Approaches to Cinema 1: Film Language and Form

Lecture 8: Sound and Music

properties of sound

sound

key functions of sound

‘synchronisation of the senses’ (Sergei Eisenstein)

directs our attention within the image

creates expectation

diegetic sound

sound whose source is from the story world of the film (eg dialogue, music the characters can hear)

non-diegetic sound

sound whose sourceis outside the story world of the film(eg narrator’s commentary, sound effects, score)

sound editing

sound bridge (cross fading)

internal diegetic sound

Foley sounds

sound mixing (audio post)

soundscapes

the characteristic types of sound commonly heard in a given location or period

introduction of sound

first synchronisedsound film,Warner Bros, 1927

standardised Classical Hollywood style

created fully ‘psychologised’ characters

sound design and technology

multi-track recorders

(Robert Altman, 1975)

development of complex andrealistic soundscapes

silence

‘the soundtrack invented silence’ (Robert Bresson, cited in A History of Film Music, Mervyn Cooke, 2008: 3)

was silent cinema ever really silent?

key functions of film music

establishes time and place

foreshadows and develops narrative features

creates emotion

Classical Hollywood film music

soundtrack composedby Max Steiner

Central and Eastern Europeanimmigrants

music composed in 19th centuryRomantic tradition

1950s: shift towards more tonaland jazz-inflected scores

pop and rock songs

from 1960s pre-existing musicused to promote film

younger audiences

soundtrack and synergy

influence of music videos

leitmotif

short distinctivemelody associated with theme or character

micky mousing

music matchesmovement(opposite ofcontrapuntalmusic)