Chapter 3 Sound and Image 971980s. Notable fi lmmakers who creatively employed popular songs include
Mike Nichols in his groundbreaking fi lm Th e Graduate, George Lucas with
American Grafi tti (1973), and Martin Scorcese, who demonstrated integral
use of songs to enhance such fi lms as Mean Streets (1973) and Goodfellas
(1990), although he has also worked with composers as he did with Bernard
Herrmann for Taxi Driver (1976).
Previously recorded instrumental music has also been a soundtrack source
for many motion pictures. In fact, many production studios have managed
and drawn from libraries of music recorded by individuals, ensembles, and
orchestras for use in various projects, including television series. In feature
fi lms, many types of music are used, from jazz to electronic to classical music
as in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
When fi lmmakers started using popular songs in their fi lms, they were
oft en driven by choices infl uenced by an artistic desire to refl ect and illustrate
the culture of the times and its full social and popular contexts. However,
there is a relative ease to selecting songs for a fi lm, so such a choice could
quickly become limiting and lazy. Th us, it is important to weigh the use and
reasons for using songs and instrumental themes from available sources.
In addition, producers must consider the legal aspect of using prerecorded
music. It is necessary to get permission from the publisher of the music and
the copyright holder to the recording, which typically involves payment.
In the twenty-fi rst century, some of the most active and fertile sources
of interaction between moving images and music are found on the Internet.
While the recording industry has struggled with consumers’ access to music
downloading, artists have used web portals to reach their audiences through
music and spoken addresses oft en linked to moving images. Also, music
linked to streaming video has been a source of both new media experiences
and fresh twists on old forms like the movie musical, as seen in Dr. Horrible’sFigure 3-16 Scene from
the contemporary musical
Dreamgirls, with Jennifer
Hudson, Beyonce Knowles,
and Anika Noni Rose,
directed by Bill Condon.
(Courtesy DreamWorks SKG/
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