‘Diegetic Underscoring’
Underscoring is traditionally a non-diegetic element of film, occupying a space separate from the narrative in which the music almost responds to what is happening on screen. Sometimes scores can act as an emotional roadmap, guiding the audience. This conception of underscores is influenced by the first implementation of music into cinema where a pianist would sit next to the screen playing the score whilst watching the film. The primary use of music is to emotionally influence the audience, but it exists outside of the narrative. Its format is at odds with its use. In order to influence the audience’s emotions whilst maintaining the suspension of disbelief, we can start to bring underscoring into the narrative by changing our methods and instruments.
Diegetic underscoring can be achieved through the utilisation of Musique Concrete, a stye of composition developed by Pierre Schaeffer. This style of composition is about the appreciation of the audio quality of everyday sounds rather than their contextual value, through layering and manipulation one can make compositions exploring different formations. Although contextual value is not a focus in this practice, the ‘meaning’ of the sound can survive the creative processes. This ‘meaning’ is what can anchor the underscore to the narrative, by either composing a music concrete style underscore from sounds evident in the scene, or interweaving a traditional score with such a composition, the film composer is able to maintain diegesis.
The diegetic capabilities of underscores are rarely utilised, but I think the practice can result in extremely immersive and compelling scores. Diegetic scoring can not only be used for immersivity, it can also be used to dive narrative and represent an unseen character.