How to engineer a mood : A study of sound in audiovisual contexts

Abstract: “How to engineer a mood - A study of sound in audiovisual contexts” is a study on the perception of sound in audiovisual contexts, i.e. sound and the image combined. There seems to be a consensus among researchers in the field on the fact that music influences the interpretation on film. However, there does not seem to be a specific consensus in regards to other sounds than music, such as the human voice or sound effects. Guided by a set of theories, an audiovisual text will be analyzed, in part through results of a quasi-experimental pilot survey and partly by the author herself. This paper would like to contribute in making the relationship of different sounds in conjunction with the image become slightly clearer. The outcome will help to show how a mood can be created with sounds. Although there is a limited number of theoretical models that have been developed in this field of research, the theories that are introduced will hopefully help to create a better understanding of sound in audiovisual texts.  Finally the theories and results will come together in this thesis; this will lead to an analysis and produce ideas for further research on how sound in audiovisual contexts influence our emotions. As mentioned before there has not been much research in this field, hopefully this thesis will be able to provide some clues and could serve as a first step for further research to find more definite answers on how emotions work in a audiovisual context. However, many questions will remain unanswered, and further research is needed to answer them.