Grease: The Successful Use Of Music In Film

Adapted or original film scores, are a vital part of any film. The successful use of music in film is used to construct mood, illustrate characters, and match the dialogue and actions on the screen. It is these reasons that make music such a significant part of film storytelling and the reason film scores are so diverse. Most films find it necessary to include a score however, musical films rely even more heavily on the use of music. Directed by Randal Kleiser, the musical film Grease (1978), effectively uses music, song, dance, and choreography to support the telling of a story of two young lovers.

Before the musical elements of Grease can be examined and evaluated, the effectiveness of typical musical and non-musical film scores should be observed. The overall effectiveness of a film score depends on both the emotion and the genre conveyed by the film through dialogue and action. Personally, I frequently notice comedies make successful musicals. The dancing and exaggerated acting often successfully adds to the comedic effect portrayed by the film. A genre I feel that is less effective in a musical presentation is drama. I often find that the constant singing tends to hinder the effectiveness of the storytelling process. For example, when examining the film Les Miserables I find the music numbers hinder the process of telling this story. The singing takes away from the authenticity and creates a reality that the audience might have difficulty …show more content…
I find this musical score to be so effective because unlike many dramatic films, the story being told does not fall into a single genre category; the story deals with intricate socio-cultural elements of the 1960’s in the United States, underscored by exceptionally comedic features. This film utilizes numerous styles of musical numbers and ultimately portrays the fluctuating emotions of the characters