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I am skipping blog 7 since, you know, that ship has already sailed (my bad). In my opinion, my paper came along beautifully. I am very happy with how it turned out. It very well might be my favorite assignment I have ever worked on (I did pour a bunch of tears into it, after all). It was incredibly refreshing to research, analyze, and write about something I am incredibly passionate about, and I am grateful I had this opportunity to show that music is so powerful and can be used in so many ways. Without music, film and other media would not be nearly as enjoyable and being able to receive a grade for writing about this rather than some topic I hardly care about was so nice. I hope I get more chances in the future to do work like this, because it was so much fun; it really didn’t even feel like work.

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Three more sources that I have used are “Pixar and The Animated Soundtrack,” “The Role of Music Communication in Cinema,” and “Creating an Emotional Impact without Dialogue: The Case Study of Pixar's Up.” These sources elaborate either on how Pixar utilizes its soundtrack – specifically the instrumentation – to their advantage, how music can structure a narrative in a film, or simply a rhetorical analysis of the opening sequence of Up. All of these have tremendously helped me form my argument. I have found that the instrumentation of the ensemble playing Ellie’s Theme is used to represent the mood of the narrative and how the characters are currently feeling. The instrumentation changes and grows along with Carl and Ellie’s relationship so that it can affectively express the emotion on screen. Another one emphasizes how music can be used to create irony. This was a big one since a major source of emotion during one of the most critical moments of the sequence is drawn from the dramatic irony of playing Ellie’s Theme while we see her in a hospital bed. Finally, the analysis of Up helped me catch things in the film that I had not previously noticed. It helped me form an argument about the use of color, lighting, and the use of recurring images throughout the sequence, and I was able to apply the soundtrack to these devices to show how it empowers the these devices.

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Something that is working quite well with my project is my thesis. I am looking at the use of a single melody in conjunction with the cinematic and rhetorical devices employed by the film to understand how the score creates emotion. I am having a lot of fun analyzing this artifact and finding the words to explain what I think. I am glad I was able to find a balance between the aural and visual aspects of the film to explain how and why it works; it is quite interesting. I do not think I have ever been this excited for a paper before. Something I seem to be struggling with is I find myself writing so much for a few sources. I will need to look in to finding more sources. Despite this, I believe this essay will turn out to be one of the better papers I’ve ever written, and I cannot wait for your feedback.

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As I have stated in previous blogs, I am interested in using the first ten minutes of Pixar’s Up. I think this is an excellent artifact to use as the opening sequence alone features a fantastic score built upon a single leitmotif that is used to spark emotion throughout the opening and the rest of the film. This leitmotif is Ellie’s Theme. It is a simple melody that has the ability to sound both happy and sad, depending on the context of both the arrangement and the context of the film. Ellie’s Theme is played as an upbeat waltz during the happy moments of the opening, but it is played a sad piano ballad when tragedy strikes. Having the ability to use the same theme for a character’s happy and sad times is an incredibly powerful tool to exploit the emotions of the audience. This further proves my argument that music’s ability to be used in conjunction with rhetorical devices is incredibly affective. Up is a movie about love and grief and having such a heartbreaking opening sequence is a bold move from Pixar, making it the perfect example for my project. I am sure I will cry countless tears working on this project subjecting myself to that opening time after time after time, but it will be worth it in the end.

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Since the article from Cohen was cited by so many other scholarly articles, it was a gold mine for sources for my argument. Another great source I found through this is Marilyn G. Boltz’s “The Cognitive Processing of Film and Musical Soundtracks.” This article focuses less on the emotional aspect of music itself and more on the brain’s cognitive processing of music and how it works to affect how we interpret film. What I gravitated towards here was the study that asked participants to watch ambiguous movie clips with either positive, negative, or not music at all. The study found that, for the most part, people interpret the mood of the clip and motivation of the characters in congruence with the tone of the music. This further proves that music can affect how people feel and manipulate the emotions of the audience. I am incredibly happy that I found this article as it is really helping me advance this paper along. I am making great connections between the idea of leitmotif’s emotional power and the influence of the mood of the music. Since Ellie’s leitmotif is played in both happy and sad contexts, it is a strong theme that can reinforce the emotions portrayed on screen. Pixar does this particularly well during a few critical moments of Up’s opening sequence, and I am excited to break this down and explain what makes these emotionally charged moments so powerful.

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Dr. Hanson and I found an excellent scholarly article that my research for this project can branch out from. It is titled “Music as a Source of Emotion in Film” by Annabel J. Cohen. This source talks about how music is used to create emotion in film and other media. Some of the more notable areas of study that I took notice of include the connection of a theme to a specific character or idea. A piece of music that does this is called a leitmotif. This can create a powerful resonance between the score and a character, thus allowing the audience to associate their feelings about a character directly to the music. I believe I can build an argument from this idea for Ellie’s Theme in Pixar’s Up. This is a very obvious form of rhetoric, and I hope to express that music should be viewed as a valid form of rhetorical practice, especially in narrative media such as film. I will analyze the leitmotif of Ellie’s Theme to explain how it effectively creates the desired emotions the film is portraying. Another idea I gravitated towards in Cohen’s article is the fact that when people attempted to make films without music, they were not received well. This helps advance my argument that music is a vital part of media and has a lot of value as a rhetorical source. I believe this a great start for my essay, and I am excited to begin working on it..

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For my English 416 project, I am interested in researching and attempting to form connections between rhetoric and music. As a musician of nearly ten years, I believe music holds value as more than just artistic expression. I believe it can have multiple, valuable benefits that can enhance the health and performance of everyone, especially students. I am not sure what direction this project will take. I might delve into the scientific studies that show how music can affect the brain. I might look at music as a form of technical writing. I believe it will be a tricky endeavor to meld rhetoric with music, and maybe that might make me change my topic later on in the semester, but I want to try to make this work. I think this is an interesting and relevant project idea, especially for a student like me who practices and studies literature, rhetoric, and music every day. One of my biggest concerns is being able to write ten or more pages about this topic; I feel like this may be a topic that is able to be expressed in less than ten pages. I am also worried about not being able to find enough sources for my topic if I choose a route that does not involve how music affects the brain. There are several challenges that I will have to overcome if I am to pursue this project, but I believe that, with a lot of hard work, I will be able to produce a great project.