Sunday, August 31, 2008
SOUND AND CINEMA
Wow, what a great class this is going to be! I’m just sitting here listening to the low hum of my computer, the clicking of my keyboard, and the soft squeaking of my computer chair, what great diagetic sounds! All that’s missing is the non diagetic sound of a murderer slowly opening a door down the hall! Ha, I can also hear the faint sound of the drunkards shuffling around outside my window three stories down and the slow whoosh of cars passing in the distance. These non diagetic sounds would be great for expanding this shot, there is so much to be heard everywhere! Translating the sounds of the world into a cinematic experience is truly exciting. I can't wait to learn more. I am also very interesting in creating or using sounds that would not match an image in reality, but can create profound and moving effects when synched with a visual image in cinema. I think it’s time to start looking for a clip for class on wed, I don’t like most horror movies, but I do like zombie movies. I think I’ll start with those, I can’t wait!
The Sound of Cinema? The Cinema of Sound?
Is it just me or has audio taken a new role in cinema in the past decade or two? Take for example nearly any television show from the 1960s. It seems any audio work done during this period focused on capturing sound instead of the creation of sound. Most of the audio heard is the dialogue, basic sound effects and, occasionally, some kind of backing orchestration or laugh track. Of course, there is some explanation for this phenomenon.
During this early period of television, many technologies were still new enough that merely capturing the audio that occurred was challenging enough without adding in experimentation or creation into the mix. The technology was also not of the highest quality and thus, attempts to experiment with sound in a visual context may not have yielded any results worthy of being placed in the final product. Also, a lack of training may have forced early sound workers to focus more on doing their basic job competently rather than worrying about the abstract possibilities.
In film, audio experimentation was more readily achieved however it was not received as widely as it is now-a-days. Looking purely at recent examples we can see this happening. The opening sequence of There Will Be Blood goes for an extended period of time (approximately five minutes if memory serves me correctly) without any dialogue. The only audio eard are the sound effects of the action (the sounds of work, people moving) and an orchestra playing a slow and quiet crescendo to provide a musical background. With the recent Pixar movie, WALL-E, the main character communicates with seemingly human inflection and dialogue (though there isn’t much dialogue to speak of.) However, there is no voice actor for WALL-E. WALL-E’s ‘voice’ (and that of secondary character, M-O) is the creation of a sound engineer. Many people connected emotionally with the little robot even though he was purely a digital creation.
Although this could all be my (mis)perception, I am curious to find out if other people have noticed this similar trend.
I don’t want this initial blog to be all boring academia and supposition. God knows I don’t claim to be an academic. In fact, I think I may have wasted all of my good ideas (all two of them!) here so I think I’ll cut my losses. In order to lighten the boredom I am posting another type of ‘Cinema.’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SelmnDWnULY
Don’t hate me Dr. Twombly because my music is beautiful. : P
During this early period of television, many technologies were still new enough that merely capturing the audio that occurred was challenging enough without adding in experimentation or creation into the mix. The technology was also not of the highest quality and thus, attempts to experiment with sound in a visual context may not have yielded any results worthy of being placed in the final product. Also, a lack of training may have forced early sound workers to focus more on doing their basic job competently rather than worrying about the abstract possibilities.
In film, audio experimentation was more readily achieved however it was not received as widely as it is now-a-days. Looking purely at recent examples we can see this happening. The opening sequence of There Will Be Blood goes for an extended period of time (approximately five minutes if memory serves me correctly) without any dialogue. The only audio eard are the sound effects of the action (the sounds of work, people moving) and an orchestra playing a slow and quiet crescendo to provide a musical background. With the recent Pixar movie, WALL-E, the main character communicates with seemingly human inflection and dialogue (though there isn’t much dialogue to speak of.) However, there is no voice actor for WALL-E. WALL-E’s ‘voice’ (and that of secondary character, M-O) is the creation of a sound engineer. Many people connected emotionally with the little robot even though he was purely a digital creation.
Although this could all be my (mis)perception, I am curious to find out if other people have noticed this similar trend.
I don’t want this initial blog to be all boring academia and supposition. God knows I don’t claim to be an academic. In fact, I think I may have wasted all of my good ideas (all two of them!) here so I think I’ll cut my losses. In order to lighten the boredom I am posting another type of ‘Cinema.’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SelmnDWnULY
Don’t hate me Dr. Twombly because my music is beautiful. : P
Friday, August 29, 2008
New Media: Sound and Cinema
What can I say... Personally, I plan to spend this glorious coming weekend watching all of my favorite movies in an attempt to not only find great examples for class on Wednesday, but also in an attempt to forget all the horror clips we watched this week. Just kidding! But, I do have to admit I'm really not a fan of horror films, I tend to spend half the movie covering my eyes. I'm serious, don't laugh at me. I will admit that the clips chosen this week were great examples of how sound gives added value to the film clips we've watched. Anyway I'm excited to learn even more about the interaction between sound and cinema and I think that this will be a really interesting class this semester. I really don't know what else to say so I guess I'll see you all Wednesday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)