Miceli’s Method of Internal, External, and Mediated Levels: Elements for the Definition of a Film-Musical Dramaturgy

Abstract Most systems for locating music within a film’s dramaturgy have been formulated by and for musicologists or cinema studies specialists. The present translated excerpt from chapter 4 of Ennio Morricone and Sergio Miceli’s book Composing for the Cinema (2001) is aimed at composers. It postulates three levels or points of view for understanding the position and function of the music within a film, internal, external and mediated, and gives many complex examples. Particularly the mediated level is an original contribution to the discourse on this subject. In addition, the excerpt includes a breathtakingly insightful short essay by Pier Paolo Pasolini about the purpose and function of film music. The editors wish to thank the Film Music Foundation for making possible the translation of the Miceli article.