Designing an Emotional Contour in Film Music

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In my previous blog post I introduced the topic of music and emotion and defined three different types of principles applied to elicit emotions in music, namely evolutionary (primitive), associate and psychological principles. These are often combined to strengthen the emotional impact of a musical passage. 

As explained in my first blog (06 May 2024), emotions can be described using two main dimensions: valence, which indicates whether the emotion is positive or negative, and arousal, which reflects the level of physiological and psychological activation. Although arousal is often associated with the intensity of an emotion, it's typically in the context of physiological and neural activation. An additional factor to consider is the subjective intensity of an emotion. Generally, higher arousal corresponds with stronger emotional intensity, as more activated states tend to evoke more powerful feelings. However, these dimensions don't always align; for instance, emotions like deep sadness or profound peace may involve low arousal yet be experienced with significant intensity.

To simplify, let's consider valence (v) and arousal/intensity (a) as continuous variables ranging from 0 to 100. If we assign five levels to each variable (0/25/50/75/100%), we can identify 25 possible combinations that define a specific primary emotion. When dealing with more complex emotions that blend multiple feelings, the emotional state is defined by 2N variables, resulting in 5^(2N) possible combinations (625 for 2 blended emotions).

Baseline Emotion

A baseline emotion in music is established through the application of specific evolutionary, associative and/or psychological structural and performance musical features. For example, joyful music often uses:

• major modes such as Ionian or Lydian (cultural associations), fast tempo and staccato articulation (natural associations based on speech resemblance),

• consonant harmonies (evolutionary).

However, much of music's expressiveness arises from localised temporal events, such as cadences and modulations (psychological), or shifts in dynamics, texture, or orchestration (Spitzer, 2020). These subtle, moment-to-moment variations contribute significantly to the emotional experience, while the cumulative effect of gradual changes supports transitions between emotional states (Amador, 2022b). Psychological mechanisms, like musical expectancy are crucial in this context (see blog post from 6th of May 2024). These temporal events are deliberately employed to adjust the intensity of an emotion or to smoothly transition from one emotional state to another.

Most emotions can be classified as (Meyer, 1956):

• Emotions where expectations are delayed or unclear: These include emotions of uncertainty, such as anxiety, suspense, mystery, or fear.

  
  

• Emotions where expectations are consistently met: These encompass emotions of certainty, such as joy, anticipation, and sadness.

  
  

• Emotions where expectations are violated: This category includes emotions of surprise, such as laughter, awe, and frisson. Other emotions involving the violation of expectations might include anger (a breach of fairness expectations) or disgust (a breach of behavioural expectations).

For emotions of surprise, like laughter, awe, and frisson, there is no established baseline emotion. These emotions are typically transitory and highly dependent on context, arising in response to sudden stimuli rather than being sustained as baseline emotions, as previously explained.

Temporal Events in Emotions 

Each new piece of information introduced by the film narrative prompts the audience to experience one of the following effects:

• Alteration in the valence of a primary emotion (vp): This involves modifying the perceived attractiveness or averseness of a character or event. While the core emotion might remain unchanged, its degree of appeal or repulsion can shift. A change in emotional valence from positive to negative typically indicates a transition from one emotion to another, such as moving from happiness to sadness.

  
  

• Adjustment in the arousal of a primary emotion (ap): This leads to an increase or decrease in the overall intensity of the emotion.

  
  

• Addition or subtraction of a distinct emotion: This process introduces or removes an emotion from the initial primary emotion, with each new emotion characterised by its own unique pair of valence and arousal (v2, a2), (v3, a3), and so on.

It's essential to acknowledge that each viewer's subjective thoughts also serve as new pieces of information, although the composer has no direct access to these internal reflections. As a result, in film music, the composer must rely on the evolving narrative to adjust the emotional parameters for each state accurately. Each new narrative development either intensifies (ai) or modifies (vi) a present emotion or introduces a new primary or nuanced emotion, impacting the overall emotional landscape. Hits or synchronisation points refer to moments where the music changes in tandem with the story to enhance the intended emotional response.

The types of musical alterations that can be employed to support the narrative within a film can be categorised into:

1.   Musical changes to intensify or diminish an on-screen emotion (ap) (more or less of the same): In terms of Plutchik’s wheel of emotions, this pertains to staying within the same positive or negative valence for a given emotional axis. For instance, emotions like serenity, joy, and ecstasy represent varying levels of arousal within the same positive valence category. The visual energy in a scene is often correlated with the emotional arousal level, and thus, the musical energy should be adjusted accordingly. Visual energy can be gauged by the movement speed of characters and objects, the frequency and type of picture cuts (e.g., slow crossfades versus hard cuts), and the nature of camera movements, zooming, and panning (Newhouse, 2020). To manage the intensity of the primary emotion and align it with on-screen developments, the most common musical adjustments include:

• Increasing or decreasing dynamics

• Adjusting tempo

• Modifying beat subdivision in rhythms

• Varying the size of the instrumentation

• Altering harmonic rhythm or the frequency of chord changes per measure

• Key modulations while maintaining tonal quality. Modulation in music can be likened to a gear shift, altering the emotional and dynamic intensity. Amador (2024) discusses many common strategies for enhancing or diminishing brightness and emotional impact through modulation.

Musical transitions that initiate, conclude, or introduce a new emotion: These often involve either the commencement or cessation of music. An emotion can be added/layered or diminished by adding or subtracting specific musical elements that define its baseline characteristics (Amador, 2024). For surprise-related emotions, employ techniques that defy expectations, such as abrupt changes in dynamics, texture, or unexpected chromatic harmonies (Amador, 2024). Techniques to initiate or conclude an emotion include:

• Arriving to a new harmony

• Implementing cadences

• Changing the meter

• Altering the phrase structure regularity

• Introducing accents

• Employing a specific major or minor scale

• Modifying orchestration, texture, and instrumentation (timbre)

• Adjusting the height and width of the register

• Incorporating associative musical signs and extended techniques, such as appoggiaturas, trills, glissandi, or multiphonics, depending on the desired emotion

Musical changes to transition between emotions on different axes in Plutchik's wheel: To shift from one emotion to another on a different axis in Plutchik’s wheel of emotions, start by gradually replacing the baseline musical elements of the current emotion with those associated with the new emotion (Amador, 2024). Depending on the pacing and content of the narrative, this transition can involve a series of subtle adjustments or a single, abrupt change.

Musical changes to transition between opposite emotions on the same axis: For example, transitioning from joy to sadness involves shifting to the opposite pole on the same emotional axis. Unlike transitions between different axes, this shift typically requires a more straightforward approach, as most performance and structural features will need to switch to their counterparts (e.g., from staccato articulation, fast tempo, and major key for joy to legato articulation, slow tempo, and minor key for sadness) (Amador, 2024).

Example

In the "Love Theme" from my score for the horror story Eyes of Love, the emotional contour progresses through the following phases:

• Establishing a Baseline Emotion (Romantic Love): The initial phase sets a foundation of tenderness, characterized by both natural and cultural associative elements. The natural associative performance features include legato articulation and a slow tempo, which evoke a sense of calm and affection. Complementing this, the cultural associative features involve the use of a C major scale accompanied by consonant harmonies and timbres typically linked to love, such as the flute, harp, and strings. This section serves to evoke the emotion of romantic love.

  
  

• Substantial Temporal Event 1: Intensification through Modulation (Excitement): The first significant event is a modulation from C major to C Lydian, designed to heighten the emotion from tender love to a more passionate and desirous love. This brightening modulation shifts the emotional tone, deepening the listener's emotional engagement.

  
  

• Substantial Temporal Event 2: Building Anticipation: The next phase involves the anticipation of a climactic moment, achieved through an ascending harp glissando and a crescendo cymbal tremolo. This creates a sense of expectation and tension, amplifying the emotional intensity. The subsequent resolution of this tension, through a contrasting valence, enhances the listener's emotional experience.

  
  

• Substantial Temporal Event 3 (Climatic Passionate Love): The final significant event is a semitone modulation, specifically a major seventh upward modulation or transposition of the main theme. This modulation further brightens and intensifies the emotion, evolving it from romantic to passionate love.

Figure 1

“Love Theme” from the Author’s Score for Eyes of Love (Audio)

Hope you enjoyed this blog post on Music and Emotion ! #musicemotion

In the next blog post we will discuss different types of modulations to brighten or darken emotions in music.

Keywords: Film Music Composition, Emotional Impact in Music, Music and Emotion Theory, Musical Modulation Techniques, Film Scoring Techniques, Music Emotional Contour, Soundtrack Emotion Analysis

New Book: If you like this topic, you can get a lot more information in my new book Designing Music for Emotion - A Practical Guide for Fim and Media Composers and Music Enthusiasts

Buy it on Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/3kjsNDz 

Buy it on my Shop: www.carlosamador.co.uk/shop