Before the 1930s
Before the invention of the "talking picture," all movies were completely silent.
The mixture of music into the film scene is speculated to have happened for many reasons.
Music was already a commonplace element in the theatres and it was brought over to films not only because of tradition, but to add a depth to the two-dimensional image that appeared upon the screen. An added benefit was that it covered up the cacophony of noise that spewed from the projector.
The majority of silent films were accompanied by anything from full orchestras to organists and pianists
Charlie Chaplin composed his own music for City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936) and Limelight (1952). That was the exception, and few film-makers would imitate him. He wasn 't clear at all whose job was to score the soundtracks.
The 1930s
At first, sound films
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In the 1950s, however, Jazz opened the industry up to a vast and new world of possibilities. The use of Jazz not only "contemporized" the sounds and theme of movies, but fewer musicians were needed, thus making orchestration less expensive.
Alex North wrote some memorable melodies, such as Unchained Melody (1955), sung by gospel singer Roy Hamilton for Hall Bartlett 's Unchained (1955), including A Streetcar Named Desire (one of the first jazz-based film scores), Viva Zapata!, Spartacus, Cleopatra, and Who 's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He was the first composer to receive an Honorary Academy Award, but never won a competitive Oscar despite fifteen nominations.
The 1960s
The use of jazz and other experiments continued on into the 1960s. It was in this decade that acceptance of new music led to the scoring of INSERT TITLE HERE, the first movie to use a rock soundtrack.
Jerry Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring. Planet of the Apes and The Sand Pebbles are two of the most popular.
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