Big Screen Mega-Melodrama

“Suspense has been long recognized as a basic quality of melodrama. Consider, for example, the iconic scene in the Titanic where suspense is measured by the prolonged upending of the ship before it sinks.” With suspense being such a crucial quality of melodrama, music plays a big part in helping build the suspense and create the full effect on the audience. The suspense built through the unique soundtrack of the film Titanic, helps to prolong the anxiety that will further be distinguished as the movie goes on. Music provides a homeostatic balance to decipher between emotions and often veers the audience in a certain direction. This source is useful for me because it not only talks about music or only the Titanic, but both and how they incorporate with each other. The information is reliable due to the fact that this is a scholarly source through a library database, and contains information that is solidified by other sources also. This source may be considered biased because there are a few opinions on whether the film is even a melodrama, even though it contains most of the characteristics necessary to be one. However, this article will still be a good fit for my research essay because it has many great examples of how the music in Titanic accompanies the genre of melodrama (and some how it does not).

Effects of Film Music

This source is not necessarily a book or article, but is just as useful as information to aid in the research of the effect of film music. In this experiment, participants viewed one of three versions of a certain film. The versions included one with no music, one with horror music and the third with documentary music. Viewers watching the music-entailed films had increased heart rates and increased and decreased anxiety levels.  This experiment would be useful towards my research essay topic of “How does music have an effect on films?” because it is almost directly related to my research topic and gives a prime example of people’s emotional responses to films with music. Compared to other sources in my bibliography, this one is unique because it is a physical example of music’s effects rather than someone just voicing their opinion or talking about their beliefs. I believe this source will be helpful in getting my point across and helps shape my argument due to the fact that people were involved and tested using different types of music and seeing which were most affected and least affected and what occurred in the body during the reaction to each film and its music. The fact that cardiovascular, electrodermal, and somatic physiological responses were all continuously monitored, has a big impact on the usefulness of this experiment. This experiment is also relevant because although it is not specifically stated, horror movies can also be considered as melodramas depending on the film, its elements, and how it is portrayed.

Sources Continued

"Some of the most memorable music written for the movies comes before the movie begins. Opening theme music, sometimes even before the credits start to roll, serves very different functions for different films" is how the article opens and strongly addresses its main point right from the start. As the article goes on it continues to talk about different films and how their music addresses them. From films such as Gone With the Wind to Freaks, Lloyd Schwartz explains how music depicts a movie and  clearly sets the mood from horror film to classical musical. This source is useful because it explains more in depth how music adds "another emotional layer". I still do not yet have all of my sources in my bibliography, however, I feel as if this one of the more beneficial ones. This source also could be biased but I believe Schwartz's point of view on music is very agreeable with. Lloyd Schwartz's article was helpful to me in finding someone else's documented opinion on the drastic effects of music in films, and will help me further to show through the titanic more specific effects of the audience from the music used. This source has not changed my opinion about my topic, if anything, it has strengthened it.