Writing's On The Wall: Music Analysis

The movie I chose to watch for this assignment was Spectre, the newest in the James Bond franchise. I saw it over the Thanksgiving holiday with my siblings. I am not a big James Bond fan, but the movie did keep me on my toes. One element of the movie that peeked my interest was the sound score. I also found chapter nine, which was about sound, really fascinating. Part of the reason I liked the chapter was because I never realized how sound played such an instrumental part in telling the story, maybe even more so than the image. The first thing that caught my eye and not in a good way in Spectre was the opening credits with the weird octopus wrapping its tentacles around naked women. Hearing Sam Smith singing in the background of this ridiculous scene, however, was a pleasant surprise. I later found out that the song, “Writing’s On The Wall,” was specifically written for the James Bond movie. Chapter nine specifically talks about how music affects a film. “Like other types of sound, music can be intrinsic, helping to tell the story, whether it pertains to plot, action, character, or mood; indeed, music plays an indispensable role in many movies” (p. 404). Music can help set

For example, in the suspenseful helicopter fight scene, the sound editors had a hard time finding the right sound effects. When the director heard the first recording, he thought the helicopter sounded too big, meaning too safe. Then after hearing the second recording, he felt like it was too scary. So the sound editors changed it once more. This constant revision is a prime example of how important sound is in conveying a scene. Sound can completely change the mood and how the scene works. A job well done for a sound editor is for the audience to not even notice the sound effects. The effects are implemented so well that the audience does not think about how those sounds were artificially added in a