Music Use in the Dark Knight Rises - Essay Example

Case Study: Music Use in the Dark Knight Rises Case Study: Music Use in the Dark Knight Rises Executive Summary The use of music in films is aimed at optimizing the artistic proficiency of the film by enhancing its visual impact in various ways. Many scholars and researchers have studied this domain in a bid to identify and evaluate the various influences and effects of music in visual arts over the years. In the Dark Knight Rises, the producers employ a vast number of visual and audio enhancements in order to increase the film’s appeal by maximizing on audience captivation. Music in films plays a significant role in optimizing audience captivation by appealing to the cognitive and emotional faculties of the audience. Psychologists and neurophysiologists have offered invaluable insight regarding the effects of music on the audience and this knowledge is incorporated in the movie making process by contemporary movie makers (Lin, et al., 2013). The following case study evaluates the use of music in The Dark Knight Rises, a modern film that embraces this phenomenon, by analyzing the suitability of the movie’s soundtrack in relation to the functional attributes of music in films. This case study specifically reflects on the use of music in this film in relation to the cognition and emotional effects on the audience. Introduction Music in films has been studied by many scholars and film theorists in various contexts and regarding various issues over the years. The most significant studies have been spurred by insightful psychological studies which showed that music in films significantly influenced and /or affected the viewer’s film perception, interpretation and even remembrance (Boltz, 2004; Auer, et al., 2012). Other studies have focused entirely on the emotive effects of music in films with reference to accompanying movie scenes (Ellis and Simons, 2005; Payri, 2009). The main significance of these studies to movie makers concerns the relationship between music and viewer cognition (Lundqvist, et al., 2008). Depending on the effective integration of music in a film, the soundtrack can play a significant role in capturing the viewer’s attention and also in aiding in the film’s interpretation which achieves the primary motive of movie making which is optimizing the viewer’s watching experience (Boltz, 2001). One of the main techniques employed by contemporary film makers is to integrate a music track with an ongoing scene in a film in a bid to influence the viewer’s emotions (Boltz, 2004). The movie maker usually employs a number of techniques to enhance this effect which can include tonal variations or dissonance, time variations and changes in the pitch characteristics of a music piece. Modern films such as the Dark Knight Rises enjoy abundant resources ranging from generous financial allocations, adequate professional staff and abundant technological enhancements. The makers of the Dark Knight Rises have exploited such vast resources in creating a spectacular film enhanced by a profound sound track. The film is a sequel of two other films, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and the main music themes are shared across the trilogy. The music composer in this film, Hans Zimmer presents a skilled technique in music and film integration offering an exceptional study topic in line with this discourse. According to Vitouch (2001), music is used for three main functions in films including; attention direction and management, emotional impact and saliency, and information transfer (perception and interpretation). Music in the Dark Knight Rises has been used to exploit all the necessary viewer captivation dimensions including attention seizure, film interpretation and perception, emotional saliency and even film remembrance. This case study offers a critical analysis on the use of music by Hans Zimmer in this movie to optimize a viewer’s experience by enhancing both emotional effects and the overall cognition of the film (Cohen, 2002). In order to scrutinize the use of music in The Dark Knight Rises conclusively, we will evaluate the effectiveness of the music in this film in relation to the three main functions outlined above. It is important to note that the three functions are interrelated and usually occur concurrently. Information Transfer The first role of music in films is to enhance the flow of information from the film to the viewer by accentuating all the relevant details in the film thereby ensuring overall comprehension of the film. The soundtrack in the Dark Knight Rises enhances information transfer thereby improving the interpretation and perception of the film by the viewer. Depending on the effectiveness of the movie making approach, the viewer can perceive the film’s story line and comprehend the different acts successfully (Vitouch, 2001). It is important to note that the interpretation and perception of a film by the viewer is mainly dependent on the visual details of the film (Boltz, Ebendorf and Field, 2009). According to Cohen (2002), music in films provide information and meaning to the storyline. and perception and thereby enhancing information flow in films (Vitouch, 2001). The two principles that govern the integration of music in films are association and structural congruence. Music in films aids in information flow by conveying meaning to the plot, setting the mood and clarifying the storyline for the viewer (Boltz, 2001; Payri, 2009). Modern movies such as the Dark Knight Rises employ the services of professional music composers to enhance the concept of musicology in films. Music composers can use various techniques to capture the attention of the viewers and sustain this effect throughout the film (Vitouch, 2001). Two of the main techniques are contrasting in practice but their effectiveness has been proven by various empirical studies. The first technique involves the use of congruent music that is played parallel to a matching scene in the film (Boltz, 2004). The second technique is the opposite of the first technique and it involves the use of incongruent music in a given scene in a film. This technique is referred to as the ironic contrast as depicted by its implementation style (Boltz, 2004). The Dark Knight Rises uses the first technique spectacularly in various scenes throughout the film. The movie contains a fifteen track soundtrack; these tracks are played parallel to their matching scenes inferring meaning to the respective scenes and hence enhancing the viewer’s perception as the film progresses. According to Boltz (2001), music in films offers an interpretive framework or a schema through which viewers’ process visual stimuli in ongoing scenes. The music composer engrosses the viewer with captivating thematic music that sustains information flow throughout the movie. The Dark Knight Rises uses a series of musical themes to accentuate the activities that occur during the film. For example, the film contains specific music themes that denote heroic deeds or success in various scenes especially when the hero is overcoming the villains. This music is played when the hero, Batman rescues Detective John Blake from near death by beating the villain’s (Bane) henchmen. The movie also contains a “troubled theme” that is played when the hero is anxious. This theme is played out in scene where the hero is anxious about getting all the people out of the doomed city. In addition, the movie also contains action themes and” fatal” themes. These themes are denoted by matching music such as; for the success themes the viewer hears slow confident beats while the “fatal” theme is accentuated by dirge-like beats. These themes are skillfully integrated into the plot to enhance meaning and also to shift the viewer’s focus favorably depending on the generating scenes. The movie contains some abrupt scene changes and these themes are essential in ensuring the viewer identifies related scenes and also to ensure that the viewer anticipates subsequent scene changes. According to other research findings regarding this function, music in films alters interpretation and perception of a film favorably provided a congruent mood is developed by the music (Boltz, 2001). However, the music composer in the Dark Knight Rises fails to enhance information flow in the movie by using limited tonal variations. The film’s music is mainly set in bass and the music composer makes very few alterations throughout the film. Tonal dissonance enhances film interpretation and perception according to musicology studies (Bravo, 2012). The music composers in this film should have created a dynamic tonal range to enhance viewer interpretation and overall film comprehension. Emotional Saliency The emotional salience of a film is one of the criteria used to determine the success of a film. The emotional salience of a film affects the attention direction and management and also the information flow in a film. The emotional salience of a film determines the viewer’s perception and interpretation by setting the mood for the viewer (Ochsner and Gross, 2005). Many researchers have studied the emotional effects of music in various contexts (Ellis and Simons, 2005; Juslin and Västfjäll, 2008; Lundqvist, et al., 2008). In the Dark Knight Rises, music elicits a lot of emotions both to the ordinary listener and also to the skilled musician. Music in films also elicits different emotions in viewers depending on the congruency and also on the association between the music and the scenes. According to Boltz (2001), viewers usually treat music in films as a schema for processing visualizations. Viewers usually associate with different elements in a film including; the characters, certain roles and activities in a bid to enhance comprehension (Igartua, 2010). These perceptual associations develop into emotional or affective associations which result in various emotional influences on the viewer (Wang and Cheong, 2006). The emotional salience generated by music in the Dark Knight Rises directs and manages the attention of viewers by creating a captivating film experience. Movie makers usually employ affective congruency in film music to ensure emotional saliency in a film (Ochsner and Gross, 2005). This technique is successfully employed in the Dark Knight Rises and it is evident that the music composer implements film music congruency to optimize emotional saliency in the film. Some of the exceptional applications of congruency in this respect include the scene that starts with “On Thin Ice” which is a synthesized choir melody that connects the audience with motions of anxiety and exotic beauty. The music composer uses heavy bass in the film’s main theme song, “Gotham’s Reckoning” and this is embellished with chants to highlight the following melodrama. A group of researchers studied the effects of music in films in developing emotional associations between the viewer and the characters in the film (Hoeckner, et al., 2011). The researchers assessed the emotional reactions of viewers towards film characters after subjecting them to different types of film music. According to their findings, the researchers concluded that film music influenced the emotional connection between viewers and film characters. The type of film music influenced character likability and thought linkages which are the main antecedents of empathy (Hoeckner, et al., 2011). In the Dark Knight Rises, the music connects viewers with characters especially the hero, Batman by invoking emotional salience using the movie’s main soundtrack, “Gotham’s Reckoning”. On the other hand, the music composer fails to integrate congruency during the introduction of the female heroine, Selina Kyle. The music composer uses a flat piece of music, “Mind if I Cut In?” which is devoid of any feminism and lacking in emotional saliency. In this light, the music composer has failed to exploit this technique maximally hence limiting the film’s emotional “binding” between the viewer and the film characters and also with some of the scenes. However, with the exception of this misnomer, the film features highly emotive music in other scenes which keep the viewers attentive and generates character empathy as desired. Attention Direction and Management Attention capturing in films entails developing and sustaining an engrossing film watching environment using appropriate movie making strategies. In the Dark Knight Rises, the movie makers succeed in attention direction and management by successfully integrating two strategies that illuminate the movie’s plot and the movie maker’s competence. The first strategy involves captivating the viewer throughout the movie and this strategy mainly depends on the movie’s visual content. The second strategy involves sequential attention capture whereby subsequent scenes engross or captivate a viewer as the movie progresses. The success of this strategy in the Dark Knight Rises is enhanced by the successful integration of music in the film. It is important to note that music in films plays an enhancement role in viewer attention capturing and its role can either be magnified or reduced by the movie’s plot (Lin, et al., 2013). Attention direction and management in a film is determined by the two other functions of music in films. The viewer’s attention can be managed by the movie maker by first ensuring the viewer understands and perceives the movie (Ochsner and Gross, 2005). Secondly, the viewer’s attention can be enhanced if the film generates significant emotional impact for the viewer; especially saliently. In the Dark Knight Rises, the producer achieves the two determinants of attention direction and management through effective integration of music in the film. Strategically integrated music in films will set the emotional tone of the film and hence capturing the viewer’s attention (Ellis and Simons, 2005). The music will also add to the meaning and information to the film’s storyline managing the viewer’s attention. Finally, according Boltz (2001), music in films can also help to clarify ambiguities which ensure that the viewer’s attention is fully directed towards the film. The music composer in the Dark Knight Rises has employed some of these strategies efficiently although one scene is deficient in emotional saliency. The composer also limits the number of instrumental sounds in the film and instead relies on electronically generated sounds. This undermines the film’s authenticity presenting an artificial composition and hence limiting the emotional connection between the viewer and the film’s scenes and characters. The composer mainly uses two notes in the composition i.e. heavy bass and soft percussion which fails to accentuate the movie’s dynamic theme. In order to totally capture the attention of a viewer, the music composer should ensure that the film renders an attractive appeal and the music in the film is radiantly composed. This involves tonal dissonance, dynamic key range and aesthetically extrapolated instrumentations (Bravo, 2012). In light of these musical weaknesses, the film highly relies on the visual content for attention management and direction which undermines the use of music in the film. Conclusion Music in films is essential for enhancing the overall film watching experience by enhancing information flow, attention direction and emotional saliency in a viewer. Music in the Dark Knight Rises enhances these functions complementing the visual content in the film. Depending on the functional fulfillment of music in films, these functions can also lead to character identification, empathy and film remembrance (Igartua, 2010). These extended functions have also been achieved in the Dark Knight Rises thereby enhancing the emotional and cognitive functions of music in the film. In addition to these studies, other researchers have studied the effect of music in films on music perception (Ochsner and Gross, 2005). Some researchers have decided that proper integration of music in films will ensure that both unskilled and skilled audiences acquire a more perceptive taste for music (Cohen, 2002). The Dark Knight Rises projects some of the effects of music in films. However, this film fails to capture the full benefits due to an ineffective integration strategy. The film fails to optimize all the three fundamental functions of music in films. Firstly, music in the film does not fully aid the viewer in the interpretation and perception of the film. This is because the composer does not employ tonal dissonance and also due to limited production keys. Secondly, the film does not optimize on emotional saliency due to limited key variations hence limited emotional connectivity between the viewer and the film. Thirdly, the film does not fully capture the attention of the viewer because the low-keyed, artificial music fails to generate radiance in the film. All these factors undermine the use of music in this particular film. Although the music composer employs some superb techniques in music integration, he fails to realize the full potential of his domain. This film’s cognitive and emotional successes are mainly derived from the visual presentations in the film. In this light, it is important for movie makers to integrate the right music in the right scenes to enhance the effects of music in films. 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