CUE MUSIC (SONG TBD PENDING LICENSING)
There seems to have been a lot of discussion about concerning music montages on television shows of late. That's it's overdone. It's sloppy or lazy writing. The music is bad. Like that. Like most things, I don't see it in black and white. I see it in red and green.
I dig a really well-done montage-thingy. They are not terribly frequent, though. I agree, it's overdone. Some shows, it's part of the formula and they do it every damn week. Some, like The O.C. do it because they're a source for breaking new music. It's that heavy teen demo. Fine. Let 'em. There's actually something to that demo thing. Others, like House, seem to be doing it just to do it. It worked really well for them once or twice so they're trying to hit that good one every time. It's as hit or miss as House and his team's first two or three diagnoses every week.
Then there's something like Veronica Mars, which uses a lot of music in the b.g., but occasionally does a montage. One featuring a song by Air in the episode "Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner" had an effect on a friend of mine (though that's not so much a montage as it's just conventional soundtracking).
For the most part, I don't think it is sloppy or lazy writing. Being a writer means, yes, putting words in someone's mouth. It doesn't mean you have to put those words in and sometimes the scene calls for everyone to just shut up. Maybe silence would be better, maybe some music would work. Not really my call.
Though, I'm sure that, from time to time, it really is a case of lazy writing, just not as often as the casual observer might think. I'm sure that more often than not, this doesn't even fall into the purview of the writer. Some are producers and different shows have different levels of involvement, but a script that calls for a song is a thing I have seen very rarely.
Is it overdone. Has it become a cliche? Yeah. It has. Something being a cliche is not a reason not to do it though. Doing it when it really works well is not cliche. Doing it at any other time for any other reason is. Some cliches though become so prevelant, you scarcely notice them anymore. When a music montage in a show isn't really effective or powerful, I barely notice that it's even happening. The audio is so inconsequential that I guess I just disregard it entirely until someone speaks.
Then there's the issue of the over-licensed song. That song that just keeps showing up. Longtime readers of Red Right Hand will perhaps recall that we've cited the Jeff Buckley version of "Hallelujah" (by Leonard Cohen) as the winner of that award. Ironically (or not so much, as it's gets over0used for a reason) this song is at the center of one of the best montages of this particular decade. In fact Sorkin (you knew I was going there, didn't you) called for it specifically in the script for "Posse Comitatus" and even wrote in the lyrics at certain junctures.
In the interest of sustaining a fraction of objectivity, the "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" (by I don't know who) montage at the end of "The Focus Group" did absolutely nothing for me.
I really enjoyed the use of "Hide & Seek" by Imogen Heap in the Smith pilot. I was unaware of it's alleged overuse (though as far as I can tell, it's nowhere near Jeff Buckley level yet). That's a thing about the songs in these montages. It maybe overused, but if you haven't seen the crap it was attached to, then it's new to you.
Then there's the "music is bad music" argument. The only correct response to that is...whatever.
TV is audio and visual. You have to have it all, and music is a strong audio element. If it can acheive something, use it. Hesitiate though. Think twice about whether this licensed song is the right one. Would score work better here (though it be less commerical)? Would silence? So often, the scenes are written, then music is chosen from the stuff they can afford. Perhaps the music should be more often called for in the script (though there are issues with whether or not something can be cleared and affect the writing of the scene in that way) rather than in production. Those seem to work better. Not that nothing will come from the catalog approach. After all, House always gets the diagnosis eventually.
Personally, I prefer the Bono version of "Hallelujah"
I dig a really well-done montage-thingy. They are not terribly frequent, though. I agree, it's overdone. Some shows, it's part of the formula and they do it every damn week. Some, like The O.C. do it because they're a source for breaking new music. It's that heavy teen demo. Fine. Let 'em. There's actually something to that demo thing. Others, like House, seem to be doing it just to do it. It worked really well for them once or twice so they're trying to hit that good one every time. It's as hit or miss as House and his team's first two or three diagnoses every week.Then there's something like Veronica Mars, which uses a lot of music in the b.g., but occasionally does a montage. One featuring a song by Air in the episode "Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner" had an effect on a friend of mine (though that's not so much a montage as it's just conventional soundtracking).
For the most part, I don't think it is sloppy or lazy writing. Being a writer means, yes, putting words in someone's mouth. It doesn't mean you have to put those words in and sometimes the scene calls for everyone to just shut up. Maybe silence would be better, maybe some music would work. Not really my call.
Though, I'm sure that, from time to time, it really is a case of lazy writing, just not as often as the casual observer might think. I'm sure that more often than not, this doesn't even fall into the purview of the writer. Some are producers and different shows have different levels of involvement, but a script that calls for a song is a thing I have seen very rarely.
Is it overdone. Has it become a cliche? Yeah. It has. Something being a cliche is not a reason not to do it though. Doing it when it really works well is not cliche. Doing it at any other time for any other reason is. Some cliches though become so prevelant, you scarcely notice them anymore. When a music montage in a show isn't really effective or powerful, I barely notice that it's even happening. The audio is so inconsequential that I guess I just disregard it entirely until someone speaks.
Then there's the issue of the over-licensed song. That song that just keeps showing up. Longtime readers of Red Right Hand will perhaps recall that we've cited the Jeff Buckley version of "Hallelujah" (by Leonard Cohen) as the winner of that award. Ironically (or not so much, as it's gets over0used for a reason) this song is at the center of one of the best montages of this particular decade. In fact Sorkin (you knew I was going there, didn't you) called for it specifically in the script for "Posse Comitatus" and even wrote in the lyrics at certain junctures.
In the interest of sustaining a fraction of objectivity, the "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" (by I don't know who) montage at the end of "The Focus Group" did absolutely nothing for me.
I really enjoyed the use of "Hide & Seek" by Imogen Heap in the Smith pilot. I was unaware of it's alleged overuse (though as far as I can tell, it's nowhere near Jeff Buckley level yet). That's a thing about the songs in these montages. It maybe overused, but if you haven't seen the crap it was attached to, then it's new to you.
Then there's the "music is bad music" argument. The only correct response to that is...whatever.
TV is audio and visual. You have to have it all, and music is a strong audio element. If it can acheive something, use it. Hesitiate though. Think twice about whether this licensed song is the right one. Would score work better here (though it be less commerical)? Would silence? So often, the scenes are written, then music is chosen from the stuff they can afford. Perhaps the music should be more often called for in the script (though there are issues with whether or not something can be cleared and affect the writing of the scene in that way) rather than in production. Those seem to work better. Not that nothing will come from the catalog approach. After all, House always gets the diagnosis eventually.
Personally, I prefer the Bono version of "Hallelujah"
10 Comments:
Ha, I liked the song in Smith.
Another distinction to make is that a song you may love to listen to is not necessarily a good montage song, and a great montage song may not be something you would listen to for pleasure.
I don't like overly lyricy and fast songs with my visuals. I think film music works best when it is more fluid and less rhythmic.
You make some good points, but I think that when it's supposed to be an emotional scene - say Clark at his dad's funeral - and you have a musical montage instead of words, you're being lazy.
How many musical montages did Joss use? I think that if it was a difficult scene to script, instead of taking the easy way out, he actually sat down and wrote the fuck out of that scene.
Imogen Heap gets a lot of play in general, but I don't mind because her voice is lovely. Thought 'Hide and Seek' was very awesomely used SMITH and put a good cap on the episode. The album is relatively new, so it wouldn't be killed yet, but just pray mainstream radio doesn't jump on it. Nothing kills a song more to me than the radio. Unless it's a commercial.
Back in the 'day' CSI did well with the montages, because it's sort of the cookie cutter for procedurals- convey some sense of methodology in a short span of time. Now it's a joke, but early in the first four seasons they were using groups like Air, Radiohead, Stereolab, and Zero 7. I wondered at times if the Music director had some sort of deal with the lables because some of them were just a little ahead of the curve or pre-release and afterward they'd blow up. It's a good deal for everyone, and that blah-dee-blah with U2 last year (I think) is the extreme- why write anything when you can just do a music video, which is what CSI has devolved into recently.
The way I always saw House using it, was as an extension of character- which is something I like to do. I think the first few episodes set up House and his ipod and not to mention the whole "I see music!" thing, which culminates in him playing piano broodingly. It doesn't get handled that way every time, but some of the earlier episodes seem like the music came out of the scene and characters by extension. Which is not at all how Smith and CSI use the technique.
So just some thoughts, but while we're talking about it, I watched this over the weekend- Le Montage which is fun and absurd. I could watch just about anything to that soundtrack- even a funeral.
I think sometimes musical montages are efficient storytelling... sometimes they're slight emotional cheats... but sometimes they rise above the cliches and become the most memorable sequences. I'm thinking Battlestar Galactica, and Kobol's Last Gleaming...
Avitable, you ignorant slut.
I think its too much of a generalization to say that when its supposed to be an emotional scene that it's lazy.
As I said, some scenes simply don't call for words.
Clark at his dad's funeral was ineffective, yes. Maybe THAT one could have been written better.
Whedon shows sometimes had scenes where the music did the talking rather than the character, but the thing there is that they used score rather than a pop song when they did it. They also had much better actors. Sorry, Tom Welling doesn't exactly break the needle on weepy emotional scenes.
There's the difference. It's a cheat when the actors don't deliver and the music tries to fill in the gap. So here's the thing I didn't cover in the post. Sometimes the montage makes up for shortcomings in the acting department.
The montage that used Coldplay (before they were seriopusly overplayed) at the end of the Shield first season finally was emotional and the cheat would have been scripting it instead of montaging it. Again though, great acting. Same with the Posse Commitatus montage I cited in the post. And one more to throw in...as was mentioned elsewhere...Galactica does really well, their montages though feature McCreary's music rather than licensed (and again, good acting).
I remember the first season of LOST had a musical montage at the end of almost every single episode. It became really annoying near the end of the season. Like in Full House, everytime the music kicks up for the emotional outpour, it just got sappy.
I think musical montages can be great though- if used with reserve and appropriately.
On "Lost," they redeemed it by having Hurley's CD walkman battery die and the montage music stop abruptly.
Also, I thought "Will You Still Love Me..." at the end of "Focus Group" worked because you had this deleriously happy moment - the announcement of their ratings boost - and the music was pleasant and appropriate but the lyrics immediately suggested that this triumphant moment is tenuous, brief - that in television you're always hanging by a thread.
Which, sadly, is true for "Studio 60" right now as well.
Music as an afterthought or what you can afford sounds about like paying an expensive designer to carefully select every piece of bedroom furniture so it creates a perfectly functional room where each piece serves a purpose and complements each other - then running to Walmart and buying a $50 bed-in-a-bag.
Nice summation of the latest tv series cliche...its neither right or wrong - but I fear more and more people will be tuning out as they see those montages begin because they will all feel so familiar.
Oooh, there's a Bono version of Hallelujah?
That song by Air totally creeped me out when it was playing during the final montage on that VM episode. It MADE the show. I had to go download it afterwards.
What are you thinking of VM so far?
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