Research into the effect of music in films

The Effect of Music in Films

Music in films has the ability to expose characters feelings, actions and a films tensions. It creates a certain atmosphere and enables the film to get the audience to experience and establish the relevant mood. 

It also gives the audience the ability to connect emotionally to the characters and their situation and can reinforce the story/message. It can enhance the ambiance and the audience can relate to the sounds and get pulled into the story.

Music can also set the scene, for example the sound of bagpipes over a shot of misty green highlands may give the impression that the film is set in Scotland.

Music in horror films

The daily mail published an article online in 2010 which talks about scientists exploration into why certain music in horror films scare us.

The article begins by saying:

"From the screeching violins of Psycho to the crashing chords of Jaws, film-makers have long relied on disturbing soundtracks to heighten suspense and terror.Now, scientists think they know why the music used in scary movies is so good at making our flesh creep.They have shown that the harsh, discordant and unexpected sounds used in horror soundtracks imitate the screams of frightened animals."

The article goes on to tell you about Professor Daniel Blumstein who led the study at the University of California, Los Angeles where he studied the the soundtracks of 102 of the worlds most popular movies of different genres. The study also involved composer Peter Kaye at Kingston University, London. They looked into the music in films as well as special effects and screams. The analyst showed that horror films had the most noisy female screams and a higher than expected number of abrupt shifts up and down in pitch. The study concluded that the use of non-linear sounds was not random- but used to enhance the emotional impact of scenes. 

'Non-linearities are commonly produced when animals are under duress, such as the fear screams produced when animals are attacked by predators,' he said.
'In mammals, and possibly also in birds, when you push too much air through your larynx you produce these non-linear sounds and its a pretty unbluffable signal of fear,' he added.
'It may be that film makers intuitively realise that they can use these types of sounds.'

Another article named 'Secrets of the scary screen: why movies can frighten us' on www.wired .co.uk gives their opinion on sound in horror films. They say:

"In everyday life, music and sound are often used subliminally. Horror films use the fundamentals. They tend to mimic dangerous, natural sounds that have an influence on us through their ability to play on primal fears and signify danger.

For example, The Exorcist used recordings of angry bees and screaming people, then threw them together; people didn't know what it was but they reacted to it because such jarring sounds put us on edge."