wolf

Russell Lack speaks of the "mirror" theory, (a term used by Jacques Lacan, but transferred to film by Christian Metz) which maintains that film is a mirror for the audience's accumulated experiences. This, then, can be applied to film music, as a mirror for the audience's music/audiation experiences. Perhaps this is why film music never seems too out of place to the ordinary perceiver.

Psychoanalytic theories describe music as an "oceanic" fantasy (Schwarz, 1997). This is where the boundary separating the body from the external world seems dissolved or crossed. Guy Rosolato relates the maternal voice heard within the womb (the sonorous envelope) to this "oceanic" pleasure fantasy, and believes that it is the basis for all musical experiences.

Some film theorists have discussed the semiotic structure of film music as being based on the "all-around" quality of acoustic perception; in a nutshell, this asserts that we hear all-around but see in only one direction (Schwarz, 1997). This sonorous envelope is supposed to act as a 'suturing' device, smoothing over edits and unrealities, a constant defense against displeasure. Other theorists have investigated the sonorous envelope with regard to film music. Gorbman (1987, 1998) generally tends to support the theory. Smith (1996) however, rejects it as insupportable, due to the fact that music in most films is not constant, but is in fact erratic, and thus cannot be seen as a suturing device.

Composers such as Bernard Herrmann have incorporated a psychoanalytic aspect into their film music, a famous example is Psycho (1960). They have composed the underscore with the mental state of the character in mind, or mimicked the actions of the character. The audience can hear the character's mental state, can hear the emotions, but this is not the same as actually hearing the character's musical thoughts. Audiation in films opens the way for new psychoanalytic interpretations of film music, as the existence of a character's audiation determines the music the audience hears.

In order for audiation to be understood and recognised within film, certain parameters for audiation and triggers must be identified. The pilot study (completed in 1999) ascertained general aspects of audiation which can be applied to audiation in film to render it recognisable to the audience.