Diegetic Music: New Interactive Experiences

Dealing with music in audio-visual media leads the researcher traditionally to its non-diegetic occurrence first, that is offstage music. Its interplay with the visuals and its special perceptual circumstances have been largely discovered and analyzed by practitioners, musicologists, and psychologists. Its role is mostly an accompanying, annotating one that emotionalises elements of the plot or scene, associates contextual information, and thus enhances understanding (Wingstedt, 2008). Comparatively little attention has been given to diegetic music. As its source is part of the scene’s interior (for example, a performing musician, a music box, a car radio), it is audible from within the scene. Hence, it can exert an influence on the plot and acting and is frequently even an inherent part of the scenic action. In interactive media it can even become an object the user might be able to directly interact with. This chapter addresses the practical and aesthetic issues of diegetic music. It clarifies AbstrAct