ABSTRACT
The eight analyses in Section 5 highlight movie music moments in which original or theme songs play an important role. Original songs have long been used in Hollywood feature films, even when they are not musicals, and these songs specially written for a film can serve a range of purposes. Perhaps most importantly, from an artistic and storytelling perspective, original songs have a key advantage over licensed existing songs in that they are tailor-made for the film at hand, offering a uniquely powerful emotional hook, providing added experiential value, and facilitating audience bonding. Whereas songs previously released may tap into the audience’s familiarity and prior associations, bespoke songs may be better integrated into the score as a musical theme throughout the film, thus becoming an effective narrative tool. The tone of the song, style of production, and the lyrics can be inspired by and designed to serve the film. Original film songs are often elevated to special status as so-called theme songs which might play on the radio, sometimes weeks before a film is released, building up anticipation and helping attract audiences to the cinema.
