Music Essay -- Filmmakers, Diegetic Sounds

Music plays a critical role in the narrative films as it is important technique that filmmakers use to support the narrative and influence the way that the viewer interacts, responds and interprets the events as they unfold. The godfather, which is one of all time Hollywood movies, represents a good use of music that succeeded in supporting the dramatic events that take place in the movie. Moreover, both diegetic and non-diegetic music in the godfather movie are used to achieve the overall purpose by using the different principles and functions of film music that range from setting the mood of the viewer to providing continuity within the movie. In this essay, we will take part of the godfather movie in which we can observe and analyse the role of the music in the film (00:30:52- 00:35:52) In the beginning of the clip (0:30:52), as the dissolve take us from the previous scene where ,Mr. Woltz , a wealthy studio head, refused angrily the request of Don Vito Corleone to cast Johnny Fontane in one of his movies, the dissolve take us to the next scene where we see Mr. Woltz's house from outside. As the dissolve takes place, a diegetic sound of night insects are heard and even before the next scene comes up on screen. The diegetic sound of night insects provides continuity between the first and the second scene and carry the viewer across a temporal ellipsis of hours (00:30:49-00:30:53) . Moreover, the night insects sound in the next scene (00:30:53-00:31:00) suggests the approach of night and the calmness in Mr. Woltz's house and that to show the difference between the beginning and the end of the scene (00:30:53-00:31:00). Then, as the shot gets closer to the window of Mr. Woltz's bedroom (00:31:03), a non-diegetic music of th... ...(00:32:50-00:33:18) . Then, the scene goes back to don Corleone as he listens to Tom Hegan talks about Sollozo. Suddenly, Don Corleons asks Tom Hegan about Sollozo's prison record and then non-diegetic music runs focusing our attention on the interesting discussion they have about Sollozo and the decision they should make regarding co-operating with Sollozo.(0:33:19-00:34:11) In conclusion, music role in the selected clip from the godfather represents a great use of both diegetic sounds and non-diegetic music that help the viewer of the narrative film to illustrate and interpret the dramatic events as they unfold. Moreover, Setting the mood, providing continuity between scenes and intensifying rhythm and pacing were the principle functions of film music that were used in the selected clip to achieve the overall goal of the use of music in the scenes. .