Within Worlds: Immersion and Subjectivity in Film Music

Music and visuals have coexisted together in film for years, with millions of viewers and listeners attending film showings in a way of escaping their normal lives. This aim of escapism gives the viewer a chance to surround themselves in another world, apart from their own, and in doing so they can become immersed. To allow themselves the act of disbelief for a short period in order to find enjoyment and experience enhanced emotional involvement, where this could not be possible in day to day life. So what makes this combination of visuals and sound so appealing to the masses? What is it about the relationship between these two medias that culminates to create something truly captivating? When music and film connect in a perfect way it can make a masterpiece of audio-visual content, though there is a lot at play to make this happen. This dissertation delves into what it is that makes film so immersive to its audience, discovering multiple ways of composing music to film and how using similar formulas to those used in successful film, similar results can be yielded in terms of the ability to become immersed. However, an individual's personal opinion and experience can often be the deciding factor in that person becoming immersed. With this in mind this dissertation investigates the role of subjectivity in conjunction with immersion and film, exploring how subjectivity can affect how immersive a film can be to the viewer.

The following films are analysed in detail: Birdman , dir. by Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2014), Fight Club , dir. by David Fincher (20th Century Fox, 1999), and Inception , dir. by Christopher Nolan (Warner Bros. Pictures, 2010). These three films have been chosen for analysis because they share similar narrative themes, that being the idea that the mind can influence the world, and in some cases create new worlds. These three films show their main characters interacting with parts of their mind, and in some cases being transported into their own minds.