Name a film that includes a transition/mix between soundtrack elements?
June 2, 2016 11:26 PM   Subscribe

Curious to know if there exists a film in which two songs (ideally not score material) are essentially mixed as though they were selected by a DJ. One or both of the music sources can be visible on screen (band, radio, etc.), but stuff like a live band segue or DJ set doesn't really qualify as what I'm looking for. Or maybe this is super common, and I just never realized it?
posted by Jack Karaoke to Media & Arts (5 answers total)
 
I don't have an example, but this might help your search: when the source of music is visible on screen (or implied, such as by a character tuning a radio), it's called diegetic music. Score or other background music is nondiegetic.

I'm pretty sure I've seen that kind of thing used to show the passage of time, turning from the upbeat climax of an evening (some party or club scene, maybe as a montage) to a downbeat moment hours later as everyone's exhausted, but it's usually abrupt to switch, rather than mix.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:09 AM on June 3, 2016


I bet Edgar Wright has done this. It may also be in 48 Hrs, I'm thinking when they go to Torchy's.

By "live band segue" mean an onscreen band is transitioned to themselves, say later in their set, or would it exclude a cut between a band and soundtrack in, say, Goodfellas? Also, I'm assuming you don't mean beat-matched.
posted by rhizome at 12:46 AM on June 3, 2016


Best answer: Don't know if this quite qualifies, but I was reminded of the The Sopranos episode 'Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood' where the Peter Gunn theme mixes into (and plays alongside) The Police's Every Breath You Take (starts at 1:21).
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 5:27 AM on June 3, 2016


Is this scene from A Knight's Tale the kind of thing you're looking for?
posted by hanov3r at 2:39 PM on June 3, 2016


Response by poster: Live band segue is referring to a band literally creating their own musical transition, e.g. a medley.
A cut from live band to live band would qualify, if it was based on some sort of very intentional cut, based on beat-matching, a shared key/chord, or specific melodic or rhythmic pivot. Band to soundtrack is great, as long as it's not amorphous score material.

'Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood' is great. I hadn't even thought of layering.

The Knight's Tale scene is in the right direction, and works in the scene, but as audio only would leave something to be desired. That's what interests me about this.. to do it shows a Kubrickian level of attention to detail that I think is worth calling out.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 5:46 PM on June 3, 2016


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