Identifying and Interpreting Incongruent Film Music

This book explores the concept of incongruent film music, challenging the idea that this label only describes music that is inappropriate or misfitting for a film's images and narrative. Defining incongruence as a lack of shared properties in the audiovisual relationship, this study examines various types of incongruence between a film and its music and considers the active role that it can play in the construction of a film's meaning and influencing audience response. Synthesising findings from research in the psychology of music in multimedia, as well as from ideas sourced in semiotics, film music, and poststructuralist theory, this interdisciplinary book provides a holistic perspective that reflects the complexity of moments of film-music incongruence. With case studies including well-known films such as Gladiator and The Shawshank Redemption, this book combines scene analysis and empirical audience reception tests to emphasise the subjectivity, context-dependency, and multi-dimensionality inherent in identifying and interpreting incongruent film music.

Expands the definition of incongruent film music by taking a nuanced look at how difference between a film's images, narrative and music can contribute to perceived meaning
Combines psychological research and other subject perspectives (including semiotic and poststructuralist theory), with more traditional approaches from film music studies
Identifies additional types of incongruent film music to those traditionally discussed, for example, film-music mismatches of a more philosophical and conceptual nature rather than just those that rely on emotional difference between sound and image

Autorentext
David Ireland is Lecturer in music psychology at the University of Leeds, UK. He has previously published on incongruent film music in the interdisciplinary Constructing Crime collection (2012), as well as The Soundtrack and Music and the Moving Image journals.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- Part I: Identifying Incongruence.- 2. Interrogating (In)congruence: The Incongruent Perspective.- 3. Identifying (In)congruence.- Part II: Interpreting Incongruence.- 4. Introduction to Part II.- 5. Intradomain Incongruence in the Opening Battle Sequence From Gladiator.- 6. Mozart, Harmonicas, and Aesthetic Incongruence in The Shawshank Redemption.- 7. Jazz, Kazoos, and Conceptual Incongruence in The Informant!.- 8. Duran Duran and Semantic Incongruence in L4yer Cake.- 9. Conclusions.