Week 4- 12/15-12/19

Lorde's Curated 'Hunger Games' Soundtrack Isn't Really a Soundtrack

Loring, A. (2014, December 8). Lorde's Curated 'Hunger Games' Soundtrack Isn't Really a Soundtrack. Retrieved December 17, 2014, from http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/movie-soundtracks-with-no-movie-music-lorde.php

Quotes:
"The word soundtrack is defined as the “sound recorded on a motion-picture film” or, more specifically, “the narrow band on one or both sides of a motion-picture film on which sound is recorded.”"

"Having one of the film’s main characters sing a song will certainly help get it attention, but more importantly, when music is allowed to play an active role in a film’s narrative, an emotional connection between the film and the music is created, instead of keeping the two apart as separate entities."

"But isn’t a soundtrack full of songs that have no real connection to the film itself (other than some lyrics that may reference certain plot points) really just a bonus feature like behind the scenes footage or commentary?"

Summary:
Lorde was the sole curator of the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 Soundtrack. Although she did a very good job on creating a song for the album, and compiling various artists to do work for the soundtrack critcs weren't sure if it actually counted as a soundtrack. Many films are recognizable for their soundtracks, however a soundtrack has to have music that was featured in the film. It would be strange to have a Lorde song in a post-apocalyptic society. This article then goes into detail about how a soundtrack shouldn't just be a companion piece, but it should have something to do with the film itself. 

Reflection:
I do feel like the Mockingjay Part 1 soundtrack would be more effective if the songs were actually featured in the movie itself, however it did a really good job of creating hype for the film and the music was awesome. In a previous blog post I talked about The Great Gatsby soundtrack, and although a lot of the music on that soundtrack was created by popular artists most of the music was in the film. Although modern day hip-hop and pop music does not seem like it belongs in the 20's it was an artistic choice made by Luhrman. I agree that the Mockingjay Part 1 soundtrack isn't technically a movie soundtrack, however I feel as if it did the same job as any other movie soundtrack. The purpose of a movie soundtrack is to set the tone of the movie, and help market the film which I believe this soundtrack did. So even if it might not follow the exact definition of a soundtrack it is definitely an risky thing to try that paid off.