Music With a Mood Opposite to The Movie Scene and Its Effects on Emotions

Abstract

Music with a mood that does not match the movie scene is a form of film music that has been experimented with and explored over time. It has been recognized to have varying effects on audiences, specifically on mental processes like perceptions and moral judgment. One goal of this research was to explore a more underexplored aspect of this kind of film music: the emotions of the audience. Furthermore, the main goal was to determine if music with a mood opposite to the movie scene would convey and amplify emotions of the audience. To study how emotions of audiences are impacted by music with a mood that does not match the mood of the movie scene, multiple clips from movies with either music that matched or mismatched their original scenes were chosen to have new music edited onto them. This led to two groups: matched and mismatched mood clips. From this point, a survey with questions about emotions felt per each clip was distributed to participants, who watched the clips live. After participants responded about emotions that they felt and the intensities of those emotions, their results were analyzed to determine that music with a mood opposite to the movie scene does amplify the emotions of the audience and can convey new emotions, though results for newly conveyed emotions varied from clip to clip.