El número musical en las series de televisión: la sincronía musicovisual como característica principal de la escena musical

Abstract

Musical performances have become a common resource in television fiction. The objectives of this research are to study musical performances and their main characteristics in television fiction; to define the type of music used in these performances; and, finally, to indicate what kind of musical-visual synchronisation is used in the selected samples. In this descriptive study, two procedures have been employed: the bibliographical review and the study of 76 cases of musical performances in different episodes. Television series, mostly in dra medy format, include one or several musical performances in some of their episodes, both as a tribute to the musical genre, as well as a way of offering new content to its audience. In many cases pre-existing music is used, and more specifically, the cover musical format, in order to offer songs performed by the same cast of the series. An important characteristic is the musical-visual synchronisation in these types of scenes. This synchrony is generally categorised as unifying, and it is produced by both the phrasing, facial gestures and body movements of the characters, and by the rhythm of editing in the post-production of the episode.