How We Read Image And Sound

Music (tones, melodies, rhythms, harmonies, etc) will interpret a visual image (colours, forms, materials, juxtapositions, contrasts, etc) a certain way, direct the viewers attention, set the mood. When you look at an image on its own you will interpret it one way, but when you listen to music while looking at it it takes on a different meaning.

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.

(press ctrl n before clicking the link)
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.

(press ctrl n before clicking the link)
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.

(press ctrl n before clicking the link)
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.

(press ctrl n before clicking the link)
http://youtu.be/DKCccyZvtlo
(Play this song while watching the Beautiful Bride video on mute)

What Does Music Look Like?

My posts for this blog will be exploring the relationship between image and sound.

I wanted to explore a topic that I am interested in, can learn from and can be influenced by. I am always listening to music and responding to it in my art. The great thing about my iPod is it is so diverse, I listen to a bit of everything and when I am looking at album art for research or just general inspiration I find that I like different styles from different genres. I really want to go into more depth with this and analyse images and moving image with music and decide on why that particular image was chosen or why that particular shot was filmed. The interesting thing about this topic is that you can have your own interpretation, like how when you read a book you imagine it differently to everyone else, but then read about popular opinion. So throughout this blog I will look at how we read image and music together, how the effect can change with different music.

I will also look at forms of image like gig posters and cover art. Every recording artist needs album art, but they can't just paste any image and type onto their album cover. The artwork needs to express the message of the music, not just to promote their lyrical themes but also create awareness of their music in general.

Fashion is another form of imagery that is effected by music, it is similar to how different genres of music have different styles of art. For example, the idea that you can tell what kind of music someone listens to based on how they dress.

I also want to look at individual artists who work on cover art, and look at controversial art in the music industry.

Music videos are very important in the music industry for obvious reasons but I also want to look at something that is taken for granted by audiences which is movie score: music written and produced for the imagery rather than imagery created for the music.