Thoughts on Tone

Of late, the issue of tone has come up in our class discussions on world.
We discussed many things that may contribute to tone in respect to a film’s world. Some characteristics of tone pertain to visual elements and others may pertain to auditory equivalents. Further still, tone can encapsulate greater narrativistic themes and motifs within a media text.

For example, if we were to examine the trailer above, what could be postulated regarding its tone?
Immediately apparent is the warmth of the films colour grade. This warmth creates an approachability and appeals to a lighter side of human experience. Also evident is the use of music. The score of the trailer is composed of harpsichord and the higher notes of Spanish guitar. Such instruments, combined with the rapid tempo in which they are played, create a whimsical and comical tone. Such rapid progressions in notes within the score are reminiscent of slapstick and other such light-hearted but fast-paced influences.
Similarly, the narrative as set out by the trailer furthers the whimsical absurdity that the tone represents.
Through close examination in respect to the worlds within a motion picture of the conventional sense, the definition of tone seems to be thus:
Tone: the degree and nature by which aesthetic, auditory and narrative elements formulate an intended emotional and psychological effect in a viewer or reader in construction of world