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Music affects us in many ways – both psychologically and physiologically. Beyond shifting emotions, reducing stress, and inspiring movement, music can shape the listener’s perceptions and beliefs. When combined with resonating images and engaging stories, through films or immersive technology, for example, this power is amplified. These highly influential tools are what I refer to as the Technologies of Emotion. Music is unique in that it shapes and can rewrite the subconscious narrative in our minds, without us even knowing it is happening.

While this powerful aspect of music had been used for less positive intentions it has also been used to influence individuals and culture for good.

While this powerful aspect of music had been used for less positive intentions – whether by political leaders to influence a nation or by advertisers who want us to buy products that are not necessarily good for our wellbeing – it has also been used to influence individuals and culture for good.

As a Hollywood composer, I have had to master this skill. As a social entrepreneur, I have continually searched for opportunities to use the power of music and storytelling to positively influence people. When I have the opportunity to do this at scale, I do my best to rise to the challenge.

Last week, Ingrooves re-released one of my film soundtracks on the digital music platforms Spotify and Apple Music. The film, called Amazing, is a sci-fi drama about the making of the first thought-controlled virtual reality game featuring top Asian actors with US NBA stars – some of the most revered figures in China’s contemporary youth culture, the target audience for the film.

When my dear friend and associate, film director Sherwood Hu, asked me to compose the soundtrack, I realized I had an opportunity to positively influence another massive audience – this time in the emerging global power center China. With the potential to reach over 100M people in China alone, I felt I had a chance to contribute to the raising of consciousness at a time when it was needed, even if I only affected 1% of my audience. So I accepted the job with that challenge and goal.

There is a high level of censorship by the Chinese government of films and media that go out to the masses. Because of this, my approach, which I credit to Shakespeare, had to be less than obvious, if not completely disguised from the lens of the authorities. Music was the perfect vehicle.

As one technique, I used popular song – opening and closing the film with two Hip Hop anthems in which the artists sang about relatively taboo social issues for popular Chinese media at the time. The themes included “breaking down the walls” to freedom and empowerment for young women. I’m still not sure to this day why the Census Board failed to demand printed and translated lyrics for review, but am not surprised that they missed capturing the meanings of the words and messages conveyed by socially conscious rappers as they were caught up in the stylistic musical production and images on the screen.

I took a more subtle approach with the music score, from which I created a theme song called “The Kiss.” Once I had a melody I believed would stick in the memory of viewers, I looked to a source to help me shape a lyric that would have multiple levels of meaning. I turned to one of the most popular Tibetan sutras, the Heart Sutra. At the time of the film, Tibetan teachings and references were also quite out of favor with the government censorship bureau. The theme of the sutra tied into one of the core storylines of the film on a deeply spiritual and energetic level.  

In the film, the creator of the most popular XR video game falls in love with his virtual heroine. The heroine Venus develops the capacity for real human emotion (sounds like the feared future of AI). When our hero, the programmer, tells her that her capacity to feel is not possible, she takes control of his consciousness, putting him into a coma, and creates a virus in the game that infects millions of players across China. The only way to stop the virus and return consciousness to the programmer is for Venus to surrender her attachment to emotion and cease to exist.

I adapted the meaning of the sutra into a more popular style song lyric. Next, I recorded it in Mandarin and English with the lead soprano of China, Ying Huang, and the Chinese National Symphony Orchestra, and wove it into the key scenes as part of the score. The government studios liked the song enough to have Sherwood and me create a live multi-media opening for the International Shanghai Film Festival, which once again slipped passed the scrutiny of the Census Board before being broadcasted to over 100M people on Chinese National TV.

While we do not yet have a way to use metrics and data to measure such subtle shifts in consciousness, we do understand the power that the Technologies of Emotion and well-executed media programming have on society. In long-term studies done by Hollywood Health and Society, the Gates Foundation, Norman Lear and the Annenberg School at USC, prime time dramatic TV programming has proven one of the most powerful ways of shifting societal beliefs around important health and social issues, from HIV/AIDS to equality for women. The Skoll Center for Social Impact Entertainment recently published a report on the State of Social Impact Entertainment, looking more specifically at content designed to leverage the power of the narrative in film and other mediums.

Because music provides the emotional glue and subconscious narrative for the visual media and dialog, we can use music to create and amplify messages within and beyond the film and, ultimately, to shift the perceptions of millions of people.

 

More about the release at AmazingSoundtrack.com.

Listen to the record HERE>

More about the Power of Music at WHYMusicCampaign.com

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About the Author 

Frank Fitzpatrick is a Creative Visioneer, Engagement Expert and High-Performance Coach on the Faculty of Singularity University’s Exponential Medicine.

To connect, go to FrankFitzpatrick.com

To learn more about working 1-on1 with Frank, go to BeyondPerformance.Life

 

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