ABSTRACT
The appearance of sound cinema brought about an essential change in the interrelation between screen action and music which had existed off-frame in the silent film. In a sound picture, music was introduced into the artistic structure of the film; moreover, it had become a competent element of screen synthesis, with the following demarcation between its off-frame and onframe functions, as well as the ways of its presentation. As a rule, the off-frame music (expressing the director's standpoint in treating the subject) served as generalization and 'worked' for the idea of the film, governing the processes of perception and evoking a certain emotional response from the audience to the actions and conduct of the characters. The on-frame music (documentary — realistic) was meant to specify the place and time of screen events, and to reveal the social status of the characters and their ideological world-outlook.
