# Listening to soundtracks before seeing the movie



## Kejero (May 14, 2013)

Just out of curiousity (and because I don't want to hijack the Man of Steel music thread which made me wonder about this...

...Am I the only one here who never, ever, listens to a score before seeing the movie -- given that it's a movie I really want to see?

I'm as much a movie-freak as a score-nut, and as much as I love film music, I don't like being distracted from the movie experience by music because I'm familiar with it. Moreover, that music is usually written specifically to be married with the picture, so it makes sense to me that the first time I hear it, it's as a part of the whole experience, even if that means I won't be focussing on the music at all at that moment.

Another situation where the music might distract me is if it's plain bad, or doesn't fit. But that's another discussion


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## EastWest Lurker (May 14, 2013)

Kejero @ Tue May 14 said:


> Just out of curiousity (and because I don't want to hijack the Man of Steel music thread which made me wonder about this...
> 
> ...Am I the only one here who never, ever, listens to a score before seeing the movie -- given that it's a movie I really want to see?
> 
> ...



No you are not the only one. Firstly, since I know that the primary purpose of a score is to serve the film, I do not want to be influenced by already having heard the music. Secondly, the only time I listen to a soundtrack is if after I have seen the film, there was something in the composition, orchestration, or sonics fresh enough that I wanted o explore further.


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## Kejero (May 15, 2013)

Alright, good talk


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## musophrenic (May 15, 2013)

I'm guilty of doing that with video games. Specifically, Jesper Kyd's work (he's my favourite composer). I listened the scores to Hitman Blood Money, Freedom Fighters, the Assassin's Creed series and the Borderlands series way before I played the games. I suppose games take longer to get through, though.


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## Kejero (May 15, 2013)

The situation for most games is different though... Personally I'll also never listen to a soundtrack before playing the game, if it's a game I want to play. But mostly if it's a game that's heavily story-driven. For pure action games for instance, where the emotional involvement is less important, I wouldn't mind as much. Moreover, in games the music you hear will often repeat itself anyway while you're playing, so there's a good chance that you'll inevitably pick up on it anyway.

Usually the music is also structured and written differently from a scored movie scene. It tends not to climax as much, and it's those stand-out moments from a soundtrack that I'd instantly recognize that would distract me in a movie (unless I already associated those climaxes with the visual scene. In other words, if I'm familiar with the score because I've already seen the movie before).


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## Inductance (May 15, 2013)

Ha, I'm the same way. Sometimes I'll pick up an album and it will remained unplayed until I watch the movie. The few times that I've listened to the album before watching the film, I noticed that I found myself getting distracted by the music, "Ah, there's that melody. Oh, so that's how he used the theme," etc. I like to get the full film experience first, then I listen to the album.

I don't follow this rule when it comes to video games, though. For one, games are more expensive than DVDs and Blu-rays! And sitting down to play a game through to the end is more of a commitment than watching a film.


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