----------------------------Original message---------------------------- >>As far as realism, I have yet to have an experience where a complete >>orchestra plays in the backround as I ride off into the sunset with the >>heroine! >Come to think of it, it's curious indeed how easily we accept this >'nonrealistic' music to accompany the image . . . Are we just used to it, or >is there a reason? Even when there is a *real* orchestra present in the >cinema, it's hardly a problem. >Leo Bankersen I think that, to an extent, we are just used to it--it's a formula, a clue that tells us "Happy Ending" that has lasted since the Silent days when music and sound effects meant everything. BUT, think about the shower scene in PSYCHO--the music that accompanies that scene (& recurs at appropriately scary moments) really exemplefies what music & a good sound system can do to enhance the film-watching experience. My husband and I enjoy a wonderful surround sound system with, of course, a *large* screen t.v. But anyway, it IS funny how "out of place" that music seems if you think about it, and yet it's there to evoke a FEELING--at the end of the "typical" western, it lends an air of accomplishment, of finality--a sweeping, uplifting crescendo of music for a "happy ending." It's the same with the JAWS theme. The music rushes towards us, slowly at first, creeping, then it pounces--just like the shark. I think in any of these situations a surround sound system truly makes you feel "in the movie," and I have never experienced any distracting quality from it, luckily. Alli Johnson [log in to unmask]