Alternate soundtracks : silent film music for contemporary audiences

The Moving Pictures Show is a contemporary Australian 'silent' film company that screens films produced in the period from 1912 to 1929, with a 9-piece orchestral accompaniment. This article explores the ways in which music is chosen for the show both to heighten the audience's aesthetic experience of the film and to abide by historical practice. It also describes the ways in which improvisation can be accommodated within these boundaries. The Moving Pictures Show uses recognisable music from the non-synchronised sound (or 'silent' film) era, including 'classical' music that is well known to audiences through previous association with the animations of Disney, Warner Bros and Hanna-Barbera studios; mood music that was purpose-composed for the films of the silent era by composers such as John Stepan Zamecnik; and leitmotifs to alert the audience to repeating themes in the narrative. Around these music components, improvisation provides a degree of flexibility of tempo necessary to fit the music with the film and allows the performers the freedom to musically respond to the onscreen action in a spontaneous manner.