Sound technique · used in 14 films
Writing songs for the film that carry story, feeling or payoff. Characters burst into music or a theme song resolves the plot.
Examples
Victor Fleming · 1939
Songs carry Dorothy's feelings and the story's turns. In Over the Rainbow, she sings about a place where troubles melt away, which sets up everything she wants. The studio nearly cut it, but it became the film's best-known moment.
Where to see it: Over the Rainbow. In the Kansas farmyard, Dorothy sings to Toto about a place beyond the rainbow.
Carol Reed · 1968
The songs carry plot and feeling. Where Is Love shows Oliver's loneliness, and Consider Yourself shows him being welcomed. When characters feel something big, they sing it.
Where to see it: Food, Glorious Food. The workhouse orphans sing about food, and Oliver draws the short straw and asks for more.
Martin Scorsese · 1977
Kander and Ebb wrote the title song, and in the story Jimmy turns it into a saxophone hit. By the end it tops the jazz charts. The success is real, but it cannot give him back Francine.
Where to see it: The finale: Jimmy's saxophone version of New York, New York tops the jazz charts as he waits to see Francine.
Robert Altman · 1980
Harry Nilsson wrote the songs, and characters sing what they cannot say any other way. The numbers carry feeling and plot instead of pausing them. The mumbly, offbeat style fits characters who are not great at speeches.
Where to see it: Olive's song: Olive Oyl sings about how much Popeye needs her. It shows her feelings turning toward him.
John Huston · 1982
The film adds 5 songs that were not in the stage show: Dumb Dog, Sandy, Let's Go to the Movies, Sign and We Got Annie. Several stage songs were cut, and Tomorrow was played down. The musical numbers had to serve a film that now includes a real kidnapping.
Where to see it: The rescue on the drawbridge: Annie escapes the kidnappers, and the film's changed story reaches its climax with Rooster chasing her onto a raised bridge.
John Lasseter · 1995
'You've Got a Friend in Me' states the film's main idea before the story has begun. 'Strange Things' describes Woody losing his status as it happens. 'I Will Go Sailing No More' gives Buzz the film's most devastating emotional moment. Newman ends up as a second narrator.
Where to see it: 'Strange Things' playing as Buzz replaces Woody in Andy's affections. The song says what Woody cannot.
Woody Allen · 1996
Ordinary people sing in ordinary places, such as a hospital and a funeral. No one reacts. Allen keeps the camera calm, so the singing feels like a natural response to feeling. Songs such as Makin' Whoopee turn up in places where no musical would normally go.
Where to see it: The funeral. Corpses in the chapel sing and dance to Enjoy Yourself (It's Later than You Think).
Gus Van Sant · 1997
Elliott Smith's songs 'Miss Misery', 'Between the Bars' and 'Angeles' play over Will's inner life. They carry the yearning under his aggression and the grief under his wit. The music says what the characters can't say out loud. Will's intelligence is also a kind of prison, and wanting to escape it is also wanting to be loved.
Where to see it: The closing drive. Will chooses to leave for California. Elliott Smith's music makes the departure feel hopeful and heartbreaking at once.
John Lasseter · 2006
A song written for the film explains the town's story. The lyrics carry the sadness of the place, and you feel it without a line of dialogue.
Where to see it: The song 'Our Town': James Taylor sings as the film cuts between the town in its busy past and its quiet present, with empty shops and fading signs.
Spike Jonze · 2009
Karen O and Carter Burwell wrote the music, and Karen O's songs carry feeling the characters cannot name. The songs sound childlike and rough, like something Max might sing. They fill the gaps that dialogue leaves.
Where to see it: Max's goodbye. The Wild Things see him off, and Carol howls as the boat sails away.
Makoto Shinkai · 2016
Shinkai worked with the band RADWIMPS to write songs for specific moments in the story, so they never sit in the background. 'Zenzenzense' and 'Sparkle' narrate their scenes, and the lyrics tell you things the images and dialogue don't. The music works as a second script.
Where to see it: The comet sequence. RADWIMPS's score carries the emotion in a sequence with barely any dialogue.
Brady Corbet · 2018
Sia wrote the pop songs, and the songs track Celeste's story. Her first hit starts as something she writes with her sister and ends as an engine of fame. The song that began as grief becomes a product.
Where to see it: The writing of "Wrapped Up." Celeste and her sister Eleanor write the song that becomes a hit and sets her career in motion.
Bo Burnham · 2021
Each song pushes the story. They start as sharp jokes about content and the internet, then move to his anxiety and fear. The catchy tunes make the darker lyrics harder to ignore.
Where to see it: Welcome to the Internet. Burnham plays a creepy tour guide who invites the viewer into the online world.
Barry Jenkins · 2024
The songs carry feeling and story, and characters sing when words are not enough. They give the prequel its own musical voice.
Where to see it: The musical numbers: characters use song to show hope and conflict as Mufasa grows.
Questions