Sound PDF

Preview

Summary

Dr. Reinsch (professor)
In-class notes on Sound in movies....

Description

Monday, February 29, 2016

THA 2304 Sound *Read Chapter* 1. Film as audio-visual media art

- The film image can mean “too much” without sound: Sound can help narrow film image or message down; where it is, what it means, what they are feeling, sense of movement and timing onscreen

- The film image can mean “too little” without sound - Images do not mean any one thing: sound influences what they mean. Image is not the only meaning throughout film What about the sound?

- We talk about going to see a movie, watching films, and spectators, but we do not talk about listening to movies but we should

- Sound is very important and significant- should not be taken for granted - Sound is worked on and matriculated over just as much as mies-en-scene and cinematography 2. Four components of Soundtrack: we expect tv shows to be loud because our lives are loud (listed in hierarchal order) a)

Vocal sounds: Movies are talking pictures that prioritize the human voice; during moments of attack in the babadook, we can almost always still hear the dialect, the human voice is the primary way of carrying narration

b) Music: Encourages the audience to feel a certain way about a situation c) Environmental Sounds: Sound effects, not produced by human voices or music; does not have to be recorded on set- lots of movies give us sound that is not originated on set d) Silence: Component of soundtrack: positive value- it is impossible to get away from sound- some films give the silence of the atmosphere; can be disconcerting when silence occurs; silent films should not be called silent films because they are often explained by director

- This is the standard hierarchy of sound: dialect dominates 1

Monday, February 29, 2016

- Though it is standard, it is not fixed 3. Describing film sound a)

Pitch (level): high or low in frequency?

b) Loudness (volume): How loud things are on their own and relative to other sounds going on at the same time; a choice of sound narration c) Quality (timbre, texture): (Best one because it’s open and gets us closer to the power of sound) Is the sound organic or material? Krinkly? Old? Young? Wet? scale matching 4. Diegetic/ nondiegetic sound

- Does the sound come from a source within the film’s diegesis? - On and off screen is not diegetic vs. nondiegetic - Most musicals make our distinction between diegetic and nondiegetic music messy: How is the world organized? 5. Cooperation or Collision?

- Should images and sounds work toward the same goal or what is the best use of film sound?

- Answer: Films should not simply duplicate info. that comes to us from image because that’s what theatre does. Sound and images should collide, there is an opportunity given not present in acting on the stage; films are not limited

- Sound and image can work at cross purposes; there can be an unnatural relationship in film sound and image 6. Functions of Sound in Film a)

Establishing time and space of the story (like cinematography and mise-en-scene)

b) Reveal character (Darth Vater is threatening) c) Shapes audience attention: Sound tells us where in the frame to look d) Shape audience feeling(s): music shapes moods and meaning of images e) Provide rhythm or continuity: Collision vs. cooperation f)

2

Acts as a subject: Reveal story

Monday, February 29, 2016 g) Present theme: Pushes us toward a theme - NONE OF THE IMAGES IN ANIMATED FILMS WERE CREATED ON SET

3...