Music in Film/Novikof Soundtrack and Score

Because I will have a soundtrack throughout the movie (and a score in the opening scene), I need to be able to choose the music that best fits the mood, pace, location, meaning etc. of the scene for which the song is playing. I will research different types of music in film and how each affects these aspects, so that I can affect the audience in the way I intend. 

When I was watching The Hunt for Red October, I listened to the score. Often there were the Soviet and socialist national anthems, using the music to further the setting and drive the Russian morale, ironic as the plan of the command for the Russian ship was to defect from Russia. There was also drones with beats, which added a tone of suspense. I will be having a similar beated score for the opening of Novikof. 

(Content and quotes from research: How Film Scores Play with Our Brains:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCpYbSz1KqE&list=PLooPCZA6h5vD1zd99SzpICc9NYM2pckAN&index=2&t=174s)

A film score is written specifically for what's happening on the screen, whereas a soundtrack contains music written independently and not specifically for the movie. Most movies have both. In early film, a piano player played music to the film being shown in realtime, and used music to further tell the story (for example, when the villain is on screen: a diminished minor chord, heroes: uplifting anthems, chase scenes: fast tempos, sad scenes: slow and somber). These early rules set the conventions for more modern films. Psycho's famous soundtrack uses nonlinear alarm sounds that instinctively unnerve and distress humans. In Jaws, the music builds anticipation before any danger is shown on screen. 

Aaron Copland, a famous film score maker, theorized that scores serve the screen in five ways: 

1. to create a more convincing atmosphere of time or place (many locations and times have their own conventional music, for example, western music for western movies)

2. to underline psychological refinements (unspoken thoughts or unseen dangers)

3. to build a sense of continuity (if the music between shots or scenes is the same, they are related to each other) (such as in montages or flashbacks)

4. to give a sense of finality (usually taking place at the end of the film or after a trial, psychologically linking the triumph to the scene on screen)

5. to fill silence (noted as the hardest film score to do because the audience shouldn't notice it)

Sometimes films used no music at all and that conveys message and tone better. 

How I am going to apply this:

The score I have chosen for the opening scene of Novikof has a driving beat, which is menacing and has elements of a chase scene and urgency. It also sounds a bit rock-like, which conveys the time of the 1980s. When the music picks up and the beat is a lot louder the scene gets more intense. I have mixed the soundtrack to get these louder parts where I want them during the scene and to add a no music part in the middle so the audience will focus on Novikof's breathing, pulling them in. The music sounds similar to music I have heard during intense political thrillers and action dramas, so it does fall along conventional lines. It also underlines the psychological refinements of danger and urgency behind Novikof's stress and run to the book and out of the library through crowds, an elevator, and down stairs. 

I made sure the music did not give a sense of finality, as it is the opening scene. The music does, however, add continuity, as some of my shots take place in the South Florida Bible College library and some are in the Alvin Sherman library, so the music links the two locations for the audience. 

Soundtrack to Novikof: (My Playlist on YouTube)

Grunge x Alternative Rock Type Beat - Benzin (prod. Erlax)

Coyote - Mako

Fooling Yourself - Styx

Everything She Wants (Instrumental) - Wham!

It's My Life (Instrumental) - Talk Talk

99 Red Balloons - Nena 

Протон 4 – Опережая Время

Артек Электроника – Шагая Сквозь Эпоху)

Little Lies by Fleetwood Mac

Гербарий – Синхронность Волн

Send Me an Angel - Real Life

Telephone Line (Partly Instrumental) - Electric Light Orchestra