Film Music

Juan Chattah has produced one of those rare books that usually takes many minds to create -- blending and applying concepts, theories, and methods in diverse disciplines to offer a rich framework for interpreting a soundtrack's narrative agency. Each of the ten chapters introduces key concepts that are vividly applied to film scenes from an analytical approach of the humanities, while also addressing the 'how?' question (or the mechanisms) from a scientific perspective. The book's clever structure makes it versatile, as the main text is accessible and immediately engaging, while more specialized technical and conceptual background is provided in a separate series of appendices. The clarity of presentation, fascinating film scene analyses, and wealth of illustrations provided by vibrant images and well-chosen film excerpts, makes this an equally appealing book for scholars, students, and any reader who is passionate about film.

—Siu-Lan Tan, James A.B. Stone Professor of Psychology at Kalamazoo College

With a series of engaging examples and insightful interpretations, Juan Chattah masterfully guides the reader through a wide range of approaches—from the psychological to the semiotic—to explain how music and vocalization contribute to the meanings of films.

—Robert S. Hatten, Marlene and Morton Meyerson Professor in Music at The University of Texas at Austin

Through a wealth of film vignettes, the book delves deeply into the perceptual and cognitive processes that elicit musical meaning. I recommend this volume for anyone interested in learning more about how music influences our interpretations of films.

—Violetta Kostka, Professor of Humanities in Art Studies, Academy of Music in Gdańsk