Music as a Source of Emotion in Film

Abstract

Abstract This chapter aims to support the argument that music is one of the strongest sources of emotion in film and open doors to further empirical work that explains why this is so. The chapter is divided into five sections. Section 31.1 briefly establishes a context for discussing emotion in music and film. Section 31.2 focuses on music in film, first establishing a historical perspective and then examining the role of music at the interface of the fictional and non-fictional elements of film. It continues with empirical studies of music as a source of inference and structure, and then summarizes functions that music serves for film. Section 31.3 presents a cognitive framework for understanding musical soundtrack phenomena previously described. Section 31.4 considers the role of the composer as the origin of the source of musical emotion for film. Conclusions are drawn and future directions are suggested in Section 31.5.