6 Ways to Use Music to Create Mood and Meaning Onscreen

Music can help elevate every piece of content you create. Whether you are creating promotional content for your business or for any other purpose, music can make it a lot more appealing to your audience. Choosing the right soundtrack can enhance the atmosphere and make everything easier for the viewer to grasp.

Music choices are never random during a film, a TV show, or a commercial. The choices when it comes to music are endless, and they can all help you achieve different results. In order to help you get a better understanding, here are some great ways to use music to set the mood in any film.

Match the visual aspect with the aural

The very first way to use music to your advantage onscreen is through matching the visual aspect of the video with the aural. This is an easy thing to understand as most filmmakers and video producers use it to their advantage. The first step to follow is to create a video script for your video, so you are able to pinpoint exactly where you will need each music piece.

In order to better understand it, think about a scene where a character is looking at a beautiful sunset. The music you would expect to listen to is something very serene and calming. This will help the audience feel the character’s emotions with more ease and help them experience this feeling as well.

When it comes to promotional videos for a company, this is something that will once again come in handy. For example, when you show someone from another area using your products or services, you can use some traditional music from their country.  This will create a connection with any other viewer from that country, and it will interest the local audience too.

Travel the viewer to a different time and date

For any video project that is taking place at another time, music is the best way to help travel the viewer to the appropriate era. From what you have seen in movies and shows, whenever something takes place at another time, the music is always fitting. This filmmaking trick helps to add more character to the video and make the transition to another time seem more realistic.

Even if you do not mention exactly what period the video is supposed to be in, music can often explain more than you think. By choosing the right music you can set the mood and help your audience experience the shift in time a lot better. They will immediately understand that the video is not taking place at the present time. This will make the video a lot more enjoyable for them to watch.

Don’t let the music overpower a scene

While you want the music you use in your video projects to be heard, you also don’t want it to be too loud. Creating suspense is necessary, but it can happen without the music overpowering a scene. In most cases, if the music is too loud it can distract the viewer instead of helping them stay focused. This might not allow them to understand the main point of the video.

The key is to always keep the music at a level where it is audible but not louder than the spoken words. If you do not have actors in your video, and it only had images or text, the same thing applies. Having the music too loud will not let the viewer concentrate on the visuals. This will result in them becoming confused about the video’s purpose and possibly clicking out of it too soon.

Combine music with memorable quotes

Another great idea you can use in order to make the most out of the music you use is to combine it with memorable quotes. Every big company has a slogan that is memorable to the audience, and they oftentimes combine it with music. For example, McDonald’s has the iconic “I’m Lovin it” slogan and Nike has the “Just Do It” slogan.

This is a way to help your audience remember your brand and tie it to something memorable. Music can make this a lot easier as it can help it stay on people’s minds for longer. If you are not able to come up with a quote or slogan for your video, there are many ways to achieve that.

The best thing you can do is look online for slogan-making websites as well as academic writing tools including Grammarly or Hemmingway Editor. The one will help you find the right idea to work with and the other will make sure it is SEO friendly and well-put-together. After that, you will have to pick the right music to accompany your quotes, and you will be ready to share them with the world.

Highlight important moments

The music that you pick for your video projects should always be carefully chosen, so you are able to highlight moments that are important. Using music as background noise is not enough for most videos. You and your team need to be able to have plenty of tracks ready, so you are able to choose the best one for each situation.

There will be certain aspects of your videos that will require you to highlight important moments. For example in a film, the birth of a baby or the introduction of a new character will require a different sound. These are different from big revel moments where the music needs to be louder and compelling.

For such important moments, you should use music that will make the viewer curious and interested to watch more. The sound should be slightly elevated, just enough to spark excitement but not too much as to distract the audience. This will allow you to keep the viewer interested and eager to see what will happen next.

Prepare the viewer for big moments

If you have ever watched any action film, you have probably noticed how before an important scene the music becomes louder or more intense. This is a simple trick that filmmakers use in order to make the audience excited or even nervous about what is to come. In other words, they are able to set the mood for an important part of the video and keep their audience interested.

No matter the type of content you are creating, this simple trick is always helpful. You might be wondering how this could apply to a business or any other type of promotional video. An example you can easily keep in mind is the simple drum roll effect.

Before a big sale reveals or any similar type of announcement, many video makers will add a drum roll sound to help prepare the viewer. Then, they add a louder sound that accompanies the announcement and that conveys a positive emotion. You can use the same trick for your own projects and benefit from the positive results it will help you achieve.

Let the music do the talking

Using the right type of music in your videos will only help enhance the experience for the viewer. This will allow you to create more entertaining content and motivate your audience to interact with your content more. The tips mentioned in this video will help you find out more ways you can use music in your content. As a result, they will help you achieve your business ideas and goals easily.

Which of these tips are you looking forward to trying the most?