Film Music in Cognitive Sciences
Film music is such an essential part of films because of the ways it affects our viewing experience, and it is usually considered similar, but distinct from dialogue, sound effect, etc. Film scholars use the term “diegetic music” to describe music that the characters can actually hear in the fictional world in a movie/tv show. For example, if a soft, classical piece is playing in a diner, the music would be diegetic. Non Diegetic music, on the other hand, refers to external music that is used to set the mood in a film, such as loud, harsh music in a car chase.
The music in films affect our brains in a variety of ways. Certain sounds tend to different parts of the brain, which can influence your emotions and change the way you consider a scene or movie. An example of how music manipulates emotions in films is if a man in a black hoodie is standing at the shore of a lake and just staring into the water. If the music was serious and terrifying, we would assume that the man was coming up with an evil plan. If the music was sad and soft, we would think that he was mourning something. Another example is if a teenage boy is getting chased. Chase music would make us assume that the boy was in trouble and was getting chased by a bad guy, while goofy music would make us think that the boy was simply running towards something fun or was playing tag with a friend.
- How Film Music Shapes the Storyline. (2013, October 30). Retrieved December 05, 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-shapes-film/201310/how-film-music-shapes-the-storyline
- Sound and Vision: Using Music in Film to Manipulate Emotions. (2017, July 10). Retrieved December 05, 2020, from https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/2013/09/art_of_the_score_the_mind_music_and_moving_images-2/
- Film Studies: Film music. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05, 2020, from https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/filmstudies/music