I'm trying to interpret the film through the director's head, but it all comes out through me. So, a composer is kind of like a psychic medium.

-Danny Elfman

One of the ways we most readily consume music is when it's married to the moving image. We digest a great deal of music with the additional sensory component, and most often it is visual: television, movies, commercials, youtube videos/tutorials, and in conjunction with choreography and dance. Understanding the complex, flirtatious, mundane, or infuriating union of music and the image in motion can help us gain a greater appreciation for the relationship music has with film.

In this Olio, we'll briefly discuss the beginnings and origins of film scoring and take a look at some classic and contemporary examples from film makers such as Kubrick, Hitchcock, Wells, Spielberg, Deren and others. Regardless of the genre of film, the medium of music for cinema relies on a toolbox of techniques that all film makers use and twist in their own unique ways to help shape their artistic voice.