1. How do film-makers manipulate our emotions with music in films?
Ok, over the past week Stephen and I have been researching the visuals & sound
within movies, and for this intervention we intend to be looking at the history of
movies and how it can change the atmosphere and mood with the audience.
Brief example of visuals an audio within films
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2. So why is sound important?
Many would argue that the visual aspect in movie’s is more important than sound,
but audio is arguably on par with video, it plays a big part in conveying and immersing
the audience into the foreground of a film. It is the choice of music, effects and voices
that are all used within films that will determine or affect the overall perception,
mood and atmosphere with the audience. It is also a means to lead the narrative, for
example, the movie jaws always played a daunting tune whenever the shark was near
or about to attack, which added to the story line as well as adding a tingly creepy
feeling which effects your mood and perception on the whole film.
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3. Looking at the era of Silent movies helped us get and understanding in to how
movies have developed over the years. It was through the use
of intertitles which can be seen above that drove the narrative during that
time. But it was the music and effects playing in the background that was used
to help immerse the audience into the movie experience, as well as building
the emotional effect it would have on its viewer. Interesting fact to note, is that
the audio was overlaid in silent movies, meaning it could easily be changed or
manipulated to suit whatever supposed scene on screen, whether it was
romantic, emotional, scary or and action scene, building the viewer up as the
movie progresses on.
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4. So now I'm going to show two examples of the same scene, which shows how music
can be manipulate and changed, to change the way you think, judge and feel about a
movie. This is and example to show how film-makers can change a directed scene, by
just simply changing the overlaid music, changing the effect it can have on its viewers
and emotions.
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5. Composer Bernard Herrmann quoted, that music on the screen can seek out and
intensify the inner thoughts of the characters. It can invest a scene with terror,
grandeur, gaiety, or misery. It can propel narrative swiftly forward, or slow it down. It
often lifts mere dialogue into the realm of poetry. Finally, it is the communicating link
between the screen and the audience, reaching out and enveloping all into one single
experience.
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6. The 1960 movie Psycho is a good example in terms of “Bernard Herrmann’s” quote,
that music is the communicating link between the screen and the audience.
The shower scene from the movie is a good example to show how sound can be
important and misleading if not presented in the directed scene.
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7. So what are emotions, emotions basically rule our daily lives, it is a decision we make
based on whether we are happy, angry, bored or frustrated. These are all elements
which we experience whenever watching a film.
So now were going to show use, the audience, three different movie examples, and
see how each person reacts and responds to each clip. We would also like if use could
circle and rate how use felt for each of the examples on the questionnaire.
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11. As to conclude, we found this to be and interesting question to research, giving us an
insight into how important sound really is, showing us how easily sound can be used
to change the vibe, mood and atmosphere within a scene. We thought the movie
psycho was a good example that showed this, and how a clip without sound can
seem none threating and feel more like a comedy horror rather than a horror. This all
helped and showed us how film-makers manipulate sound within scenes, to provoke
the way we feel and how we connect to the film emotionally.
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