Part 3 will continue where Part 2 Creating an Atmosphere left off with further discussion on Aaron Copeland's 5 Ways that Music Serves the screen.
2. Highlight the psychological states of the characters.
3. Providing a neutral background filler.
4. Building a sense of continuity.
5. Sustaining tension and then rounding it off with a sense of closure.
Disclaimer: Sometimes Music is deliberately made to serve the screen as illustrated in the video below:
Watch the video above from the beginning to learn about the elements of music and how they were used for film if you are curious to do so. However, most directors play against these very conventions because some concepts are hard to emulate musically: Arron Copeland's second claim is the music is used to
2. Highlight the psychological states of the characters.
One must be careful to thread on psychological states, especially when scientific research and consensus on the effect of music on the brain is at best marginal.
Ansani A, Marini M, D’Errico F and Poggi I (2020) How Soundtracks Shape What We See: Analyzing the Influence of Music on Visual Scenes Through Self-Assessment, Eye Tracking, and Pupillometry. Front. Psychol. 11:2242. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02242
The study explores the extensive history of researching music's influence on human behaviour, particularly focusing on background music's integrative and detrimental effects in various domains, from affective processes to cognitive tasks, and its interpretive role in shaping perceptions of audiovisual content, emphasising the need for further experimental investigations in this realm.
- Boltz (2001): Analyzed interpretations of ambiguous clips with positive, negative, and no music conditions, finding that positive music led to positive interpretations, negative music to negative interpretations, and no music to neutral interpretations.
- Ziv and Goshen (2006): Similar results with 5- to 6-year-old children, using Chopin's music to influence interpretations, demonstrating that background music significantly affected children's perceptions, making interpretations sadder or happier based on the music.
- Vitouch (2001): Explored the influence of film music on viewers' anticipations using an ecological covert design, showing that film music systematically influenced expectations about the development of a sequence.
- Bravo (2013): Studied the effect of tonal dissonance on interpretations of emotional content in an animated short film, finding that different levels of dissonance led to varied interpretations, affecting perceptions of fear, sadness, confidence, and the overall narrative.
- Hoeckner et al. (2011): Explored viewer empathy and likability in response to different soundtracks (thriller vs. melodrama), discovering that music modulated viewers' theory of mind and emotional contagion, influencing empathic accuracy and concern.
- Herget's (2019) review: Identified weaknesses in existing research, such as sparse investigations, the need for exploration of complex constructs like empathy, a lack of ecologically valid studies, overly complicated designs, and potential awareness issues in within-subjects designs.
The summary above highlights a lot of unknown and unexplored areas that I have marked in bold. I have already tackled the subject of background music. If music is really in the background it means that it should not be interrupting any activity. If someone is paying attention to the music, it is because it is not background music. In other words the ear is paying attention to it and therefore attention is divided unequally between the music and the activity.
- The claim that positive music leads to positive interpretations and vice-versa is a non-musical perspective. No musician will know what positive or negative music is. It would rather reflect a matter of musical taste or complexity. Perhaps negative and positive music has something to do with music during certain events and experiences in a person's past.
- Another eye-raising question is why are young children tested whilst listening to Chopin instead of something more contemporary. It would be interesting to test classical music on a group that loves such music as a control group and see whether reactions differ on a group that has not had such exposure to this music.
- Film systematically influences expectations. This statement treats the music as secondary. The image and sound working in tandem play with expectations together.
- Tonal dissonance led to varied interpretation; Indeed it should because music is subjective.
- The fact that music modulates, once again implies that music is changing something in the image and not the fact that image and music work hand in hand to modulate emotion.
- I endorse Herget's complaint about the weakness of such studies and the need for further exploration.
The problem remains with how cinema highlights psychological states. The study puts forward certain research questions. The aim was to investigate how in a visual scene the following dependent variables are affected by background music. Instead I will propose to see how these variables work in the cinema together through the elements of Silence, Light, Darkness, Light.
Joker 2019 Todd Phillips
There is no punch line. It's not a joke. . . . My life it's nothing but a comedy. . . . Killing those guys is funny? . . . . . I do, and I'm tired of pretending it's not. Harmony is subjective Murray and you know what they say, all of you the system that knows so much. You decide what's right or wrong, the same way that you decide what's funny or not. I understand that you did this to become a movement, become a symbol? Come on Murray, Do I look like the kind of clown to start a movement?
And as if Cinema wanted to make its point, the Joker shoots Murray and the music that follows is not a punch line. Perhaps comic if placed in another situation, but the scene is dealing with a morbid clown, where morbid and clown are within the same picture. Does the music work towards the highlighting of the psychological state of the character or is it through the combined workings of the TV interview, the acting, the dialogue and the sudden unexpected reaction and then the music?
3. Providing a neutral background filler.
Music can be used to fill the silence. This may be true in many films, but does not throw either the director, nor the musician in a good light. There is also the problem that complete silence is unattainable and moreover, Chion stated that 'Silence is never neutral.' The truth is that there is no neutrality in music.
Info Lost in Translation (2003) directed by Sofia Coppola. Bill Murray as Bob Harris, and Scarlett Johansson asCharlotte
The music is mellow with a tubular sound that may be reminiscent of a sort of Japanese feel but is in fact AIR's Alone in Kyoto. Air's style is Electronica, Space Pop, Dream Pop etc and this piece is no exception. The title, some sounds and the scenery make it feel Japanese or rather fits in with a Charlotte Alone in Kyoto. The music does not stick out, apart from a couple of interesting dissonant chords and a bell which are so soft that one may fail to notice. There is nothing neutral about Charlotte being alone on the train, then dwarfed by a Japanese temple and then her pitiful if not horrified look as a bride is led by the groom to the wedding ceremony. The music is not filling the scene to provide background. There is the sound of the train, of wind, of snow and water for that.
Music was always used for a variety of reasons: To drown out the sound of the projector and the audience. Basically it was better to fill the theatre with musical sound instead of unwanted sound. Music's very introduction to cinema was never one of neutrality, but one of control and manipulation.
4. Building a sense of continuity.
Music or Sound is there to give a sense of continuity. I find that this is more about music being used to cut time rather than to continue it. Rather than continuing the protagonists's progress as they try to run to safety the montage cuts from one sequence to another omitting time. It is not in the music but the whole montage. When the scene gets to the karaoke stage, the music and the scene is cut as on Japanese guy sings in unrecognisable English to be followed by cut excerpts of Harris' and then Charlotte's performance. There is a sense of continuity, a sense that the audience is being led fast forward through a wild night in Japan. However, it is through the image. The music is made to mainly reflect the diegetic quality of the image.
One could argue that the choice of songs that Charlotte and Bob sing says something about the character and the point that they are in. There is also the feeling that this wild night will be over soon and like the audience, the protagonists just get but a glimpse of a life they can never have.
5. Sustaining tension and then rounding it off with a sense of closure.
This is true of the Hollywood finale and the Hollywood Kiss. It is a convention that comes from classic theatres and operas that flowed into Hollywood. However, this is a convention that has been broken many a time both in classical music and film.
Cinema is not all about Hollywood endings. There is no sense of closure. Bob and Charlotte will just go on their different ways. The film ends lost amongst the high rise buildings of Tokyo and its tower, the lights and labyrinthine streets. The Jesus and Mary Jane song, Just like Honey rings out ironically at the end. Just a sweet taste that never lasted long.
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