Kykers se vertolking van stemmingsmusiek in geselekteerde rolprente

Abstract

This study explores the interpretation of mood music by a selection of South African students from the North-West University’s Potchefstroom campus. Their interpretation is based upon and guided by a set of criteria called the MIREX-classification system. MIREX groups all types of music into mood categories. The study intended to compare mood music used in actual scenes from selected films with respondents’ association of the music according to the MIREX-categories. Firstly, this study consists of a literature study of music as a narrative instrument. It specifically focuses on music as extradiegetic sound within the broader scope of the narrative functions of music in general and the filmic applications of music in particular. Secondly, this qualitative study is exploratory and descriptive in nature. It compares actual film music with responses from a convenience sample by means of a self administered questionnaire. It is cross-sectional because the questionnaire was administered to an accessible population at a given moment. The selection of the film music is based upon the general mood of selected scenes in contemporary films. These moods correspond to standard and accepted genres (e.g. comedy, drama, thriller) while the interpretation of the music by respondents follows the same mood analytic categories of the MIREX-scheme. The selected music conforms to the definition of extradiegetic narratives, i.e. story content that is supplementary or complimentary to, but not part of the actual narrative. The time frame (2001-2010) was chosen because the selected films may be classified as relatively contemporary, but on the other hand dated enough to complicate the recall of music as well as the corresponding film scenes. The selection of the specific film scenes conforms to the principles of convenience sampling. The association of the music by the respondents was based upon the mood categories of the MIREX-system. The research design, in essence, entails students who only listened (without pictures) to the music upon which they classified it according to categories in a questionnaire. The questions test among other things the respondents’ association of the music with the following: (a) the MIREX mood categories, (b) the real as well as similar but fictitious film scenes, and (c) general film genres. The results show that the mood music composed for the selected film scenes were to a significant degree coded as such by the respondents. Given the fact that all samples were convenient in nature, generalisation from the accessible population to a target population is limited. However, the results confirm the functionality of the MIREX mood categories as an analytical framework.