The Power of Film to Provoke Emotion
Rebecca Martelotti
LIU Post
She has no idea that something is wrong, but a murderer is lurking just outside of
her bedroom. He stands waiting in the doorway, silently watching her, as she sits in front
of her vanity table. He slips into her bedroom with a kitchen knife and the viewer’s heart
begins to pound through your chest. As he raises the knife and the girl begins to scream,
the music reaches a crescendo and the viewer’s fear peaks along with the chords from the
piano.
This is the opening scene from John Carpenter’s 1978 Halloween. The terror that
this fictional scene can elicit is real, though the audience knows it’s a movie with fake
blood and may have watched it many times. Real too is the excitement you feel watching
300 when the Spartan and Persian armies advance towards one another, and the tears you
cry during My Girl when a young girl cannot understand the reasons of her friend’s death
as she weeps at his funeral.
Films are capable of eliciting a wide range of intense feelings in their audiences.
Directors are able to make viewers laugh, cry, jump, gasp, scream, gag, smile, and sigh;
indeed, many of the best films allow the audience to experience a broad gamut of
different emotions, all in under two hours. As Noel Carroll explains in Passionate Views:
Film, Cognition, and Emotion (1999):
“In everyday life, when an acquaintance or colleague slights us- perhaps by a
passing remark- we are not immediately angry, even if we are hurt, because we
may wonder whether the insult was an intentional wrong... In typical fiction films,
on the other hand, we rarely have to waver so long. So often, characters wear the
meanness of their actions on their sleeve and, if that were not enough, we also
have access to the disapproving judgments of the people around them... Generally
in fiction films, that is, the detection work that our emotions need to do for us is
somewhat minimized because the scenes and characters in such films have very
frequently already been made or designed from, so to speak, the point of view of
anger to begin with; or, to say it differently, they have been emotively prefocused
or predigested for us” (p. 29-30).
Emotions are carefully packaged and sold in movies. Film is an instrument that, when
used to its fullest potential, is explicitly designed to elicit powerful and specific emotions in a
relatively short period of time. Films immediately play on our eyes and ears, having an
emotion has effects on attention and perception. This is possible by using specific aesthetic
techniques such as narrative structure and editing to provoke emotion within the viewer.
The viewer is constantly responding to the film emotionally. In “Enjoying film
studies: the necessity of emotion,” Gerbaz discusses how while watching certain types of
films our bodies responds emotionally. The viewers may shed tears, burst out laughing,
become tense or anxious, and even afraid or revolted. Emotions usually equate to
enjoyment, the viewer is taking in the scene and experiencing it. According to Gerbaz
(2010), “an emotional response from the viewer can sometimes occur before they are
rationally aware of the cause of its contents (p. 89).” For example, during a horror film a
sudden suspense moment can make a viewer may become startled do to a suspenseful
moment, even before processing the scene.
According to film editor Valdis Oskarsdottir, “When watching a film, the
audience shouldn’t be in this world, they should be in the world of the film and the story
that is being told.”
Narrative Structure Created Specifically For An Emotional Response
The narrative structure of a film is meant to carry the audience on an imaginative
journey. The structure of the narrative is really a path of emotion. The audience watches
the film and searches for scenes that are meant to excite them and make them feel some
type of emotion. In order to maintain audience interest, a narrative will often reveal a
character through conflict and emotions (David, 2014, p. 48). According to Stephen
LaBerge (1985), the audience experiences ‘lucid dreaming’ which is a state similar to
meditation or dreaming while conscious (p. 50). At the end of the film, this state is lifted
from the audience. While watching a film, the viewer becomes connected to the
protagonist, they want the same goals and fear the same dangers. Essentially, the viewer
quickly shares the protagonist’s life.
According to theorist Noel Carroll, there is a certain type of fusion or connection
between the spectator and the character. The audience is identifying with character on
screen. It can be a type of assimilation. The audience may connect with multiple
characters, especially during horror films, where the audience becomes both “Red Riding
hood and the Wolf,” because as the film carries on the audience comes to know both
sides of the story (Smith, 1994, p. 38). For example, if a person is watching a film where
the character faces a monster, he or she doesn’t experience the same type of emotion as
that character. Rather than fearing the monster, he has anxiety for what the character
faces because he imagines the character facing it rather then himself. Carroll argues that
the audience doesn’t share the character’s emotion but rather “comprehends, evaluates,
and responds to the character’s situation and interests (Smith, 1994, p. 38).”
Films also often use point of view shots (POV) in order to prompt the audience to
see as the character does. The audience perceives the emotional responses of the
character because the camera is able to zoom in closely to show fear in the faces of the
characters or can use a dolly to zoom out and show the complete frame of the character
experiencing joy (Harold, p. 285, 2010).
Particular genres of films use different techniques in order to provoke emotion
from within the viewer. Melodramas are often very sappy and emotionally manipulative.
Melodramas focus on basically normal everyday characters that are mostly perceived as
good people experiencing tough situations. This genre is extremely popular and typically
displays domestic issues such as family and romantic relationships, characters who suffer
from tragic circumstances, and social or class concerns in the background (Frome, p. 27,
2014). Therefore the viewer responds to the film the same way they would to a person
going through similar events in real life. Melodramas also use specific techniques in the
narrative structure to produce sadness within the viewer. According to Frome (2014),
melodramas make us cry because they encourage and emphasize the psychological
activities and emotions that precede crying. In conclusion, melodramas manipulate the
viewer’s emotion by portraying characters in undesirable situations so that the viewer
sympathizes when something cannot be improved or changed. Other genres, for example,
like action, show a character that has the ability to overcome obstacles so the viewer does
not feel sad. Horror movies display characters in dangerous situation yet the viewer’s
reaction is to be afraid, not sad. The viewer is able to imagine themselves going through
that particular situation and can actually feel the fear. They watch the character an
become scared as to what may happen to that character rather then sad. Melodramas have
the ability to produce strong emotions.
In the book, Mixed Feelings: Conflicts in Emotional Response to Film, Harold
discusses how emotion in response to narrative film is often, but not always, focused on
characters. “The audience experiences simulation theory where they respond as they do
because they imagine the experiences that the characters have, and because they come to
care about the characters and what happens to them” (p. 282). Emotions felt on behalf of
or in sympathy with a film’s main characters is one central driving force. This is why
films use narrative and editing techniques, to enhance the emotion, thereby making the
film more powerful.
Post-production Editing Used In Films
Films are produced with the intent that the audience will connect and relate to it,
because if the audience does not, then the film is pointless. Editing is all about telling the
story with images and sounds, just as screenwriting is telling the story with words, and
directing is telling the story with performance and camera. Editing can have
straightforward goals or less straightforward goals. Most importantly, editing is about
capturing the emotion of the moment that is being presented to the audience. Every
second of the film is cut with the intent to engage the audience.
Walter Murch, who is known for his work on Francis Ford Coppola’s The
Godfather (1972) and Apocalypse Now (1979), is one of the leading editors in film
editing. He has been nominated for nine Academy Awards and has won three. He is the
only person to win Oscars for both sound mixing and film editing, and was the first
person to ever win for an electronically edited film, using the system Avid. While editing
Murch uses a system known as “the rule of six,” meaning the six most important criteria
to edit a scene. According to Murch, the first and most important reason as to why he
would make a cut is due to the emotion of the scene because then the whole scene could
lose it meaning and therefore the emotional connection to the audience, which is the
purpose of the film (Murch, p. 18, 2001). The “cut” is the moment of transition from one
shot to the next and should be something that leaves the audience unaware of it. Cutting
is bringing one idea to an end and starting something new. “To me, the perfect film is as
though it were unwinding behind your eyes, and your eyes were projecting it themselves,
so that you were seeing what you wished to see. Film is like thought. It’s the closest
thought process of any art (Murch, p. 4, 2001).” Murch feels emotion is the most
important thing to preserve while film editing.
Editing has the ability to anticipate and control the thought processes of the
audience. For example, by cutting away from a certain character before he finishes
speaking it may encourage the audience to think about only about the face value of what
he said. On the other hand, if the cut lingers on the character after he finishes speaking, it
allows the audience to see from the expression in his or her eyes, that they may not be
telling the truth and therefore the audience will think differently about him and what he
said (Murch, p. 67, 70, 2001).
Valerie Lasser is an editor for the past 20 years at Big Sky Edit, a post-production
house that edits everything from commercials to music videos. Lasser works on Avid, an
advanced editing software. According to Lasser, usually the only two real emotions that
the viewer feels and the most powerful emotions in any story is fear and despair.
Working on 60- second commercials can be a challenge within itself because
commercials are always going to try to sell the viewer something and in order to do this;
the commercial is going to push some particular human emotion. For instance, editing a
commercial to be funny to make a viewer want to buy Doritos or creating a commercial
to be heart-warming to have a person consider purchasing life insurance for a loved one
or trying to be overwhelmingly loving and sensual to make a person buy Viagra.
Commercials are an exaggerated form of an emotion in a short period of time. For
example, during the 2014 Super Bowl, Coca-Cola realized a commercial that was about
world peace and being a peaceful unity that many people loved. “It’s this Coca-Cola
commercial - they are selling you soda and they manage to provoke billions of people
into feeling that emotion and blogging and taking about it based on a super bowl spot in
60 seconds. (V. Lasser, personal communication, November 2014).” While watching a
movie, the audience signs up for a two-hour ride and the viewer is involved and
entertained. “The editor is the one who puts the puzzle together and timing is everything
and telling that story flawlessly without seeing the edits and without feeling like your
being set up but just moving with it and feeling the emotion. The editing intensifies the
scene. (V. Lasser, personal communication, November 2014).”
Ultimately, before the public gets to see anything on a screen and judge it, besides
from the writing, shooting, set design and casting, has been edited. The editor is
essentially the last person to ever put their hands on the film.
Post-production Editing Techniques Used To Provoke Emotion
Due to today’s technology and editing machines, such as Avid, Final Cut Pro or
Adobe Premiere, allows the editor to have more control of the film. Editors are able to
use the technology to their advantage in order to produce a response from the audience.
Editing is a major technique used in the film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless
Mind. The script is in a circular structure, which means the movie ends where it begins.
The opening scenes are the ending scenes, but the viewer is unaware. The two main
characters Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) met and begin to fall in love.
The viewer is aware that this isn’t the first time this has happened, but the characters
aren’t. The main editing technique used is the concept of a particular moment in time
being repeated. The pace of editing throughout the film matches the memories occurring
in Joel’s mind. As the film is coming to an end, the editing is suddenly much slower and
changes tones. It is at this point, when the tone is altered, that Joel becomes aware that his
memory of Clementine will be gone forever and the editing shows this sadness (Silvey,
p.143, 2009). The cycle of the relationship will repeat itself and each time the viewer will
become more in tuned to the characters emotions due to the use of techniques, such as
narrative, mise en scene, cinematography, editing and soundtrack- all which help to show
the intimacy, uncertainty, pain, and hope of romantic relationships.
Mise en scene is a technique in which things appear within the camera frame in
order to create the film’s themes and moods. These things can be objects, locations and
costumes (Silvey, p. 141, 2009). The technique of mise en scene is used throughout
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to produce nostalgia in the viewer over Joel and
Clementine’s relationship. For example, when Joel must collect all the objects that
remind him of Clementine in order to begin having his memories erased, Joel’s apartment
seems empty, reflecting his emotional state without Clementine. As Joel’s memory is
erased, objects move to places where they don’t belong, for example their bed is placed
outside in the snow where they first met and the Chinese restaurants of their first date
changes locations, which signals the memories erasing to the viewers. The clinic, where
Joel has his memories erased, is very cluttered and disorganized with papers all over. The
clinic set up is to show the human mind is not orderly and memories are complex and
emotional.
Cinematography, the use of light, shadows and lenses in order to help create and
enhance performances while providing every film its own unique look. It emphasizes the
moods of the character and their relationships. The first time that Clementine and Joel
meet, the camera wavers around and shows them from different angles. The feeling of
awkwardness of the characters conversations is reflected by the uneasiness of the
cameras. The camera lingers on the characters faces as they are drawn to each other
(Silvey, 2009, p. 142). Throughout the film, the cameras move along with the characters
to portray the intimacy of their interactions. When Joel decides that he does not want to
continue with the memory erasure, he is screaming and running through a train station in
a complete state of panic. The camera emphasizes this panic by showing Joel from a
distance by using high angles and a wide shot. According to Carl Plantiga in Passionate
Views: Film, Cognition, and Emotion, the series of camera shots involving a
“point/glance shot” (a shot of a character’s face) followed by a “point/object shot” (a shot
identifying what the character is seeing) “communicates information about emotion in an
efficient and powerful way” (1999, p. 241).
Another key aspect of cinematography throughout the film, is the way both
lighting and shadows are used to exploit the spaces in Joel’s memory. As the process
begins, the viewer sees Clementine disappear into shadows, easily showing the viewer
that the memories of her are slipping away (Silvey, 2009, p. 142). The frames also
become surrounded by darkness and closes in on Joel as the procedure comes to an end.
Other examples of this technique are the use of sunlight and a dim yellow light in Joel’s
memories of his childhood in order to evoke nostalgia.
There are many different ways to use post-production editing techniques in order
to assist the narrative structure of a film. Editing was created in order to deal with
technical problems such as continuity though time and place shifts. It is able to enhance
the creativity of a scene in order for the characters to come alive. According to Lorenzetti
(2011), the cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto feels, the lighting and the position of the
camera, along with the choice of lenses is based on the story and on the emotional arc of
the characters. While working on the film Water for Elephants, Prieto said he wanted to
“visually separate the time frames” since half of the movie is flashbacks of the main
character. In order to achieve this he used an anamorphic lenses for the flashbacks. These
lenses are used to capture wider shots that appear compressed but have increased
resolution and reduced grain, therefore giving the shot a unique look that appears less
bright. For the present, Prieto used spherical lenses which are the standard lenses used to
film and do not change the resolution or aspect ratio of the shot. The lighting for the
present was fluorescent and industrial in contrast to the flashback scenes on the train and
in the circus, which was candlelight (Lorenzetti p. 52). The dominate purpose of editing
is to make the narrative clearer and add dramatic emphasis.
Cinematography is used to enhance the fine details of the images within a
particular film that help draw in the audience and create realistic settings. The movie
Walk The Line (2005) is about the life of singer Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix).
Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael wanted to directly communicate the emotion of
the film through music and images. The goal was to film the concert scenes from the
perspective of Johnny Cash. This way the audience would be seeing the reaction of the
people attending the concert (Heuring, 2005, p. 70). “I felt Johnny Cash was kind of a
rough guy, so the images could be rougher and grainer.” Cash is shy when he first walks
on stage but then becomes less timid, cameras was used to portray this. According to
Papamichael, instinctive cameramen are able to find the moment of emotion and capture
it. The camera is more still when he is shy and then gains movement as Cash’s body
language becomes freer. The film’s visuals become more frantic in narrative scenes as
Cash’s struggles weigh on him and he falls into a cycle of drug abuse (Heuring, 2005, p.
71). Papamichael used more handheld zoom cameras, snapping in close, reacting to facial
expressions and movements, “I loved seeing those beads of sweat on Joaquin’s forehead.
According to Heuring (2005), Papamichael also changed the lighting throughout the film
as time goes on in order to make Joaquin (Johnny Cash) appear older. He also used
lighting to show the transition between present day and the flashbacks of Cash’s
childhood. The childhood was more gray in color and grittier. The film starts with
exterior shots of a Tennessee prison, which is where Cash’s most famous concert took
place and was meant to be a symbol of his empathy for those who suffer from demons.
The film then shows an empty cell and a tour bus, as shouts from a crowd becomes
louder. The scene then shows an extreme close-up of a saw blade as the screams become
louder and the Cash’s face is shown for the first time (Heuring, 2005, p.73).
Eye light is a light that creates a small sparkle of light reflected from the eye’s
surface, giving sparkle to the subject’s eyes. This cinematography technique gives the
characters on screen life. A ring that contains a series of small lights is attached to the
lens of the camera and the result is a soft glow on the face and small circle of light
directly in the center of the eye. According to Nulph (2009), without light in the eyes, the
characters appear unemotional and the audience would have no connection to them
because they wouldn’t be able to see their expressions (p. 61). Lighting helps to shape the
actors faces to both highlight their most appealing features and enhance the underlying
emotions. Eyes reflect light and duplicate it, therefore giving depth to the character’s
faces. In Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972), cinematographer Gordon Willis
“created a light design so that Marlon Brando’s character was always sweaty and his eyes
shaded (Nulph, 2009, p. 61).” This prevented the audience from seeing the Godfather’s
emotions and understanding his thoughts.
Directors have their own editing styles and presentations through films. It is the
director who decides where to place the camera and how to adjust the performance for
the finished product. Camera placement and movement increase the emotional impact of
a film. For example, the angle that the audience views a person from impacts how they
see them. People often feel intimidation from things that are bigger then them. Shooting a
subject from a low angle makes that subject look powerful and intimidating, while
shooting a subject from a high angle makes them look small and weak (Cassidy, 2014, p.
57). Many directors will also use moving shots in their films because these shots are
engaging but the audience does not usually realize that the camera is even moving.
In the movie Fight Club, two friends, rebellious Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and the
narrator Jack (Edward Norton), create a club of men who fight for fun. In the end, Jack
realizes that Tyler is his alter ego. The film is very violent and contains many fight
scenes. In a particular scene between Tyler and another character punching each other,
the film portrays the views of violence to the audience. The acting is an aesthetic
representation, showing the rage the characters feel and the brutality between them. The
camera focuses on Tyler’s face and body showing his emotional expression. According to
Carl Plantinga (1999), this is a “scene of empathy.” In the reaction shots, the viewer is
able to see how Tyler’s body language and extensive anger causes the members of the
Fight Club to feel the same emotion. During the fight there is hard movement, rough and
grimy surfaces, and the lighting is dark and shadowed. The viewer is also able to hear the
sounds of the bodies smashing into each other and being hit against surfaces, violent
screams and rock music. The combination of skillful acting and camera perspective
creates an awareness and acceptance of anger as the primary emotion being expressed
(Bartsch, 2008).
Editors will hand pick scenes in order to keep the film moving and the audience
engaged. In the film The Social Network (2010), editors Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter did
exactly this in order to control the audiences emotions towards main characters Mark
Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield).
In The Social Network, friends Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin
relationship quickly crumbles apart as Facebook, the company they created together,
expands. The film flashes back and forth between the two friends starting Facebook, and
then during their court sessions, as Eduardo is suing Mark. According to Chang (2012),
editors have to be hyper-critical of everything they are watching. During the scene when
Eduardo finds out Mark diminished his share in Facebook, he emotionally tells Mark that
he was his only friend. Garfield (who played Eduardo) had tears in his eyes and was an
emotional wreck because it was an emotional peak in the film. The character’s tears are
enchaining the emotions of the situation and portraying to the viewer that the situation
needs to be fixed (Frome, 2014, p. 30). If the audience had witnessed Saverin crying to
Zuckerberg, who was supposed to be his best friend, they may have immediately agreed
with Saverin and taken his side in the movie because they would have been emotionally
inclined to feel sorry for Saverin and view Zuckerberg as the bad guy who lied and
cheated his only friend. This is why the editors ended up using the least emotional take of
the actor’s performance.
Eduardo also has an emotional line during a scene in which him and Mark are
fighting in the boardroom. Eduardo says, “My father won’t even look at me.” The editors
buried that scene in the coverage in order for the audience to not become biased and once
again favor Eduardo due to the disappointment he was facing. They used the over-theshoulder shots instead of the close-ups so that the audience couldn’t see the emotion on
the actor’s face (Chang, 2012, p. 158). Wall and Baxter were also concerned that Eduardo
was coming off as a wimp or a wet blanket in the boardroom and that if he did, the
audience was not going to like him (Chang, 2012, p. 157). Therefore, the editors picked
takes that wouldn’t make the audience feel the wrong emotion towards the character.
The Social Network is an example of a film that is cut at a quicker pace as a
reflection of the society we live in which is more about instant gratification and shorter
attention spans. The audience would feel more comfortable with this quicker pace, which
is what the opening sequence of the film demonstrates. It is a six-minute back and forth
dialogue between Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and Erica Albright (Rooney Mara)
that depended on fast and precise editing in order to keep up with the sarcastic dialogue
occurring between the two while they were breaking up at a crowded restaurant.
According to Wall, “It was a very important scene, because it set the tone for the rest of
the film. It’s a bit of a warning shot over the bow for the audience members, letting them
know that they’re going to have to pay attention during this movie (Chang, 2012, p.
156).” Both Wall and Baxter won the 2011 Academy Award for Best Achievement in
Film Editing.
Imagine being dumped in a filed of wheat and being told somewhere in here is a
needle try and find out. That’s what film editors face everyday, shifting, sorting, saving
actors performances and assembling the endless hours of footage until that needle is
found. “A great editor can help a director see a scene or even a whole film in an entirely
new light. Even remind the director why he made the film in the first place (Feld, 2004,
p. 34).”
Directors and editors have the closest relationships in filmmaking. It is a
collaboration because they share things and agree to take the story a certain way. Many
directors and editors have even worked together on multiple films. For example, director
Clint Eastwood always uses editor Joel Cox while director Martin Scorsese has worked
with editor Thelma Schoonmaker since the ’80s. Schoonmaker won Oscars for The
Aviator (2004) and The Departed (2006). “He really feels he makes his movies in his
editing," said Schoonmaker of her working relationship with Scorsese. “He has very
strong ideas. I don’t think enough directors know enough about editing. I don't think you
can be a great director without knowing a lot about editing (King 2014).”
In the editing room, there are specific details that are discovered that aren’t really
noticed when it is being shot. “An editor is able to look at the footage as if it is brand new
and they find a way to mold the story together and hopefully bring something creative
that builds the story, while keeping the timing and authenticity so that the viewer believes
what is going on is real and genuine (V. Lasser, personal communication, November
2014).” A film is really the director’s interpretation of that particular story and it is the
editor’s job to remain objective. According to Feld, it is a director’s picture and it is an
editor to respectfully take on the job and discover the best cut possible (2004, p. 37).
Tom Cross won a BAFTA Award and a 2015 Oscar for Best Film Editing for his
work on the movie Whiplash. Editor Tom Cross worked very closely with the director
Damien Chazelle. The film is about Miles Teller, jazz drummer at a music school, and his
relationship with his teacher, Fletcher, who is very strict and aggressive with his teaching
methods. Chazelle wanted the film to be more of a thriller and action film than a film
about a music student, so this is where the editing played in.
In the very intense scene, Fletcher is berating Miles while during a rehearsal for
the student music show. He begins to aggressively yell and smack Miles across his face
as he is playing because Fletcher doesn’t like the way the drums are sounding.
Murphy (2015), explained how Cross felt that the drum teacher wasn’t scary or
intimidating enough, so he decided to take a different approach while editing the scene. “I
edited in kind of a smash-cut way to get what we wanted. That meant cutting on action
and cutting just ahead of when you expected the cut to come.” In order to disorient the
viewer, he moved back and forth between different points of view with each slap. “I took
frames out to make the impact of the slap feel that much more violent. I sped up the
moment of slapping to give it a little more impact. These are things that are par for the
course for action films, but they’re techniques that you wouldn’t necessarily expect in a
movie about jazz band.”
Sound as a Technique Can Provoke Emotion
Editors can change music to convey the motion of a scene more quickly. Music is
a very important and common technique that is always used in films. While watching a
film, viewers don’t always notice background music playing throughout due to the fact
they are concentrating on the narrative, but music affects the emotional responses to what
is happening onscreen.
David Dipietro is an audio mixer at Westwind Media, a sound design facility. His
is currently working as an audio mixer on the ABC television programs “Scandal” and
“How to Get Away with Murder.” According to Dipietro, music is by far one of the most
important techniques in a film or television show because it provokes most of the
emotion the audience will feel. The use of color, music, dialogue, and editing all comes
together and makes a huge impact. If there was just acting and no music or sound, the
audience may not feel. The music provides that emotion. If you watch a horror film, there
may be weird spine chilling sounds or the sound of a heartbeat to create that scary feeling
and instill that in the viewer. It is the sound mixer who provides those affects. Even the
presence of sound in general can give a viewer a disconcerting feeling. For example, the
theme of Jaws is legendary and is always associated with the film, and if you heard that
while swimming you would probably be scared. “When it comes to sound affects, I do
have a small guideline as to what I can use, but it will ultimately be picked for the
emotion (D. Dipietro, personal communication, November 2014).”
When doing the sound for “Scandal”, there is a lot of quick cuts and then during
the scenes with the main characters Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and President
Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn) who are having a love affair, the entire show slows
down and is cut less quickly and brings the whole feeling of the show to a halt so the
viewer is just in the moment with them. In the show, the music helps to provoke most of
the emotion because it slows it down (D. Dipietro, personal communication, November
2014).
During the movie Interstellar (2014), directed by Christopher Nolan, the sound
was purposely increased during the scenes when Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and
Brand (Anne Hathaway) were in the spaceship. It was made extremely loud so the
audience experienced anxiety and could feel the turmoil happening in space and in the
craft. The sound would then go completely silent anytime there was an outside shot of the
craft floating in space, in order to portray to the audience that the characters are truly in
the middle of nowhere all alone. To go from really loud moments and then complete
silence, that juxtaposition in sound is used to create emotion (D. Dipietro, personal
communication, November 2014).
Sound and music, or the lack thereof, is able to increase the realism and emotion
within the characters. Paul Thomas Anderson’s, There Will be Blood (2007), was edited
by Dylan Tichenor. The film shows many close-ups on material such as rock, gold, and
oil rather than on the characters and suggests to the audience that the material is more
important than the people. There is only music in the first 14 minutes of the film, no
narration. The editing technique used is that the viewer often never fully sees Daniel’s
eyes. In this sequence time does not seem to exist. Each scene in the film shows a small
character action. The editor uses extreme long shots and close-ups. The sequence is about
work and shows the audience the determination of the character to succeed. Through
editing, using mix of shots and using natural sounds and a slow pace this is achieved. The
opposing music that comes on and off throughout the scene and the long takes and the
shadowed activity of the character helps to confuse and create anxiety in the viewer. The
audience is unaware of the character but they are able to know that he is in danger due to
these editing techniques. The lack of reactions from other characters in the sequence
emphasize the characters aloneness (Chang, 2012).
A performance can be saved in editing but it can also be ruined in editing,
according to editor Dylan Tichenor. The audience minds are meant to wander during
films, and music and sound help to convey this. According to Tichenor, “When I’m
watching dailies, I always try to look for unexpected depth in a moment or a character,
something that will surprise or grab the attention.” Most moviegoers are unaware of tiny
details in a film. In the film Brokeback Mountain (2005), the devastation of the character
Jack Twist’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) death is conveyed largely through editing and music. As
Jack’s widow Lureen (Anne Hathaway) is on the phone telling their friend, Ennis Del
Mar (Heath Ledger), that Jack has died in an accident, images of Jack appear in a flurry
of quick cuts that are showed with an absence of sound that speaks volumes and feels
chilling (Chang, 2012, p. 64). Tichenor felt taking away the sound from the scene allows
the audience to confront the death and causes them to feel just as devastated as the
characters on screen experiencing it in their lives. Music is an important factor in cuing
filmic emotions.
In Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), music is the subtle
cues to the viewer how difficult romantic relationships can be. While characters Joel and
Clementine talk, music is played, but when they are silent there is no music. The flow of
the music emphasizes the forced conversations they have after their relationship ends.
During the scenes of Joel’s memories, the music mostly plays when he is aware of the
fact that he is reliving a memory (Silvey, 2009, p. 143). The sounds of violins and the
sound of a heartbeat, adds to the melancholy feeling of the characters memories and how
they may regret the loss of these moments. When the procedure is over and all of their
memories are erased, there is the sound of a small beep and then the scene abruptly ends
and the screen is black, showing the viewer that the procedure is finished. According to
Gondry, the ending song he picked, “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime,” has a sad tone
and fits in with the theme of the film due to its lyrics such as “I need your loving like the
sunshine” which makes the viewer think of Joel’s love for Clementine and his newfound
ignorance due to his memories being erased. The lyric “everybody’s gotta learn
sometime” signals to the idea that ignorance is bliss and implies, just like the film does,
that people must learn from the memory of their mistakes in order to hold on to love (p.
146).
Editor Stephen Mirrione feels that film editing is its own independent discipline.
Editing is heavily influenced by music, rhythm, movement within the frame, and
emotion. “As an editor, you are largely molding and shaping the emotional content of a
scene and affecting the point of view of the audience.” Psychologically you could
manipulate the viewer to send them in one direction or another.
The Henley boat race is one of the most climatic scenes in The Social Network
(2011). The boat scene is not crammed with dialogue and thus served as a brief respite
for the audience. The scenes have both close ups of the crowds and the rowers, including
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (played by Armie Hammer). The backgrounds were
digitally blurred giving the sequence the look of tilt-shift photography so as to focus the
eye of the audience on a specific part of the frame (Chang, 2012, p. 159). This scene
erupts the anger felt by those around Zuckerberg. It is when the Winklevoss twins find
out that Zuckerberg has not only “copied” their social network idea at Harvard, but has
now taken the company international. At this moment, the twins decide to fight
Zuckerberg in court and sue him for millions. It is also when the audience is realizing the
problems Zuckerberg is facing regarding Facebook. The scene is meant to be an intense
scene for the audience. According to the music composers of the film, Trent Renzor and
Atticus Ross, the propulsive rhythm of the scene was set by the increasingly frenzied
music track.
The music brings the tension to a standstill and increasing the anxious feeling the
audience gets while viewing the scene. It also fits in wit the dialogue during the scene
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross won the 2011 Academy Award for Best Achievement for
Music Written in Motion Pictures and The Social Network was also nominated for Best
Sound Mixing.
Films continue to have a life after we watch them because they provide emotional
experiences for people. We have an emotional connection to many of the good movies
we see. We feel film as we watch it, so we are able to remember a certain scene or
celebrate a hit movie because we have a connection to it. Though the experiences for
individuals are varied, the dependability of movies to provide emotional experiences for
diverse audiences lies at the center of the medium’s appeal and power. This is why we
continue to discuss films and are able to have repeat viewings. A popular, well-edited
movie can influence culture and is remembered on in the cinema world.
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