Whilst reading about Cohen (1999) earlier, I stumbled upon his theory that there are eight functions of film music and what film music is for:
Music....
1) Masks extraneous noises
2) Provides continuity between shots
3) Directs attention to important features of the screen through structural or associationist congruence
4) Induces mood when unassociated with a particular focus eg. opening credits
5) Communicates meaning and furthers narrative
6) Through association in memory, music becomes integrated with the film and enables the symbolization of past and future events through the technique of leitmotiv
7) Music heightens the sense of reality of or absorption in film perhaps by augmenting arousal and increasing attention to the entire film context and inattention to everything else
8) As an art from adds to the aesthetic effect of the film
These are by no means strict guidelines for the composition of music or how music should impact a film but through the studies of compositional technique and emotive response to film music provides a firm study for the why we use music in film and an understanding of the effect it should be having on an audience.
No comments:
Post a Comment