CIN105Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Diegesis, A Man Escaped, Tennis Ball
May 31, 2016
CIN LECTURE 7: SOUND
Sound:
• Comes from a different strand of technology than imagery
• The invention of synchronized sound wasn’t until 1927
• One of the first films to use sound and music was “The Jazz Singer”
• It is simple to break down a a visual shot, but you can’t pause sound and analyze it—it is
temporal, ephemeral
We don’t often think of film as an audio-visual experience
We “watch” and “see” movies (visual bias)
Sound and music are integral to film, immersive, and 3D as sound exists in the
space of the theatre
We can feel vibrations of the base, physically
Sound envelops us, surrounds us diegetically
It brings the 2D image to like and makes it real
Sound emotes, reveals subtle inferences
Ex. “Lost in Translation” the whisper is withheld from the audience
• Sound is the most resonant, but most resists analysis
• Unless it is a repeated motif, it is gone forever immediately
• FUNCTIONS OF FILM SOUND
Directs the spectator’s attention (sonic cues)
Sound can shape how images are interpreted
Specifically, it can render an image more comprehensible or more ambiguous (for
example, a music cue might be juxtaposed with an image of beauty)
Sound creates motifs
Sound define on-screen and off-screen space
Sound can mask cuts (same soundtrack continues, even when the visual is
disrupted
Sound allows for expectations to be met
Ex. if a dog is barking off screen, it will usually appear in the following set of
shots
Dialogue Overlap a line spoken by one character is carried over a cut into the
next shot (such as in shot-reverse shot conversations)
In the case of soundtracks, often the same ones are carried over entire scenes
Sound enables SILENCE to signify (something isn’t right, something is different,
etc.)
Fundamentals of Film Sound:
1. Perceptual Properties
a) Loudness
b) Pitch
c) Timbre (texture, emotion, type of sound—coarse, smooth, calming)
• Films manipulate these qualities to create a specific effect
2. Selection, Alteration, and Combination (of various sound elements)
• Sound is not reproduced, but REPRESENTED to sound a certain way
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Cin lecture 7: sound: comes from a different strand of technology than imagery, the invention of synchronized sound wasn"t until 1927, one of the first films to use sound and music was the jazz singer . It is simple to break down a a visual shot, but you can"t pause sound and analyze it it is temporal, ephemeral. We don"t often think of film as an audio-visual experience. We watch and see movies (visual bias) Sound and music are integral to film, immersive, and 3d as sound exists in the space of the theatre. We can feel vibrations of the base, physically. It brings the 2d image to like and makes it real. Lost in translation the whisper is withheld from the audience: sound is the most resonant, but most resists analysis, unless it is a repeated motif, it is gone forever immediately, functions of film sound. Sound can shape how images are interpreted.
