Multimodal emergens via musik - Eksemplificeret ved en reklamefilm og en dokumentarfilm [Emergent forms of meaning-making using music in multimodal compositions - Exemplified through a television commercial and a television documentary]

Abstract

In this article I will demonstrate an analytic-hermeneutic approach regarding multimodal semiosis in audio-visual media products, such as television commercials and documentaries in which several modalities or semiotic resources co-operate and interact. As a theoretical framework I will exploit the concept of emergence. Although usually associated with philosophy, systems theory and the sciences, this concept can prove instructive in evaluating intermodal correlation in perceptive-aesthetic phenomena as well, seeing that multimodal semiosis is not merely a summation of images plus words plus music. Taking as a point of departure the expressive and semantic potential of music as one component in a coherent multimodal whole, I will discuss a number of profound contributions to the field of music’s semiotic potential in multimedia in relation to a comprehensive analytical framework, which take into consideration the established criteria for emergence. I shall illustrate my approach by analysing a television commercial for “SkandiaBanken”, named Killarna (“The Guys”), and two scenes from a Danish documentary, Fogh bag facaden (“Fogh behind the façade”). All three audio-visual clips include the same musical composition (“Waltz No. 2” by Dmitri Shostakovich), but compared to each other, the music takes on different roles and positions against the other modalities/resources, and consequently, different types of meaning emergence are shaped.