Is There a Right Way to Critique Film Music?

1M1 6/22/99

by Jason Foster

Welcome to the inaugural column of 1M1. As the weeks go by, I hope to cover various topics of interest to film music lovers and soundtrack fans (which, believe it or not, can actually be two different groups), as well as the usual reviews/comments that are par for the course in columns like these.

So, without further delay -- How do you critique film music?

The question is pretty much straightforward. The answer, however, might be far more complicated than simply yes or no.

Film music is a unique art form, apart from others types of traditional creative expression, because technically we're not really supposed to notice it. While that may be true to a certain extent, we film music fans have trained ourselves to not only notice a composer's contribution to a film, but to also appreciate it, study it, and analyze it do death.

While thinking about it for sometime now and speaking with other fans, I've decided to talk about several possible ways to critique your average film score. Arguments both for and against can be made for all -- and I will try to address some of them. A couple of the ideas are related and may seem a bit redundant, but please bear with me.

The First Impression

Whenever I took a multiple choice test in school, I would always hear that your first instinct for the answer is usually correct. Can this tactic also apply to judging good film music? A good amount of the time in life, our first impression of something will prove to be mostly accurate. With a film score, there can be two types of first impressions: 1) Hearing a score for the first time before seeing the film it was written for. 2) Hearing a score for the first time while watching the film.

Naturally, when we hear a score on CD before we see the film we get just the music. We have nothing to relate the music to, such as characters or visual situations that the music complements. Sometimes scores will be relatively straight-forward as a listening experience -- i.e. obvious emotions and moods we're supposed to recognize. Musically, they can sound like an independent composition that could've been written completely apart from any film. These can be easier to enjoy and appreciate, even without much thought. In other words, you can judge them strictly by their musical strengths. To me, a score like AIR FORCE ONE falls into this category. On the other hand, there are scores that almost require knowledge of complicated characters, intense situations, and any number of other factors that can only be appreciated by viewing the film. There can be musical styles or orchestrations, which may sound strange or improper on their own, but when put against the film, provide tremendous insight into the music and the reasoning behind it. People often cite a film like PLANET OF THE APES where this is the case.

However, there are other cases when our initial exposure to a score is by seeing the film it was written for... and if the wonderful FSD polls are accurate, is the care a large majority of the time. However, there are a number of things that can possibly impede this type of judging. For one, the score could get a bad mix or be heavily edited, causing much of the music not to be heard. A good example of this is John Ottman's score to THE CABLE GUY. When you listen to that score in the film, there are many times where the music is too low to hear it with the various other sound effects. In fact, one might leave that film with the impression that there's only ten minutes or so of score since much of it went unnoticed. But when you listen to Ottman's promo CD, you notice a more complete sounding score. You will find complete versions of pieces that were edited or left out altogether -- something that should pretty much force you to give the score a second chance.

With either one of these first impressions, they may not always prove to be accurate over time. Perhaps a second listen to a CD, a second viewing of a film, or just some good old-fashioned thought about a score and its film can begin to alter our opinion.

A Continual Process

There have been many times over the years when I've heard a score for the first time and thought, "That's good" or "That's bad," only to have my opinion change with repeat listens. Some scores seem to get better with every listen. There are some older scores that I've heard hundreds of times that I'll listen to today and think, "I've never noticed that part before." But there are other times when after a dozen listens of a particular score I'll think, "This is totally ripping off such and such." Many times with the "continual process" aspect, an opinion can be swayed greatly by an increased knowledge of film music in general, or at least knowing more about a particular genre (i.e.-knowing about the most influential scores and/or styles).

The Score In and Out of the Film

When assigning a label of "good" or "bad" to a given score, you must first decide how you are judging the score. Are you making your decision based on how the music worked in the film? Or, are you making the decision based on how it holds up as a listening experience? There are many people who would strongly argue that a score's quality should be based simply on how it enhances a film and not how it holds up as an album. Others would argue that in order for them to label a score as "good" it must meet both requirements. Which one is right? Is either one right? Are they both right? Those are just a few of the questions that could be brought up in this discussion and there really isn't a clear answer to any of them. An example of a recent score which was inundated with such discussion was James Horner's TITANIC. Some were simply taken in by the music on its own, finding that Horner's approach of using the non-traditional Enya-esque synth material combined with the ethnic elements created an interesting listening experience. Others said that the music did indeed work, and that the thought behind it was well-intentioned -- but the CD isn't something they'd want to sit down and listen to apart from the film. However, if someone asked the second group whether TITANIC is a good score, should they say it is because it works? Or should they say it isn't because they don't think it makes a good CD?

Sentimentality

This is a factor that is almost never discussed when critiquing film music, but I think it's something that happens frequently. Suppose a certain score reminds us of a specific good or bad time in our life -- childhood, a first date, high school graduation, the death of someone close to us, etc. We often hear these listed as reasons why people are sentimentally attached to popular songs. So, can it apply to film music?

Two scores that pop into my mind when thinking about this argument are RUDY (Goldsmith) and GETTYSBURG (Edelman), two of my favorite scores of the 1990s. Sometimes I honestly don't know if I like the scores because they're good musically, or for sentimental reasons. But whatever it is, I really like them. Both of these scores have a good number of fans, as well as detractors, and I'm well aware of the arguments against both scores -- I even agree with some of them. However, nobody will ever be able to convince me that either one is a bad score. I have to wonder whether I would feel the same way if these scores had come out recently -- as opposed to six years ago, the era of my said sentimentality. Of course, the argument can be made that liking something because of sentimental reasons doesn't necessarily mean it's good. Case in point: I have a friend who looks fondly on the film METEOR MAN because he saw it on a first date. Is this a valid way to judge? Just something to consider.

Well, I realize that some of this may have just seemed like redundant rambling, but if you've gotten this far, I thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts on this subject. I doubt there will ever be a definite answer on how to properly critique film music, which kind of makes me think that this whole article is pointless. Not to mention the fact that it really all goes back to people's personal preference. Nevertheless, it's still something to think about.

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