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5-2019

The Influence of Film Music on Emotion

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d'Artenay, Alyssa, "The Influence of Film Music on Emotion" (2019). Capstone Projects and Master's
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California State University, Monterey Bay

The Influence of Film Music on Emotion

Alyssa d’Artenay

Music and Performing Arts

Spring 2019
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Abstract

This paper examines the use of music as a narrative device to influence an audience’s

emotions and response in the context of film and visual media as well as its use as a tool to

impart psychological transportation and assist the visual narrative. By identifying the

contributions of music as a whole, I evaluate and describe its functions, roles and relationship

with the audience through the medium of film. Using information collected from published

reports, articles and books, I provide a thorough analysis of the varying methods and

approaches used and the roles music plays in affecting the emotional response of an audience

who views film accompanied with music.

Alyssa d’Artenay

MPA 475

Professor Sammons

May 2019

The Influence of Film Music on Emotion

Introduction

When we experience a great film or television show, we immerse ourselves in the world

that it has created. Regardless of whether it is a comedy, thriller, or action-adventure, there are

many aspects of a film that make it an enthralling experience for the audience. Such aspects

can include the breathtaking cinematography, dynamic plot development, realistic special

effects, and the dialogue. These aspects are vital to the narrative process, but there is one

incredibly important creative tool that has the tendency to go relatively unnoticed: music.

Music has long been used in film as a tool to impart theme as well as a way to provide texture

to the overall narrative. The ability for music to impart meaning and impact emotions not only

just by itself, but also in the context of film makes it an incredibly integral device to influence

the emotional response of an audience while also assisting in psychological transportation.

Throughout this paper, I will examine the relationship between music and emotion

separately from and in the context of film. By first identifying the history and varying

cultural perspectives surrounding music and emotions, I evaluate and describe the evolution of

technology influencing the change of music and sound practices within the film industry and

the method by which music is used to heighten film. Lastly, I will finish with a brief insight on
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film music’s impact on narrative persuasion, transportation, functions, roles and relationship

with the audience through the application of film.

Music in Everyday Life: The Role of Emotions

Emotion in History and Culture

To truly understand the integral role that music plays in affecting the emotions of an

audience, we must first take a look into the historical and cultural factors surrounding the

concept of emotion in music. Music and emotion have long been tied together since the days of

the ancient Greeks. They are responsible for coining the terms ​mimesis​ (the representation or

imitation of the real world in art and literature) and ​catharsis​ (the process of releasing, and

thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotion)​,​ which they often related back to

music. Mimesis “values music for its representational function, in this sense embracing it

within the theory of knowledge.” In contrast, catharsis “locates music’s value in the effect it

makes upon the experiencing subject” (Cook and Dibben 47). With this information, we can

then infer that the idea of ​catharsis​ serves as an intersection between music and emotion. We,

as humans, find solace and meaning within various aspects of our daily lives; so why would

music be any different?

Throughout history, the general disposition and attitude of any group of people has

been largely reliant on societal, environmental, and physical influences impacting the world

around them. Much like musical periods, such as the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic, we can

categorize a time period by its overall mood. For example, the 1960s were initially a time of

free love and innocence, but soon turned into a time of protest and unrest among the younger
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generation due to the Vietnam War and various political assassinations. Tensions were running

high during this time period and it is very much reflected in the films released at the time. ​Night

of the Living Dead, Dr. Strangelove, ​and ​Rosemary’s Baby​ are all prime examples of films with

overtly intensive subject matter and accompanying scores; they deeply reflect the violence and

discourse that was occurring throughout the decade.

The general emotional disposition of societies throughout history has been in a constant

state of movement and will continue to be as time progresses. It can be difficult to understand

the correlation between any given culture’s perceptions of emotion and how it relates directly

to their experience of music. Realizing that there can be differences in perception and

experience for certain groups of people broadens our ability to conceive of the complex nature

of both music and emotion.

Emotion: Does It Happen Differently From Culture to Culture?

The majority of the research on the connection between music and emotion has been

concentrated on the experiences of Western audiences and has consistently neglected the

experiences of non-Western audiences. This discrepancy means we are not able to see the full

extent to which the perception and experience differ among non-Western cultures (Thompson

and Balkwill 755). Music has always played a role in cultures throughout the world; however, its

functionality and level of significance varies wildly from culture to culture. Music can be used in

social contexts, for entertainment, in rituals, etc., and its connection to the emotional status of

the people it affects is incredibly important to our understanding of their relationship:

To a large extent, cross-cultural music cognition has focused on music as sound, but

there is increasing awareness that music is a multimodal phenomenon. The behavioural

aspect of music cannot be treated as a distinct level of analysis, but is inseparable from

the perceptions and experiences of music. Indeed, the visual input from viewing the

facial expressions and gestures of a music performer can profoundly influence a

listener’s emotional responses to music. (Thompson and Balkwill 757)

Visual input obviously accounts for a large portion of how we respond to many things in our

lives: reading the facial expression of a friend after telling them important news, seeing a

newborn child for the first time, and even watching a favorite movie. Our visual acuity of a

situation can be deeply informed by our past experiences and emotional bandwidth; so when it

comes to combining the concepts of music and emotion within the context of film, there can be

both similarities and differences among the way that different cultures perceive and experience

these occurrences.

The connotations of emotions can fluctuate depending on situational behaviors, and

with these fluctuations comes the difficulty of placing a qualitative value that is universally

equivalent. For example, the word for anger in English and the word for anger in Japanese may

be interpreted by the people of those cultures with varying degrees of intensity and also

associated with a different set of situations and behaviors (Thompson and Balkwill 759). Seeing

as the same words in different languages come with their own set of inherent meanings and

tend to carry specific degrees of intensity, it is extremely difficult to develop a standardized

method of quantifying emotional cognition and behavior. ​Cross-cultural music cognition​ is a

sub-field of ethnomusicology and explores the correlation of cognitive processes and emotional
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experiences for music across cultures. The evidence from this field of research suggests that

“music experiences are also constrained in important ways by the nature of our physical

environment, the structure of the auditory system, and evolved strategies of perceptual and

cognitive processing” (Thompson and Balkwill 759). With the acknowledgement of these

constraints, commonalities across cultures begin to rise to the surface and show us that there

are possible, or likely, universal experiences relating to music. A few examples of these include

sensitivity to pitch contour rather than exact intervals, sensitivity to consonance and

dissonance, a processing advantage for music built on a small number of discrete pitch levels,

and perceived similarity of pitches separated by an octave. These commonalities allow for us to

understand how deep the connection is between our emotional cores and musicality

(Thompson and Balkwill 759-760).

How exactly does all of this information relate to film? Well, there are many connections

to be made regarding cultural perceptions of film and the differing emotional experiences

among audiences. Western films may not translate the same way in non-Western cultures and

vice versa, meaning there could be a disconnect in understanding based on that culture’s

perceptions and biases toward the content involved and the culture it comes from. For

example, one could imagine that there was most likely little-to-no consumption of Middle

Eastern media and film in America during the height of the wars in Iraq in the 2000s. However,

even with differing perceptions and biases, audiences are usually in touch with reading

emotional and musical cues. Bollywood films serve as a great example of non-Western media

that incorporates musical aesthetics and is representative of the values and characteristics of a

specific culture while also being wildly popular outside of its culture of origin. This shows that
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an audience’s ability to both appreciate and comprehend emotional and musical content is not

necessarily limited by their understanding of the originating culture itself.

Effects of Film Music on Psychological Transportation and Narrative Persuasion

Evolving Technology Influencing the Music and Sound in Film

Technology advances at a very high rate of speed and often changes the way many

fields of industry operate; both music and film are no strangers to this process. With the

breakthrough of cinema in the late 1890s, it was not long before music was incorporated into

the fibers of the industry. The 1920s marked the silent film era where orchestras often

accompanied the showing of films due to the lack of technology able to reproduce recorded

sound. The transition from the late 1920s into the 30s became the period of implementing the

research and advancements made in the recording world. The establishment and

standardization of sound reproduction practices within the theater setting made it viable for

accurate synchronized sound sequences to occur; with this lead to the ceased production of

silent films in 1929 and a conversion to sound films by the early 1930s. Music and sound for film

in the 30s and 40s was limited to the use of monaural sound and theaters back then were

generally equipped with anywhere from two to six speaker horns (Buhler 278-312). Once the

development of projection screens with sound-permeation abilities were common, the

placement of the speaker horns would be directly behind the screen to “reinforce the illusion

that the sound emanated from the film” (Buhler 312).

Moving on through into the period referred to as the Post-Classical Era in film, which

consists of the years 1950 through 1975, there were many technological advancements and
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technique developments occurring during this time. The introduction of magnetic tape

recording and stereo reproduction capabilities had a large impact on the production and

postproduction stages in the music and sound divisions for film. These new technologies made

it possible to increase the portability for on-location shooting as well as increasing the fidelity

and dynamic range of music and sound. Stereo reproduction provided a greater “illusion of

depth” on screen because it could create a vast sense of space therefore improving the quality

of the narrative. Much of the attention with this new technology was turned toward the

handling of dialogue versus the handling of music. When it came to scoring techniques in film,

these stayed grounded in the tradition of orchestra, and the approach to narrative remained

within classical confines; however, the 50s and 60s saw the emergence of the use of popular

music (mostly rock-n-roll) to attract a younger audience. Scoring a film with pre-existing

recordings became much more popular and a served as social commentary, as mood setting,

and to establish character psychology (Buhler 336-365).

Over the next 30 years, music and sound production only got better and so did the

technology. 1975 marked the age of the New Hollywood era and ushered in an entirely new

attitude around film production and music and sound design. The introduction of Dolby stereo

into the market as well as cheaper prices for audio equipment helped create a shift to

producing larger-scale movies, i.e. “blockbuster films,” that were treated as big events (Buhler

367). Movies like ​Star Wars,​ ​Jaws​, and ​Close Encounters of the Third Kind​ proved to be such big

successes that theaters that had not yet made the switch to a Dolby stereo system then did so.

The incorporation of right, center, left, and surround channels lead to more careful

construction of the sound effects and also greater significance placed on the overall sound of
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the film; audiences would feel less separation between themselves and the screen. This period

also saw the resurgence of orchestral scores, thanks significantly to John Williams and his work

on the aforementioned films. Compilation soundtracks remained extremely popular throughout

this period and were used in hit films like ​Forrest Gump​ and ​Dirty Dancing​ (Buhler 383).

Being dubbed the Digital Era, today’s technology has brought further sophistication to

the processes for sound design, recording, production, post-production, scoring, and exhibition.

The wide dynamic range and frequency response of Dolby digital sound has allowed for a

greater audience experience and overall feeling of being submerged in the realm of the film

(Buhler 392). As both music and film technology advance, so will the enjoyment of the films

being created.

How Music Is Used to Heighten Film

When we see a great film, we oftentimes find ourselves immersed in the narrative.

There can be many reasons for this including an interesting plot, captivating cinematography,

and thought-provoking dialogue. The visuals may draw us in, but it is the music that keeps us

there despite the fact that “unlike other types of popular or art music, much music for film has

been composed with the understanding that it will not be consciously attended” (Cohen 879).

Even though we may not be paying selective attention to the music we hear, we are still

keeping track of its existence and relation to the film subconsciously.

Film music can provide certain descriptive cues that improve our understanding of the

narrative within the film. We can rely on these cues to boost our emotional response to the

visuals on screen and therefore interpret the specific emotions that are being inferred. All film
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genres use music to heighten the effect the film has on an audience. Genres including action,

thriller, horror, and of course, musicals particularly rely on contributions from their music.

Horror, specifically, is a genre that is largely reliant on music as a tool to intensify the visuals.

Visual jump-scares are almost always accompanied by some kind of audible climax. Alfred

Hitchcock’s ​Psycho​ showcases this concept of an audible climax perfectly during its famous

“shower scene” when Norman Bates begins erratically stabbing Marion Crane. Paired with hard

visual cuts of a quick-moving knife are even sharper violin strings that synchronize the

movements together. The resulting product is a stinger, which is a short musical phrase that is

often indicative of an imminent dramatic climax, that stays with you until the scene eventually

falls silent. These assaulting shocks reinforce an innate primal instinct within us that comes

from a time when our hearing served as a way to distinguish threats, such as predators, from

everyday sounds (Lerner ix). Other notable examples of famous horror film scores include John

Carpenter’s ​Halloween​ and Wes Craven’s ​A Nightmare On Elm Street.​ These films apply similar

techniques to ​Psycho​’s in that they use sharply dissonant climaxes to provoke a response from

the audience: “Frightening images and ideas can be made even more intense when

accompanied with frightening musical sounds and music in horror film frequently makes us feel

threatened and uncomfortable through its sudden stinger chords and other shock effects”

(Lerner ix).

An interesting contrast to the idea of music being needed to heighten an audience’s

experience is the complete lack of music in a film. A recent example of this method is the 2018

box office hit ​A Quiet Place​ which features a family forced to live in complete silence while

hiding from creatures with hyper-sensitive hearing. The film relies almost solely on Foley and
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sound effects to create a world of a fear and chaos. This shows us that the absence of music can

play an integral role similar to that of a film ​with​ music.

Thinking about music for film without the general constraint of a genre brings us to

movie soundtracks. A soundtrack is essentially a collection of pre-existing songs and/or

instrumental music used to shape both the feeling and overall aesthetic of a film. Soundtracks

are usually curated by a music supervisor in conjunction with the director and tend to feature

popular songs; however, they can also be crafted by a popular artist or musician who was

hand-selected for the task and often creating songs specifically for the film. The role of

soundtracks and original scores are inherently similar because of how they are used to highlight

the emotional undertones/overtones happening on screen, but soundtracks are able to go a

step further due to them typically containing lyrical content (Buhler 358-362). Instrumental

music paired with visuals undoubtedly has the ability to impart meaning, but with the added

context of lyrics, a deeper and more complex interpretation of emotional content can arise.

There are a plethora of films and television shows that model after this concept. Classic

80s movies like ​Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and The Breakfast Club

all rely heavily on music that was popular both before and at the time of its release. Many of

these films have one particular song from the soundtrack that encompasses the overall

aesthetic and tone of the movie; that song also tends to be used for marketing and promotion,

including use within the trailer. So, naturally this song is the one audiences often associate with

the film itself. In the case of ​The Breakfast Club,​ audiences tend to associate “Don’t You (Forget

About Me)” by Simple Minds with the film, because of its use in the empowering final scene.

The lyrics imply a specific meaning and directly reflect what is happening on screen therefore
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drawing the audience into the narrative further and forcing our emotions in one particular

direction. These soundtracks take advantage of the fact that “music is especially good at two

things: (a) adding emotional specificity and (b) influencing and organizing time. Music can give

the underlying or implied emotions of a scene direct expression... encouraging us to ‘read’ the

image or scene in a particular way” (Buhler 17). Another instance of lyrical implication comes

into play with the recent Netflix Original show ​Russian Doll​. The plot revolves around a woman

who, while repeatedly dying in a myriad of ways, relives the night of her 36​th​ birthday. Each

time her night resets, it is accompanied by Harry Nilsson’s “Gotta Get Up.” The chorus lyrics are

reflective of the plot and provide a sense of both irony and hilarity, but as the true darkness of

the plot is slowly revealed the audience’s feeling and interpretation of the song changes, and

this “recontextualization of a consonant and familiar-sounding musical work [creates] a sense

of dread” (Lerner x).

While there are more than enough cases of music being written or selected after a film

has already been shot, there are fewer involving the opposite of this process in which the music

is chosen or written beforehand and then the film is produced around it. An illustration of this

technique is Edgar Wright’s ​Baby Driver.​ While writing the screenplay for the movie, Wright was

able to acquire licensing for thirty-six tracks for the film, many of which were written into the

script before filming. Ten of these tracks were specifically used to shape the overall music

direction for the film and became the focal point of many of the high-action scenes. The

opening scene of the movie is a car chase that is choreographed to “Bellbottoms” by the Jon

Spencer Blues Explosion (Willman). With scenes being handcrafted around pre-selected music,

the viewer’s attention is drawn towards the interplay of their relationship and how one
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influences the other. In this relationship, the music is the more dominant partner while the

visuals play a more supportive role. Overall, ​Baby Driver​ serves as a prime example of music

being used to shape an audience’s perspective of the film narrative.

The Power of the Narrative

The power of the narrative is incredibly influential on our perception of the material

given in a film. It can be easier for us to remember information when it is provided to us in a

narrative form versus a non-narrative form. Information presented in this way can also

persuade us to agree with statements that may go against what we actually believe if it is part

of the diegesis and overarching narrative. Researchers M. C. Green and T. C. Brock developed a

“transportation-imagery model of Narrative Persuasion that posits narrative persuasion occurs

to the extent the audience member is psychologically ‘transported’ into the described world”

(Costabile and Terman 319). As far as the narrative actions of film music are concerned, there is

a large amount of research to suggest that music’s role is integral in cultivating an audience’s

understanding of narrative within a film (Cohen 887-888).

There are often times when visuals do not provide sufficient information as to where

the narrative is heading, so it is up to the accompanying film music to provide the missing

context. This can be done using recurring themes and leitmotifs throughout the film that the

audience has already recognized. Research has also been done on this relationship between

visuals and music:

For example, [researchers have] suggested that a film’s musical soundtrack can provide

more information about the narrative than the visual scene itself. The researchers found
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that ratings of a scene on various on various dimensions (e.g., beauty, interest, or

tension) varied widely when the visual scene was held constant and the soundtrack was

changed – an effect that was not duplicated when the soundtrack was held constant

and the visual scene varied. (Costabile and Terman 322)

The impact of film music on not only our perceptions and emotional response, but on the actual

film itself is an incredible feat to achieve. The importance of carrying out the task of engaging

an audience does not rest solely on the metaphorical shoulders of film; it is a shared endeavor

that merits clear attention.

Conclusion

Film music, including original scores and soundtracks containing popular songs, provides

descriptive cues that improve our understanding of the narrative within a film. With these

musical indications we can pick up on the emotional situations occurring on screen as well as be

persuaded to form our own interpretations of the context behind the music and its use. From

classic movies to modern television shows, the use of music to sway an audience’s emotional

response is an effective practice and continues to be a fundamental part of the filmmaking

process.

The contributions that film music has made over the last century are endless. From its

humble beginnings as a masking technique for projector noise (Cohen 881), film music has

come an incredibly long way to take on the role it plays in today’s movie-going experience for

an audience. Music and emotion have always had a closely interdependent relationship with

one another. Analyzing these two concepts inside the context of film brings forth ideas of
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cultural perceptions and experiences, technological evolution impacting the changing

experiences of an audience, and psychological transportation and narrative persuasion. All of

these elements work together to show that film music does in fact play an integral role in

influencing the emotional response and the overall experience of an audience.

Works Cited

Buhler, James, et al. ​Hearing the Movies: Music and Sound in Film History​. Oxford University
Press, 2010.

Cohen, Annabel J. "Music as a Source of Emotion in Film."​ Handbook of Music and Emotion:
Theory, Research, Applications,​ edited by Patrik N. Juslin and John A. Sloboda, Oxford
University Press, 2010, pp. 879-902.

Cook, Nicholas, and Nicola Dibben. "Emotion in History and Culture: Perspectives in
Musicology." ​Handbook of Music and Emotion: Theory, Research, Applications​, edited by
Patrik N. Juslin and John A. Sloboda, Oxford University Press, 2010, pp. 45-69.

Costabile, Kristi A., and Amanda W. Terman. “Effects of Film Music on Psychological
Transportation and Narrative Persuasion.” ​Basic and Applied Social Psychology​, vol. 35,
no. 3, 24 May 2013, pp. 316–324., doi:10.1080/01973533.2013.785398.

Green, Melanie C., and Timothy C. Brock. "​Persuasiveness of Narratives.​" 2nd ed., (if not the
first), 2005, pp. 117-142..

Green, Melanie C., and Timothy C. Brock. “The Role of Transportation in the Persuasiveness of
Public Narratives.” ​Journal of Personality and Social Psychology​, vol. 79, no. 5, 2000, pp.
701–721., doi:10.1037//0022-3514.79.5.701.

Hughes, John, director. ​The Breakfast Club.​ Universal Pictures, 1985.

Juslin, Patrik N., and John A. Sloboda. ​Handbook of Music and Emotion: Theory, Research,
Applications​. Oxford University Press, 2010.

Krasinski, John, director. ​A Quiet Place.​ Paramount Pictures, 2018.

Lerner, Neil William. ​Music in the Horror Film: Listening to Fear.​ Routledge, 2010.

Thompson, William Forde, and Laura-Lee Balkwill. "Cross-cultural Similarities and

Willman, Chris. “The Soundtrack to 'Baby Driver' Is a Music Nerd's Dream - and Director Edgar
Wright's.” ​Variety,​ 1 July 2017,
variety.com/2017/film/news/baby-driver-movie-music-1202482594/.