FILM 1502 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Francis Ford Coppola, Walter Murch, John Cazale
23 Oct 2018
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The Conversation (1974, dir. Francis Ford Coppola; Sound Engineer - Walter Murch)
Dramatic mystery/thriller based around knowledge and ambiguity
Main characters - Actors
Harry Caul - Gene Hackman
Stan - John Cazale
Bernie - Allan Garfield
The Director - Robert DuVall
Ann - Cindy Williams
Paul - Michael Higgins
Martin Stett - Harrison Ford
The challenges of the ambiguity of recorded sound creates a degree of narrative dissonance
Theme of knowledge and its limits; improbability of the total control that Harry desires
Creation of dramatic tension through a blurring of the lines of film sound; constant overlap
between speech, music, and noise/sound effects
Unreliability of Harry as narrator; subjective views which shrouds our access to knowledge
Camerawork as underscoring the voyeuristic surveillance; often panning, tracking, and overall
moving like a security/CCTV camera, displaying a space instead of following action (ie. the
opening, the first shots in Harry’s apartment)
Repetition of “he’d kill us” as a motif that builds with Harry’s interpretation of it (and ultimately,
leads to the “resolution” of the plot)
Document Summary
Francis ford coppola; sound engineer - walter murch) The challenges of the ambiguity of recorded sound creates a degree of narrative dissonance. Theme of knowledge and its limits; improbability of the total control that harry desires. Creation of dramatic tension through a blurring of the lines of film sound; constant overlap between speech, music, and noise/sound effects. Unreliability of harry as narrator; subjective views which shrouds our access to knowledge. Camerawork as underscoring the voyeuristic surveillance; often panning, tracking, and overall moving like a security/cctv camera, displaying a space instead of following action (ie. the opening, the first shots in harry"s apartment) Repetition of he"d kill us as a motif that builds with harry"s interpretation of it (and ultimately, leads to the resolution of the plot) Lack of personability common in the hotel rooms shown in the film (as well as harry"s apartment) Unclear line between internal and external diegetic sound due to the bias of harry"s perspective.
