Uses of music in the movie argo by ben affleck essay sample

The use of music in the film industry is a very common practice. It plays an essential role in stressing the intended message as well as bringing out emotions and feeling that make the viewers connect with the movie and the characters in the cast. Music is a very powerful communication tool that is easily understood and therefore helpful in giving additional information about the characters in the movie as well as various activities. The use of music also gives a clear understanding of the main themes in the movie. Effective film directors invest and incorporate the use of music and other forms of communication, both verbal and non verbal to enhance the theme and also tell the story. This paper is an overview of the common uses of music in the film industry and the examples as well as effects created in the movie Argo.
Argo is a drama thriller involving the CIA operation that was intended to rescue American citizens who were working in the American embassy in Iran and were subsequently held captive by the Iranian militants after their riots protesting the president of the United States’ action of providing asylum to the Iranian Shah. Six of the Americans working in the embassy had however managed to escape and sought refuge in the home of the Canadian diplomat. The CIA comes up with different options which are criticized by one of the rescue team and he later adopts a strategy that requires the six people to pose as Canadian actors who had visited Iran to shoot a movie known as Argo. This agent go on with the plan as he uses fake names and meets the six Americans, orients them on how they will introduce themselves at the airport as well as overcome the interrogative questions which they will be asked to determine whether they were Americans or not. After a thorough check up at the airport, all the six citizens and the CIA agent finally succeeds to board the plane using Canadian passports and they are able to escape the militants who had known their true identity after they were permitted to board the plane.
The soundtracks used in the Movie Argo plays a vital role of bringing different emotions depending on the scenes (Cohen, 259). The cool music has been used to bring in a feeling of sadness and hopeless moments. Such cases include when the CIA runs out of options on the best option they could use to save the six Americans who had escaped from the Iranians captivity. Also the use of music portrays the hopelessness and fear by the six as they do not know what to do as they could also be captured any time by the militants. The kind of music used in such cases is soft and it also enables the audience to connect with the actors through creating a sad feeling experienced by the victims in the movie. The music is also used to create suspense on what will happen next/ hitting the action. This is mostly where the soundtrack volume increases tremendously when a certain action is about to take place. This is for instance where the six Americans undergoes airport security check up and after being held up in the security room, a soundtrack that is played next brings out suspense whereby the audience is made to wonder whether the victims’ true identity will be revealed or whether they be allowed to board the plane as Canadian movie actors.
Apart from the creation of mood, music variation has also been used in the movie to portray different geographic places where the events are taking place (Cohen, 257). The kind of music that is played in Hollywood which is mostly hard rock is different from that played in Iranian setting which is mostly Arabic. Music is also used to introduce different movie setting whereby soft music is used in introducing the American victims who are in fear and suspense while party mood songs such as ‘ Dance the night away’ are used to introduce the party mode after the success of Argo movie which would be used to rescue the American citizens from the Iranian militants. This as a result enables the audience to know the plot and the setting where the next episode will take place. Soundtrack variation has also been used to indicate movement from one place especially by the important persons such as the ‘ Argo’ movie producer and Mendez while he is travelling to Iran.
The use of music has also enabled the audience to connect between various events as well as introduce the characters in the movie. The kind of music used introduces Mendez and his determination to rescuing the Americans especially when he is deep in thoughts on the idea of adopting the movie to rescue them. This as a result creates the flow of the film as the audiences are able to follow the actions of various key players throughout the movie. The use of music is a vital factor in this movie as it has enabled several contrasting events that take place in a film. This creates a connection between the audience and the events in the movie whereby they are able to imagine such events in real sense and sympathize with the film actors as well as get the real sense of entertainment.

Works cited

Brandt, Dario. Seven functions of music in film and video. November, 2012. Retrieved from www. akingsmercury. com
Cohen, Annabel. Music and emotion: Music as a Source of Emotions in a Film. Oxford: Oxford university Press, 2001.