AN APPRAISAL OF THE USE OF MUSIC IN THE WEDDING PARTY MOVIE
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Music had long already made its appearance in the movie theatres; “a paid pianist was present to perform at the Lumiere brother’s first film screening in 1895” (Wierzbicki, 2009). This tradition continued through the early silent films (comedies or expressionist), which had live music played mainly through improvisation with the aid of cue sheets, at each showing of the film (ReelRunDown, 2016).
Music, when properly utilized can serve several purposes including establishing: Mood, emotion and atmosphere including a sense of expectation in the audience Place/Geographic location, Period/Time references, Style and connecting otherwise unrelated scenes, and also to create contradictions, Character (character themes and leitmotifs whose flourishing can be traced back to the time of Wagner’s “music dramas”), Alternating perception of time and space Music can even be used to put a judgment on certain movie scenes (Hoffmann, 2011) Film as a medium first arrived Nigeria in the late 19th century, in the form of peephole viewing of motion picture devices.
The Nollywood movies that have any decent film score are most often created by foreign composers and sound designers. Consequently, due to the ever increasing exchange rates, this phenomenon often racks up the costs of production, discouraging film producers, and thereby making mediocrity ubiquitous. This is not to say, however, that it is all doom and gloom in the industry, as some Nigerian movie producers today, go out their way to “get it right”, even though they are just unfortunately in the minority, which should not be the case in an industry as conspicuous as Nollywood. This study attempts to appraise the use of music in The Wedding Party movie. The Wedding Party was commercially released in December, 2016.
Even though the Nollywood industry is one of the biggest in the world in terms of revenue, it is still emerging in terms of the movie soundtrack and film score. Unlike the Hollywood, the art of creating music for films has not been sufficiently developed in Nollywood. The ability to perceive emotions in music is said to develop early in childhood, and improves significantly throughout development (Dowling, 2002). However, the ability to convey emotions through music in media such as film is a much more specialized concept. Davis observed that, Successful film scoring is not a matter of just writing good music; it is writing good music that supports a dramatic situation. That means finding the heart and soul of the film and expressing it in music. (Davis, 2009)
The Wedding Party is a Nigerian romantic comedy drama film, directed by Kemi Adetiba that tells the story of the shenanigans that go on during the planning of a Nigerian wedding in Nigeria. The movie was released in December, 2016 and went on to become the highest ever grossing Nollywood movie barely four months after. A coalition of stakeholders and creative minds worked on the production of this movie that it was no surprise how well the movie did in the Box Office. Dr. Bayo Adepetun and Michael “Truth” Ogunlade collaborated to produce the film score and fortunately the score was a quite copacetic feature of the film, and most likely the most career defining score for them
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Even though some critics have described the movie as an extended music video, probably due to the fact that it is a star-studded production, and its extended use of pop songs, the writer believes that the use of pop songs was quite appropriate because that is what is obtainable in a typical Nigerian wedding party. Accordingly, the above background substantiates the need to investigate how music was used in The Wedding Party.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The study on the appraisal of the use of music in the wedding party movie came as a result of producing a movie without purposeful film score accompanying the picture to effectively communicate the story and accurately convey the emotions of the scenes. Furthermore, film scoring, as exploited by the new crop of filmmakers, directors, producers, and composers has not yet come around to be appraised for its technical advancements and aesthetic improvement from the status quo. Finally, most of the research has been carried out appraisal of the use of music but not even a single research has been carried out on an appraisal of the use of music in the wedding party movie. The status quo in Nollywood has been in the form of movies without a purposeful film score accompanying the picture to efficiently communicate the story, and accurately convey the emotions of the scenes. The existence of this problem is largely identified with the Nollywood industry, and as an indirect outcome, there appears to be a significant level of inattention to scholarly works on the use of music, and its perceived functions in Nollywood movies. Furthermore, film scoring, as exploited by the new crop of filmmakers, directors, producers, and composers has not yet come around to be appraised for its technical advancements and aesthetic improvement from the status quo.
1.3 Objective of the Study
This study aims at appraising the use of music in the Nollywood movie, The Wedding Party. Specific objectives are to:
- Examine the form and functions of the music used in The Wedding Party
- Evaluate the interaction between the music and the drama in The Wedding
- Determine the level of conformity to the international best practice of the use of music, in The Wedding Party.
1.4 Research Questions
- What is the form and functions of the music used in The Wedding Party?
- What is the interaction between music and drama in The Wedding Party?
- How does the music used in The Wedding Party conform to the international best practice?
1.5 Significance of the Study
This study will help to contribute to knowledge on the study of film scoring and the use of music in films in Nollywood and serve as an additional reference material to other researchers in conducting further research on film music in Nollywood.
1.6 Scope of the Study
The scope of this study is limited to an appraisal of the use of music in the Nollywood movie,
The Wedding Party, directed by Kemi Adetiba and commercially released in 2016.
1.7 Operational Definition of Terms
Cue – Any one of the number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces that comprises the film score, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to enhance the dramatic narrative and emotional impact.
Cue sheet – A cue sheet is a document created by the production company which lists all music used within a television program, special or movie.
End credits – The end credits come when the film has ended, and all the people involved in the production are being named. The music in this part of the film is usually a song(s).
Feature film – A feature film is a full length film, the minimum “full length” time varies in different parts of the world, but it is mostly around 60-80 minutes.
Film score – A film score is the music composed specifically for the movie to serve and enhance the story. It is usually instrumental only so as not to compete with dialogue. It is also called underscore or incidental music.
Main title – The main title is the music that is heard in a film while the opening credits are rolling. This music is often later recorded on soundtrack albums.
Nollywood – The totality of activities taking place in the Nigerian film industry, be it in English, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Itsekiri, Edo, Efik, Ijaw, Urhobo or any other of the over 300 Nigerian languages; the umbrella body covering everything related to Nigerian Cinema
Source music (also known as diegetic music) – This is music that originates from a source (e.g. an orchestra, a band, or a radio) within the film scene. It is music that the characters can hear (or perform) themselves, and that would be playing even if the scene were happening in real life. Of course, the music usually serves a dramatic purpose as well: either it helps establish setting and character, or it comments on the action happening in the foreground, as such it is also known as ‘Foreground music’ (as opposed to ‘background music’, i.e. the film’s score).
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