Return to Intro to Film syllabus
Updated 1 December 2006
ENGLISH 114: INTRODUCTION TO FILM, Fall 2006
Section 3: Thursday, 6:00-9:30 p.m., Professor Larsson
Week 14, November 30
6:00-6:10
View One Froggy Evening
6:10-6:30
Test 3 (Chapters 5 and 6, Acting and Editing)
6:30-8:00
Discuss film sound
8:00-8:10
Break
8:10-9:30
Continue film sound discussion
NOTES ON FINAL EXAM (in 2 weeks)
§ Thursday, , December 14, 6:00 p.m., Wiecking Auditorium
§ 55 Questions
o 35-40 questions will be on important terms from the first 13 weeks of the semester (but no direct questions on the films shown)
o About 10 questions will relate to the material from the last 2 weeks of class, including Chapter 7 (Sound) and Singin’ in the Rain
o 5-10 questions will relate to a film clip shown in class
SOUND IN CINEMA
§ Last major element to be integrated into the film experience
§ Experimental uses of sound in cinema date back to beginning (Edison, etc.)
§ First successful commercial use of sound and film in 1929: The Jazz Singer, with Al Jolson; within 3 years, almost all films made in sound
o Clip: The Jazz Singer
§ Some critics and filmmakers opposed sound
o Fear of “canned theater”
o Fear that sound would overwhelm expressive means of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing
o Create a false sense of “reality”
§ Others realized that sound created new areas of opportunity
§ First system (Vitaphone) was sound-on-disc (like long-playing record), could be difficult to synchronize with image
§ Soon replaced by sound-on-film system (“optical sound track”)
(from http://www.dolby.com/consumer/motion_picture/dolby_in_pictures3.html )
§ Stereo, magnetic sound track on film introduced in 1950s
§ Digital, multi-channel “surround sound” now common
Soundtrack is usually result of compilation of several (or many) individual sounds and soundtracks
§ 3 basic elements, usually composed of at least one track each
o Voice (dialogue, narration)
o Noises (ambient noise, sound effects)
o Music (diegetic or nondiegetic)
§ Silence now has value in itself as well
Some early filmmakers realized ways that sound could be used creatively
Filmmaker may emphasize sound for its own qualities or in combination with the image
§ Alfred Hitchcock, Blackmail (UK,1929)
§ Josef von Sternberg, The Blue Angel (Germany, 1930)
ACOUSTIC PROPERTIES--Elements that make each sound unique
Volume/Loudness (produced by amplitude of sound waves)
Pitch--How "high" or "low" sound is (produced by frequency)
Quality/Timbre--"color,"
"texture," "feel" of sound
[“flat,” “echoey,” “nasal,” etc.]
produced by mix of sonic vibrations that make sound unique
Three types of film sound--Voice, Music, Sound Effects/Noise
Usually
each type is recorded separately, then combined with
others
Sounds achieve effects by selection, alteration and combination
Ambient
sounds usually filtered out, but may be emphasized
Some sounds may be given more importance than others
(APPARENT) SOURCE OF SOUND
DIEGETIC SOUND
Comes
from a source inside the "story world" (diegesis)
of the film whether we see it on the screen or not
Voice--Characters speaking
Music--Band, orchestra, phonograph, radio, etc.
Noise--Produced
by objects in the diegesis (wind, traffic,
gun shots, machine noises, animal sounds, etc.)
NONDIEGETIC SOUND
Has no
probable source in the diegesis, sound is "added
over" the scene
Voice--Non-character narrator
Music--"mood music" to enhance emotion of scene
Noise--Very
rare, used for comic effects but also for other
reasons
DIEGETIC SOUND CAN BE:
Onscreen or Offscreen
External or Internal
RHYTHM IN SOUND
"Beats"
produced by music, sound effects, person talking, etc.
Rhythmic patterns may be simple or complex
Rhythm in sound may work with or work against rhythm in
mise-en-scene, camera movement and/or editing
FIDELITY IN FILM SOUND
Refers
to whether the sound is "faithful" to its apparent source
in the film
DIEGETIC SOUND CAN BE:
Simultaneous
(occurring at same time we see it being produced
on screen)
Nonsimultaneous (audio "flashback" or
"flashforward" or other use
(Ada’s narration in The Piano)
Sound Bridge--
Sound from one scene carries over into the next or
Sound
from next scene begins before previous scene has
ended
SIMULTANEOUS DIEGETIC SOUND CAN BE:
Synchronous--Sounds
exactly match their source onscreen
Asynchronous--Sounds do not exactly match source
|
DIEGETIC SOUND |
NONDIEGETIC |
|||
|
Onscreen |
Offscreen |
No direct relation to space and time of narrative |
||
|
Simultaneous |
Non-simultaneous |
Sound may match actions on screen, but are not directly produced by them |
||
|
Synchronous |
Asynchronous |
Sound comes before or after action that “produces” it |
||
EXAMPLES:
One Froggy Evening
§ No use of human voice (motivated by closed windows, etc.)
§ Frog’s “voice” plays with fidelity
§ Sound/noise used selectively (construction site, crowd noise, etc.)
§ Songs—frog is diegetic, background music is not
§ Nondiegetic music emphasizes sound effects, repeats and varies song themes (“Hello, My Honey”), creates “Mickey-Mousing” effects, matching motions to beats of music, etc.
§ Conveys message (“human greed is eternal”) despite lack of dialogue
Word and Image: Creature Comforts (Nick Park, 1989)
§ Example of model animation (“claymation”) by director of Wallace & Gromit movies
§ Actual documentary sound provides words for animated animals in zoo
§ Topics apparently deal with conditions of animals in zoo and people’s own living conditions in England (elderly housing, apartment life, immigrant housing, etc.)
§ Invites comparisons between conditions for animals and for humans: who is better off?
§ Animated visuals place words in unusual context, invite us to think and compare
§ Animation also provides unexpected humor (bird beaks snapping, etc)
Francis Ford Coppola and Walter Murch at Work:
Murch has worked on many films with Coppola. Began as film editor, became sound editor. First person to given title of “Sound Designer”
The Conversation (1974)
§ Film features Gene Hackman as Harry Caul, professional eavesdropper. Opening of film reveals that Harry is recording the conversation between a young couple in a public square
§ Opening shot (long, slow take from high-angle crane shot) forces us to look for object of attention—at first we notice the mime who is imitating people in the park, eventually realize that Harry is the person we should be watching
§ Ambient noise (entertainers in park, other people talking, traffic, etc.) forces us to listen actively. We notice electronic distortions of sound, eventually realize that someone (Harry) is using electronic recording devices to tape the conversation.
§ Later in the film, Harry will filter out all unwanted noises for a clear recording of the conversation itself. He will uncover one line that give him a great deal of concern.
§ Opening “teaches” viewer to watch and listen closely, be attuned to the unexpected.
Apocalypse Now Redux (2001)
See discussion in Chapter 7 of Looking at Movies.
§ Use of sound to create a psychological portrait of Cpt. Willard (Martin Sheen) as he lies in a hotel room in Saigon, Vietnam waiting for an assignment.
§ Visuals layer images of jungle warfare (helicopters, napalm on trees, etc.), with Willard’s face in upside-down close-up, ceiling fan in hotel room
§ Sound track is layered with soft Doppler-effect noises of helicopter blades, Jim Morrison and The Doors’ song “The End” (fading out on words “All the children are insane”).
§ Set up theme of madness of Vietnam war and Willard’s own fragile mental state
Both films use variations in volume, sound quality to create complex aural environment of sound
Hamlet: Internal or External Diegetic?
Laurence Olivier (1948) and Kenneth Branagh (1996): “To be or not to be”
§ In Shakespeare’s play, soliloquy has Hamlet questioning why people do not commit suicide to avoid the pains of life and concluding that it is because we do not know what happens after death
§ Olivier offers monologue as beginning in his mind and alternating with spoken words. Long take up winding stars and sight of pounding waves below suggest the turmoil of Hamlet’s own mind. Use of internal diegetic sound reinforces psychological interpretation of Hamlet’s character throughout entire film. (“This is the story of a man who could not make up his mind.”)
§ Branagh makes his Hamlet more political. Setting is bright, colorful, 19th-century palace insteady of gloomy 16th-century castle, but the palace is full of hidden doors, double mirrors, spy holes, etc. Hamlet speaks to his own image in the mirror but the king is hiding behind the mirror and watching Hamlet. The words have to be external diegetic for the king to hear them and worry about the threat that Hamlet poses to him.
Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
§ Hot day in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood
§ Music (“Can’t Stand the Heat” by Steel Pulse) sets theme for montage of images of residents trying to beat the heat in different ways
§ Music creates rhythmic but slow pulse for individual shots
§ Cued by the music played on local radio station by “Senor Love Daddy” (Samuel L. Jackson), but unclear whether this song is actually being played on the station or that it is coming from a diegetic source
§ Volume of song decreases as Radio Raheem’s rap music increases
§ Diegetic source in boombox overwhelms everything else until he walks by
§ Emphasizes Raheem’s importance in the community and sets up final series of events in the film
§
Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)
Tati favors long
takes in long shots, cueing us to watch and listen carefully
§ Ordinary ambient noises become sources of humor
§ Contrast of different sounds (footsteps, machine noises, people murmuring, etc.)
§ Jokes set up about apparent sources of sound
§ Room seems to be office lobby but we also see nurse with baby—could be hospital—but we see officials and military offices (could be government building)
§ Finally see tailfin of large airplane in window as source of machine noise, reveals it’s an airport.