When a documentary filmmaker, working in the style that I do, suggests that there has been a shooting ratio of 40 hours to every one hour of finished film, that doesn't mean that the other 39 are bad.
Ken BurnsRead
In most films music is brought in at the end, after the picture is more or less locked, to amplify the emotions the filmmaker wants you to feel.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Music in films enhances the emotional impact of the storytelling.
Ken Burns highlights the crucial role that music plays in film-making, noting that it is often introduced at the final stages to elevate the emotional resonance of a scene. This underscores the idea that music is not just an accompaniment, but a powerful tool that significantly shapes the audience's experience and emotional response to the visuals.
Themes
MusicFilmEmotionArtStorytelling
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on film production, one might say, 'As Ken Burns noted, music is essential for amplifying the emotions in a film.'
More from Ken Burns
All quotes βI record all of my music with authentic instruments in a studio before we start editing, doing many, many versions. The music shapes the film as we edit so it has an organic relationship to the content.
Ken BurnsRead
Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of the defining impression of our being.
Ken BurnsRead
It is the great arrogance of the present to forget the intelligence of the past
Ken BurnsRead
Jazz is a very accurate, curiously accurate accompaniment to 20th century America.
Ken BurnsRead
You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you get that triangulation is through time.
Ken BurnsRead
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