Understanding Music for film and tv

The piece of music that is being played in 'The Dark Knight Rises' is non-diegetic music from the film's official soundtrack. Non-Diegetic music is music being played during the film, whereas diegetic music is music being played in the background, also the characters can hear it as well. The instruments being used in this film creates a lot of atmosphere, shock and awe, build up and action for the film and audience.


The film 'Despicable Me' contains some diegetic music. You can notice this because the characters can hear the music playing, also the small robots, the minion and doctor Nefario are dancing to the music. The music starts from 0:10 and finishes just before 0:35.


Wild tracks are usually used in documentaries about animals and wildlife. This piece of music defines what wildlife is what kind of atmosphere it creates for the audience. When shows like this are being recorded the sounds of the animals are real. This means the recording of the show could be recorded close up to the animals with a narrator in the background. Ambient background sound is recorded separately.


Foley sounds are used to make the action realistic e.g. Punching a punch bag can be a foley sound for a person punching another person in the face. In this youtube video it shows a guy performing the foley sounds for the 1962 film 'The Brain That Wouldn't Die'. Foley sounds can sometimes be out of sync e.g. if the foley sound performer punches the punch bag before the person in the film is about it hit another person that means it is out of sync.



A temp track is a piece of score music that sounds similar to the original score of a film or tv show. Sometimes the temp track is usually replaced with the original soundtrack for the film or tv show if the director of the film is not satisfied with it. This action usually takes place during the editing of the film/tv show. Here is a temp track for the tv show 'family guy'.