The Effect of Music

How many times have you been watching a movie where in one scene you notice the music and suddenly you become engrossed into the world of the scene? Suddenly you're experiencing an extreme emotion, then once the music is over or you've been interrupted you stop and break out of the trance.

Adding music to a scene in a film or playing in the background to a painting can completely change the mood of the scene. For instance, if you are looking at Starry Night by Van Gogh while listening to Scary Music the mood of the painting becomes creepy. With the music playing the viewer can assume that there is something amiss in the town and that horrifying events await the poor unexpecting people. The viewer can almost see the lights inside the small homes and church turn out creating a sense of fear for what is to come.

Now if we look at the same painting but with relaxing music our mood toward the painting completely changes. It is almost as if the viewer is on top of a hill overlooking the old peaceful town with the calm night breeze giving a cold yet comforting chill to their body along with a sense of freedom. 

We can see the same effects occur in movies. In horror films music is used to build the audience up, making the scare dramatic. But if you watch a scary movie without sound the audience has nothing but the visuals to create the effect. How else will the audience know that the hero is heading directly toward eminent danger without bluntly showing it? Thus, making the scene significantly less dramatic and sometimes not successful. 

If you remove the music and the auditory signals the audience will pay more attention to the special effects. This is because all they have to rely on now are their eyes to feed them information about what is going on. We can see a prime example of this in a scene from The Eye once the audio is removed. When watching the clip please remember to mute the video so you can experience the affect.

 Without the music and auditory signals the viewer does not become engrossed into the scene. But once they are added it becomes so much easier to feel the actors anxiety. By adding the music we are taking away the viewers safety net forcing them to become one with the scene and to experience what the character is experiencing. 

As you can see the music makes a difference. Without the music to enhance the film the scare factor is lost. With music added a piece of art a painting can take on a completely different meaning.