The best example of how we read images in relation to sound is to pair an image with different sounds:
This is a random image I found on Google, it is by portrait photographer Rob Wilson. On its own it looks very sweet and innocent, a happy family playing together at a park, lots of love between them. It is very healthy and colourful, like it is in a wealthy area. The mother is in white, the daughter in traditional pink for girls and the boy is in blue. The father and son are also matching.
When you play it with a song like Ever After by Carrie Underwood, it retains that innocent family vibe, where it's perfect like a fairy tale. The music is upbeat with alot of instrumental layers to give it an epic enchanting feel like what you would hear in a Disney movie. It was made this way purposefully for the Disney film Enchanted.
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http://youtu.be/OCMQX8XBe4A
When you play it with a song like Smash the Control Machine by Otep it has a completely different mood. The song is about being slaves to consumption and the false perfection it gives people. When you listen to this song and look at the image of this family, the hapiness of the subjects starts to seem fake, you think about how they posed for this photo, how it was probably planned rather than spontaneous. It takes on a dark tone when paired with the bold, heavy metal song sung in a rough voice. You see a grown male lifting up a young girl, is he even her father? What goes on behind the camera? The song is telling you how imperfect and fake this "family" is despite how perfect and real they look at first glance.
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http://youtu.be/m1cv2ljKkic
Smash the Control Machine lyrics include:
"With the perfect hair, And the perfect wife, And the perfect kids , And the perfect life
I will finally be somebody...
Smash the control machine. Work, buy, consume, die. Smash the control machine. Happy little slaves for minimum wage. Smash the control machine. Work, buy, consume, die. Smash the control machine. Haters, betrayers, liars and thieves.
She sold her soul, for designer clothes, For the perfect lips and the perfect nose, The winner in the end always owns the most. Reality TV told her so!"The same applies to moving image when thinking about the effect of the music, but when pairing sound and moving image an important aspect to think about is rhythm. The rhythm of the shot sequences is very important to the mood of the work. For example, a fast paced fight scene set to a slow sad song with pianos would make you feel like it would have a sad ending, like you know the fight is futile because someone is going to lose or die. Traditionally the tempo and beats in the music would match the pace of the shots and the action happening in them. So traditionally, a fight scene with a slow song would be in slow motion. This is why rhythm is such a key aspect in music videos.
For an example of rhythm I looked at the Beautiful Bride music video for Flyleaf. The instruments used are typical of a rock band and you can clearly see the shots changing at a pace that suits the drum beats. The action seems to be a mix of energetic and slow movements which matches the pace of the music and the drums and guitar melodies.
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http://youtu.be/XfW4CkYrjXs
When you play the same video with Everything Burns by Anastacia featuring Ben Moody, a slower song, it's all too clear that it doesnt belong. The imagery could get away with it, it carries a kind of tragic romantic theme with dark colours, but the shots and energy within the shots goes too fast for the song.
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http://youtu.be/DKCccyZvtlo
(Play this song while watching the Beautiful Bride video on mute)
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