Film music
Film music is music composed or adapted to accompany motion pictures. It includes original scores, songs, and pre-existing music selected for a film.
Film score: Original instrumental or vocal music written or assembled to accompany a film. The score is the main form of music composed specifically for a film.
Silent film: A motion picture presented without synchronized recorded dialogue, common before sound films became widespread. Live and compiled music accompanied silent films before synchronized soundtracks.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: An Austrian composer whose Hollywood adventure scores brought late-Romantic orchestral style to film. Korngold’s lush orchestral writing became a model for many Hollywood scores.
Source music: Music presented as originating within a film’s story world, such as a song playing on a radio. Source music makes songs and performances part of the film’s depicted world.
Sound design: The creation and arrangement of sound elements for a film, game, or other media work. Sound design shapes a film’s audio beyond its musical elements.
Leitmotif: A recurring musical theme associated with a character, place, idea, or dramatic situation. Recurring themes let a score connect characters and ideas across scenes.
The Jazz Singer: A 1927 American musical film featuring synchronized singing and spoken dialogue sequences. Its success helped accelerate the transition to sound films and synchronized music.
Bernard Herrmann: An American composer known for innovative, closely integrated scores for films including Psycho and Vertigo. Herrmann used unusual ensembles and precise musical choices to intensify suspense.
Film soundtrack: The complete audio track of a film, including dialogue, music, and sound effects. Film music is one component of the broader soundtrack.
Silent cinema: Cinema made before synchronized dialogue became standard, often accompanied by live music. Silent cinema relied on accompaniment without a synchronized recorded score.