Importance of music in the film - Research Paper Example

? Importance of Music in the Film College: Importance of Music in the Film Introduction In the film industry, music has a formed a core part of film production with most artists optimizing on the use music and soundtracks in their works. The general feeling is that music is the best channel to express emotions within a film and to bring out the theme of a film. The human beings are highly receptive of music and can forecast, interpret and understand the theme enveloped in a film with a properly matched music. Although there exist some films that have no music, movies with good music appeals to a larger crowd of audience. The effect of a song in a film can be associated with the psychological impact of music on human beings. Naturally, music has a great impact on people’s mind and behavior and their moods can be greatly varied with the kind of music they listen. This is the psychological appeal that film stars use to get their audience on board the theme of the film. In this view, music in a film appeals to the emotions of the audience more than even words or the pictography does. This is the reason why film directors have embraced music in the film industry to build their film stories and to emotionally attract the audience to sail in the theme of the movie. History of Music in the Film Industry The integration of music in the film industry has a long history that dates back to the early 20th century, the same time when the digital technology was evolving in this field. The first form of film with music was the Al Jolson which was launched in the 1927, a film that hit across the world for its presumed appeal. This formed a new opening that many film makers saw as an invention of the art, and an opening to a new era of “talkie” movies. In 1930, the filmmakers had already started to use movies as the preludes of their movie to set the atmosphere of the movie. This quick adoption of the use of music in the industry can be attributed to the appeal that the music was already earning from the public. By 1942, music was becoming an avoidable ingredient in the films with more pronounced songs with a wide range of themes. One of the movies in this time was the Casablanca movie by Max Steiner that includes the French and German National anthems to bring out the spirit of nationality within the theme. As the music found its way into the films, more people found their way to the theatre as music was already becoming an attractive element in the movie industry. Patterson (2013) points to a number of special requirements that demanded for the inclusion of music from different genres in the film industry. For instance, the post war films such as the “The Dam Busters” which was launched by Eric Coates allured to patriotism by including patriotic songs in the films. In some other movies, the films were based on the music, which was achieved by creating pictures after the music. A good example is Disney’s Fantasias that was created in this manner. In the 1970s, more people were able to match the music genre with themes that they wanted to convey in the film. For instance, John Carpenter used a repetitive song in his movie ‘the Halloween’ which is highly regarded for its effective matching of music with the theme of the film. Patterson regards this as the period in which music was inspired by the movie, a time when music and film were inseparable. Today, film scoring has featured into the optimization of human minds and the music industry and film industry have converged to optimize their productions. In this era, music is used to create more than just the theme but also to be part of entertainment, the film story line and to draw the emotions of the public into the theme of the film (Paterson, 2013: Scaruffi, 2005). With the evolution of technology, more film makers have an option to make more tracks recording to form both parts of the movie as well as the background sounds. In this time, critics have also risen up to condemn the inclusion of more than necessary music in the film industry losing the meaning of the film along the way. In this light, there is a trending notion that music minimization is the way to go into film production. Altogether, music has become a core part of the film industry that today it is impossible to imagine a film without music within its plot. The Music, the Mind and Emotions Even before imploring the role of music in films, it is crucial to draw the connection between music and the human mind and the influence of emotions. Feilles (2013), a psychologist, draws a close connection between the human mind and the emotional expression in the physicality of a human. A suppressed mind will always manifest on a dull face, and it is this physical manifestation of the mind state that is regarded as the mind. Feilles points out that an individual will tend to listen to music that appeals to their emotions. For instance, when one is angry, they will tend to listen to fast songs with heavy guitars and drumming, while in a sad moment one will listen slower and smooth songs. Psychologically, the taste of the songs has an inner appeal that can be associated to the human state of mind. In this view, any kind of music has an associated emotion that it cultivates in the public (Stewart, 2013). This nature of music seems to what film makers capitalize on while scoring their films to appeal to specific emotions in the audience. Mohana (2013) regards music as “a language of emotion” in the society that penetrates the mind of the people more than any other form of language. Music provides a perceptual illusion that drives people into the world of fantasy to imagine about a scenario and even draw a number of vivid mental images regarding a situation. As such, skilled composers will assess the expectations of their audience and compose music to manipulate their emotions. Ushedo (2006) points out that music can generate emotions with the audience. He says that music can create tension, relaxation, sadness, calmness or even excitements, feeling that are all represented within a film. Film designers have a general mood for their movie and it is this mood that they illicit in the public by employing music. Many theorists have drawn a positive relationship between the physical expression of the human emotions and the music characteristics. The cognitivist theories point out that people will behave in such a manner that their physical body represents their inner emotions. While an angry person will walk faster and restless, and happy person will walk calmly and with less energy. The same way, the pitch, rhythm, melody, and the volume of the music have a close link to the emotions expressed by the singer. In reality, a song is an expression of emotions on the part of its composer. The emotive theorists suggest that music is a cause of sentiment and that people will react to music effectively depending on the kind of emotions that it expresses (Duncan, 2003: Larsen, P., & Irons, 2007). If the words of these theorists are something to go by, then it is possible to conclude that music is both an expression and a source of emotion within the public. In this regard, the use of music in film has a lot to do with the emotional appeal characteristic of the songs. The Role of Music in the Film Framing the General Mood of the Film The film making process involves the construction of a theme and the mood of the issues that are covered. The efficiency of a film is attributed to the ability of the producer to communicate effectively these vital features of the film. The general mood of a film refers to the feeling that dominates and cuts across the whole film. Apart from this, every scene in a movie is a concentration of a specific emotion. In reality, it is visually impossible to separate mood and a film. In other words, it is possible to define a film as an expression of the mood of all the characters in the film, which is complex and hard to achieve (Rothbart, 2013). Consequently, the film makers have a big role to assess all the moods that exist within the movie and to express it to the public in the most effective manner. This is the role of a filmmaker in the spotting the picture stage when they are required to explore the movie and assess the amount of music that is necessary in a given film. The use of music in a film can be used to convey the mood that the audience should anticipate in the film. In the contemporary film design, the opening a movie starts with a song to create the general mood of a song. From the first song in the film, it is possible to regard the film as romantic, scary, funny, disturbing, romantic or even comforting. A good example of a film that has employed music at its opening to provide the general mood of the movie is Citizen Kane. The film opens with an inrush of the sounds of the wind, followed by flutes, clarinets and bassoons accompanied by a disturbing background song. From the sound of the movie, it is possible to relate the movie with a sense of dark mystery. Accompanied by the “No trespassing sign” the audience is already prepared for a sad mood throughout the film (Paddock, 2013). From this light, music may be a superior channel to set the atmosphere and the mood by eliciting specific emotions within the crowd. To construct the Characters in a film Lipscomb and Tolchinsky (2012) states that the hardest part of a film processing is to be able to express the unspoken thoughts, feelings and internal life of characters without using music. These are elements of a play that cannot be expressed even with the most effective camera techniques. Although, it is possible to capture the facial expression of characters in a film, it is quite difficult to ensure that the audience reads the expression and interprets it correctly. As such, the role of the music is to speak the unspoken words and express feelings of the characters within a film. In addition, through music, it is possible to generate emotions in the crowd that conform to the emotions of the characters in the film. In line with the emotive theories, the emotions of a person largely depend on the mental processes in their mind. For instance, an angry person will show they will have a dark face and energy will be flowing throughout their body. However, it is a complex matter to convey this kind of message to the people without using music. The intonation and the tune of the sound will express the flow of energy. By understanding the emotions, feelings and the thoughts of a character, it is possible to create anticipation in the public. For instance, in the film ‘Citizen Kane’, when Emily and Kane argue over a gift, the music dies softly and the beats come in burst to create a sense that there is tension within the two people (Paddock, 2013). In fact, the audience can forecast in the next scene. It is this ability of the music to express the rather hard to express facts of a film that make it be integrated at the heart of the film. Music as part of the Narrative Structure In the contemporary film industry, film producers have used music as part of the film structure leaving the background and taking part of the movie plot. The purpose of movie in such instances is to provide an entertainment or create the culture of the movie. In such instances, it's not unusual that the music is accompanied by dances relevant in the context. Entertainment is common in romantic movies where the dancers sing for the wedding. Apart from entertainment, these songs express the mood of the dancers as happy, sad, mourning or suffering. As Boltz (2001) points out, the use of music within the structure of a film helps to build on the theme and induce a coherent flow of the scenes. Another role of the music within the structure of a movie is providing the traditions of the society. This is typical in the Indian movies where the dance and the music styles have a great touch on the community’s attitude towards the music. Almost every event in an Indian movie will be punctuated with a cultural song whose dance and tune are all coherent with the scenario. It is indisputable that the use of such music within the structure of a film provides the crowd with a better flow of the film allowing the public to make sense of every episode by reflecting on the cultural and emotional setting of the film Conclusion The history of the music in film dates back in the early 20th century when film actors composed their own songs to include in their productions. This is a film making technique that has attracted many people in the theatres for entertainment purpose and as part of hobbies. Just like human beings express their moods physically, music helps to bring out the moods of the film close to the people. Psychologically, it is possible to elicit the emotions of the public by including songs that are relevant and in tandem with the emotional setting of film play. The film makers have capitalized on this nature of the movie to take advantage of the psychological nature of human beings to capture their feelings and emotions as one way getting them aboard the dramatic experience of a movie. Also, music is used to construct the thoughts, feelings and emotion of the characters by expressing their unspoken thoughts. Finally, in some films, music forms part of the film structure to induce flow and provide entertainment or the cultural setting of the movie. References Boltz, M., (2001). Musical Soundtracks as a Schematic Influence on the Cognitive Processing of Filmed Events. Music Perception, 18(4), 427-454. Duncan, D. W. (2003). Charms that soothe: Classical music and the narrative film. New York: Fordham Univ. Press. Feiles, N., (2012). How Music Impacts, Helps Our Emotions. World of Psychology. Retrieved from :< http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/06/26/how-music- Impacts-helps-our’s-emotions/ > Larsen, P., & Irons, J. (2007). Film music. London: Reaktion Lipscomb, S. and Tolchinsky, D., (2012). The Role of Music Communication in Cinema. Retrieved from :< http://www.lipscomb.umn.edu/docs/ Lipscomb_Tolchinsky_ ICMPC8_proceedings_final.pdf > Mohana, M., (2012). Music & How It Impacts Your Brain, Emotions. Retrieved from: < http://psychcentral.com/lib/music-how-it-impacts-your-brain-emotions/00017356> Paddock, C., (2013). Music Practice Can Sharpen the Brain. Retrieved from: < http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/266809.php> Paterson, J., (2013). A Brief History of Film Music. Retrieved from :< http://www. mfiles .co.uk /film-music-history.htm> Rothbart, P. (2013). The synergy of film and music: Sight and sound in five Hollywood films. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press. Scaruffi, P., (2005). A Brief History of Film Music. Retrieved from: < http://www.scaruffi.com/history/film.html> Stewart, H., (2013). How Do Film-Makers Manipulate Our Emotions with Music. Retrieved from: < http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/0/24083243> Ushedo, B., (2006). The Arts: Music and Emotion. Retrieved from: < http://philosophynow.org/issues/57/Music_and_Emotion> Read More