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Communicating Death in YouTube Videos: The functional role of music

Authors:
Panagiotis Pentaris at University of Greenwich
Panagiotis Pentaris
Maria Yerosimou
Maria Yerosimou
Maria Yerosimou
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THE ROLE OF BACKGROUND MUSIC
IN THE EXPERIENCE OF WATCHING
YOUTUBE VIDEOS ABOUT DEATH AND DYING
Maria Yerosimou, PhD
Panagiotis Pentaris, PhD
YOUTUBE
Online video platform
User-generated content
Public vs. private
Death and dying in YouTube videos (i.e. memorial video tributes)
PROJECT
Hypothesis
Background music influences the experience of the viewer
Aims
Fill in gaps in the intersection of thanatology and music
Compartmentalise the experience of familiarising with death and dying at a distance
Identify and explore the influence of background music in the above
Explore the functional roles of background music in YouTube videos through which death and dying
are communicated
METHODOLOGY
Pilot
Quantitative with qualitative aspects
Questionnaires/Survey
Snowballing technique
Process
SPSS
RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS
10 participants (6 men & 4 women)
26-46
English (4 natives)
FINDINGS
EMOTIONAL REACTION
Figure 1: Levels of emotional reaction based on
background music
0
2
4
6
8
10
Sound
Mute
EMOTIONAL REACTION –BULLYING & SUICIDE
Figure 2: Emotional reactions based on
background music: bullying and suicide
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10
Sound
Mute
EMOTIONAL REACTION –DEATH OF A CHILD
Figure 3: Emotional reactions based on
background music: death of a child
0
2
4
6
8
10
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10
EMOTIONAL REACTION –CELEBRITY DEATH
Figure 4: Emotional reactions based on
background music: celebrity death
0
2
4
6
8
10
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10
Sound
Mute
VARIOUS
EMOTIONS
EXPERIENCED
DURING
YOUTUBE VIDEO
WATCHING
Emotion
Without
background music
With
background music
Anger
67
% (6.7)
73
% (7.3)
Amusement
17
% (1.7)
27
% (2.7)
Anxiety
57
% (5.7)
67
% (6.7)
Calm
82
% (8.2)
54
% (5.4)
Compassion
63
% (6.3)
83
% (8.3)
Confusion
40
% (4)
40
% (4)
Contempt
47
% (4.7)
63
% (6.3)
Disgust
60
% (6)
63
% (6.3)
Embarrassment
23
% (2.3)
23
% (2.3)
Empathy
48
% (4.8)
77
% (7.7)
Excitement
3
% (0.3)
7
% (0.7)
Fear
33
% (3.3)
30
% (3)
Guilt
13
% (1.3)
10
% (1)
Interest
39
% (3.9)
63
% (6.3)
Intimidation
30
% (3)
20
% (2)
Sadness
42
% (4.2)
97
% (9.7)
Shame
47
% (4.7)
40
% (4)
Shocked
57
% (5.7)
63
% (6.3)
Sympathy
50
% (5)
90
% (9)
Surprise
50
% (5)
50
% (5)
Figure 7: How pleasant was the video
content?
17%
20%
With background
music
Without
background music
Figure 8: How engaged were you
with the video content?
32%
24%
With background
music
Without
background music
CONCLUSIONS
Drawing attention
Inducing moods and eliciting negative
emotions
Complementing meaning-making process
Increasing anxiety
Enhancing engagement
REFERENCES Thank you
Dr Maria Yerosimou
University of Portsmouth
mariayerosimou@hotmail.com
Panagiotis Pentaris
Goldsmiths University of London
Bucks New University
p.pentaris@gold.ac.uk
p.pentaris@bucks.ac.uk
•Cohen, A. J. (1999). The functions of music in
multimedia: A cognitive approach. In S.W. Yi (ed.),
Music, mind, and science, Seoul, Korea: Seoul
National University Press, 40-68.
•Gibson, M. (2007). Death and mourning in
technologically mediated culture. Health Sociology
Review,16(5), 415–424.
•Pentaris, P. (2014). Memorial video tribute and the
enfranchised grief of a gay widower. Thanatos,
3(2), 31-44.
•Pentaris, P., & Yerosimou, M. (2014). The Functional
Role of Music in Communicating Death through/in
YouTube Videos. The Journal of Education Culture
and Society, (1), 206-217.
... In addition, this earlier paper examined the subject thoroughly focusing on music's ability to convey and elicit emotions, and thus presented the musical aspect of these videos spherically, presenting music in such videos from the creator's view, as well as the receiver's. For the purposes of the present study, the authors now focus on the viewer's point of view: a great number of memorial video tributes make use of background music, which has been chosen by the user who generated the content and uploaded the video in an effort to express privately expressed feelings toward the loss (Pentaris, & Yerosimou, 2014). These feelings are externalised to the public via background music and viewers experience the elicitation of possibly similar emotions. ...
... This process is the beginning of making a private experience of dying or grieving open to the public across the globe. Nevertheless, making it public does not necessarily mean that the public will have the luxury to shape their perception around the experience based on their own, neutral from inß uence, judgement (Pentaris, & Yerosimou, 2014 ). The results here show that individuals will experience the video content based on background music. ...
... In this case, death, dying, and bereavement when communicated via YouTube videos, provide an open space for connection with a subject that the viewer may have not experienced in real life. Nevertheless, YouTube provides the opportunity for familiarisation with it from a distance that can safeguard the individual (Pentaris, & Yerosimou 2014). The elicitation of emotions is paramount when considering how background music inß uences the viewing of similar video content while it stresses Lange's (2007) thesis about publicly private and privately public. ...
The role of background music in the experience of watching YouTube videos about death and dying
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YouTube is the largest video sharing site live at the moment. It has been used to communicate a vast array of information, while it allows for user-generated content. This paper will focus on YouTube videos that communicate death, and in particular will present findings from a preliminary study undertaken by the authors considering the role that background music plays in these videos. Specifically, this study explores the experiences of the viewers of death-related YouTube videos with and without background music while it makes comparisons in relation to the impact that music has on the viewers’ emotional experiences. We conclude that background music elicits emotions and enhances feelings of sadness and sympathy in relation to the visual content of videos while recommendations for future research are made.
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Memorial video tribute and the enfranchised grief of a gay widower
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The Functional Role of Music in Communicating Death through/in YouTube Videos
Article
Full-text available
  • Sep 2014
Since the establishment of thanatology, the science of death, in the early 20th century, death has not only been considered a controversial subject, but it has also been regarded as a taboo topic. Various ways of communicating death have developed over the last few decades. With the advent of different mass and social media and their increasing impact on everyday life in the 21st century, death can now be communicated via a number of media platforms, such as television, radio, and online videos. This type of communication is underpinned by a series of dimensions, in particular music, that shape the conveyed message. Music has been extensively used in the dissemination of information in the wider media outlet. It is widely seen as a means of evoking emotions and of facilitating the process of assimilating information that is communicated via media. This paper seeks to discuss the functional role of music in communicating death in online video platforms. In particular, the example of the YouTube platform is used to identify the links between death, music and video platforms. This paper is part of a large-scale study on the functional role of music in communicating death through YouTube videos. It is suggested that music may serve as a link between media and death. The conclusions that are drawn in this paper are supported by the authors’ current and ongoing study and critical analysis of the deployment of music in the communication of death.
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Death and Mourning in Technologically Mediated Culture
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This paper examines the expansion of death and grief from private experience and spaces, into more public spheres via a range of media events and communication technologies. This shift is increasingly acknowledged and documented in death studies and media research. The modern experience of 'sequestered death' has passed. Death images and events are now thoroughly mediated by the visual and communication technologies used and accessed by a vast number of citizens across the globe. At the same time, the proliferation and accessibility of death imagery and narratives does not necessarily mean that the Western world has moved forward and beyond 'death denial'. Indeed, one of the key arguments of this paper is that mediated death - death as televisual, cinematic, and journalistic image and narrative - does not necessarily equate to a familiarity, and especially an existential acceptance of death, as it is faced and experienced in everyday life and relationships. Indeed, what we may be facing, and witnessing, is a widening gap and experiential differential between media/technological death culture and 'real life' contexts and temporalities of death and bereavement. Yes Yes
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The functions of music in multimedia: A cognitive approach
  • Jan 1999
  • 40-68
  • A J Cohen
• Cohen, A. J. (1999). The functions of music in multimedia: A cognitive approach. In S.W. Yi (ed.), Music, mind, and science, Seoul, Korea: Seoul National University Press, 40-68.