CMU School of Drama


Friday, September 15, 2017

‘This Is Us’ Soundtrack: Music Supervisor Talks Manipulating Emotion

Variety: “This Is Us” now has an official soundtrack to accompany the show’s emotionally charged moments.

Cast members Chris Sullivan and Jon Huertas were joined by music supervisor Jennifer Pyken and composer-musician Siddhartha Khosla at the “This Is Us (Music from the Show)” album release at Clutch in Venice, Calif. on Wednesday night.

3 comments:

Annie Scheuermann said...

I watched this show over Spring Break last year, and completely fell in love with it. I think scoring in movies or TV shows can really make or break so much of it. The sounds accompanying different parts of the plot are what really makes you feel something. Their were some songs I recognized during the series, like they mention, some classic older songs. Their was also a lot of new music, some that I liked and have since looked up. I think it is wonderful that the composers have a chance to share just their work in the sound track, although I am not too sure how well it will actually sell. But, I doubt they are expecting to make a big profit on it. I always like reading about departments like this on big productions, because so much work goes into it, and you just take it for granted as it is weaved seamlessly into the show.

Katie Pyzowski said...

I have not watched this show, but this article caught my eye. My biggest pet peeve about television shows is when the choice of music doesn't go with the show OR when the lyrics of the song directly reflect the plot or give away plot action. If a song has lyrics in it that reference going on a plane and then the next scene has the characters on a plane. Maybe thats a stylistic choice, but it drives me crazy. Music in film should be used to evoke feeling in the viewer, not to reveal plot points. For me, the soundtrack of a TV show can make or break wether or not I keep watching it. I am glad that there a people in the industry that feel just as strongly about having the right sound design for film and television. I totally agree with what Huertas is quoted saying in this article: "It’s important to make those scenes believable. To have music that represents, and the best music of that time to play in the background lets the audience feel like they really are there... Music is super important to grounding that, to making that authentic."

Claire Farrokh said...

I have only seen the first episode of "This Is Us," but just from that one episode I can completely tell why the music plays such a huge part in the show. The show is extremely emotionally charged, and music always makes those emotions onscreen seem more intense. Musical underscoring is so important in both film and television, and it usually goes completely unnoticed. This is also true of theatrical sound design - it is arguably the most effective when you do not notice it at all. Sound and lighting both usually work together to create a realistic and cohesive world in theatre, and I think that is the same but obviously different in movies and television. It is very interesting to watch a movie or television show that you are very familiar with, turn on the subtitles, and mute it. Sometimes not hearing the musical underscoring can competely change how you perceive a scene. In something like a horror movie, it can sometimes make it more frightening, since the jump scares come out of absolutely nowhere, and you have no musical buildup to give you the sense that there is something coming to scare you. However, this can also cause an emotional disconnect with the piece.