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Arts & Communication Music and sound in Greek TV commercials

mood of the characters or situation, such as through the the viewer’s vision both literally and figuratively, rescuing
use of suspenseful music to heighten tension. This type of the image from dry realism. 15
music relies on cultural codes related to emotions, allowing Music punctuates films through audio codes that result
the audience to identify with and experience the actors’ from the collaboration of music, broader culture, and
feelings. In other words, the audience empathizes with the cinematic norms. A well-known example is the leitmotif,
actors. The second type of film scoring in Chion’s theory a musical theme found in opera, film, and theater,
is “anempathetic” music, which is neutral or passive; its accompanying a character, location, situation, or emotion
progress is stable and usually unrelated to the events. This associated with it. Television eventually adopted this
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technique is not intended to freeze emotions but to intensify same tactic. As will be explored further, the same applies
the scene, especially the feeling of tragedy. Anempathetic to commercials, where each advertisement for a specific
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music is indifferent to the emotions on screen; it creates brand or product features a characteristic melody that
a sense of detachment or irony by contrasting the sound often helps the product or company stand out.
with the action, such as by playing cheerful music during a
disastrous scene. Generally, filmmakers choose empathetic The most fundamental audio element in the film is
music to amplify emotions, whereas anempathetic sound is arguably voice. Sound in cinema is primarily phonocentric,
used to evoke reflection or highlight the indifference of the making language the dominant variable for viewers. If a
world to personal events. film’s language is familiar, the audience first seeks word
association and interprets the remaining compilation of
Visual and auditory rhythms are distinctly different.
The difference between them, according to Chion, is that sounds afterward. Dialog is the primary tool for conveying
meaning, aided by the actors’ expressions and movements.
sound presupposes action or motion from the beginning. The voice is part of human constitution and behavior,
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The ear analyzes and processes information faster, whereas successfully attracting the audience’s attention more than
the eye perceives information gradually as it analyzes any other audio medium. 13
many elements simultaneously. The ear isolates one detail
of the auditory field and continues to process it from that It is worth mentioning that narrative music in mass
point on. Thus, when it comes to audiovisual stimuli, the media is one of the most significant sources of musical
eye is spatially specialized, whereas the ear is temporally experience in everyday life. Viewers become accustomed
specialized. What makes sound particularly important is to and familiarize themselves with television’s audio
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its ability to influence the perception of visual temporality preferences. Narrative music can also help to describe a
in three ways: (a) It attributes time flow to the image, (b) It story. Wingstedt et al. proposed categorizing narrative
favors a succession of images with temporal linearity, and music based on its functions as these functions appear in
(c) It dramatizes or concretizes moving images by orienting cinema and other audiovisual media. In their study, they
them toward a goal, an expectation, or an emotion. One identified six key roles: (a) Emotive, (b) Informative, (c)
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of the most important features of sound directly related Descriptive, (d) Guiding, (e) Temporal, and (f) Rhetorical. 16
to temporality is rhythmic treatment. For example, a fast The characteristics that define the functions of sound
tempo grabs attention immediately, making the message concerning the image are applicable across all audiovisual
simpler and easier to remember. 14 media. Television programming started as an experiment,
Sound and image work mutually to produce added closely mirroring radio in terms of timing, demographics,
value. Sound underscores the image so that the scene and maintaining a continuous stream, along with inserting
does not appear the same when silenced. Similarly, images commercial breaks between programs. Television also
make the music sound different. For example, sounds can imitates cinema in terms of esthetic and artistic structure,
make what the audience sees on screen feel different or integrating both images and sounds and presenting this
more impactful. If someone were to watch the same scene synthesis on screen, allowing the final work to be analyzed
without any sound, it would not feel the same or have the and interpreted by the audience. 17
same emotional impact. According to Rodman, five sensory channels of cinema
Gorbman distinguished two basic properties of music’s are also found in television, including visual elements
function in relation to moving images: Diegetic and non- (moving images), written text, speech, sound effects, and
diegetic functions. When characters hear the music and music. Similar to cinema, television exploits cultural
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it exists within the realistic spatiotemporal framework codes to convey meaning. The audience is not merely
of the cinematic action, the music’s function is diegetic. passive but actively engages with the social content
When the soundtrack is not part of the action’s reality, it projected through image, sound, and speech. This training
is called non-diegetic. For Gorbman, music in film guides assists the audience in reacting to a message in the desired

Volume 3 Issue 2 (2025) 6 doi: 10.36922/ac.4374