What part of the filmmaking process turns a movie from a forgettable motion picture to an immortal piece of media? Was it an actor’s performance? A single badass line? The setting? The special effects? Based on my studies, there are 2 main aspects of a film that are most likely to make a film memorable.
The movie’s score can make a movie remember. One of the most famous horror scenes, the classic psycho show scene, is carried by the intense violin being played. More recently, Joker (2019), won many awards for its original score and that score made certain scenes, like the stair dance scene, become memorable. Alisha Powers says that watched a lot of movies with her mother during their childhood, but only remembered “A Knight’s Tale” because of its soundtrack and a dance scene. Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly are all movies set in different settings that have amazing scores that not only define those movies but the settings they portray.
I am combining these two aspects as they go hand in hand. A movie must begin and it must End. The audience will remember a strong beginning and a strong end the most, even if the middle is mediocre. Baby Driver’s opening with the soundtrack and intense driving really captivated the audience, myself included. Avengers Infinity War had a devastating ending that stuck with lots of moviegoers and made it memorable. Infinity War would have been overshadowed heavily by Avengers: End Game, but that ending with all the characters we grew to know and love turning to dust before our eyes really ended that movie strongly.