Hollywood's Crap Music Rut

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Stewball
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Hollywood's Crap Music Rut

Post by Stewball »

It used to be just in teeny-bopper/chick flick movies but it's in everything now from tv commercials to trailers for otherwise respectable movies. Start this and fwd to 1:10.



I need to think of a derogatory term for it mainly so people will know what's being talked about when it's slammed. So far all I can come up with is "the coral snake groan" or "tortured treble-clefage". There may be something out there already, or I'm wide open to suggestions.

Music aside, The Judge looks pretty good, though I'm way tired of urinal dialogue and humor. It's just that hearing this "music" there was the last straw.

mattorama12
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Re: Hollywood's Crap Music Rut

Post by mattorama12 »

I don't really like or dislike that music, but it most certainly has a very specific effect on me. I actually thought about this when I saw this trailer originally, so it's interesting that it affected you enough to start a thread about it.

Anyway, the effect it has on me is this: it works well for the trailer and produces a solid trailer. However, it also makes me assume the movie is going to be bad. For some reason, it seems like the type of music that's in every trailer for shitty movies to make them seem more lofty than they are. Or something like that.
Last edited by mattorama12 on Fri Sep 05, 2014 9:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ribcage
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Re: Hollywood's Crap Music Rut

Post by ribcage »

trailers, to my ears anyway, have always followed trends in terrible "trailer music" (how many scifi movies of the last 5-10 years have used that bass-heavy machine-sounding sting noise for instance). it has gotten worse the last couple years, but so have trailers themselves. fortunately, from what i've heard, not a lot of it makes it into the film itself. i typically disregard it.

Stewball
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Re: Hollywood's Crap Music Rut

Post by Stewball »

I think the turn off is due to its teeny-bopper heritage, lack of originality and conformity to what's supposedly "in"--never mind its superficial aspects. The Judge is supposed to be a serious adult drama, but the music puts it in the same thought-box as Dolphin Tale 2....a mega-slam I must say, and thus makes me doubt it's cred and its quality. If they were going after the DT2 audience, they should have made it so it had a PG instead of an R rating.

ShogunRua
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Re: Hollywood's Crap Music Rut

Post by ShogunRua »

As someone interested in trailers, I agree with Stewball.

In general, I'm confused by why so many trailers go for popular songs to begin with. Not only is it massively more expensive, but it tends to be played out (and thus dull and un-evocative) for many people, AND comes with a bundle of associations unrelated to the movie itself.

Why not go for a lesser-known song that viewers could uniquely associate with their film, fits the trailer a lot better, and costs a fraction of the amount?

I honestly can't explain this.

Bojangles
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Re: Hollywood's Crap Music Rut

Post by Bojangles »

ShogunRua wrote:As someone interested in trailers, I agree with Stewball.

In general, I'm confused by why so many trailers go for popular songs to begin with. Not only is it massively more expensive, but it tends to be played out (and thus dull and un-evocative) for many people, AND comes with a bundle of associations unrelated to the movie itself.

Why not go for a lesser-known song that viewers could uniquely associate with their film, fits the trailer a lot better, and costs a fraction of the amount?

I honestly can't explain this.


For the same reasons that TV advertisers shell out money for the current popular songs. The people who put together trailers treat it as marketing, not art. I would bet that the talented editors who put together these template trailers hate it just as much as the discerning viewer hates watching them, but the studios seem to have the template down to a science. They know what they're doing. And they know that when it comes to music, people are drawn to what is familiar. Even if a person professes that they dislike a popular song or piece of music, its being familiar to their ears has a certain ability to keep them listening. They can follow along, even if it's begrudgingly. Most trailers' aim isn't to affect the viewer or even to be interesting, but rather to get them to continue mindlessly staring at the screen, taking in all of the information. New, innovative, edgy, original, artistic: those are qualities that will cause the mass audience to turn away and tune out.

ShogunRua
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Re: Hollywood's Crap Music Rut

Post by ShogunRua »

Bojangles wrote:
ShogunRua wrote:As someone interested in trailers, I agree with Stewball.

In general, I'm confused by why so many trailers go for popular songs to begin with. Not only is it massively more expensive, but it tends to be played out (and thus dull and un-evocative) for many people, AND comes with a bundle of associations unrelated to the movie itself.

Why not go for a lesser-known song that viewers could uniquely associate with their film, fits the trailer a lot better, and costs a fraction of the amount?

I honestly can't explain this.


For the same reasons that TV advertisers shell out money for the current popular songs. The people who put together trailers treat it as marketing, not art. I would bet that the talented editors who put together these template trailers hate it just as much as the discerning viewer hates watching them, but the studios seem to have the template down to a science. They know what they're doing. And they know that when it comes to music, people are drawn to what is familiar. Even if a person professes that they dislike a popular song or piece of music, its being familiar to their ears has a certain ability to keep them listening. They can follow along, even if it's begrudgingly. Most trailers' aim isn't to affect the viewer or even to be interesting, but rather to get them to continue mindlessly staring at the screen, taking in all of the information. New, innovative, edgy, original, artistic: those are qualities that will cause the mass audience to turn away and tune out.


Most of what you write is true, but I'm skeptical that using this popular music will cause people to focus on and remember the trailer more. Like, has this ever been researched? If so, it would be fascinating to read.

But if it's just another piece of conventional wisdom (and Hollywood is notoriously ass-backwards and behind the times when it comes to economic models and ideas; Ryan Kavanaugh is considered cutting edge for using fucking Monte Carlo methods and confidence intervals, something a reasonably intelligent high school student could do), then I have serious doubts that it's optimal.

Stewball
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Re: Hollywood's Crap Music Rut

Post by Stewball »

It's not just the commercial stuff and it isn't just Hollywood. Current music is so barren there's nothing new worth a damn in movies, Broadway (their most popular stuff is rehashes), or the radio. Glee tries to write their own shit and it sucks. I'm so ready for something, anything, besides the crap they've been churning out, hell even Disco is starting to sound good. I saw a Bono clip the other day and I had to Google it cause I couldn't believe my ears: "I think ABBA have a pure joy to their music and that's what makes them extraordinary." And U2 has done tributes to them.
It's the Apocalypse.

Bojangles
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Re: Hollywood's Crap Music Rut

Post by Bojangles »

ShogunRua wrote:I'm skeptical that using this popular music will cause people to focus on and remember the trailer more. Like, has this ever been researched? If so, it would be fascinating to read.

I read about the basic idea in Charles Duhigg's book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. According to the book, people will listen to a song for much longer if it's familiar to them, even if they claim that they hate it. idk if that translates to people paying more attention to trailers, I just sort of theorized that part.

Bojangles
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Re: Hollywood's Crap Music Rut

Post by Bojangles »

Stewball wrote:It's not just the commercial stuff and it isn't just Hollywood. Current music is so barren there's nothing new worth a damn in movies, Broadway (their most popular stuff is rehashes), or the radio.

The democratization/digitization of music has made quality shit more difficult to find. I've given up even trying to find it anymore. My hit rate with finding quality music gets higher the closer I get to stuff released in 1970. Even unknown/unsuccessful stuff sounds better than your average shit released today. Find those old hidden gems bruh. Get Tarantino in this bitch.

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