Film Music and the Emotion, Research Paper Example

In movies, there is always music. Music is an essential part to any movie and the filmmakers spend a great amount time listening to and approving the score for the movie. In the movie the music is carefully timed and played at the exact moment where it will have the most impact on the audience. The impact that will be made on the audience is thought about carefully, for the makers of the movies want the audience to feel connected to the movie and have the full emotional experience. Music can connect people to the movie and what is going on in an emotional way. The type of movie dictates the type of music therefore; it dictates the type of emotions the audience is to feel. The music may incite fear, sympathy, sadness, love, hate, laughter, and it can impact how the audience feels. Planning the score and the placement of the music is important to the film maker. To make the audience connect to the movie and what is happening with the characters is the way to keep people interested in the movie and to make for the most enjoyable experience. So how does music effect the different personal emotions that people feel?

The musical score of a movie, sets the tone and is performed by an orchestra that is solely for the production of musical scores, this orchestra is never seen by the audience, but it can definitely be heard. The score for the movies will not be accepted without the movie, the score is directly related to the specific film and it would not be needed without the film. According to Fischoff (2005) “Since the 1930s, most orchestrations for movies are composed directly for the screen and, as we’ll see, cannot easily exist independent of the movie without much fleshing out” (Fischoff 2005). The music composed for the movies are in direct connection with the film and may not make much sense without the movie. The emotional connection between the music and the movie is essential. The music played is in direct connection with the on screen actions and that is how the impact on the audience happens.

Music in films can be used in many different ways, for many different types of theatrical forms of motion picture.

According to Schaefer retrieved December 12, 2012

Music is used in various ways in movies: as part of the story as in musicals, as background music within the story (for example, when a character turns on the radio), and as background music to which only the audience is privy. It is used in this way to complement cartoons, comedies, action-adventures, science-fiction, and drama (Schaefer 2012)

The music used reflects the type of movie. If it is a scary the movie the music might be dark and slow and then a sudden crash of shock. If it is a romantic movie, the music may help to set the tender moment of the movie. If its comedy it may help set up the comedy aspect of it, by being up beat and fast and colorful. Music in any movie can paint a picture that the audience sees visually on the screen but can feel emotionally, therefore being able to connect with the characters in the movie. People are emotional beings and being able to place their self in the characters position is essential to the audience enjoying the movie. Movies without music tend to be dull and somewhat lack luster in comparison to movies with music. Music can truly change the dynamic of any movie and help to build the suspense or drama, it can help to keep the comedy alive, it can keep the audience on the edge of their seat, it can help the audience connect with what is going on, it can make the audience feel as if they are the character in the movie.

These common beliefs about the music of a film on a viewer’s emotional response are hard to test and have not had much research done on it. Although music has been studied in connection with the treatment of mental health, it has not been fully studied to see what its direct emotional affect it has on someone. Music in psychology is used now for different reasons.  Researchers are trying to out how the brain responds to music and just exactly how it effects the human emotions. Once this can be figured out it will be easy to prove how the musical scores of movies affect the brain. Dess (2000), “…a fundamental aspect of music perception is recognition of a melody in different keys; each note’s meaning depends heavily on its context” (Dess 2000). This is can relate to the music in movies, the melody, the notes that are being played are directly reflecting what is happening on the screen, so when the brain hears the melody it there is an automatic trigger of connection to feeling, when it is paired with the visual that is on the screen the emotional connection becomes stronger and more realistic to the viewer.

It is very difficult to tell if music truly has an effect on the audience because of the different reasons why the individual may be affected by the music,

According to Vaidya (2004)

“The emotion created by a piece of music may be affected by memories associated with the piece, by the environment it is being played in, by the mood of the person listening and their personality, by the culture they were brought up in: by any number of factors both impossible to control and impossible to quantify” (Vaidya 2004).

This is why it is so hard to research the effects of music on the audience. Each person in the audience has different life accounts that play a huge role in determining what they feel, but it is known that music does affect people, but exactly how it affects everyone in hard. No two individuals are the same, so determining the exact affect on every person is almost impossible, but if enough people were studied then there may be more answers to as what people will feel while watching a movie with a good musical score.

To do research the effects of music on the listener during a movie is a good idea, it is important to psychology to know this information, because maybe it could be incorporated someday into therapy and be able to help people through some emotional things that they are going through. Research for this could be done almost the same way that music research in psychology is done now.

First, a psychologist doing the research could play different types of movies one with the subject just listening, not actually having a visual to go with it, and they could observe the reactions that the subject has to the musical score and what they are hearing. Then they could observe the same subject while they have a visual as well as auditory, and record those reactions and compare. These physical observations could answer some questions about that one person’s emotional affect from the movie. Several more subjects can be studied the same way. Some information about their life should be collected to see if there are in life experiences that are similar that could be affecting the subjects’emotions and emotional response to what is going on in the movie.

Another way is to play the auditory part of the movie through headphones while the subject is in an MRI machine and observe how the brain reacts to what it is hearing. This would give a view into the brain that physically observing a person would not give. Just seeing person’s physical reactions is not enough to prove that the emotions are being affected by the musical score. But, if the musical score was played to a person in and MRI machine and the brains physical activity was observed this could give more of an accurate view to how the brain responds to the music it is hearing in the movies.

Research on the psychological effects of music in movies is limited, mainly because it is too hard to tell if it’s a person personal experience causes the emotional response or if it’s truly the music causing the emotional effects. Research should be done to see how exactly ones emotions are affected, multiple people should be studied, and people should have their personal experiences documented to see if there is any relationship between, there background and what they feel. It would be beneficial to psychology to know if the music affects emotions while watching a movie or if it is just a person’s personal past experiences. The benefits of this study would be great. If it could be proven that the musical score affects peoples emotions while watching a movies, people could be aware of this and make the conscious choice to see the movie or not based on the music, and what they might feel while hearing the music. Music is a key part of life. Music is something every person understands from the very beginning, even before we know how to speak or communicate other than crying, that we can use to help soothe and communicate to one another. Music in society plays a huge role; entertainment, communication, relaxation, and much more uses in society. Studying the psychological effects on the human emotions during emotions could be very beneficial, to psychology and to society.

Works Cited

Dess, Nancy K. Interview with Norman M. Weinberg. Music on the Mind. Published September 2000 and reviewed December 2011. Web. Retrieved  from http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200008/music-the-mind

Fischoff, Stuart. The Evolution of Music in Film and its Psychological Impact on Audiences. Retrieved December 2012 from. http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/abloom/tvf454/5filmmusic.pdf

Schaefer, Hilary. Emotion and the Film Scores An Empirical Approach. Retrieved December 2012 from.http://www.e-filmmusic.de/article1.htm

Vaidya, Geetanjali. Music, Emotion and the Brain. 2004. Web. Retrieved from http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro04/web2/gvaidya.html