A Dor e o Silêncio do Infinito (2026): memorial descritivo da composição musical para o curta-metragem

Abstract

This master's thesis is an artistic research project in the form of a descriptive memorial that reports on the creative processes involved in the animated short-length movie A Dor e o Silêncio do Infinito (2026, 15 minutes), by Brenda Bastos, with an emphasis on the field of film music composition. The general objective of the research is to find ways of narrating the film's story through musical composition, relating the melodic pitch structure of the instruments to the screenplay's narrative tension graph (that is, the visual representation of the story's dramatic highs and lows). The specific objectives include: a theoretical understanding of the different functions of music and sound in film (Eugênio Matos, 2014; Michel Chion, 1994); the composition of the short film's musicality through three musical theories and practices — the composition of the musical motif and its variations (Arnold Schoenberg, 2008), the practical implementation of musical improvisation (Derek Bailey, 1993; Alessandro Bertinetto, 2022), and the assignment of specific musical instruments to specific narrative functions —; and, finally, recording and describing the research results, integrating reflections on how visual means are transformed by musical means — and vice versa. The methodology employed in the research is developed from the concept of artistic research (Paulo de Assis; Lucia D'Errico, 2019), which is based on, oriented by, and guided by practice, in which the artist acts as a researcher who studies their own artistic practice and makes the research itself a work of art. The research is structured into six chapters: the first, the introduction to the research; the second, on encounters with theoretical references; the third, on narrative composition; the fourth, on the creative processes behind the film's visuals; the fifth, on the musical composition of the short-length movie; and, finally, the sixth, on the research's concluding remarks. The research problems are: how can other narrative notions, beyond what the visual provides, be musically incorporated into the short film? In what ways can this musical composition be carried out? And how do these composed pieces of music operate within the film's visual creations? To answer these questions, the creative processes are described and evidenced through screenshots and links to the visual and musical works, relating them to the musical theories and practices studied throughout the dissertation and reflected upon in light of other theoretical proposals. The research results include a 15-minute animated short film, nine musical tracks composed for the film, and two articles produced with the contribution of the Arte Sonora research group: Estudos dos Processos Criativos, Instalativos e em Paisagem Sonora and published in Revista Mosaico: processos criativos em música e em artes do som.