A Brief History of Science Fiction Film Music
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Created by Jessica Rooney
Last updated 5/1/06
A Brief History of Science Fiction Film Music
1902-1927: Before Synch-Sound
When narrative film was first developed at the turn of the twentieth century, technology did not yet allow for the inclusion of sound with the visual images. Rather than leave audiences in dark silence, theatres included pianos or small orchestras to play music to accompany the film. Theatre musicians would sometimes receive music scores produced by the films themselves that coincided with the images on screen, but other times players would be left to their own choice of music (“Film score”). In either case, music was used to “emphasize dramatic and narrative aspects of film” ( Hayward 4) rather than to developing these aspects on a different artistic plane or acting as a separate component, and the score was not essential to the integrity of a film. Although science fiction films such as Le Voyage dans la Lune (1902), Metropolis (1926), and Die Frau im Mond (1928) were among the first early narrative films, the music in these films was not different than music in other genres (Hayward 4). Because of its basic components and limitations, the pre synch-sound science fiction film music was necessarily influential to later types of science fiction film music that would develop in post-synch sound era.