A needle drop is when a movie uses a song that wasn’t written for the soundtrack. They are often used to set a specific tone for the scene or the complete opposite as a contrast.

Usually most original sounds from movie scenes are removed as their quality is very poor, which is why they are later completely recreated by a Foley artist.

Some of the sounds that a Foley Artist can make on a films soundtrack could be: footsteps, falling, clothes rustling, paper folding, doors closing/ slamming, glass breaking, punching etc.

One of my favourite film soundtracks is in Marvel’s 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy, where it’s main character, played by Chris Pratt, has almost complete influence over the tracks played throughout. The film features a soundtrack consisting mostly of songs from the 1980s-1970s, taken from Pratt’s character’s Sony Walkman – one of his last pieces of memorabilia from Earth that he had before being abducted during his childhood years in the same era. The soundtrack also often works diegetically, as the music is often needle dropped into the scene by Pratt.

A needledrop moment in film is when a pre-existing song is played. This is often used to set the tone of a scene.

Diegetic: The news channel on the TV in the background throughout the whole scene.

Non-diegetic: The music in the background of the fighting scene between them and the zombies.

Diegetic: The news in the background (ambient sound), The smashing of objects (eg windows and records), Dialogue

Non-Diegetic: The music in the background of the fight scene

Diegetic: glass breaking, dialogue, the TV

Non-diegetic: music- to influence the atmosphere, sound effects on scene transition.