Aoife Brown and

Shona Rooney

ARE AUDIENCES IMPACTED

MORE BY THE SOUND, OR

THE VISUALS OF A FILM

TEXT?

Silent fi lms are the perfect medium for artistic expression due to its importance

solely on visuals. The visuals bring out more creative expressiveness to express

feelings, mood, thoughts and concepts to an audience. This style of fi lm is most

commonly known as German Expressionism cinema.

In the early 1920’s, silent fi lms used lighting, shadows and unusual camera angles

to create the mood and atmosphere they wished to convey. Themes that most fi lms

of the1920’s expressed the culture and mentality of the period.

VISUALS IN FILM

1920 1990

A famous German Expressionist fi lm is The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Robert Wiene); i t inspired a lot of fi lmmakers and directors for decades later. This fi lm used a lot of painted sets with harsh angular forms to express the narrative regarding mental i l lness, fear and horror. All visuals express the il lusion of Dr Caligari’s ‘sick mind’. The use of a variety of camera angles and techniques it helps engage its audience through the puzzling journey expressed. Musical scores where engaged into silent fi lms to heighten emotions of characters and create an atmosphere for its audience to perceive.

VISUAL FILM EXAMPLE

Tim Crooks found that the first sound heard in early cinema was music, performed live on acoustic instruments. He states although musical composition is a subject that cannot be contained in a short chapter, it has aesthetic properties that blend strongly in the mix with dialogic speech, narration, sound effects and ambience. “Herrmann (1999) argues that ‘any film could not ‘come to life’ without the assistance of a musical track.” Crook, Tim; The Sound Handbook Chapter 6, pg 171 Crook states “Film music must supply what actors cannot say” meaning music delivers what the actual word can’t. "Our response to certain kinds of noise is something so profound in us that we can't switch it off,"

SOUND IN FILM

"Film composers know that and use it to shortcut the logical part of our brain and

get straight to the emotional centers .“ (Science writer Philip Ball, author of The

Music Instinct)

A profound example of how filmmakers create fear; low frequency sounds called

infrasound are created to induce anxiety, extreme sorrow, heart palpitations and

shivering. Infrasound has been associated with areas of ‘supernatural activity’, they

have also been produced prior to natural disasters, for example earthquakes.

In the 2007 horror Paranormal Activity , audiences also

reported toweringly high fear levels despite a lack of

action onscreen. Producer admit this was caused by the

use of infrasound.

EXAMPLE OF SOUND IN FILM

“Sight and sound are equally

crucial to our understanding of

the world, yet the visual has

dominated discussions of

cultural experience. The very

way we relate to, and think

about, our everyday world has

been influenced by this

emphasis on sight over sound”

– Michael Bull & Les Black, The

Auditory Culture Reader

How sound can completely

change a scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch

?v=7acI5z9vyok

https://www.youtube.com/watch

?v=5tMqcARKRSE

VISUALS AND SOUND

“Sound for film and television is an aural experience constructed to support the story of a narrative, documentary or commercial film or television programme” Tomlinson Holman (sound for film and tv)

“When you dedicate attention to every element that comprises the whole soundtrack – dialogue, sound effects and music – your story will hold more meaning to the audience, and you’ll deliver your message in a more memorable way” Jeffrey P Fisher.

SOUND EXAMPLES

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Attack scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgHQa2V8yC8

E.g. An ECU heightens Cesare’s actions along with intensifying musical

score, this makes us feel uneasy to what will happen. Here both sound and

visuals are just as important.

VISUALS EXAMPLES

To conclude our seminar intervention, with gathering your research we hope to

develop the hypothesis “Are audiences impacted more by the sound, or the visuals

of a fi lm text?” to a firmer understanding.

CONCLUSION

We would l ike you to s i t a t table A i f you th ink visuals are more important than sound in a f i lm and table B i f you th ink sound is more important than visuals in a f i lm.

I would now l ike to s tar t a debate on your own facts and opin ions.

tab le A student, why d id you choose visuals rather than sound.. . . .

Table B student do u d isagree? And Why?

[5 min debate recorded by Dictaphone]

Thanks for your par t ic ipat ion, we can now use th is l ive debate of in formation to capture data regarding our proposed hypothesis/argument.

Whi le s i t t ing in these two groups I would l ike to ask s ix quick quest ions to get more ar t iculate data.

1. L is t a f i lm you would descr ibe to have a h igh standard of sound?

2. L is t a f i lm you would descr ibe to have a bad standard of sound?

3. L is t a f i lm you would descr ibe to have a h igh standard of visuals?

4. L is t a f i lm you would descr ibe to have a bad standard of visuals?

5. Have u ever watched f i lm/sport / tv programme wi th no sound? I f so what was i t . . . .

On a scale of 1 to 5, how enterta in ing was th is?

6. Have u ever watched f i lm/sport / tv programme wi th sound only? I f so what was i t . . . .

On a scale of 1 to 5, how enterta in ing was th is?

ACTIVITY

Bull, M. and Back, L. (2003). The auditory culture reader . Oxford, UK: Berg.

http://www.ozsilentfi lmfestival.com.au/cms/uploads/movies/the_cabinet_of_dr_calig

ari.pdf

Crook, Tim; The Sound Handbook Chapter 6, pg 171

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/0/24083243

Quote - Science writer Philip Ball, author of The Music Instinct

Fisher, J. (2009). Soundtrack success . Boston, Mass.: Course.

Holman, T. (1997). Sound for fi lm and television . Boston, Mass.: Focal Press.

REFERENCES