Music and the Moving Pictures
 
“A film score is the background music in a film, generally specially written for the film and often used to heighten emotions provoked by the imagery on the screen or by the dialogue.”  (Wikepedia)

The composition of film music is one of the essential elements needed in the production of a film. A film score can have a variety of functions: it can define the ethnicity, the location and period of a film. And it also accompanies the action, parallel to it, commenting on the film and adding to scenes, as well as providing emotional focus.

Performed by orchestras most of the time, however, TV and video games and films done with a small budget, often utilize sampling technology to re-create the sound of an orchestra.

Some films use popular music as the primary musical component, but an orchestral score is more often preferred. An orchestral score can be much more closely adapted to a film while popular music is based upon a strong and repetitive rhythm that is inflexible and cannot be easily adapted to a scene. Popular genres of music also tend to date quickly as styles rapidly evolve while orchestral music tends to age much more gracefully. Instead, popular music may be included for special occasions where more attention must be diverted to the music.


The Trailer

Used as film advertisement, film trailers are shown before the screening of another movie at a cinema where the films will be exhibited.

They are commonly known as previews of coming attractions. The term "trailer" comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a film programme. That practice did not last long, because the public often leave the theater after the films finished, but the name stayed. Nowadays, trailers are shown before the film begins.
 
A series of selected shots from the film being advertised, the main purpose of the trailer is to attract the audience to see the film. A trailer is made up of the most exciting, funny, or otherwise noteworthy parts of the film in abbreviated form, and the scenes depicted are not necessarily in the order in which they appear in the film.

Often done while the movie is still being shot, since the edited movie does not exist at this point, the trailer editor works from rushes. The trailer may be created at the agency while the movie itself is being cut together at the studio.

Studios may create trailers in-house or may "farm out" creation to one or more advertising agencies, known as trailer houses. Depending on the amount of influence the filmmakers have with the studio, they may or may not be involved in the creation of the trailer while many, when possible, choose to supervise the process closely.

The producers and editors of a trailer will be given material from the studio to work with, which may include the movie itself (if it has been edited together yet), rushes, and/or computer graphics shots (as they are created during the film editing process).

The trailers that are seen in theaters have been through an extensive process of revisions and approvals by a variety of studio marketing executives.

Trailers tell the story of a movie in a highly condensed, maximally appealing fashion. In the decades since movie marketing has become a large industry, trailers have become highly polished pieces of advertising, able to present even poor movies in an attractive light.

The Trailer Music Industry What it is – how it works

Often called these days as "Back-end music," this type of composition follows a formula that any moviegoer will instantly recognize: A mélange of pop tunes or orchestral music underscores in an often dizzying array of moods. Ranging from happy, sad, frightening, then happy again this piece steadily builds to an overpowering music and sound climax hopefully motivating the audiences NOT TO MISS THIS MOVIE.

But those audiences shouldn't expect to hear the same music once the finished film makes it to the screen.

It was once a tradition to use only songs from a given film in its trailer, but today's schedules and editing styles make that virtually impossible. In the past decade, the balance between preexisting music and "custom" music written specifically for use in trailers has shifted -- now half or more of all back-end music is written specifically for trailers.

In recent years thriving industry has emerged for those willing and able to produce trailer musical cues. Composers who can write rousing, propulsive film music in musical pieces that don't exceed three minutes in duration. Thus, giving space to a new breed of musicians and composers whose companies create and license music specifically for trailers. This demand for custom tracks has opened the opportunity for music production companies to expand their libraries and license those music cues for use in other trailers. It also has allowed them the resources to create general tracks, develop a library of tunes to have on hand and license as needed.

Often asked to re-create the vibe of preexisting music temps tracked into early versions of trailers, music vendors can strike out on their own when creating library material.
 
For many of the creative personnel behind these companies, library tracks are where the real fun lies -- rather than only reproducing a temp track. But, with the demand for custom music going up, so is the pressure to deliver something memorable

One peculiar side effects of the creation of new music for movie trailers is that there is a consumer demand that music vendors hadn't planned on -- and one which there's really no mechanism to satisfy.  Nevertheless, the Internet also is a boon to vendors and their digitally stored libraries because they can do a great deal of their business online.

Threading New Grounds - Digital Music

It is overwhelming to some, but during the past two years the digital music business has seen changes unpredicted by the most savvy musical business gurus. These have been a couple of years of not only extraordinary growth and changes unforeseen, but a period that has experience the dawn, the genesis of a new era in music and its relation towards technology, people’s needs and the new advances in communication.

Data published recently by the (what is )IFPI indicates that during 2005, 420 million single tracks were downloaded, up more than twenty times on two years ago.

That, according to the report on Digital Music, leaves out the entire business of music on mobile phones; a market which is not far behind music downloads in value.

“Together in 2005, these two new distribution channels took record company revenues from digital sales to an estimated $US 1.1 billion globally, tripling in value compared to 2004. And there will be further significant growth in 2006,” says this report.
 
These statistics, again points out this report, ”…only hint at the real underlying value of the digital music revolution which today is making an enormous contribution to the development of the world’s digital economy.”

Just an example of the mind wobbling digits referred to in this study, in 2005 consumers bought over 60 million portable digital music players (worth an estimated $US 9 billion), paid over $US 75 billion in broadband subscriptions. This same group of consumers purchased $US 50 billion worth of mobile data services and Nokia, one of the world’s largest mobile handset manufacturer, sold over 40 million music-capable phones alone.

It can’t be stated in clearer terms: there is a new wave of digital commerce, from mobile to broadband, blowing across the globe.

This new commercial venture is generating billions of dollars in revenues and creating millions of jobs. This new wave is being driven, to a large extent, by music – and by saying that we are referring to those people who create, produce and invest in it.

Digital music, no longer the preserve of a small core of large markets, is spreading internationally. And it is a reflection of the potential growth in consumer demand that even today, less than 5% of European internet users regularly buy music online.

At the same time the industry is helping transform the experience of the music fan. In 2005 the number of legitimate music download sites reached 335, up from 50 two years ago. In just two years the volume of music made available online by record companies has increased more than six-fold to over two million songs.

Yet, key challenges confront the digital music. The industry realizes that it is imperative to protect its product. In an industry dependent on intellectual property, licensing a product is worthless if you cannot also protect it.

Consumer research in the above mentioned report shows that every second person who cut back on illegally file-sharing has done
so out of concern for the legal consequences. The same research raises other important questions. No one underestimates the challenge of persuading a young generation of music fans to pay for music that they have become used to acquiring for free.

Single track downloads in 2005 more than doubled to 420 million, proving to be the most popular online music product. Subscription service users are also growing, up from 1.5 million to 2.8 million in the last year.

Online song catalogues doubled: in 2006 at least two million tracks and 165,000 albums available on the major services.  Digital music expanded rapidly across the world. Globally there are now over 335 legal online music services, up from 50 two years ago. The number of services operating in more than three countries doubled to 20 in the last year.

Music – It’s Final Frontier

The music industry, and those who work and benefit directly and indirectly from it, in general terms the music world as a whole, is changing at an accelerated pace.

Giant leaps that have taken music and projected it towards a fruitful and promising future. Efforts in terms of redefining its captivating nature and pure potential and transform this art form by giving it a digital, technological edge. Taking it to new heights, way past beyond new and unknown frontiers, keeping it in its milieu, yet allowing it to grow and flourish.

A key development for digital music will be to improve the flexibility to play downloads on the range of devices owned by consumers – at home or on the go. Consumers want to access and play music easily through any one of the devices which they own – be that a mobile phone, PC or a ‘home entertainment system’ like an internet-enabled Hi-Fi system or TV, or a games platform such as PlayStation 2 or XBox.

In the physical world, the release of recordings follows a structured cycle with the CD single leading to the CD album and then a DVD video. With new digital channels, however, comes far greater variety and frequency in getting new music to consumers. Many new recordings now have multiple planned release ‘windows’, often starting with a ringtone or exclusive digital track several weeks before the CD single is commercially released. By the time the album is released, its individual songs are available in a multitude of ways.

A typical major record company today has between 300 and 400 separate business partners across online and mobile channels. This has been a highly complex undertaking, with the required digital business infrastructure costing many millions of dollars in investment in new technology and music digitisation.

Online and mobile channels have shaken up traditional music marketing. Today record companies rely on digital channels to promote new and existing artists to their various audiences. There have been many innovations in promoting and selling music.

Mobile music is a fast-growing revenue stream for record companies, accounting for almost half of the $US 1.1 billion revenues made from digital music in 2005.

The sheer size of the mobile market presents the music industry with enormous opportunities, particularly as handsets develop to fully incorporate music. Today there are over 1.5 billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide – a 50% increase since 2002.

Mobile music is rapidly moving beyond just ringtones and master ringtones. With the advent of 3G mobile, download speeds have increased tremendously, allowing a wide range of new music products to be offered such as full track downloads, video streaming, and premium music content.

Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) presents an exciting opportunity but is also one of the greatest challenges confronting the music industry. DAB offers many consumer benefits such as a high quality sound, more stations, additional data services and interference-free reception. DAB services are growing worldwide. Over 475 million people around the world now receive over 800 different DAB services. Likewise, the market for digital receivers is taking off – in the UK, digital receiver sales now exceed analogue.

Satellite radio is also developing fast, particularly in the US. The two companies first operating satellite broadcasting services in the US, XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio, now have 9 million paying subscribers between them – three times as many as online music subscription services in the US. However, digital broadcasters and the recording industry need to work together to ensure that these services do not become an unlicensed source for free downloads.

Quotes

“Picture and track, to a certain degree, have a composition of their own but when combined they form a new entity. Thus the track becomes not only a harmonious complement but an integral inseparable part of the picture as well. Picture and track are so closely fused together that each one functions through the other. There is no separation of I see in the image and I hear on the track. Instead, there is the I feel, I experience, through the grand total of picture and track combined.”
- Caryl Flinn

“Music is not only the most popular consumer product in the industrialized world. It is a key driver of the digital economy.”
-John Kennedy, Chairman & CEO, IFPI

“The biggest development of the year was that given a choice between CD, vinyl or digital, more than 25% (and growing) of consumers chose to buy digital singles in the UK. This creates a huge opportunity for indies that find it difficult to compete for shelf space at physical retail, have limited budgets and have trouble marketing and promoting releases in the traditional music industry.”
-Scott Cohen, Founder & President, The Orchard

“The walkman changed the way people used to listen to music, turning it into a mobile experience. Now we have iPods, portable PCs and millions of mobile phones; all are becoming mobile music players. I love it. My job is about developing artists and making sure they are paid for their music. Mobile music is fantastic as far as exposure is concerned, but I have now to worry about bringing the revenue back home.”
-Michel Lambot, Chairman of IMPALA (Independent Music Companies Association)

A Historical Note

Before the age of sound motion pictures, great effort was taken to provide suitable music for films, usually through the services of an in-house pianist or organist, and, in some case, entire orchestras. Examples of this include Victor Herbert's score in 1915 to Fall of a Nation (a sequel to Birth of a Nation) and Camille Saint-Saëns' music for L'Assassinat du duc de Guise in 1908.

Links:
www.lunaticaproductions.com
www.musicaboricua.com
www.musicofpuertorico.com
www.icpr.gobierno.pr
www.cmpr.edu
www.latinmusic.com
www.prpop.com
www.iprac.aspira.org/iprac_music.htm