Scholarship & Research
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/1
Browse
3 results
Search Results
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 Ocean conservation films: connecting the viewer(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2020) Lanier, Sarah Elizabeth; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis AigDocumentaries about ocean conservation have relied on the model of conventional environmental science documentaries with their use of expository film techniques. Ocean conservation films of this kind follow traditions of objectivity, authority, pressure for change, and placing the audience in the uncomfortable role of acting as an antagonist to aquatic life. By examining a new model for ocean conservation films in which audiences feel connected to the ocean instead of alienated from it, we can create more profound stories as well as emotional connections with the viewer. My film, 'The Crab Man of Kodiak' (2020), utilizes a localized portrait film format to engage the viewer in a discourse about ocean conservation without vilifying them, creating a balance between advocacy, science, and emotion.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.