Music & Emotion in Cinema - Bachelor's Degree in New Art's Technology - Thesis Discussion (SUB ENG)
Hello everyone, I thank Professor Biasci for the word I present my thesis entitled "sound as an art form at the service of images". So let's introduce the thesis. Research on music is one of the biggest puzzles of man that we don't happen to notice every day. Although music is an international language, no one has managed to provide a scientific explanation of the complex interaction between music and emotions. The interaction between sounds, harmony and images creates and conveys a final message in the viewer. Unlike other forms of communication, music arrives directly to the viewer and does not require understanding efforts. This justifies how a music can seem cheerful and be associated with joy, when in reality the text can be sad, but we don't know it because because the text requires an effort of understanding, while the music arrives direct. To understand this we will analyze sound and music through two big points of view: harmonic and technical point of view. We introduce harmonic treatment. Harmony is the development of relationships between notes This leads to the construction of intervals and chords that can sound dissonant or consonant. A complete chord consists of at least three notes and this is enough to be able to define and convey a mood. The work and research at the basis of my thesis is the Theory of Musical Equilibration a research based on the writings of Ernst Kurth and it is the first collection on an international level that lists the emotional characteristics of the harmonies. It is the result of a German research conducted by Daniela and Bernd Willimeck. According to this theory, when we listen to a musical harmony we perceive the forces that desire a resolution. We introduce two large categories of chords which are major chords and minor chords. and then the alterations, which can change the mood of the chord. The major chord is built on the 1st, 3rd and 5th degree of a major scale and is associated with moments of contentment, stability and cheerfulness.
Ulstein's Dictionary argues that this may represent an affirmative intention or an awareness of one's will. Or better yet, a feeling of contentment here and now. A major chord sounds like this. Later we have the category of minor chords and all musicologists agree in affirming that the minor chord sounds sad. The Theory of Musical Equilibration justifies this by defining the minor chord as a major chord to which the main note of tension was stolen, or the third degree. Here we have a E flat, while in the major chord it had a natural E. The feeling of contentment is replaced by a feeling of discontent. The third degree is also called "characterizing degree" because it defines whether a chord is major or minor so if it conveys positivity or negativity. The minor chord sounds like this. The subdominant chord is a major chord that is built on the fourth degree of the major scale which is called the degree of subdominant. It communicates a relaxed mood and is associated with moments when the atmosphere becomes warmer and friendlier. It is an agreement widely used in national anthems because it goes very well with the moments of victory. So, I will listen to a sequence of chords between tonic and subdominant degree. Why? The degree of subdominant needs to be contextualized in order to define one's mood. Subdominant Tonic Subdominant Now we will show a first practical example of the use of these harmonies, taking as an example the final of the film "Dead Poets Society" in which we have students who greet Professor Keating paying him homage. Music is a cheerful and festive music, solemn but festive. Everything is emphasized even more by the professor who urges the students to get off the desk, but they don't listen to him. At the top left we have chords in Anglo-Saxon abbreviations. Between B Flat and E Flat of these harmonies, there's a relationship of subdominant which as we said earlier indicates victory. A variant of the subdominant that we have seen now, is the subdominant with the addition of the major seventh.
The Theory of Musical Equilibration defines this chord as a chord that can be associated which can be associated with moments of nostalgia. This agreement is also contextualized, otherwise it would not take on the character of a subdominant. We will see an alternation between tonic and subdominant with the addition of the major seventh. Now Tonic Subdominant And two famous practical examples taken from the musical repertoire. One is Elton John's Your Song. This chord intervenes on the word "funny" Now And the even more famous Bach's "Air on G Strings" better known as the acronym for Super Quark. Now The sixth chords are the last chords I'm going to show. The sixth alterations they have the extraordinary ability to increase the mood already present within the agreement. We will see an arpeggio of C6 present on the piano on the right. A very famous example is the famous Bohemian Rhapdody piano arpeggio As previously mentioned, the sixth addition in a minor chord has the exact opposite effect. That is, everything appears in a sad context and this communicates discontent, loneliness and heartbreak. I will always listen to the arpeggio with the final chord. And a practical example, taken from the cinematographic repertoire. We have the scene of Albus Dumbledore's death in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. At the exact moment of death two categories of agreements intervene. A minor chord and soon after a minor chord with the addition of the sixth, which as we have seen previously communicates heartbreak. Now these examples just seen are directly related to the images. They therefore have the function of the emotion already present. But what if the music were completely disconnected from the images? We will talk about counterpoint. In music, the presence of independent melodic lines is defined as counterpoint, which combine according to rules handed down from western tradition. A famous author who made extensive use of counterpoint was Bach.
In cinema it is used to create allusive and suggestive effects by generating new messages We can draw a famous example from Stanley Kubric from "A Clockwork Orange". We have the scene where gangs hit each other, but the background music completely decontextualizes everything. In fact it is the Overture of "La Gazza Ladra" by Rossini, taken from the classic Italian repertoire. Two tests have been made that confirm the Theory of Musical Equilibration, Basic Test and Rocky Test respectively, in which correspondence rates took place very high Now let's introduce the technical treatment. Technical treatment ensures understanding of several sound sources at the same time. This also affects the good understanding of the final message. Since the mixing engineer will have the task of making soundtrack, effects, everything that is at the director's discretion understandable at the same time. Why is this difficult? Because many sound sources can compete in the same space. How do we do this? I will present the main tools which are: Equalizer, for the treatment of frequencies Compressor, for the treatment of dynamics. Panning, not a tool but a technique used for treatment of stereo connected directly to the stereo signal L and R. Optional effects are: Saturator, to make a sound source more lively and brilliant. And less transparent effects, which we could define more artistic, like reverb, delay and chorus. Can music give more importance to the scene? Can music convey a different message for the same images? At this moment I present my laboratory project, in which I present a small sketch made by 40 seconds, presented 2 times with 2 different soundtracks. In the first version, I will present a soundtrack that we could define "cheerful". And now we will see how it affects the final message. So, bring that book, I bring mine, and listen to the CD so you tell me your impressions. I'll do it, okay. Well, how did it go today? Well well, but .
.. I'm destroyed, destroyed! Do you have to tell me something? Meaning? What did you do with Andrea? No, nothing yet. Yet?! You had to clarify about what happened for two months! Bye, he'll have to come personally to apologize. Oh well, we'll wait another two months then. So, the cheerful music that intervenes when man expresses his anger, has the task of alleviating tension. It eases the tension and gives the scene more optimism. The mood is positive. How does it translate into the spectator's vision? It is certainly something that will be resolved, something that must not be paid attention to. Also because the music conveys a positive mood. What is the principle? We have flowing images. The music conveys the mood of that scene at that moment. Their interaction leads to a conclusion. Now we will see the sad version. Where more importance is given to that conversation. This is a serious matter which should not be overlooked. We have an initial piano arpeggio that lends tension to the scene. And a well-defined minor chord that intervenes when man expresses his anger. So, bring that book, I bring mine, and listen to the CD so you tell me your impressions. I'll do it, okay. Well, how did it go today? Well well, but ... I'm destroyed, destroyed! Do you have to tell me something? Meaning? What did you do with Andrea? No, nothing yet. Yet?! You had to clarify about what happened for two months! Bye, he'll have to come personally to apologize. Oh well, we'll wait another two months then. As explained above, the sad mood gives seriousness to the matter. It does not ease the tension because there are no happy harmonies. The technical treatment was also applied in this sketch. The audio was taken with a separate recorder and later synchronized with the images . The voices have a chain of: Noise Gate for noise reduction, equalization, compression, saturation, and reverb. We will listen to a little bit of the footage taken with the original audio of the video camera to understand the differences.
What are the differences? In the original shot the voices are more blurry and mixed, because there is a lot of environment being the microphone further away. Not very dynamic, very compressed. And it is a very important thing because when an actor acts more strongly, I need to feel that force, in terms of sound pressure. If at the start, the shooting source compresses the sound, making the dynamics equal to the others, it is not advantageous. There is a lot of noise, and above all the overlapping sources do not allow to act separately on the tracks. After the mix the voices are brighter and more defined, we have the presence of ambient noise recorded separately, more balance between the different sound sources and above all more dynamic. Conclusions. Sound is often referred to as 50% of the image. We have seen several examples that have led us to a greater awareness of the use of this medium. Music is the means of transmission par excellence of emotions. An adequate technical treatment between music and dialogue can increase the emotion of the final message. As said previously, the principle is that the music transmits the emotional state of that scene at that moment, the interaction with the images brings us to a conclusion. I thank everyone for your attention.
Ulstein's Dictionary argues that this may represent an affirmative intention or an awareness of one's will. Or better yet, a feeling of contentment here and now. A major chord sounds like this. Later we have the category of minor chords and all musicologists agree in affirming that the minor chord sounds sad. The Theory of Musical Equilibration justifies this by defining the minor chord as a major chord to which the main note of tension was stolen, or the third degree. Here we have a E flat, while in the major chord it had a natural E. The feeling of contentment is replaced by a feeling of discontent. The third degree is also called "characterizing degree" because it defines whether a chord is major or minor so if it conveys positivity or negativity. The minor chord sounds like this. The subdominant chord is a major chord that is built on the fourth degree of the major scale which is called the degree of subdominant. It communicates a relaxed mood and is associated with moments when the atmosphere becomes warmer and friendlier. It is an agreement widely used in national anthems because it goes very well with the moments of victory. So, I will listen to a sequence of chords between tonic and subdominant degree. Why? The degree of subdominant needs to be contextualized in order to define one's mood. Subdominant Tonic Subdominant Now we will show a first practical example of the use of these harmonies, taking as an example the final of the film "Dead Poets Society" in which we have students who greet Professor Keating paying him homage. Music is a cheerful and festive music, solemn but festive. Everything is emphasized even more by the professor who urges the students to get off the desk, but they don't listen to him. At the top left we have chords in Anglo-Saxon abbreviations. Between B Flat and E Flat of these harmonies, there's a relationship of subdominant which as we said earlier indicates victory. A variant of the subdominant that we have seen now, is the subdominant with the addition of the major seventh.
The Theory of Musical Equilibration defines this chord as a chord that can be associated which can be associated with moments of nostalgia. This agreement is also contextualized, otherwise it would not take on the character of a subdominant. We will see an alternation between tonic and subdominant with the addition of the major seventh. Now Tonic Subdominant And two famous practical examples taken from the musical repertoire. One is Elton John's Your Song. This chord intervenes on the word "funny" Now And the even more famous Bach's "Air on G Strings" better known as the acronym for Super Quark. Now The sixth chords are the last chords I'm going to show. The sixth alterations they have the extraordinary ability to increase the mood already present within the agreement. We will see an arpeggio of C6 present on the piano on the right. A very famous example is the famous Bohemian Rhapdody piano arpeggio As previously mentioned, the sixth addition in a minor chord has the exact opposite effect. That is, everything appears in a sad context and this communicates discontent, loneliness and heartbreak. I will always listen to the arpeggio with the final chord. And a practical example, taken from the cinematographic repertoire. We have the scene of Albus Dumbledore's death in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. At the exact moment of death two categories of agreements intervene. A minor chord and soon after a minor chord with the addition of the sixth, which as we have seen previously communicates heartbreak. Now these examples just seen are directly related to the images. They therefore have the function of the emotion already present. But what if the music were completely disconnected from the images? We will talk about counterpoint. In music, the presence of independent melodic lines is defined as counterpoint, which combine according to rules handed down from western tradition. A famous author who made extensive use of counterpoint was Bach.
In cinema it is used to create allusive and suggestive effects by generating new messages We can draw a famous example from Stanley Kubric from "A Clockwork Orange". We have the scene where gangs hit each other, but the background music completely decontextualizes everything. In fact it is the Overture of "La Gazza Ladra" by Rossini, taken from the classic Italian repertoire. Two tests have been made that confirm the Theory of Musical Equilibration, Basic Test and Rocky Test respectively, in which correspondence rates took place very high Now let's introduce the technical treatment. Technical treatment ensures understanding of several sound sources at the same time. This also affects the good understanding of the final message. Since the mixing engineer will have the task of making soundtrack, effects, everything that is at the director's discretion understandable at the same time. Why is this difficult? Because many sound sources can compete in the same space. How do we do this? I will present the main tools which are: Equalizer, for the treatment of frequencies Compressor, for the treatment of dynamics. Panning, not a tool but a technique used for treatment of stereo connected directly to the stereo signal L and R. Optional effects are: Saturator, to make a sound source more lively and brilliant. And less transparent effects, which we could define more artistic, like reverb, delay and chorus. Can music give more importance to the scene? Can music convey a different message for the same images? At this moment I present my laboratory project, in which I present a small sketch made by 40 seconds, presented 2 times with 2 different soundtracks. In the first version, I will present a soundtrack that we could define "cheerful". And now we will see how it affects the final message. So, bring that book, I bring mine, and listen to the CD so you tell me your impressions. I'll do it, okay. Well, how did it go today? Well well, but .
.. I'm destroyed, destroyed! Do you have to tell me something? Meaning? What did you do with Andrea? No, nothing yet. Yet?! You had to clarify about what happened for two months! Bye, he'll have to come personally to apologize. Oh well, we'll wait another two months then. So, the cheerful music that intervenes when man expresses his anger, has the task of alleviating tension. It eases the tension and gives the scene more optimism. The mood is positive. How does it translate into the spectator's vision? It is certainly something that will be resolved, something that must not be paid attention to. Also because the music conveys a positive mood. What is the principle? We have flowing images. The music conveys the mood of that scene at that moment. Their interaction leads to a conclusion. Now we will see the sad version. Where more importance is given to that conversation. This is a serious matter which should not be overlooked. We have an initial piano arpeggio that lends tension to the scene. And a well-defined minor chord that intervenes when man expresses his anger. So, bring that book, I bring mine, and listen to the CD so you tell me your impressions. I'll do it, okay. Well, how did it go today? Well well, but ... I'm destroyed, destroyed! Do you have to tell me something? Meaning? What did you do with Andrea? No, nothing yet. Yet?! You had to clarify about what happened for two months! Bye, he'll have to come personally to apologize. Oh well, we'll wait another two months then. As explained above, the sad mood gives seriousness to the matter. It does not ease the tension because there are no happy harmonies. The technical treatment was also applied in this sketch. The audio was taken with a separate recorder and later synchronized with the images . The voices have a chain of: Noise Gate for noise reduction, equalization, compression, saturation, and reverb. We will listen to a little bit of the footage taken with the original audio of the video camera to understand the differences.
What are the differences? In the original shot the voices are more blurry and mixed, because there is a lot of environment being the microphone further away. Not very dynamic, very compressed. And it is a very important thing because when an actor acts more strongly, I need to feel that force, in terms of sound pressure. If at the start, the shooting source compresses the sound, making the dynamics equal to the others, it is not advantageous. There is a lot of noise, and above all the overlapping sources do not allow to act separately on the tracks. After the mix the voices are brighter and more defined, we have the presence of ambient noise recorded separately, more balance between the different sound sources and above all more dynamic. Conclusions. Sound is often referred to as 50% of the image. We have seen several examples that have led us to a greater awareness of the use of this medium. Music is the means of transmission par excellence of emotions. An adequate technical treatment between music and dialogue can increase the emotion of the final message. As said previously, the principle is that the music transmits the emotional state of that scene at that moment, the interaction with the images brings us to a conclusion. I thank everyone for your attention.