CONTEXTUAL STUDIES: Sound (Lecture)

We learnt more about sound in contextual studies, we have learnt about it practically and used it in our camera workshops but today was about the theory side of it. Sound is very important in films and television. Some directors will focus more on either sound or moving images but a good director will get a good balance of both in their productions. We looked at Blue, directed by Derek Jarman. The clip was a blue screen with a voice over on it.
Also Chris Marker directed La Jetee, which again is a voice over but over still pictures rather than a blank screen. Even 'silent' cinema used live musical accompaniment and sound effects.

Functions of sound:
- Aural narrative (dialogue, voiceover)
- Sonic ambience (mood, atmosphere, sound effects)
- Emotional & intellectual resonance or dissonance (music)

Key elements of film sound:
- Speech (dialogue, narrative)
- Ambient or natural sound
- Sound effects
- Musical score or soundtrack

Use of sound effects:
- To heighten drama - abstract or enhanced effects designed to affect audience perception or emotional state, e.g. audible heartbeats in horror films.
- Simulate reality - ambient background that underscores and reinforces unity of Mise en Scène and editing.

Aesthetic uses of sound:
- Impressionistic - harmonious sound that evokes a mood, atmosphere or tone.
- Expressionistic - discordant sound that evokes abstract or dark psychological states.
- Asynchronous - sound and visuals are mismatched or dramatic effect.

Diegetic - Any Sound that is intrinsic to the film space or implied by action (character space).

Non diegetic - External to the film space (voiceover, soundtrack music)

"Films are 50% visual and 50% sound. Sometimes sound even overplays the visual." - David Lynch

Sound and Emotion
- Music dictates the emotion of the scene

Music as a narrative device
- Music underscores or accentuates visual narrative, emotion or intellectual resonance or dissonance.

Louis mentioned Reservoir Dogs which is a film I haven't seen so I will watch that as soon as I can. Legend, directed by Ridley Scott in 1985 was another he recommended so I will watch that one also.

Modernism Vs Postmodernism
- Modernism - An aesthetic and cultural reaction to classicism, relying on innovations in form, material and techniques to create new modes of rational and progressive expression and representation.
- Broadly ideologically utopian (e.g. Soviet montage)
- Postmodernism - reaction to failure of modernisms objective rationalism. Playfully deconstructs form, fusing disparate elements of high and low culture.
- Broadly ideological disruptive e.g. The Simpsons, Pulp Fiction.

Use of narration
- First person subjective e.g. Blue, Jarman.
- 'Voice of God'. Objective commentary (expository narrative e.g. classic documentary)
- Conventions of male and female voices (dominant Vs empathetic)