HOW CLASSICAL MUSIC CAN ENHANCE YOUR PROJECT

The Apocalypse Now helicopter attack. The Apprentice’s theme tune. The Hovis ad directed by Sir Ridley Scott. When you think of your favourite films, TV shows and ads, we’re willing to bet that a high proportion of them feature classical music on their soundtracks. Moving pictures and classical music go together like, well, bread and butter. But why?

Dive in as we explore some of the inspiring ways in which creatives use classical music in media projects, from the small screen to IMAX, to captivate audiences and produce iconic moments, bring the drama and heighten our emotions.

Setting the Mood

Did you know that not only can Beethoven, Vivaldi or Mozart’s musical stylings transport you to a different time and place, but they can also boost memory and aid relaxation?

Classical music’s calming effect releases dopamine to spike pleasure – which also prevents the release of stress hormones, improving your mood. A 2018 study on the effects of different types of music on patients’ pre-operative anxiety shows that classical music can cause the heart rate and breathing to slow and also decreases emotional distress.

So, there are proven technical reasons for using classical music in film, TV and ads, if you’re looking to score something designed to have a calming effect on your audience.

However, classical music has also been used throughout cinematic history to suggest the darker side; you only have to think of Hannibal Lecter (played by Anthony Hopkins) pursuing his grisly pleasures accompanied by Bach’s ‘Goldberg Variations’, or the ultra-violence in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange against the backdrop of Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’.

In Philadelphia, ‘La Mamma Morta’, a rapturous aria, signified heroism, whilst The Pianist used Chopin’s Nocturne No. 20 and Ballade No. 1 to show the personal effect of classical music in the story of a Polish Jewish musician struggling to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto in World War II.

A full orchestra can be a fantastic shortcut to bringing on a rush of emotions – especially if it’s an epic piece that really builds, such as the ‘Lacrimosa’ from Mozart’s Requiem, which is used underneath the tragic sequence where the composer is buried in a pauper’s grave in the rain in Amadeus.

Camera angles, lighting, costume, sets and dialogue can create whole universes of emotion and atmosphere, but classical music can either get your audience there faster, or intensify suspense, romance, action or horror.

This explainer demonstrates how a classical music staple, the Dies Irae, or ‘Day of Wrath’ has been used for decades in movie soundtracks to generate a sense of dread:

When it’s been used everywhere from Star Wars to The Lion King, The Fellowship of the Ring to Game of Thrones and The Good Place, classical music’s effectiveness when it comes to creating a mood is clear.

Emotional Impact

Classical music can have a profound emotional impact and resonate deeply with viewers. Whether major (happy) or minor (sad), full of harmonies and dynamic shifts or intricate melodies, there’s a classical piece to fit whatever mood a director wants to make you feel.

A complex piece is often associated with feelings such as awe, astonishment or terror. Its musical elements may involve intense conflict or turbulence, or alternatively conjure up transcendence or otherworldliness.

Schubert’s String Quartet No. 13 was used in Avengers Assemble, for example, to bring in ominous undertones as the otherworldly Loki creeps into a Stuttgart museum – and as his attack begins, the quartet explodes into action.

Many directors also use classical music to create jarring juxtapositions and unnerving emotional responses – Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange being perhaps the most obvious. Any kind of dissonance between music and action has the power to make the scene more poignant, emotional or terrifying.

Plus, of course, classical music can be used to create both emotion and a plot point – as in Pretty Woman, when Richard Gere’s character, Edward, takes Vivian (Julia Roberts) to the opera – La Traviata - whose plot mimics her own.

Classical Music in Films

By the 19th century, it was common to have incidental music for stage plays, such as Schubert’s Rosamunde, Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and Grieg’s music for Ibsen’s Peer Gynt.

So it was inevitable that when silent films began to appear, they’d be accompanied by specially-composed music. Not only did it help to set the mood of a scene and punctuate important moments, but it served the practical purpose of masking the noise of the projector…

The first score specifically written for a film was by Camille Saint-Saens in 1908 (L’assassinat du Duc de Guise), a historical drama. Erik Satie was the first to devise a method of synchronising his music to create a frame-by-frame film score in 1924.

Obviously, both cinema and soundtracks have evolved hugely during the following century, and classical music has always played an influential role in filmmaking.

Classical compositions have been skillfully incorporated into films to enhance the narrative, evoke emotions and create some truly unforgettable cinematic moments, leaving a lasting impression on audiences.

The Shawshank Redemption

In one of the most memorable scenes from The Shawshank Redemption, Mozart is used as a demonstration of rebellion and freedom. Prisoner Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) locks himself in the warden’s office and plays ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ throughout the whole prison, bringing everyone to a standstill.

Morgan Freeman’s Red, in a voiceover, encapsulates the emotion they feel because of this unexpected beauty: ‘I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can’t be expressed in words and it makes your heart ache because of it… For the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.’

The Mozart piece gives the scene a timeless quality – and it’s one of the composer’s most-used in movies and TV. Willy Wonka played the opening to it to unlock his famous chocolate factory doors; King George VI (Colin Firth) is challenged to recite Hamlet whilst listening to the famous overture so loudly that he can’t hear his own stammer in The King’s Speech:

Demonstrating classical music’s endless versatility, the overture’s been used in comedy – Wedding Crashers, Runaway Bride and Trading Places – and in Zombieland, the music swells as survivors of a zombie apocalypse smash up the contents of a grocery shop.

Classical Music in TV Shows

Bridgerton

Of course, there are series where you’d expect to hear classical music, but where it’s been used to subvert our expectations. Netflix’s global smashes Bridgerton and Queen Charlotte are set in the Regency period. Yes, there’s a cinematic, period-appropriate orchestral score by Kris Bowers, but for many of the romantic ball scenes, as Netflix cheekily tweeted, ‘you’re gonna hear a few ye olde bops’. Ie, string versions of classic pop tracks such as Ariana Grande’s ‘Thank U, Next’, Nirvana’s ‘Stay Away’, ‘Wildest Dreams’ by Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish’s ‘Bad Guy’ and Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’.

The Bridgerton universe’s playful use of music performed by the Vitamin String Quartet and Duomo shows the potential impact of classical music in TV shows: music supervisors can use it to introduce new, young fans to the genre in innovative ways.

Classical Music in Advertisements

Alton Towers

Theme park Alton Towers have adopted Grieg’s ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ from Peer Gynt as their theme tune and have used it in a variety of ways in their ads; it’s also used around the park itself. The piece starts off relatively slow and low, with a sinister edge, mirroring the feel of a rollercoaster’s upward trajectory. The building speed, with its hectic pizzicato, bringing parts of the orchestra with it like a tornado, is particularly suited to rollercoasters’ highs, lows and loops. Plus, it ends with a satisfying bang which is great for punctuating an ad.

Alton Towers’ ‘Smiler’, showcasing the world’s first 14-loop rollercoaster, used the track to great effect:

Alton Towers also uses it as a subtle backdrop for its more general branded ads, demonstrating the versatility of a great piece of classical music.

Classical Music in Cartoons

Spongebob Squarepants

Spongebob Squarepants combines contemporary themes, with surrealist characters and settings and old-fashioned cartoon humour. In the ‘Jellyfishing Plankton’ episode, Patrick takes a damaged Squidward out “jellyfishing” for the day. Spongebob sings along to Johann Strauss II’s ‘Blue Danube Waltz’; the romantic classical piece is whimsical and amusing, inviting you to join the eccentric characters.

Find Classical Music for Your Project

So, you can see how much classical music can enhance your project, adding depth, emotion, and resonance to films, TV and commercials, making them more impactful and memorable.

Looking for classical music? Audio Network is home to a huge catalogue of the very best for you to license. Our Classical Collection, arranged and recorded by world-class musicians at the legendary Abbey Road Studios and focusing on the kind of production values found in contemporary film scores, is the ultimate resource.

From delicate chamber orchestras to the romantic and tragic, dramatic and passionate to humorous, you’ll find the perfect classical piece for any project, saving you tons of time when it comes to music selection.