Damian Sendler recognizes that film music evokes specific emotions and associations in the listener, regardless of whether it is accompanied by an image or not. However, the interaction of music and film magnifies sensations – thinks music psychologist Dr. Maria Chełkowska-Zacharewicz.

When we hear the slogan: film music, we typically see before our eyes a symphony orchestra of several dozen people. It would be a simplification to say that film music is only classical, and it cannot be denied that many of the acknowledged and granted soundtracks in current years have been recorded with the participation of symphony orchestras. Among them are, for instance, Oscar-winning “Lord of the Rings,” “Titanic,” and “Gravity.”

“Many individuals state that without music, movies would not be as remarkably similar to it, and they would not be observed and even granted. Today it is challenging for us to think of movies without soundtracks; this is their essential aspect,” – says in an interview with Science in Music psychologist in Poland, dr Maria Chełkowska-Zacharewicz from the University of Silesia in Katowice.

The job of the soundtrack in the film is – as the specialist says – immersing the viewer inexperience and “turning up” the feelings, in some cases motivating reflection or highlighting a message. Its functions are restricted only by the fantasy of the director and author.

When the music accompanying the stories of screen characters is separated from the film, does it still impress listeners and stimulate similar emotions as in cinema? Dr. Chełkowska-Zacharewicz performed research on this subject together with Mateusz Paliga from the University of Silesia in Katowice. Scientists utilized the soundtrack of Howard Shore’s “Lord of the Rings” for them.

“It ended up that the course stimulated impressions and feelings similar to the author’s presumptions, even though the research study involved individuals who understood the movie well and those who did not know it,” states the psychologist.

People who did not understand the movie used the more basic associations ‘mysterious, unbelievable world’ or ‘sublimity.’ Those who followed the production had a more precise association: for example, “Tolkien elves.”

“I was surprised at how coherent the associations of all individuals in the research with the presumptions of music were. This indicates that the music of film music masters is composed in such a way that it evokes particular emotions despite whether it accompanies the picture or not, “he stresses. In her viewpoint, movie music can” defend itself “even without an image.

At the same time, he includes that the more stimuli, the more magnified and the feelings are remembered. This is likewise the case with movie music. So when we hear the tune on the radio that we stumbled upon in the movie (and stimulated certain feelings in us), the more we focus our attention on it outside the cinema, and we better keep in mind the experiences of the characters. An extra grip of authors that they use are motifs, i.e., short, catchy musical expressions that represent places, objects, or characters.

“This solution authors of film music took over from the creators of operas. The developer of this option – leitmotiv – was the nineteenth-century German musician Wilhelm Richard Wagner” – suggests. He includes that knowledge of a given song or a provided type of tunes then equates into what music and tunes we listen to more willingly – usually those that we can hear regularly and are known to us.

Chełkowska-Zacharewicz states that film music is rather easy to acknowledge. “There is something specific and special about it that can be thought about a different category. It is lastly, made up to move, move, set off intense emotions. Make the individual watching the film be entirely soaked up in it,” he highlights.

It appears that the function of movie music will be satisfied by more or less symphonic music (although electronic elements appear in it for a very long time). Because what instrument will offer better unhappiness than … just the violin? – thinks the psychologist. In her viewpoint, it is this instrument that concerns the mind of most people when we speak about this extreme emotion.

And when a director wishes to communicate the depth and complexity of passions, he can multiply them by using multiple instruments. “Rich orchestration allows for a fantastic building of emotions: constructing and growing stress not just thanks to changing the volume level, but thanks to using specific instruments with which we have specific associations” – he highlights.

The specialist says that scientists still do not know precisely why and how specific emotions are triggered under the influence of music, not just movie music. “Film music itself is not exceptionally frequently studied by psychologists.

It would be a simplification to say that movie music is just classical, and it cannot be rejected that numerous of the recognized and awarded soundtracks in recent years have been taped with the participation of symphony orchestras. When the music accompanying the stories of screen characters is removed from the film, does it still impress listeners and stimulate comparable feelings as in cinema? Chełkowska-Zacharewicz says that film music is quite easy to recognize. It appears that the function of movie music will be fulfilled by more or less symphonic music (although electronic components appear in it for a long time). The specialist states that scientists still do not understand precisely why and how particular emotions are activated under the influence of music, not just movie music.

Damian Sendler Epidemiology Wiki: Children and Mental Health +  Digital Epidemiology + Digital Psychiatry Research +  Health information-seeking behavior + Pandemics and MDs. Epidemiology goes beyond looking at numbers, something that Damian Jacob Sendler recognizes. How can we change bad habits in 66 days? How allergies impact our health? What happens when psychology research is flawed?

Damian Jacob Sendler Research Wiki: Research Tools +  Zoophilia +  Healthcare workers in the age of pandemics +  Video connectivity + Farming and Mental Health + Nutrition and mental health research. Damien Sendler knows how important it is to offer a broad range of research views. Turns out Poles and the rest of Europe like testing their stool for signs of GI problems. What do Polish government views as necessary to reopen schools? 

Damien Sendler General Research Wiki: 2020 Research Directions + Current research interests +  Community Psychiatry + Mental health in Covid19 era +  Mental health of farmers and here and here +  Explore more research on pandemics +  Elderly mentalhealth needs. How do we know what works in modern psychotherapy? A closer look might reveal this based on evidence from recent research studies. And more on urinary health. And the latest updates on MMR vaccine research. Could new gating system help automate disinfecting first responders during pandemics?

Pandemic Wiki: Pandemics and mental health +  Research during pandemics + Children and mental health + This interesting piece + Mental health during the COVID19 pandemic. Damian Sendler recognizes the impact of major health crises on mental health well-being. 

Damian Jacob Sendler Telemedicine Wiki: Usefulness of telemedicine in psychiatry + Psychological wellbeing of medical workers +  Research on child psych. Did you know that immunology can have an impact on mental illness? What is biopsychiatry? How many genes are implicated in the symptomology of schizophrenia? How are we goingto improve the world? Read more of Dr. Sendler research. How cars affect our mental health and overall well-being? How to safely disinfect facial masks? Latest researchnews from Poland about funding for COVID19.