sound

Sound interactions

  • mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing

    • lighting + set design

    • film stock, camera aperture and position

    • connection between shots

  • types of sound:

    • speech

    • noise and sound effects

    • music

sound in early cinemas

  • always present (live)

  • venues: vaudeville theaters, theme parks (attractions), nickelodeons, movie places

  • “master of ceremonies”

  • sound has always been there in some form

live events at the cinema

  • Benshi (japan) — tradition maintained (special screenings)

  • sound cinema’s live events: gimmick horror

sound technology: challenges:

  • screenplay

    • more sophisticated dialogue (professional writers)

  • mise en scene

    • acting/performance: voice (timbre, elocution, clarity of dialogue), physical (from grand to more contained); movement

    • setting: placement of microphone

  • cinematography

    • influence on camera movement and placement

    • film theory: concern about limitations to visual elements of film (also language barriers)

  • sound recording

    • acoustic quality, post synch

  • editing

    • synching, smooth transitions/bridges, mixing

sound technology: considerations about acoustic properties

  • loudness

  • pitch

  • timbre

  • silence

dimensions of sound

  • spatial (story world; frame)

    • diegetic (external, internal), non-diegetic, on-screen, off-screen

    • sound perspective (distance: consistency)

    • construction of space (direction; acoustic properties)

  • temporal

    • synchronous, asynchronous; simultaneous, non simultaneous (displaces)

  • rhythmic

    • speed (tempo), regularity (meter)

  • fidelity

    • matching of expectations about loudness, pitch and timbre

sound dimensions and acoustic properties

  • Blow Out (Brian DePalma, 1981) — clips

  • Perspective — spatial dimension

  • synchronicity (match reveals mystery) — temporal dimension

  • acoustic properties: construction of space