The Sound of the Dance Floor
EDM, short for Electronic Dance Music, is not a single genre but a broad catch-all term that encompasses a wide array of electronic music styles, including house, techno, trance, dubstep, and drum and bass. The unifying characteristic of all EDM is its function: it is percussive, rhythm-focused music created for the purpose of dancing, typically in a club, at a festival, or at a rave.
In filmmaking, EDM is a powerful and efficient tool for establishing a specific type of modern, high-energy environment. Its most common use is as diegetic music (source music that exists within the world of the film). When a movie scene takes place in a nightclub, at a massive party, or a music festival, the soundtrack will almost invariably be some form of EDM to create an authentic and energetic atmosphere.
Beyond party scenes, the aggressive and bass-heavy sounds of certain EDM subgenres have been used to score high-intensity action sequences. The jarring, robotic sounds of dubstep, for example, were frequently used in the 2010s to underscore fight scenes and car chases in action films and blockbuster trailers, providing a sonic backdrop of chaotic energy. Films like Project X (2012) and many entries in the Fast & Furious franchise have soundtracks heavily reliant on EDM.