Talking pictures : how they are made and how to appreciate them (1937)

Music in Pictures Because silent picture scoring was comparatively easy, some orchestra leaders grew careless. They used the same musical numbers over and over to get the same effects. One piece, "Hearts and Flowers," was so overworked in the early days that it brought a laugh each time it was played under a scene of pathos. Today it would be exceptional for a musical director to use it under a pathetic scene. Its intent is too obvious. Two types of scoring remain unchanged from the days of the silent picture. The first concerns the scoring under introductory and credit titles before the picture starts; the second, scoring for those moments between the time the words "The End" flash on the screen and the next film attraction begins. The first is important because it sets the emotional tempo of the coming picture during an actionless, but unavoidable, moment between the first words of the main title and the first frames of the first pictured scene. Obviously a number to be chosen for use under the main titles of a Marx Brothers comedy could not be used for Camille. Tragedy, comedy, romance all have their musical counterparts. The genius of a studio musical director lies in his ability to select just the right number for a specific scene. Orchestra leaders, librarians, arrangers, orchestraters, and copyists are among the musical technicians needed for the preparations of the musical score of a picture. Dramatic underscoring is done with a full orchestra and with vocal choruses as required. The scoring occurs on a darkened stage. When the music is ready for recording, the music and the sound departments join forces. [in]