Chapter 7

Sound in the Cinema

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Sound in the Cinema

• Sound can be difficult to analyze. It’s elusive.• It can create a strong effect, yet often remain

unnoticeable.• The auditory world in film has evolved to

become increasingly complex.

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The Powers of Sound

• Can have a unifying effect with visual qualities.• Shapes how we perceive and interpret the

image.• Directs our attention and creates expectation.

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Fundamentals of Film Sound: Perceptual Properties

• Loudness is connected to perceived distance, but is constantly manipulated.

• Pitch is the highness or lowness of the sound, and helps viewers distinguish different sounds.

• Timbre is the tone quality, whether nasal, mellow, or in between.

• Together they create the sonic texture of a film and shape the experience for the viewer.

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Recording, Alteration, and Combination: Choosing and Manipulating Sounds

• Recording audio occurs during production and postproduction.

• A soundtrack is made by selecting sounds that fulfill a function.

• Often this means that sound is used unrealistically, for special effect.

• Sound selection and manipulation help to guide viewer attention.

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Recording, Alteration, and Combination:Sound Mixing

• Mixing is combining sounds together, creating layers of sonic information.

• Some techniques can contribute to continuity.• In Seven Samurai, the combination of sound

enhances the unrestricted, objective narration.

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Recording, Alteration, and Combination:Sound and Film Form

• Choice and combination of sound can create patterns that run through the film.

• Musical motifs can reappear throughout the film but are re-orchestrated to emphasize narrative points as in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

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Dimensions of Film Sound: Rhythm

• Sound relates to other film elements in several dimensions.

• Rhythm involves a beat, a tempo, and a pattern of accents.

• Coordinated rhythm synchronizes visuals with sound.

• Disparity between sound and image can smooth over shot changes and create an expressive counter-rhythm or convey a feeling.

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Dimensions of Film Sound: Fidelity

• Refers to whether the sound is faithful to the source as we conceive it.

• This revolves around expectation, and can create jokes or artistic commentary.

• Can also refer to volume.

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Dimensions of Film Sound: Space

• Sound comes from a source and what we think about that source can affect how we understand that sound.

• Diegetic sound has a source in the story world.• Nondiegetic sound comes from outside the

story world.

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Diegetic and Nondiegetic Sound

• Diegetic sound can be onscreen or offscreen.• Diegetic sound can be external (objective) or

internal (subjective).• In No Country for Old Men, the narration at

times restricts us to Moss’s range of knowledge through subjective sound and visuals, creating suspense.

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Playing with Diegetic/Nondiegetic Sound

• Sometimes it isn’t clear if a source is nondiegetic or not.

• This can be a commentary or create jokes.

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Sound Perspective

• Sound perspective is a sense of spatial distance and location being analogous to visual depth and volume.

• It can also have to do with timbre.• Stereophonic and surround tracks can create a

very specific sonic landscape inside a theater.

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Dimensions of Sound: Time

• Can be synchronous or asynchronous, simultaneous or nonsimultaneous.

• Sound bridges create expectation, as can flash forwards.

• Usually nondiegetic sound has no temporal relationship with the story.

• These categories help us analyze film sound and identify patterns and function.

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Functions of Film Sound:Conversation Piece

• Uses sound for purposes of misdirection.• Simultaneous use of objective and subjective

sound creates ambiguity and mystery.• Repeated audio motif plays over nonlinear

visuals.• Sound mixing an extremely important part of

the plot.

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