Semantic Potentials of Harmony in Hollywood Films Between 1970 and 2000
Depending on the context, film music evokes supra-individual associations. As part of enculturation, children unconsciously acquire an understanding of the level of meaning of music in different contexts. In films, for example, this happens through the repeated pairing of musical stereotypes, clichés or conventions with specific non-musical stimuli.
In this dissertation, I focus on the semantic patterns and potentials of music in Hollywood films between 1970 and 2000 by assigning harmonic categories to the image level. So far, a corpus of 500 film music passages with a length of 15-60 seconds that can be clearly categorized harmonically is presented. With the help of MaxQDA, the music examples are recorded and analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. In summary, the following questions arise:
What harmonies do composers use in Hollywood cinema (1970-2000)?
How can this harmony be theoretically understood and categorized?
How can the harmonic categories be assigned to the image content?
What semantic patterns and potentials are there?
Most studies to date have used music that is as emotionally contrasting as possible in order to generate considerably large differences in the meanings triggered by the music (e.g. the same melody in major and minor mode). In my dissertation project, I will examine harmonic categories for their semantic potentials. What kind of scene is accompanied by what kind of music, and how can semantic potentials be recognized from this? The aim is to create a systematic, empirically verified overview of the harmonies of film music and their assignment to the image level.
First supervisor: Univ. Prof. Dr. Markus Neuwirth, ABU
Second supervisor: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Nils Grosch, Kunstuniversität Linz
Biography
Oliver Schmellenkamp completed his studies at the Cologne University of Music with renowned lecturers such as Bill Dobbins, Andreas Lonardoni and Frank Haunschild, graduating in 2001. Today he is a university professor and head of the Institute for Media Music at the Jam Music Lab University in Vienna. He specializes in film music, game audio and music production.
For over two decades, Schmellenkamp has worked as a composer and sound designer for well-known clients such as Coca-Cola, Boss, McDonald's, ZDF, Netflix, National Geographic and many more. During this time, he has worked on more than 200 video games, film scores and advertising productions. A particular focus of his work is composition and sound design for computer games. He also works as a composer for Universal Edition in Vienna.
In addition to his teaching activities and the management of his institute, Schmellenkamp devotes himself to research into harmony in film music. He has developed a master class from his initial findings, which is available online. At the Anton Bruckner University in Linz, he is currently continuing work on his dissertation, which he began at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
Further information can be found on his homepage: www.oliverschmellenkamp.com