Willis Essay
In the movie “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” music is used to enhance the mood of the film. All of the scenes in the movie had music to represent what was happening at that point. For example, Leitmotif is a term which came from German opera to represent a character, place or idea being used in that clip. Also through composed is used in the movie which is music that has common forward motion. Leitmotif is very influential on the movie because without it the movie would lack character. The character Darth Maul is a good example. Whenever he comes into the scene the music gets very tense and low pitched which makes the viewer think something bad is going to happen. The music helps show that he is a villain by playing very dark shady music. The music helps describe things without the use of words which is a very effective way of depicting Darth Maul and that he is a villain and going to cause trouble. Another seen that uses leitmotif is when Anakin Skywalker is in the pod race. When they are racing the music is very fast and energetic to make things more up beat and fast paced to represent the race. Whenever there is a change is pace the music stays intune to what is happening. When Anakin is passing the first place pod the music is very tense and exiting this keeps the viewer on edge and uncertain on what will happen. When he wins the race the music is very up beat and celebratory. The music shows that it is a good point by playing a lot of happy feeling music. The scene were Liam Neeson dies has leitmotif also. When he is lying on the ground the music plays very slowly and sad. This represents a bad time and unhappiness. During this time it is a bad moment and the music plays into that. If there was fast paced jolly sounding music it would not make any sense and would be very confusing to the viewer. So to keep up with the vibe of the scene the composer chose to play slowly and quietly. The music in