The combination of the auditory and visual stimulus allows our brains to perceive the film in a whole new manner. Oftentimes composing an original score can provide a film with a unique soundscape, that a viewer will then always associate with the film. Filmmakers our able to manipulate the audience’s emotions and make them feel a certain sentiment towards the characters on the screen. Studies have shown that melancholic music can help create a sense of empathy towards the character, while anxious music can make viewers more alert and more attentive to minor details on the screen. This is apparent in the iconic moments like the anxiety-inducing shower scene of Psycho (1960) or the tense encounters in Jaws (1975).
How brain re-creates music in different parts has to be a feat of evolution (not, intelligent design). The spine tingling feeling you have during a scary or intriguing part of the film might just be due to music. Since 2006 neuroscientist Kiminobu Sugaya and world-renowned violinist Ayako Yonetani have been working and educating on how music impacts the brain.
Research has also been conducted into the relationship between music and the release of endorphins/dopamine. According to the Harvard Medical School, “Endorphins are the body’s natural painkillers. Endorphins are released by the hypothalamus and pituitary gland in response to pain or stress, this group of peptide hormones both relieves pain and creates a general feeling of well-being”. According to Musicologist and philosopher Julius Portnoy, music can increase endorphin levels in the brain, which leads to a state of pleasure and relaxation. Listening to music can even influence metabolic rates, blood pressure, energy levels, and digestion. A study showed thar dopamine levels also rise when listening to music that you attach a positive sentiment towards.
Movies and music go hand in hand and this was understood very early by directors. Although the industry started with ‘silent’ films, a lot of these movies were not truly silent. There was usually an accompanying instrument of some sort such as a piano. Music provides a sense of realism and helps to frame the visual elements on the screen. In fact, some films rely heavily on the use of sound and put less emphasis on the dialogue.
Dunkirk (2017), a film directed by Christopher Nolan, is a great example of these types of cinemas. Dunkirk tells the true story of the evacuation of British and Allied Forces from France’s northern shores. The film captures the heroic efforts of soldiers as they carried out Operation Dynamo, which was Churchill’s last-ditch attempt to save the British Expeditionary Forces from a catastrophic defeat against the German Forces. Dunkirk's plot is non-linear and the events occur in three different chronologies, each starting at different points in relation to the evacuation's end. This can become confusing for the viewer but it provides a new watching perspective.
According to Nolan, “the goal was to make it exciting, to make it visceral and immediate for the audience. We wanted to put the audience on the beach, on the small boats in the Channel, and inside the Spitfires. We wanted the experience to sound like it would for the men on the beach, and for the people who were involved”.
He enlisted the help of famous composer, Hans Zimmer, to depict the realistic atmosphere of warfare. The two have collaborated before in Nolan’s previous works such as Inception (2010), where Zimmer created intricate scores, which helped to create a heightened emotional experience for audiences. The music in Dunkirk helps to capture the tension of the Second World War. Zimmer takes a discordant minimalist approach in the making of the score to accompany the heavy sounds of artillery firing and bombs to keep the audience captivated, creating a sense of harrowing disturbance. The placement of music is used to accompany a scene’s outcome or to help build up anticipation for the next scene.
In Dunkirk, music is used to instil a sense of patriotism and nationalism in its target audience, which is primarily British audiences. Nolan wanted to unite the country during a period of political turmoil, and he thought the re-telling of the events on the beaches of Dunkirk, would bring out a sense of pride in British viewers. The entire filmmaking process was built around this concept. The music in the film helped to accomplish this feat as it guides the viewers along the gruelling journey of war and the sacrifices made by the brave soldiers. According to sound designer, Richard King, it was always the intention of the sound team to work in tandem with the visual team to evoke a sense of patriotism in its British audiences. In an interview, he said, “this is a story that is very important to the British and is still familiar to the people of Britain. This is a proud moment in their history. It’s an incredible testament to their spirit”. Zimmer incorporated this sentiment into his efforts to make the music.
The uniqueness of the soundtrack is established using an auditory illusion caused by Shepard’s tone. This phenomenon is named after cognitive scientist Roger Shepard, who conducted research studying how we use our senses like sight and hearing to perceive and understand our environment. If you’ve never heard of this term, there is a pretty good chance that you have heard the tone itself. ‘The Shepard’s tone or Shepard scale*, is a way of making it sound like a musical pitch is perpetually rising’. In an interview with Business Insider Nolan explained, “It’s a corkscrew effect. It’s always going up and up and up, but it never goes outside of its range … And I wrote the [Dunkirk] script according to that principle. I interwove the three timelines in such a way that there’s a continual feeling of intensity. I wanted to build the music on similar mathematical principals. So, there’s a fusion of music and sound effects and picture that we’ve never been able to achieve before”.
While Dunkirk is the most notable example of a Nolan film using the Shepard Tone, he has played around with the concept of some of his previous films as well. In fact, Nolan has become synonymous with the use of the effect as he used it in his earlier films such as The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight Trilogy, and Inception (2010). All of the films mentioned are similar in that the plots are built on suspense and tension, which continues to elevate as the film progresses. The music helps to add to the build-up to the dramatic conclusions of these movies.
While the Shepard tone is used to help create a sense of nerve-wracking tension, there are many other audible effects, which are used to evoke different emotional responses in the viewer. These include but are not limited to the phantom fundamental, temporal induction, and binaural beats.
