Response to Abby

Abby asked," Is it is preferable to have music or no music during a crucial scene in a film?  Is it better for the music to be internal or external to the film?"  I personally feel that the music is the most interesting part of a film.  As Abby pointed out, the soundtrack of a movie can reinforce feelings of fear, love, sadness, etc.  It makes a scene more emotional or intense.  But why?  In real life, intense or emotional moments are not often accompanied by a mood appropriate song.  In fact, that would seem silly to us and probably ruin the mood.  So why do we accept this in movies?  Because movies are not often trying to portray real life.  Filmmaking is an art, not an imitation of life.  Filmmakers are trying to manipulate our senses to make us feel a certain emotion.  

Like Abby pointed out, the absence of music can be even more effective then a great soundtrack.  In a scary scene, music can help build suspense, but it can also remind you that this is a polished work of art, not real life.  If you watch the scene without music, it becomes more real.  Similarly, I think a really emotional scene can be even more emotional without music.  Music in film is sometimes used to distract the audience from bad acting.  If the acting is well done than music might just be getting in the way of the emotion in the scene.  I'm not saying that I don't think movies should have music in them.  Some of my favorite songs come from movie soundtracks/scores.  However, if the filmmaker is trying to achieve a realistic portrayal of life, than I think it can be very effective to not use music.

Abby also mentioned that sometimes, music unrelated to the scene can be used to enhance the emotion of the scene.  I love it when they do this in movies.  One of my favorite scenes from any movie is the library scene from the movie Se7en.  In this scene, a detective played by Morgan Freeman is researching the seven deadly sins and Brad Pitt's character (also a detective), is reviewing pictures and evidence of a gruesome murder scene.  The visuals in this scene are gory and disgusting, but the song "Air On the G String" by August WIllhelmj (it is an adaption of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Air") is playing.  It is such a beautiful, calm song; you wouldn't expect to find it in a scene like this.  However, I think it works so well.  We are visually seeing one emotion and hearing another.  The two opposite emotions compliment and reinforce each other.  You can watch the scene here if you're interested.  

So to answer Abby's question, whether the movie should have music depends on what the director is trying to achieve.  If you are trying to create a work of art that manipulates the viewer's emotions, then yes, music can enhance the film tremendously.  However, if you are going for realism, then sometimes leaving music out can also be beneficial.

Question:  Music is used to enhance the emotion of a scene in a movie, but do you think that music can enhance real life situations?  For example, does sad music at a funeral make you more sad, or is it just background noise?