Image and Sound

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how motion pictures and television are audio-visual mediums and how they engage both our visual and aural senses. It looks at how the meaning and emotion of a piece is commonly thought to come from the image and that the sound at best just duplicates the meanings from the image. It explores how music combines with, adds to and enhances moving image in many ways and how it can heighten and refine emotion as well as meaning.

From the Paper:

"The tone of music can be used to create meaning and generate mood in a scene or in a production as a whole. In The Empire Strikes Back the rebels attempt to flee from the empire. During this sequence Darth Vader's and the rebels leitmotif is heard. Vader's motif is played at an increased tempo and higher pitch to normal. The function of this change is to show the imminent danger of the empire and Vader's likely success in capturing the rebels. The rebels leitmotif is played but does not contain the opening and perhaps most identifiable phase. The tone is slightly deeper, the pace slightly slower and is mixed up in and slightly drown out by other sound effects. The function of this use of sound is to put the out come of the situation in doubt and make the rebels attempt at escaping unlikely. When the rebels do escape the distinctive opening to their motif is played at normal pitch and tempo and without the distraction of other sounds. This functions to signal their success but also the finality of the scene. The leitmotifs and the tone of the motifs are used to guide the spectator through narrative change."

More papers on Image and Sound:

• Research Paper # 63356 : "Imaging and Optics"
• Analytical Essay # 59187 : "The Sound and Fury"
• Analytical Essay # 146726 : "Decay in "The Sound and the Fury"

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