Music. More than just lyrics and tune.

After  watching La Bi Xiao Xin (Crayon Shin-Chan), I decided that I should talk about how it’s background music helped in creating certain moods for viewers and enhanced it’s jovial tone.

ps. It would be best if this is minimised and dragged to the side while the link to the clip is opened in another window (easier referencing!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGvE-uXQy-4&feature=related (subtittles are a little off. Sorry!)

At the beginning of the episode, a soft, gentle, but happy tune was inserted into the cartoon as it showed Shin-chan and his friends going skii-ing.

The music then changes into something a little more up-beat and sounds like as if someone’s sneaking around or trying to pull a prank on another at the part where FengJian’s mother tried to boast about her wealth by saying that “going overseas to skii is way better than skii-ing in Japan.” This kind of music showed and emphasized the “boastfull-ness” or the sacarstic, show-off and jeering tone in FengJian’s mother’s voice. On the other hand, it also showed the awkwardness of Nini-chan’s mother after hearing what Feng Jian’s mother said about skii-ing, especially when she laughed with the “oh, really.” kind of expression.

At the scene where the other teacher ran to look for Shin-chan and his family, the music is short but give people the feeling like “oh… I seee…aiyooo…” kinda of feeling which allows viewers to connect to what the teacher was feeling at the time upon seeing Shin-chan and his family sleeping on the bus.

At the scene where JiYong (female teacher) and SongYan(over dressed teacher in flower print top) were sneering at each other, the music was that of a sneaky tune and it enhances the process of the two women sneering at each other. 

The music changes to that of a happy tune when the screen flashes from Shin-chn commenting about a love triangle to the snow-capped mountains. It prepares viewers to receive something good and in a way snatches their attention from where the “love triangle” joke left them. In a way, the music provides the transition from one scene to another without making the screen play awkward.

It changes to the same sneaky music heard initially when the male teacher announces for those who are familiar with skii-ing to report to teacher SongFan. Upon hearing this, she gets nervous(shown by the sweat drop on her forehead) and uptight. Coupled with the music, viewers are fore-warned in a way that she can’t really skii and was really actually just boasting about herself before (where she and the other teacher was sneering at each other). It tells the viewers what to expect in the foolowing scenes and exaggerates SongFan’s nervous-ness.

Overall, I feel that the music incorporated in this clip helps enhance the emotions and actions of the characters and helps to create a more complete understanding of the clip. Also, the music not only has brought out the feelings to the actions of the characters, but it has also helped in the transitions of the scenes.

Indeeed, music is more than just lyrics and tune. it can be used for so much more.

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