24

Exploring the Effects of TV and Movie Music on Childhood

Amparo Porta

In recent decades numerous authors and disciplines have been interested in the effects of the mass media in childhood and adolescence. The object of this chapter is the act of listening in the daily sound environment, and the effects produced therein by the mass media, such as cinema and television. The music offered daily in the mass media includes cognitive, social, emotional, and patrimonial elements that all affect listeners' experiences (DeNora, 2000). This text is part of a wider research study focused on listening, which is also aimed at developing objective instruments based on the language of music. To achieve these goals one must keep in mind which sound object is referred to, which type of sound landscape the sound object is located in, and which characteristics the sound object possesses. After producing and applying three instruments (musical analysis, a listening checklist, and analysis of the musical discourse), the soundtrack of several children's TV programs and movies were studied in order to determine their effects using qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques.

The musical characteristics were investigated using a checklist made up of categories that facilitated quantitative analysis, while the musical discourse was studied using content analysis. Cinema and television are similar in some respects, but they also present a number of important differences. Consequently, the research examined both TV programs for children and an animated film (Happy Feet, 2006). The study started with a descriptive phase aimed at identifying objective elements in the music, followed by an interpretive analysis focusing on the discourse, and exploring the meaning that music has for the child audience – the term “meaning” taken here as used by Greimas and Courtes (1982). The research focused on cinema and TV program soundtracks since they have been identified as having substantial educational influence. The core question of the research concerns what children listen to in cinema and TV programs for children.

Method

The methods of analysis chosen in this study include musical (Zamacois, 1987), sociological (Krippendorff, 1990), and semiotic analyses (Talens, 1995). Music speaks with its own language, so the elements included in the sound environment (i.e., tone, timbre, intensity, and rhythm); the structure (i.e., the musical form); and stylistic and timbric options have been studied in depth (Zamacois, 1987) (see Figure 24.1).

Music speaks to everybody (see Figure 24.2). By means of the sociological analysis of texts and discourses, the study accessed the nonobservable aspects of the musical analysis. In discourse, the unreachable truth is replaced by credibility, which refers to the reliability and consistency within the context of the discourse. Hence, the abovementioned elements were approached on three different levels: nuclear credibility, poetic and logical credibility, and topical credibility (Krippendorff, 1990). Nuclear credibility shows the basic characteristics of musical language (Figure 24.1), whereas poetic and logical credibility reveals the organization within the communicative chain by means of the musical form, genres, and stylistic and timbric features. This second level addresses the question of where the music is located and how it is constructed. Finally, the third level (topical credibility) allows us to observe the communicative tendency of the discourse as a whole, that is, to consider the music's ideological positioning while taking into account the fact that music is received in a private, individual manner (Porta, 2007). In other words, this level concerns the elements and syntax of the musical language.

Figure 24.1 Methodology for analyzing soundtracks

Figure 24.2 Music speaks for everyone: levels of credibility

The procedure followed consisted of three stages: (1) studying the quantitative musical features by applying the checklist mentioned above; (2) studying the songs and musical works through a musical analysis; and (3) analyzing the contents of the musical discourse, and examining how they are related to the story and other audiovisual narratives.

General Approach of the Study

This study explored cinema and television soundtracks as well as their effects, taking the semiotic framework as its theoretical reference because of its interest in the making of meaning, that is, in the individual's position within the discourse (Lozano, Abril, & Peña-Marín, 1982; Talens, 1995; Zunzunegui, 1989). The methodological foundation in musical semiotics was based on Adorno (1972), Molino (1975), Nattiez (1990), and Gauthier (1996). The analysis was performed using a procedure described by Umberto Eco. In the introduction to The Absent Structure Eco states that semiotic research makes sense only if the field structure is assumed to be an imprecise entity that the method intends to clear up. Hence he proposes the following points as a methodology: (1) comparing definitions; (2) establishing the semiotic field in terms of vastness and disorder; and (3) creating a research model subordinated to contradiction. This way, if the procedure is successful, something which appears utopian–that is to say, “maintaining the complexity of the field by granting it a structure, and thereby transforming that field into a system” (Eco & Cantarell, 1978) would be achieved.

Following Eco, the operating hypothesis of this research was to transform the field of study into a system, which requires the use of suitable instruments. The problem of measurement instruments in music is not new. Indeed, two different approaches to sound analysis appeared back in the 1960s and 1970s. Pierre Schaeffer's (1966) sound object, on the one hand, was based on a phenomenological analysis that focused on the modes of auditory perception. On the other hand, Robert Murray Schafer's (1977) notion of soundscape dealt with what might be labeled the “compositional” representation of the sonic environment. He also called for new solutions to new demands and claimed that the various fields of sound studies are in need of what amounts to a revolution. Finally, Atienza (2008) criticized this approach and stated that the sound object, which is to be the elemental unit of a “solfeggio of sound,” lacks a suitable scale for analyzing such complex configurations as those found in urban settings.

The Sound Medium

From a cultural and educational position, in accordance with Atienza (2008), we can say that the sound object is not really an object at all, nor is it responsible for the sound matter as an object, but, rather, as a medium. Consequently, the question about sound itself, addressed by Schaeffer and Murray Schafer, remains. The aim then is to study the sound in terms of a precise moment in time and space. JeanFrançois Augoyard (1989, p 21) and the Cresson laboratory are in fact the heirs of both conceptions. This research line arises from the need to find an interdisciplinary tool adjusted to the scale of an urban configuration that allows for the integration of dimensions other than the purely esthetic one (Atienza, 2008). The Cresson laboratory in Grenoble established a survey protocol that indicates a change in paradigm that rests on three key premises related to the description, the itinerary, and the experience.

The first of these three terms refers to the study of the musical elements that are listened to, while the second deals with their position in the sequence or program and how they are associated with the characters and set design (place, roles, etc.). The third concerns the observation of the child's identity traits, presence, and projection in the story in order to determine the degree of influence and dominant ideology. The main contribution in this case is that the parameters have been enlarged to include both contextual and experiential data. Therefore we no longer speak of just music or sound art, but of its position in the temporal and narrative structure of the audiovisual media. This means that in this new definition of listening space, the contents related to one's own identity (De Moragas, 1991), as well as the communicative, aesthetic, and patrimonial values in education, are all affected. Thus, this study aimed to analyze that part of the contemporary sound habitat that is produced industrially and designed to have a strong, far-reaching impact across society. Accordingly, it made use of musical formulae that were adapted to the mass media in order to insure it built a wide audience.

The Model

Models that attempt to explain how music is represented mentally vary in terms of the range of phenomena they explain and the categories they propose (Gómez-Ariza, 2000). Yet, few studies have systematically reviewed each of the factors that make up music and the influence they have on the way musical information is perceived and remembered. According to Gómez-Ariza, one of the difficulties hindering this type of review is that there is no unifying theoretical framework that allows existing data to be organized. The model used here is one that was created by Gómez-Ariza and which allows these data to be unified.

The notes in the melody, the intervals, and the tonality are all variables that determine the combination of sounds that make up music (musical phonology). The rhythmic pattern, the accents, and the rules of formation are essential to carry out the processes of segmenting a piece of music (musical syntax). Finally, tonal hierarchies and structure organize the music while also generating musical expectations, which, together with other expressive factors such as the tempo or the timbre, seem to generate affective responses to music (the semantics of music) (Gómez-Ariza, 2000).

Drawing from this research, the study considered the diverse dimensions of the musical stimuli that combine to constitute the complex auditory pattern that makes up music. In addition to dimensions related to the mental representation of music, music also takes place in time, so the study must be anchored in time in such a way as to allow the following questions to be answered: What is listened to, and where is what is listened to located? As noted, the definitions of the Cresson laboratory add the concepts of description, itinerary, and experience to the methodology. The descriptive part is understood to mean the characteristics of the music, while the itinerary refers to the planning of the story and its sequences in movies and the different sections that appear in TV programs (i.e., advertising, cartoons, and in-house material, as well as the songs in the opening sequences and the position of the other songs). Experience deals with the leading songs and the study of their cultural features, together with the representation of the world and the values that are offered. In short, here we are dealing with nuclear, poetic, and logical credibility.

Instruments

Three main instruments were employed in the study. The first two – musical analysis and the listening checklist – were used to gain an understanding of musical pieces in the media and their constitutive elements. Musical analysis makes it possible to determine what the music is like. The checklist was used to describe the music's 13 basic elements quantitatively. The third instrument, analysis of musical discourse, explored the meaning of the music within the audiovisual and cultural medium. This is the point at which the levels of credibility are applied to give account of the presence of the viewer, that is, the child, within the discourse offered by cinema and TV.

These instruments and considerations were applied to a TV program for children entitled Los Lunnis (2008) and also to the movie Happy Feet (2006). The checklist for listening took into account 14 indicators corresponding to the more representative sound qualities to be measured. This checklist had already been validated and applied to other audiovisual documents. The analysis variables, to be further detailed below, were the following: without sound; nonmusical sound; musical sound; voice; meter and rhythm; beginning type; dynamics; agogic; genre and style; sound organization; cadence; modulation; sound texture; and sound plane (Porta & Ferrández, 2009). The instrument was produced in four phases: (1) the construction of the pilot checklist; (2) validation by expert opinion; (3) second checklist; and (4) intercoder validation. Validation was carried out by means of the crossed judgments of three independent coders on 22 units of analysis for the same program, the results showing a mean rate of agreement above 80%, which was considered to indicate that the instrument had a very high level of reliability (Porta & Ferrández, 2009).

The checklist was created taking into account the most representative measurable music and sound characteristics. As a result, the following variables for analysis were established:

1. 0 No sound.
2. 1 Nonmusical sound: this indicator refers to sound that cannot be measured with musical parameters.
3. 2 Musical sound: this refers to the qualities of sound that allow musical components to be discriminated and distinguished.
4. 3 Voice: this refers to sound produced by the human vocal apparatus.
5. 4 Meter and rhythm: (a) Meterr refers to the hierarchical organization of time levels or measures. (b) Rhythm refers to the distribution of sounds on the time continuum.
6. 5 Type and beginning: (a) Anacrusic beginning: this refers to one that starts before the phrase begins. (b) Acephalous beginning: this refers to a phrase that begins with a silence. (c) Thetic beginning: this refers to a phrase that begins on time.
7. 6 Dynamics: this refers to everything related to the degrees of intensity of the music.
8. 7 Agogic: this refers to aspects of the performance related to the duration and, consequently, to the tempo.
9. 8 Genre and style: (a) Musical genre: this refers to musical compositions that share different affinity criteria. (b) Style: this refers to the form of the discourse and the particular way in which a piece is performed.
10. 9 Sound organization: this refers to the musical syntax and the modal or tonal (major or minor) organization of Western music.
11. 10 Cadence: this refers to the process of falling to a tonal center. The different cadences can be classified as conclusive, if they generate a certain degree of stability or rest, or suspensive, if they generate instability or tension.
12. 11 Modulation: in tonal music, this indicator refers to the process of moving from one tonality to another or the result of such a shift.
13. 12 Sound texture: this indicator allows us to gain a better understanding of spatial organization and how it is articulated with regard to performances, composition, and analysis. Types of texture include: (a) monophonic; (b) polyphonic, which in turn may be (i) horizontal polyphony or (ii) vertical polyphony; and (c) accompanied monody.
14. 13 Sound plane: this refers to the vocal and/or instrumental groups that jointly intervene and determine the situation of the different sounds, whether this is temporal, physical, or related to the intention of those sounds.

The narrative structure of three sections of the television program – content produced in-house, nonlocally-produced cartoons, and advertising – together with the musical numbers and songs in the movie, were all examined. The nuclear credibility of the music was considered first to determine its specific characteristics, and an examination of the poetic and logical credibility of the musical texts made it possible to determine the way musical discourse is built. This approach shed light on the music's topical credibility, and its discursive and ideological tendencies (Porta, 2007).

The paradigm, model, and methodology were selected so as to answer the key question: What do children listen to in TV programs and children's movies? This phase of analysis resulted in a better understanding of the content of the soundtracks and of how they represent the world. This research, however, also proposed to explore the social, communicative, and educational dimensions of music.

Rationale: Children and the Music of the Media

According to the Pigmalión report (Del Río, Alvarez, & Del Río, 2004), the mass media, especially television, have become a key means of constructing reality for children today. Some of the most important works on television music include those by Beckers (1993) in Germany, Bixler (2000) in England, and Magdanz (2001) in Canada. Others include those carried out on the program Sesame Street, in particular the study conducted by Wolfe and Stambaugh (1993), who proposed the observation, classification, and detailed description of the musical elements of the program as initial objectives for later research on music-therapy-based learning for young children. Equally noteworthy is the work carried out by Valdivia on the cultural dimensions of the media (Valdivia, 1995, 2004, 2010). Spanish-language research on the subject includes the work by Herrera, Cremades, and Lorenzo (2010) on musical preferences in adolescents, and TV and animated movies (Porta, 1998, 2007). Our own research group has also conducted research on children's TV programs in Latin America (Porta, 2010).

The changes experienced in contemporary Western societies with the proliferation of new technologies make it necessary to search for new strategies to protect the rights of children both as citizens and as consumers (Buckingham, 2002). One of these rights is education, one of the purposes of which is to prepare individuals to cope with the difficulties of the times they are living in (Aronowitz & Giroux, 1991). Moreover, critical pedagogy contends that being culturally literate means being in possession of the basic information needed to prosper in the modern world (Aronowitz & Giroux, 1991). Similarly, multicultural pedagogy defends the social characteristics that define the Other, and denounces social and educational policies that are only interested in adapting to the needs of the market (McLaren & Kincheloe, 2007; Morley, 2002). Finally, Hargreaves and North (1999) looked into the psychological functions of music in everyday life and proposed focusing tasks on the social dimension, so as to be able to consider the interdisciplinary context, the effects of “democratizing” music, the role played by theory, the relationship between theory and practice, and the implications for the research methodology.

It is important to bear in mind that cinema and television are references for children, since they provide them with a representation of the world prior to any real experience and reflexive knowledge (Vygotsky, 1981). Music, image, and narration are always present in cinema and television, in a process that produces a unique, single meaning within the child audience. To find out what the music in children's programs is like and how it is constructed, an analysis of the musical characteristics of the songs, the fragments, and the motifs found in the three sections of the television program identified above was performed, focusing specifically on the timelines and the cuts in regular periods. On the other hand, in animated films for children, music is part of the story and it is consequently subject to the narrative structure, on which it depends. Music interacts with the audience in the construction of the story, the definition of the characters, the settings and ambiences, and the emotional climate. Taking these factors into consideration, the musical characteristics, the impermanence, the relation between the music and the story, and the position in the narrative structure were analyzed as case studies.

Two approaches were employed to answer the two basic research questions of this study: What is listened to? (musical categories), and what is the material listened to like and how is the music built? (content analysis). The checklist specifically designed for this research and discussed earlier was used to answer the first question, and an analysis of 13 musical categories was carried out to establish the characteristics of the soundtrack of the TV programs for children. The research used musical analysis (Zamacois, 1987), the relational timeline for music in the narrative structure, and content analysis of the levels of credibility to answer the second question. This second line of research added an element of greater significance to the descriptive one, since it explored communicative intentions, and the assignment of roles and values by means of the music.

Analysis of TVE Programs for Children

One section of the study explored the soundtrack of Los Lunnis, the children's television program with the highest audience figures in Spain. Los Lunnis is produced by TVE and broadcast on TVE2 every day from 7.30 to 9.30 a.m. The week's episodes are shown again on Saturday mornings. It is the only children's program offered by TVE and is produced thanks to public funding. Los Lunnis is aimed at children between the ages of 3 and 10. The program is also shown in other countries, and is structured as a programming block with cross-curricular educational objectives. Studies indicate that most viewers are between the ages of 4 and 6 and that the music is one of the main reasons children watch the program. Los Lunnis has been awarded a number of prizes, and has been praised for promoting positive values and behaviors such as interculturalism, for fostering ethics, for disseminating nonsexist behavior, and for the rational use of television. The sample analyzed here consisted of 10 hours of programming broadcast during a week in which no special events were taking place, namely February 18–22, 2008. The programs were recorded on DVD and the music was analyzed in terms of its narrative and visual context. In the sample, this programming block consisted of both Spanish and US cartoons (20%), advertising for food/candy and toys (4.4%), and, lastly, in-house program materials, including the opening sequences, closing sequence, bumpers, dramatizations, reports, songs, news, and interviews (75.6%).

To answer the broad question of what is listened to, a number of more specific questions were posed. These included: What musical sounds are used and what types and families do they belong to? What tempo and meter are used? How do the pieces of music begin? What pace and intensity do they have? What genres and styles do they display? What keys are most frequently used? How do the pieces of music end? And how important is the soundtrack in the program as a whole? Here, the program was studied using the checklist developed for this research and validated before applying it to the study (Porta & Ferrández, 2009). Sampling was performed by means of the expert choice procedure so as to include the musical elements from the three sections of the program (in-house programs, cartoons, and advertising) that were relevant to the first analysis. Furthermore, the sample was complemented with 10 periodic cuts selected at random to allow determination of the musical material in the program. The checklist was applied to the program by an expert. It involved the use of 90 units of analysis and a full examination of the musical form consisting of 23 pieces.

Answering the question of what the music is like entailed determining the musical and discursive meaning of these elements, as well as their specific weight in children's programs. In order to do so, the programs were subdivided into three types of program materials: in-house (locally produced) program materials, advertising, and cartoons. Additional questions that were asked included “What are the musical characteristics of the soundtrack and how is it constructed?” A new approach was developed to search for the molar elements (Pozo, 1989, pp. 166–167) and their meaning, namely:

1. the internal characteristics of the music from the three sections of the program, that is:
   1. (a) in-house program materials: study of the opening theme music, closing themes, bumpers, and songs;
   2. (b) cartoons: the series Berni, Clifort, and Pocoyó;
   3. (c) advertising: commercials for toys and food/candy;
2. The diegetic songs (that is, songs sung by the characters).

In order to study how these were dealt with in the program, five songs performed by the leading characters in the program were selected.

What Is Listened To? Musical Categories

The study demonstrated that the program makes frequent use of both musical and nonmusical sound consisting of noises and sound effects. The music in the sample consisted of 70% electronic, 15.5% acoustic, and 10% hybrid combinations, mainly groupings of instruments, the majority of which were string instruments. Electronic sounds were predominantly imitation. Forty-two percent of the music was instrumental and the rest was vocal, mainly in groups of voices (38.9%), with a prevalence of male (10%) over female voices (2.2%).

In terms of meter and rhythm, the results were binary in 88% of cases versus 1.4% of ternary, with occasional cases of blends. A binary rhythm refers to a rhythm based on one strong and one weak beat (e.g., in a march). A ternary form consists of one strong beat and two weak ones, an example being a waltz. The type of beginning analysis revealed that the pieces of music had anacrusic beginnings in 57% of cases versus 37.8% with thetic beginnings. There were also a few cases of acephalous beginnings. Anacrusic beginnings precede the first beat in a bar, while acephalous beginnings start after the first downbeat. Thetic beginnings start on the first beat (see Porta and Ferrández, 2009). The use of intensity (dynamics) was mostly flat (81%), with variations in 18.9% of the melodies. As far as agogic variations (or variations in pace) were concerned, the music in this program was again seen to opt for no variations in tempo in 88.9% of cases versus 3.3% in which it speeded up, and a slightly higher percentage that used ritardando.

The most common genres were popular music (77.8% of the total) – pop, rock, blues, and other popular styles and subgenres from the twentieth century. With regard to traditional music, 13.3% came from other cultures, while only 1.1% came from Spain. The sound organization revealed a predominance of the major key (88.9%) over the minor key (6.7%) in the sample. Most of the music resolved in a conclusive manner (56.7%) versus 25.6% for suspensive, and 10% for truncated melodies. This last type of melodies occurred in advertising segments or in adjustments made to the continuity of the program. The analysis of the sound texture showed that the most common melodies were songs that are sung by one voice accompanied by instruments (64.4%), in contrast to several voices singing together (17.3%). Finally, the study demonstrated that music often plays a leading role in the program, and appears as background music in scenes and dramatizations in just 25.6% of the cases in the sample studied. Table 24.1 shows the details of the results obtained.

What Is the Music Like?

In order to study the musical characteristics, 23 pieces of music from different sections of the program were analyzed, bearing in mind the length of the work and its musical form. Thus, the first and last phrases, two intermediate cuts, and an evaluation of the whole piece of music were studied in the case of the longest pieces (understood to mean pieces of music lasting more than one minute) over the five days of the week. The results of the analysis of the musical contents of the in-house program material (opening themes, closing music, bumpers, and songs), cartoons, and advertising were as follows.

Table 24.1 The indicators: results by musical categories

Figure 24.3 Musical structure of the opening sequence

In-House Programs

The opening theme music of the program, which was repeated on each of the five days of the week, was studied using 15 checklists – three for each day. It is a short tune lasting 34 seconds, with an anacrusic beginning, in G major, and a tempo of 144 beats (quarter notes) per minute. It is sung by adult soloists and vocal groups accompanied by instruments (Figure 24.3). This tune is the one that is most frequently used in transitions, to present dramatizations or subsections, and as bumpers and closing themes. For each use, however, it is adapted to create different versions, which may be instrumental, vocal, or semi-spoken, and could be complete, fractioned, or played as a repeating loop.

In the closing themes (i.e. the musical themes that accompany the credits at the end of the show) the program utilized the tune from the opening, although some parts were removed while the motif from the signature tune was kept. These were of varying lengths: 4 seconds, 36 seconds, and 1 minute 33 seconds. For example, this last closing theme, which was the longest of all, was repeated in a loop while the last dramatic action in the program was finishing, and it concluded when the signature tune shifted from the background to the foreground. On two of the five days it was truncated and replaced by the next program. Eight of the bumpers lasted 7 seconds and, again, took up the identifying elements of the opening theme tune and used them with different arrangements and effects.

There were many different songs and melodies in the program. In this subsection the aim was to retrieve those that played a leading role in order to determine the different forms, genres, and styles that were used, how they were linked with the scene and the subject matter, and also to explore the synchrony with the text and the images. The songs and melodies selected were those interpreted by characters in different settings, such as in little theaters, pubs, television studios, or virtual sets. Throughout the week analyzed, the following songs were heard as leading figures with diegetic sound: “Un mundo mejor,” “Oh Lulú, Estoy como un queso,” “Soy rancherito,” and “Que me fallen las palabras” (Table 24.2). A total of 25 units of analysis were used, five for each song – one for the first and last musical phrase, two intermediate cuts, and one evaluation of the whole piece of music.

Table 24.2 Analysis of the songs performed by characters in the program throughout the week

Song 1 “Un mundo mejor”
Topic	Peace
Summary	A strophic pop song in G major at 168 beats per minute, sung with a child's and a man's voices, accompanied by electronic imitative sound. In the last phrase, fireworks can be heard.
Song 2 “Oh Lulú”
Topic	The legend of the hero
Summary	A country song with alternating verses and a chorus that is repeated at the end. It is in C major at 114 beats per minute. It is sung by a man's voice, accompanied by an acoustic banjo, percussion, and polyphonic children's choir.
Song 3 “Estoy como un queso”
Topic	Self-image and self-esteem
Summary	A blues song at 136 beats per minute. Alternating verses and chorus. Sung with voice, piano, drums, and male choir that echoes in the chorus.
Song 4 “Soy rancherito”
Topic	Popular song
Summary	A Mexican-style song in C major at 144 beats per minute, accompanied by mariachis and sung by a male soloist.
Song 5 “Que me fallen las palabras”
Topic	Words
Summary	A blues song in D minor at 78 beats per minute. Recreation of a blues recital: singer, electric guitar, drums, and projection screens.

Advertising was studied using a single unit of analysis for each commercial or two when there was a notable change in the music. The common features were: duration of 20 seconds; tempo of about 123 beats per minute; instrumental with electronic imitative sound; binary; no variation in the dynamics or in the rhythm; pop and film genre; use of a major key; and the music was background music that sometimes became the leading, foreground figure. In the case of the Polly Pocket Pony commercial, two checklists were applied because of the significant change in its soundtrack (Cut 1: from 1 to 18 seconds; Cut 2: from 18 to 20 seconds) that takes place in order to highlight the slogan.

Cartoons

Lastly, because of their length, the cartoons were studied with a cut every 45 seconds until the whole episode had been covered. The following is a summary of Berni and Pocoyó.

Berni is a cartoon series from 2006 without dialogue, produced by BRB Internacional S.A. It deals with the subject of sport and features Berni, a polar bear. It consists of 3-minute episodes strung together back to back to fill the total length of the broadcast. Six units of analysis were used to examine the quantitative characteristics of the soundtrack, and a musical study of the cartoons was conducted in order to find out what their music is like. The episode included both everyday noises and sounds, and electronic imitative sounds. It combined the classical style in short sequences with other styles more closely related to the incidental music of movies. The music was written in a major key and was instrumental, with no variation in the rhythm or the dynamics, and both conclusive and suspensive cadences were used. Some modulations to other tones were produced, the sound texture was a single voice accompanied by instruments, and the music appeared as background music, except for just one occasion on which it progressed from the background to the leading figure. Pocoyó is a Spanish cartoon series from 2005, produced by Zinkia Entertainment Production S.L., which features Pocoyó, a little boy whose adventures involve exploring and interacting with the world around him. Each episode lasts 6 minutes and 45 seconds and the narrative action in this particular episode was about discovering one's own fingerprints and those of others. It made use of both nonmusical and musical sound from the world of pop, with hints of the incidental music used in movies. The music was electronic, instrumental, binary, and thetic, with variations in the dynamics and the rhythm. The tempo was linked with the characters as they appeared on scene: Pocoyó at 156 beats per minute, Elly (the elephant) at 90, and Pato at 114. Both major and minor keys were used, with different cadences and modulations; the sound texture was the accompanied monody, and there were also rhythmic ostinatos and sound effects. The music was present both in the background and as the leading figure, and the musical motifs were the leitmotifs of the characters.

Analysis of Cinema for Children: Happy Feet

Happy Feet is an animated movie released at the end of 2006. It was directed by George Miller, produced by Warner Bros, and won an Oscar and a Golden Globe. It features the voices of Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, Hugo Weaving, Nicole Kidman, and Hugh Jackman. To conduct the study, the entire movie was viewed and its musical numbers were placed on the time frame and matched to the continuity of the story, while looking at the characters, stage space, cultural groups, and so forth. The movie was analyzed by levels of credibility: nuclear poetic and logical, and topical. Then, a descriptive study of the musical categories was conducted in order to determine the ways rhythm, timbre, texture, and so on were used.

At this level of analysis, the listening checklist system (Porta & Ferrández, 2009) was applied to examine the musical categories and indicators (level 1: nuclear credibility). The meaning of the music within the movie was also determined using poetic credibility, by studying the different musical segments, their time frame, characters, and the characteristics of genres and musical styles.

The musical numbers from the movie were analyzed, and eight songs and three numbers with choreographed melodies were examined in greater detail. To do so, a table was created for this movie, to represent the four sections of the narrative plot. These four sections were: (1) society of the Emperor penguins; (2) exile and appearance of the Latin penguins; (3) the encounter; and (4) the men. The songs within each section were situated in their time sequence. Lastly, the presence and communicative force of the music in the story was determined by studying the degree to which it was present in the action.

The Story

The movie tells the story of life in a society of Emperor penguins. Three social groups can be distinguished: the Emperor penguins, the Latin penguins, and humans. The members of the first group are the leading characters in the movie. One of its members is born different from the others, and leaves because he cannot sing. Later, however, he comes across a group of Latin penguins who appreciate the one skill he does have: dancing. The three cultural groups (Emperor penguins, Latin penguins, and humans) are present in the movie in unequal proportions, since the first 30 minutes are devoted to the presentation of the Emperor penguins and the lead-up to the different conflicts that arise. The life of the Latin penguins is not so clearly portrayed and less time is devoted to them (16 minutes). However, they are shown as a fun-loving society that solves its problems by consulting the Elder. The third group, the humans, who disrupt the ecosystem, appear toward the end of the movie for just the last 3 minutes, in which everything is resolved with a happy ending.

The Soundtrack in the Story

The movie has five songs in Section 1, none in Section 2, two in Section 3, and one in Section 4 (see Figure 24.4). The cultural dominance of the Emperor penguins prevails throughout the whole movie because it is a more structured and organized society. The most important thing, however, is that the lead character is born in it, feels different and leaves, but wants to go back home. As pointed out above, and as shown in Figure 24.4, the movie has four narrative sections. The first three sections reproduce the narrative organization of the movie The Lion King, but are not portrayed with the same persuasive/projective talent (Porta, 1998).

The music creates a conservative, mainstream atmosphere that reflects how well established the home society (Emperor penguins) – the society taken as a reference in the movie – is. From a stylistic point of view, it draws on pop, rock, and some classics with polyphonic White voices in its selection of diegetic music. In the land of the Latin penguins no songs are heard, only Latin rhythms performed on percussion instruments (batucada and mambo). Musically, it is briefer and weaker in terms of variety, quality of performance, and association with the characters.

Figure 24.4 Musical numbers in the four sections of Happy Feet (2006)

The nondiegetic music in the movie (that which is not performed by the characters) symbolizes the presence of the narrator in the story. It is acoustic orchestral music, with a predominance of stringed instruments and the presence of trumpets in the climaxes of the plot. In general terms, it is incidental music which describes the action and is not very melodic in nature, except in some of the sequences that have a Latin air to them. This section includes a wonderful choreographic sequence in the sea, which is one of the best numbers in the movie, with orchestral, non-diegetic music featuring the Emperor penguins. Both in terms of its performance and instrumentally speaking, the quality of the music (largely made up of successful well-known songs) is unusually good for a children's movie, and is always associated with the first ethnic group, except for “A mi manera,” a Spanish version of “My way.” It sums up the cultural wealth of the society that the movie portrays as dominant and mainstream, while the other group is constructed as exotic and funny.

Elements of Musical Language Used in the Movie: Nuclear Credibility

The movie uses electric instruments originally employed in pop and rock, as well as acoustic instruments that are both orchestral (all families) and popular, together with body percussion. There is a predominance of binary stress and the intensity is strong in all the scenes (Porta, 2010).

Ordering of the Musical Elements in the Narrative Sequence: Poetic Credibility

No complete songs are heard, the length of time the songs last varies widely, and the music is organized by blending several melodies – two or three in most cases. They are used both as foreground and as background elements. The genres and styles heard include English, American, and Australian pop/rock, classical, and descriptive cinematographic music. Synchrony between music and image in the movie is good, and all the voiced parts of the songs are performed by the characters themselves. The voices singing the songs are very different from the characters' spoken voices, however, which makes the scenes less convincing, and the accompanying instruments remain in the nondiegetic plane, that is, they are not present in the action.

Evaluation of the Soundtrack of the Film; Study of the Tendencies and Cultural Dominance: Topical Credibility

The soundtrack of Section 1 refers to musical language as one of the values of a cultured and developed society, and covers aspects such as how to create a song, school as a place of learning, and music as cultural heritage and a common asset. Yet, in the realm of the Latin penguins, music is presented as fun and a way of escaping from the problems of a society that lacks resources and is exposed to the attacks of predators.

Conclusions and Discussion

The findings obtained by applying the listening checklist demonstrate that the program Los Lunnis has a soundtrack that utilizes musical sound (preferably electronic), which is divided fairly equally into instrumental and vocal music sung by groups of voices. Its music is binary, popular, anacrusic, with flat dynamics and no variations in pace, and the texture is the accompanied monody. It uses the major key with modulations to other keys, resolves by conclusive cadences, and the music is predominantly the leading figure. The program also includes a high percentage of nonmusical sound consisting of noises and sound effects.

A preliminary evaluation of the musical analysis reveals that the diegetic music chosen for the in-house material (25% of the program) is made up of strophic songs with phrases that are eight bars long. They are listened to as whole pieces and resolve in a highly conclusive manner with all the available closing elements, sometimes using both homophony and polyphony. There is a certain lack of rhythmic richness, with a strong presence of binary stress. The intensity has no nuances and is controlled using a mixing desk, progressing from background to leading figure usually by the use of narrative rather than musical strategies. Music and images are well synchronized in the program, and the instruments and sound objects are matched to its soundtrack and the different scenes in the program. Its tempos range from 78 to 168 beats per minute without any variations in the rhythm, and it uses the keys of C major, G major, D major, and D minor, which sometimes modulate to other keys.

The styles chosen in this case make use of a timbral composition that, although at times excessively electronic, utilizes acoustic elements from the corresponding popular music, as well as harmonic and melodic structures that also reflect it. They are often accompanied by choreographed movements and an appropriate wardrobe and set design. From the point of view of style and how it is linked with identity, the program opts for foreign popular music. Advertising, which takes up 4.4% of the program time, has a soundtrack that averages 123 beats per minute. It is predominantly instrumental, with electronic imitative sounds, and is binary and thetic with no variations in the dynamics or the rhythm. It has no defined style; sometimes uses the movie genre, noises, and nonmusical sounds; and appears in a major key in the form of background music.

Cartoons, which account for 63% of the total program time, use both music and nonmusical sounds and noises to reinforce the dramatic action with the aid of changes in key and tempo, as well as the use of suspensive effects and small leitmotifs to define characters. The results from the study of the program show that the most commonly heard melody is that of its own signature tune, which appears as the introduction and at the end of each section, dramatization, and episode. Truncated pieces of music are also heard, especially in commercials and at the end of episodes. Likewise, another point to be highlighted due to its importance in cartoon programs is the preponderance of nondiegetic music, and of a wide variety of both musical and nonmusical sounds.

Music from before the twentieth century is scarce, with a few exceptions being used in cartoons and parodies in the in-house program material, where some allusions are made to the classical style. The leading songs of that particular week were a ranchera, a country song, two blues songs, and a pop song. The sample contains a selection of musical pieces from around the world but, although the program is broadcast nationwide in Spanish and is watched by children in all the different regions of Spain, it does not include any Spanish songs. Children's television programs require contents related to their own identity (De Moragas, 1991), yet what is offered is a multicultural space that has lost its local elements and been filled with exotic material.

The soundtrack of the program includes incidental music linked to the action, which appears in all its sections in the form of tiny fragments of music that remind the child of the world of movies. This is the case of the parody of Lunicienta, like that of Psycho, or the repeated references to one of the last American heroes: Indiana Jones. In Pocoyó there are leitmotifs associated with its characters, tonal and nontonal music, modulations, and variations in the dynamics and rhythm, as well as shifts from leading figure to background, and vice versa. And all this takes place alongside an expressive and aesthetic dialogue in space and time, which envisions its audience as actively engaged and meaningfully interacting with the television media through the music.

After studying the animated movie we found that the soundtrack of Happy Feet makes use of electric instruments originally employed in pop and rock, as well as acoustic instruments that are both orchestral (all families) and popular, together with body percussion. There is a predominance of binary stress and the intensity is strong in all the scenes. The semiotic study indicates that the music has represented the values of a dominant society that has been built by its own efforts and everybody's contribution. It also shows that music has assumed a wide variety of universal styles and timbres as well as famous songs and some classic pieces. All the elements mentioned were associated with the group of Emperor penguins, and the music of Section 2, the exile, is a cultural contribution that strengthens the dominant group in Section 3. Furthermore, it also shows their victory related to the appearance of humans in Section 4, and the defense of the ecosystem. In the movie, the music, which is considered a metaphor of society, shows a dominant group that was identified with pop culture, while including some touches of classical and instrumental choral music and also descriptive music from movies, which has absorbed a part of the foreign culture to strengthen its society and to favor economic and cultural development. The elements described become apparent in the soundtrack through a great number of songs, their quality and variety, and the magnificence of the mise en scène.

This study can help inform our understanding of the role of music in media targeted at children by offering food for thought regarding some of the social and educational functions of music in cinema and television. The results of this research can be useful as a guide for viewers, production companies, TV networks, and educators. Moreover, policies aimed at preserving, generating, and maintaining macro- and micro-contexts are necessary so that children's everyday environments are continually adapted to enable them to achieve their highest potential (Porta, 2007). Finally, we believe that the study will be of use in future reconstructions of curricular design.

This chapter has dealt with what children listen to in films and TV programs by applying tools that allow a general objective diagnosis to be performed on the soundtrack, through the use of the checklist, as well as other more specific measures for studying its peculiarities. The aim was to determine the music's effects so that alternatives can be developed for future use in education and audiovisual production. This work has taken a first step along that path by drawing attention to the way music is used in the audiovisual media. Because it is part of the habitat that children employ to construct their inner world, if the music made available to them is poor and biased, their vision of the world will be limited by it.

Likewise, it has observed how the music associated with the characters, values, and roles in a highly emotional and projective language is used to highlight dominant groups and cultural spaces. With a view to protecting children and fostering their better development, this chapter poses a question for future research: Where exactly are the limits of the responsibility of audiovisual productions targeted at children for the creation of their soundtracks? And a second question derived from it: Is one of the challenges facing education the ability to adapt the systems of musical education so as to develop communication and critical thinking skills? The relationships between music and images and narrative in the media produce effects on children's cognitive, emotional, and social development. This chapter has offered a view of the music that is used and therefore of what can be heard in the samples that were studied. The media are a representation of the world in which the characters, scenes, and cultural groups are endowed with music that underlines their ideological approaches and standpoints. Future research will utilize these findings to develop the study of the explicit and veiled functions of soundtracks, to warn of the effects of the music used in audiovisual products, not only cognitively but also emotionally, socially, and culturally. In addition, we aim to seek alternatives that can be introduced into audiovisual production and curricular design, especially in higher education, so as to be able to study the repercussions of music and point to the need to set up observatories and curricular strategies that take them into account.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was made possible thanks to funding from the Research and Development Program for the Promotion of Research at Jaume I University, and the Program for Inter-University Cooperation and Scientific Research between Spain and Latin America.

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