Narratological Perspectives
on Film Music
To what degree does film music
shape our perception of a
narrative?
Consider . . .
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Music is heard, not seen
Film largely is seen, not heard
The film medium requires us to focus on the
narrative and visual realities on screen
Film music cannot be judged as one would judge
“pure” music
The narrative context—the interrelations
between music and the rest of the film’s
systems—determines the effectiveness of a
movie’s score
Music as Meaning
organizes discourse on 3 levels:

As pure musical code
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As cultural musical code
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As cinematic musical code
“Pure” music v. Film Narrative
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Inherent tension
 Film
discourse is representational, naturalistic,
and rhythmically irregular
 Music
discourse is nonrepresentational, lyrical,
and rhythmically regular
Music/Scene relationship
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Parallelism/counterpoint: music either
resembles or contradicts the scene. This
view assumes that the image is
autonomous
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Mutual implication: whatever music is
chosen will have some effect on the scene
Silence
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Types
 Diegetic
musical silence
 Nondiegetic
 Structural
musical silence
silence