Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Influence of emotions: how a film score aids audience attention and understanding in documentary film(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2023) Weikert, Grace Allison; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis AigThe music that accompanies documentaries often needs to be more valued and utilized. Although documentaries primarily focus on facts or discoveries, their musical scores, which are often secondary, house the emotional nuances and sensitivities that are the true key to their meaning and impact. Intentionally crafted scores--as the emotional undertone--draw viewers into the inner world of the film. By maximizing intellectual stimulation through the visual means of film and auditorial means of music, there is a greater chance for audience attention and understanding. This thesis seeks to examine original scores within documentary films, applications pertaining to learning capabilities, and the proper execution within documentary context to direct attention of the viewer. I include a case study using my science documentary film Holy Curiosity: Uncovering the Expansion Rate of the Universe to assess the effectiveness of sequences in aiding audiences' attention and understanding of complex scientific information through its original musical score as a structural device. Ultimately, documentary films employing an original film score may garner increased audience attention and understanding.Item Music and ecstatic truth alternate approaches to scoring a documentary film(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2019) Collins, William Campbell; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Theo LipfertMusic has the capacity to quickly and effectively communicate abstract emotional states. In documentary film, music has a powerful impact on how audiences' perceive and empathize with its characters. Despite this, its role can be diminished in comparison to its creative significance. This is often due to the timing of its creation during the production process. In this paper I will discuss two alternate methods of film scoring and how they can yield more authentic musical interpretations of real events. Through the works of various filmmakers and my own experience scoring the short film, 'The Traverse', this paper will discuss how scoring a film early in the production phase, or self-scoring can yield a more authentic display of 'ecstatic truth' in documentary.Item Film and Music : an overlooked synthesis(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2009) Wiessinger, Scott Reinhard; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Theo Lipfert.Music and image are intricately joined in almost all modern film and video. Despite this, scholars of both fields rarely address the two media as they act on each other. Cognitive studies give an interesting window on the way the brain processes music and image, but again, they do not address the intersection of the two. A few studies, most notably by Marilyn Boltz, do exist that deal with music/image joint processing, and the effect of one on the other. Boltz's work reveals the great potential of further work, both scientific and scholarly, into the synthesis of music and film. A theory of the interaction of the two is clearly needed.Item Connections : making sense of the world around us (the use of music in documentary films)(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2009) Glover, Kristin Lynn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter Metz.Music is often a neglected and undervalued element in documentary films. This thesis looks at music cognition, film cognition, and learning theory to argue for the importance of music in documentary films. Adhering to the theory that the documentary film genre is an educational tool first and foremost, the use of music strengthens a film's potential to engage with and educate an audience. The first portion of this thesis examines brain function as it pertains to music and learning, as well as research in narrative film cognition, looking particularly at how documentary films provide a unique medium to engage an audience in a story of facts, which increases their chances of retaining information presented to them, as well as providing a unique vehicle for repetition and variety in information transmission which contributes to a stronger learning environment. The second portion of this thesis analyses three popular science and nature documentary films in order to more fully understand their use of music, and how that may or may not have contributed to their success.