Have you noticed how some of the most iconic moments in cinema history
use Music?
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There's some filmmakers who are content with cues everyone expects,
like hard-rock over an intense action scene.
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Or haunting drowns over suspenseful moments.
But instead the scenes that really stick with us
are when directors take chances.
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And if there's any filmmaker who understands this,
it's Quentin Tarantino.
"- I know how good it is."
And he's accomplish this by making subversive music choices
that defy expectations.
"- It's a big part of the fun of modern movies
is to have modern pop songs in your films
and you kind of cut the scenes to them."
So today, let's look at how Quentin Tarantino approaches music.
And why so many of his decisions really shouldn't work,
but they somehow do.
"- Let's go."
♪ Directing Styles - Intro ♪
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The most obvious way Tarantino uses music
is by choosing songs that go against the grain.
He'll play a David Bowie song over a moment like this.
♪ See these eyes so red ♪
♪ Red like jungle burning night ♪
Or Tupac and James Brown mashup in a western.
♪ Am I wrong, 'cause I wanna get it on, till I die ♪
♪ Get it on, till I die, get it on, till I die ♪
♪ Y'all, y'all remember me? I like the way you die ♪
Tarantino takes music in movies very seriously.
To better understand how this scene is constructed,
we imported the screenplay into StudioBinder.
The choices he makes are undoubtedly intentional.
So much so that he often writes them directly into his scripts.
And a classic case of this
is this scene from "Reservoir Dogs".
♪ Stuck In The Middle With You - Stealers Wheel ♪
"- I can't tell you
where I got the idea for "Stuck In The Middle With You".
It was just a natural.
I was mucking around in my bedroom
when I was writing the script,
diving through my record collection
and but... I don't even think I had to look for it,
it just was right there."
♪ Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right ♪
♪ Here I am, stuck in the middle with you ♪
It's one thing to have a dark scene.
It's another thing to cut a man's ear off
while playing this song.
♪ It's so hard to keep this smile from my face ♪
♪ Lose control, yeah, I'm all over the place ♪
The song choice doesn't just amplify Mr. Blonde's cruelty.
It puts you in the twisted headspace of the character.
"- Was that as good for you as it was for me?
Ηey! What's going on? You hear that?"
It was kind of fun.
And funny.
And you find yourself asking if you're just as twisted as Mr. Blond?
Tarantino includes diegetic music
as much as anyone.
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This is music the characters can hear in the world.
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Ever notice how often he has characters listening to music
or singing along?
♪ Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon - Urge Overkill ♪
♪ I love you so much can't, count all the ways ♪
♪ I've died for you girl all they can say is ♪
It speaks to Tarantino's vision as a writer.
He knows exactly what music he wants
even at a script level.
"- I could make a tape that your character would listen to.
♪ The Brothers Johnson - Strawberry Letter 23 ♪
If your character had a little mixtape of music that they liked,
I could make a mixtape that your character would've made."
♪ The Brothers Johnson - Strawberry Letter 23 ♪
And you understand the character a bit more
when you know they listen to "The Delfonics".
"- Who is this?
- The Delfonics."
In doing so it imbues a greater purpose to the song choice.
Because the characters literally interact with it.
♪ Always is always forever, ♪ ♪ as long as one in one ♪
Let's look at this scene.
♪ All is one, all is one, all is one ♪
Girls joyfully singing
while dumpster diving is already unsettling.
♪ Illusion has been just a dream ♪
♪ The valley of death and I'll find you ♪
♪ Now is when on a sunshine beam ♪
Things get even weirder when we consider what they are singing.
♪ Never say never to always ♪
The song is "Always Is Always Forever",
written by none other than Charles Manson.
♪ To seem is to dream a dream, my love ♪
♪ 'cause one is one is one ♪
"- I think we're fascinated by it
because at the end of the day,
it almost seems unfathomable.
How he was able to get these girls
and even these young boys to just submit to him.
And frankly the more you learn about it
and the more information you get in,
and the more concrete it gets
it doesn't make it any clearer,
it actually makes it even more obscure the more you know."
The young girls singing in unison
points to their collective hive mind
and their loyalty to a psychopath.
♪ As long as one is one ♪
♪ Inside yourself ♪ ♪ for your father ♪
♪ All is one, all is one, all is one ♪
If the song had been simply played over the soundtrack,
we wouldn't have gotten the same effect.
So when deciding between diegetic and non-diegetic music,
consider what it means to have a character perform a song,
rather than it just play over a scene.
The difference could mean everything.
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But Tarantino includes non-diegetic music
AKA underscoring, as much as anyone.
"- How I end up doing it my own?
It's a real pretty private thing.
I have a record room in my house
'cause I'm a big vinyl guy.
That's in bins and it's broken down by genres.
And part of my thing when I'm coming up with an idea
is to go through those records
and kind of find the music
or the personality of a given movie.
♪ Battle Without Honor Or Humanity - Tomoyasu Hotei ♪
It's like I'm looking for the spirit and the rhythm
that this movie needs to play it."
♪ Battle Without Honor Or Humanity - Tomoyasu Hotei ♪
When songs are used as underscoring
or non-diegetically,
they typically fade in and out of a scene,
so as not to attract too much attention.
But by now you should know,
that Tarantino likes to break the rules,
so he will abruptly start or end the song.
♪ Battle Without Honor Or Humanity - Tomoyasu Hotei ♪
Just look at the showdown between the Bride and O-Ren Ishii
in 'Kill Bill".
♪ Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - Santa Esmeralda ♪
It's a non-diegetic track,
but Tarantino finds a way to relate it directly into the story.
♪ Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - Santa Esmeralda ♪
The song cutting out is abrupt.
The audience is thrown off guard,
in the same way, the Bride is
from the wound she suffered.
A similar effect is used in "Death Proof".
♪ Hold Tight! - Dave Dee, ♪ ♪ Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich ♪
Tarantino uses musical cuts to signal change in tone or focus.
And it draws our attention to stop Mad Mike's
sinister intentions.
Anticipating something big is about to happen.
"- When you do it right,
and the music and the movie kind of goes
in sync with each other,
for a sequence or so,
it's just kind of like you're flying or you're skating.
And those are always just some of the funniest parts to watch with an audience
because they're really engaged."
It's clear from his filmography that Tarantino loves music,
but in the end his choices create a unique experience.
So when planning your own films,
remember how the music influences our interpretation of the scene.
Don't be afraid to subvert expectations,
but make sure it ties back into your story or character.
Note it in your script breakdown
or pull a Tarantino and write it into your script.
Just make sure you can get the rights first.
In our blog post,
we dive deeper into QT's music
and what we can learn from them.
Also be sure to check out our companion video
on the art of the needle drop.
Both links are in the description.
What are some of your favorite needle drops in film history?
Let us know in the comments.
See you in the next one.
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