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MUSIC AND FILM PERCEPTION AND INTERPRETATION

 

 

6.1 Aim of experiment

 

The final part of our research was aimed to investigate how the same film excerpts are perceived and interpreted when they are accompanied by different pieces of music.

First we measured the effect of different underscoring on pleasure and arousal ratings for each visual stimulus. Then we considered a deeper effect of music when used to accompany a film: soundtrack may also affect the viewer/listener's perception of an ambiguous stimulus, such as an open-ended film excerpt. On this account we hypothesized that from the same visual material different interpretations could arise, as an effect of the specific soundtrack the visuals are paired with. The interaction between the visuals and the music was also expected to vary from combinations in which film and soundtrack are contrasting, compared to combinations in which film and music fit well together.

 

6.2 Participants and experimental design

 

Participants (f=76, m=16), all students of University of Padova, were split into two groups and assigned to condition A (f=42, m=9) or condition B (f=34, m=7), which represented different combinations of the same film and music materialThey all were in an auditorium while the film was projected on a large screen and music was played through the speakers.The response sheet included the semantic differential scales used in the previous phases of the research:

 

Sad/Happy (-4; +4)

Calm/Exciting (-4; +4)

Playful/Solemn (-4; +4)

Interesting/Boring (-4; +4)

Tragic/Joyful (-4; +4)

Relaxing/Stimulating (-4; +4)

 

A multiple-choice question was added to the questionnaire. Participants were presented two possible interpretations of the film excerpts, and had to choose the one they considered the most likely.

Our hypothesis was that a change of underscoring for the same visual material could possibly trigger a different description of the scene as most appropriate. 

A small group appraised the material and produced different descriptions for each episode. The most widely shared interpretations (two mutually exclusive explanations for each scene) were then chosen for the final experiment.

 

 

  

6.3 Results

 

Pleasure and Arousal indices have been calculated using the same formulas as in the previous experiments. Results for group A were:

 

 

Table 6.3.1 - Ratings of audiovisual combinations for group A (n=51).

 

Within group A, we compared the male and female ratings using independent-samples t-tests.All differences in Pleasure and Arousal were non-significant. Combinations presented to group B were rated as follows:

 

 

Also within group B male and female ratings were compared with independent-samples t-tests. All differences in Pleasure and Arousal were non-significant.

Please note that all music and film rated differently by female vs. male subgroups had already been removed from the stimuli set in the first part of the research. Thus, non-significant differences for both group A and group B can probably be ascribed to this exclusion.

6.4 Effects of underscoring

 

Differences between conditions are more easily identifiable when considering Pleasure and Arousal factors separately.These two tables display Pleasure and Arousal scores for film only, film + music A, and film + music B conditions.

 

 

Table 6.4.1 - Pleasure scores for film alone and film with soundtrack.

 

 

 

Table 6.4.2 - Arousal scores for film alone and film with soundtrack.

 

 

Chart 6.4.2 - Arousal scores for film alone, film + music A, film + music B.

 

We ran t-tests for independent samples to check whether the effect of underscoring on film appraisal was significant or not.Arousal and Pleasure means obtained in all different conditions have been compared as follows: 

a)      Film only   vs.     Film + Music A

b)      Film only   vs.     Film + Music B 

c) Film + Music A    vs.     Film + Music B 

 

 

	Film only vs. Film + Music A (df=156)	Film only vs. Film + Music B (df=146)	Film + Music A vs. Film + Music B (df=90)
1	t=.6012, n.s.	t=.8933, n.s.	t=.3045, n.s.
2	t=1.9315, n.s.	t=3.8872**	t=1.5061, n.s.
3	t=5.8774**	t=9.9674**	t=4.0776**
4	t=8.0166**	t=7.2090**	t=0.3203, n.s.
5	t=3.1833**	t=1.6597, n.s.	t=4.0124**
6	t=6.7299**	t=2.4432**	t=2.7885**

 

 

 

6.5 Soundtrack and interpretation

 

Interpretation was indicated by responses to the last item of the questionnaire, a multiple-choice question that featured two possible explanations for each film scene. Participants had to choose the one interpretation they thought it was more likely. For each film/music combination, the percentages of participants preferring interpretation X vs. interpretation Y are displayed in the following charts. 

 

 

Chart 6.5.1 - Percentage of participants for each group who choose interpretation X vs. interpretation Y as the most likely. 

 At this point, chi-square tests were used to verify the significance of inter-group differences in the interpretation of each sequence.   

 

chi-square = 4.228, df=1, p<.05

 

 

chi-square = 22.866, df=1, p<.01

(Yates' correction for continuity applied)

 

chi-square = 5.358, df=1, p<.05

(Yates' correction for continuity applied)

 

chi-square = 2.416, df=1, n.s.

 

chi-square = 17.796, df=1, p<.01

(Yates' correction for continuity applied)

 

chi-square = .875, df=1, n.s.

 

 

From the above results we can conclude that, in at least four cases out of six, a significant change in the choice of the most likely interpretation can be ascribed to the different underscore the film excerpts is accompanied by.In scene five a similar tendency is also detectable, although it does not reach a significant level. 

 

6.6 Effects of music appropriateness

 

Earlier we introduced the concept of 'fit' as 'music/film congruency', a measure of which has earlier been collected for each of the combinations used in the experiment. We also hypothesized that effect of music on film appraisal would vary from those cases in which the soundtrack was perceived congruent with the film, to the ones in which the music it was perceived as contrasting with the visual material.In other words, for high values in fit, the majority of participants would give their preference to one particular interpretation. Whereas for lower fit scores participants' preferences would be more spread to between the two interpretations.This hypothesis can be tested by calculating under different fit values how focused vs. spread the choices for interpretation are.

 

The variable d_int (difference between interpretation), which measures the polarization of participants' preferences, was calculated as the difference between the percentage of participants choosing interpretation X and the percentage of the ones choosing interpretation Y.

 

d_int = abs [% (interpretation X) - % (interpretation Y)]

 

Therefore, for each stimulus, if a vast consent goes to one interpretation, the value for d_int will be bigger. Whereas, when preferences are more spread between the alternatives, the value for d_int will be smaller. 

 

Table 6.6.1 -Fit, percentage of preferences, differences between percentages. 

 

 

Calculating Pearson's r coefficient, Fit and D_Int proved to be significantly correlated:

 

r (Fit, D_Int) = .658, n=12, p<.01

 

Thus, we can say that in conditions of perceived congruency between film and music (i.e. high fit values), preferences for the most likely interpretation will gather on one of the given alternatives. 

Whereas, when music and film are perceived as contrasting (i.e. low fit values), preferences will be more spread between alternatives. 

We also inspected the relation between Fit and overall Pleasure and Arousal scores of the audiovisual stimuli.This procedure was aimed to check whether participants' ratings of semantic differential scales were affected by the congruency vs. contrast of the audiovisual pairing when appraising the overall stimuli. 

 

Pearson's correlation coefficient was calculated for both Fit and Pleasure and for Fit and Arousal:

 

r (Fit, PL) = -.142, n=12, n.s.

 

r (Fit, AR) = .258, n=12, n.s.

 

Results indicate that the contrasting/congruent relationship between visual and auditory material (i.e. low vs. high fit) does not seem to affect the overall Pleasure and Arousal appraisal of the audiovisual combinations.

 

Pleasure and Arousal scores also do not seem to be related with the distribution of the choices for the two interpretations (D_Int):

 

r (PL, D_Int) = .012, n=12, n.s.

 

r (AR, D_Int) = -.097, n=12, n.s.

 

A highly activating or playful scene will not trigger one specific explanation, and neither will a very calm or sad one.In other words, appraising the semantic qualities of a film scene seems to have little or nothing to do with the process of choosing an interpretation for it. 

All the above results display that the distribution of preferences for the most likely interpretation is related only to the congruent vs. contrasting relationship between film and music, and not to the evaluative ratings of the stimuli.

 

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(c) 2001-2002 Guglielmo Bottin - all rights reserved