Film Music

“By added value I mean the expressive and informative value with which a sound enriches a given image so as to create the definite impression, in the immediate or remembered experience one has of it, that this information or expression ‘naturally’ comes from what is seen and is already contained in the image itself. Added value is what gives the (eminently incorrect) impression that sound is unnecessary, that sound merely duplicates a meaning which in reality it brings about” (Michel Chion, Audio-Vision, 5)

(clip from Stagecoach)

Mickey Mousing (pages 252 and G-5): The exact, calculated dovetailing of music and action that precisely matches the rhythm of the music with the natural rhythms of the objects moving on the screen.

Animated example:

Live-action examples:

Peter-and-the-Wolfing (pages 257 and G-6): Musical scoring in which certain musical instruments or melodies represent and signal the presence of certain characters. Basically synonymous with the term leitmotif (page G-4), the repetition of a single musical theme to announce the reappearance of a certain character.

Another, subtler example (again from Stagecoach):

Generalized score aka implicit score (pages 253 and G-3): A musical score that attempts to capture the overall emotional atmosphere of a sequence and the film as a whole, usually by using rhythmic and emotive variations on only a few recurring motifs.