Doubling Strong Emotions with Music

Strong emotions that are portrayed visually in the movie (e.g. someone crying desperately) feel rather awkward when they get doubled by the music. You are usually better off scoring such moments rather sparsely or possibly even leave them in silence.

Scoring them musically in the same intensity will very quickly feel stylistically very old fashioned and operatic. Also, there is hardly anything useful that music can add to such a scene.

Of course, the genre of the movie very much defines what is musically appropriate. An “Obi Wan Kenobi NOOOOOOO Moment” in a Scifi movie might very well work with a musical doubling while a nervous breakdown in a Drama might rather remain untouched.

Generally one could say that in most such situations, it is best to musically hold back.