Although a significant amount of research has been conducted on the emotional and psychological effects music has on children, very little research exists on the relationship between children and the music that underscores their movies. No formal studies exist on compositional approaches to the scoring of children’s films. Most significantly, the rapidly growing interest in media effects on children is lacking in a crucial way: focusing entirely on the visual and thematic content of motion picture, it underestimates the role underscore (aka 'background music') plays in how visual and thematic content is perceived and processed. My research, which explores these relationships from musical, cinematic, developmental, and educational perspectives, will serve as a gateway to new approaches for scholars in each of these fields, bringing new insight to the table. This exploratory study will merge existing theories across several disciplines, and prime readers in lesser-known concepts, defining new and often misused terms. Understanding the ways in which underscore impacts child audiences will not only serve as a tool for improving motion picture to better fit their needs and preferences, but it will also unveil lesser known compositional principles for producing underscore that specifically engages with and speaks to children, improving the overall quality and impact of the visual and thematic content.

Keywords: Children, Film, Underscore, Composition, Media Effects, Music, Soundtrack, Communications, Development, Family Movies, Motion Picture, Visual Media, Film Theory, Mickey-Mousing, Media Violence, animation

I composed an original digital audio film score with full sound design for a contemporary silent film called Apple Tree. The film is highly conceptual and interpretive and required a very involved, intricate score to successfully tell the story. In the process of scoring this film, I learned new ways to convey an array of contrasting emotions through music and sound. After analyzing the film's emotional journey, I determined that six defining emotions were the foundation on which to build an effective musical narrative. These six moods required clearly differentiated underscore, just similar enough for the film to maintain overall cohesion. Contrary to general assumption, I learned that even story-telling scores such as this must first reflect a movie's shifting moods before reflecting the action. This ensures that the score won't disrupt the natural unraveling of events - an especially important principle in silent films where music is always at the forefront.