Book Review: James Buhler and Hannah Lewis (eds), Voicing the Cinema: Film Music and the Integrated Soundtrack (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2020)

James Buhler and Hannah Lewis (eds), Voicing the Cinema: Film Music and the Integrated Soundtrack (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2020), pp. 309, ISBN: 9780252043000 (pb), $30; ISBN: 9780252051869 $19.95 (ebook ePub).

The Musical Arrangement of a Live-Action Film

The purpose of the study is to analyze the characteristics of a live-action film’s musical arrangement; to identify the impact of musical arrangement on the audience’s perception, on the example of the film composer Eric Serra’s works. The research methodology is to apply the following methods: theoretical – analysis of the music functions in making a film and the implementation of the director’s vision, generalizing the influence of musical arrangement on the viewer. Scientific novelty. The functions of film music that help in creating a live-action film were analyzed for the first time, a detailed analysis of the interdependence of music and visuals was made, by theoretical analysis of music functions; it has been found out how it affects the perception of the audience. Conclusions. In the article, we analyzed the functions of musical arrangement in a live-action film. Through the analysis of the influence of music on the audience’s perception, it has been established how the musical arrangement helps to realize the author’s vision. The role of music in making a live-action film has been researched. Through theoretical and practical research of various cinematography aspects that are relevant at the moment (in particular, the problem of the sound space in a movie), it becomes possible to reach a new aesthetic level of design, creation, perception and understanding of cinematic works.

Individual differences in music reward sensitivity influence the perception of emotions represented by music

Although music is one of the most important sources of pleasure for many people, there are considerable individual differences in music reward sensitivity. Behavioral and neurobiological characterizations of music reward variability have been topics of increasing scientific interest over the last two decades. However, it is not clear how differences in music reward sensitivity might influence the perception of emotions represented by music and, specifically, how music reward sensitivity could influence subjective music evaluation when the affective valence of music is considered. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between music reward sensitivity and the perception of emotions in music, taking into account the emotional category of stimuli (pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant music clips). Music reward and emotion perception were also explored as a function of gender, musicianship, and music discrimination skills. We used the Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire and the previously validated Film Music Stimulus Set (FMSS); participants rated FMSS excerpts for affective dimensions (valence, energy, and tension arousal) and discrete emotions (happiness, anger, fear, tenderness, and sadness). Our results showed that music reward was the main factor influencing FMSS evaluation, particularly for excerpts associated with positive affect. Gender had an important influence on evaluations linked to the negative pole of emotions, and music discrimination skills seemed to be associated with cognitive aspects of music analysis, rather than with the emotional architecture of pleasant music excerpts. Our findings highlight the need to consider music reward sensitivity and gender in studies of music and emotion, and open the possibility of using the FMSS in studies exploring the neurobiological and psychosocial bases of music emotion.

French adaptation of a film music stimulus set: Normative emotional ratings of valence and arousal prompted by music excerpts

The aim of this study was to obtain French affective norms for the film music stimulus set (FMSS). This data set consists of a relatively homogeneous series of musical stimuli made up of film music excerpts, known to trigger strong emotion. The 97 musical excerpts were judged by 194 native French participants using a simplified normative procedure in order to assess valence and arousal judgments. This normalization will (1) provide researchers with standardized rated affective music to be used with a French population, (2) enable the investigation of individual listeners’ differing emotional judgments, and (3) explore how cultural differences affect the ratings of musical stimuli. Our results, in line with those obtained in Finland and Spain, demonstrated the FMSS to be robust and interculturally valid within Western Europe. Age, sex, education, and musical training were not found to have any effects on emotional judgments. In conclusion, this study provides the scientific community with a standardized-stimulus set of musical excerpts whose emotional valence and arousal have been validated by a sampling of the French population.

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Artikelbeginn:[English title and abstract below] Zu den bitteren Erfahrungen einer Corona-Erkrankung kann der Verlust des Geschmackssinns gehören. Es hat sich jedoch gezeigt, dass Menschen auch aufgrund vorangegangener Geschmackserfahrungen schmecken können. Kann der Geschmack eines Gerichts im Gehirn erinnernd abgerufen werden, ist es also möglich zu schmecken, obwohl der Geschmackssinn (temporär) verloren gegangen ist? Ein solches Aufrufen sinnlicher Erfahrungen ist integrativer Bestandteil rezeptionsästhetischer Lektüreaspekte und kann die Bereiche aller Sinneskanäle umfassen: Wird eine innerdiegetische Saite angeschlagen, überträgt sich der Klang aufgrund von Erfahrungswerten in unsere Wahrnehmung. Open the Book, Strike Up the MusicForms and Functions of a Literary Soundtrack This article is based on the premise that literary texts exhibit a diversity of sounds that are not audible in the strict sense of the word. Instead, the literary sound experience is delegated to readers’ imaginations. It is only during the reading process that, depending on the readers’ experiences, sounds can be made ›audible.‹ Within the text, sounds are evoked by different literary devices. These include the use of literary soundtracks, which are generated when individual (pop) songs are quoted or alluded to in the text or the paratext. They also encompass references to band names, song titles or lyrics, or to sound storage media and their specific characteristics or to objects of everyday and popular culture (e.g. T-shirts). For the text analysis, a tool from the field of film music studies is employed: Georg Maas’s differentiation between a tectonic, a syntactic, a semantic and a mediating function of film music is used to discriminate between the diverse functions of pop music literary soundtracks. Thus, a theory that spans different media is deployed across another media boundary in order to illustrate the role of pop music in contemporary literary texts for young adults.