. A plot synopsis and list of music and characters have been provided for each, but due to the lack of literature, 10 Things I Hate About You will not include a review of the literature.