I’ve been reading Unheard Melodies by Claudia Gorbman, in particular chapter 4 Classical Hollywood Practice: The Model of Max Steiner. The most useful section I found was a detailed list of how music ‘should’ be used within film and has given me a good way to analyse sound tracks.
Classical Film Music: Principles of Composition, Mixing, and Editing
Invisibility: the technical apparatus of nondiegetic music must not be visible.
“Inudibility”: Music is not meant to be heard consciously. As such it should be subordinate itself to dialogue, to visuals – i.e., to the primary vehicles of the narrative.
Signifier of emotion: Soundtrack may set specific moods and emphasize particular emotions suggested in the narrative (cf. #IV), but first and foremost, it is a signifier of emotion itself.
Narrative cueing:
Referential/narrative: music gives referential and narrative cues, e.g., indicating a point of view, supplying formal demarcations, and establishing setting and character.
Connotative: music “interprets” and “illustrates” narrative events.
Continuity: music provides formal and rhythmic continuity – between shots, in transitions between scenes, by fillings “gaps.”
Unity: via repetition and variation of musical material and instrumentation, music aids in the construction of formal and narrative unity.
A given film score may violate any of the principles above, providing the violation is at the service of the other principles.
From reading this I’ve found that a lot of the film sound tracks I’ve really enjoyed such as Punch Drunk Love and The Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind both by Jon Brion and soundtracks of David Fincher films follow some of the rules but generally break them. I’m going to watch them again and make notes of how where and why music is used in these films and write up what I find on here.