The Secret Behind the Music of Inception
This post contains minor spoilers for Inception. I also promise this will be the last lengthy post I write about Inception for a while.
In film there are two types of sound: diegetic and non-diegetic. Diegetic sound is that which comes from something within the film. An example would be characters speaking or music coming out of a radio. Non-diegetic sound is that which does not come from within the film. The most obvious example here would be music used to set the mood.
The most striking example of this is in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (which also happens to be my favorite film of all time). All of the sound is diegetic, even the soundtrack. This is because the entire story is being told by the narrator and he is adding sounds and music he likes to scenes as he remembers them and retells them.
This brings us to Inception. It turns out at least some of the sound in Inception is also diegetic instead of non-diegetic as I originally perceived. That sinister theme music the plays over the trailer? Definitely in the heads of the characters within the dreams. Watch the video below and prepare to have your mind blown…again.
Thanks to user JZP from the comments of the previous post for making me aware of this.
I would love to play this Zimmer score on my bass trombone. Maybe one day the group I am with will play it at the Opera House.
One thing I noticed about the music is that it was from the movie la vie on rose in which Ms Cottilard (spelling?) sang, starred in and won an academy award.