this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2025
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted, clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts: 1
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By that logic, characters' clothing or shot background are ways to tell you how you should feel. Good soundtrack is a part of the media, not a forced reaction.
I do not agree. If you film something to imitate life, you need to show the character's clothing, facial expressions, backgrounds, etc. Yes, you can strategically choose what to show and how to show it to help influence the audience, but at the end of the day, something has to be there.
On the other hand, in real life, there isn't mood music following you around. Sure, if you film a character driving a car or even just walking around a grocery store, it makes perfect sense to have a bit of background music, because that is how those environments are in reality. But having intense music playing from nowhere during a chase scene or whimsical music behind a happy character skipping through an empty meadow is just as realistic as a bunch of disembodied laughs in the background every time a character makes a joke.
But not all shows or movies are 100% realistic. That's not how art works. It's supposed to evoke certain emotions, by design. Not everything you watch is intended to be a documentary.
The examples you've described are sound design done poorly, which is the opposite of what I referred to.
Do you have an example of a film score used to do more than just provide the mood?
No, what about in horror films when the tension rises, the soundtrack and effects sometimes give the 'surprise' away in suspenseful screens. Less about how it feels and more about predictability. The best ones have very little backing and only subtle sound effects until something is actually happening.
Which is why I specified good soundtrack, not the concept of it in general. Visuals can also give away plot twists, when done wrong.
Yeah, you are right. But OP saying that it incites a forced reaction is inaccurate. I've never been pressured to laugh from a laugh track just like I've never been pressured by a horror movie 'telling' me to be scared by the rising music/sounds. Just that sometimes they give away the time of surprise. When horror movies have no bg noise for a bit, that's when it is hard to know exactly when something is gonna happen, that's more effective than a long inflecting violin note for example or something like the classic Michael Myers theme that tells you some action is happening/going to happen. But I would never call it a forced reaction. I like soundtracks, I see all movies as works of art rather than 'make me think this is real' lol. Many people these days have no suspension of disbelief.