Music is an essential part of the storytelling process in most modern films. The argument that has been coming up around me a fair amount is the argument for or against using pop music in scoring. This rubs a ton of people the wrong way and I’ve heard at least a handful of times that pop music will be the end of scoring as we know it.
I’m not a fortune teller or a seer, so I guess it’s always a possibility that pop music will “take over,” but I think it is extremely unlikely that this will occur. I just don’t see dismissing an entire method of composing because there is a different style of scoring available. Even modern films like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close use a classic hollywood score to facilitate the storytelling and feel of the movie. Classic hollywood scores are extremely popular in fantasy movies like the Harry Potter series as well as the Lord of the Rings series.
When you think of a music score, you think of using it to tell a story. In many stories that take place in a far away land it makes sense that a viewer wouldn’t recognize the music in the setting. Music that sounds foreign to the viewer can enhance that “faraway land” feel, but if you’re taking the viewer to more modern times they will already have associations and expectations about what they will see in the story. It could be disorienting to hear a new car blasting disco music in a film that takes place in 2015 for instance, or to have techno music playing in a movie that takes place in the 50s. The viewer already knows what to expect from these time periods.
This is also true on a smaller scale. If a viewer is being sold insurance in a very serious commercial but the music playing in the background makes them reminiscent of a circus, that viewer will have a hard time taking that commercial, and the insurance company seriously.
The truth of the matter is that many people equate a film score with classical music. This is not always the case, nor should it always be the case. In the case of The Social Network, the fact that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross used electronic music in the scoring doesn’t negate the fact that it is a score.
While it may sometimes seem all new movies are using pop music, it’s just not the case. The mix of both pop music and classic scores gives filmmakers more options during the creative process. The whole point of using music as a tool in film is to enhance the storytelling and the mood. Whatever your preference, be it classic hollywood score or compilation score, there is no need to worry about it going away. Both formats are here to stay, use them to your advantage.