Film Sound – An Introduction

Q. Discuss the influence of both literal and emotive sound in cinematic storytelling.

James Lynch

24/10/2011

06562329

Literal and emotive sound each play an individual but equally important part in the storytelling process in film. Both are used as techniques to add depth and purpose to characters and scenes and to heighten the cinematic experience for viewers.

As a backdrop to the question I feel it is important to outline the introduction of sound into film and how it changed the face of the film industry forever.

The transition from silent film to talking happened between 1927 to 1931 and this saw the industry undergo major changes both from a production and a monetary perspective. This was known locally as the roaring 20's in Hollywood as it was described to me on a tour of Hollywood last year.

This was really the transformation from the world where the language of the visual was the norm to the new world of the language of the word. While this changed the viewers experience for the better it presented numerous problems for directors and film companies and the industry went through what seemed like quite an obvious changeover period in which they experienced a plethora of teething problems. Some of these can be seen quite clearly and are portrayed in a humorous manner in Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly's Singing In The Rain. Despite being filmed in 1952 the film was set in 1927 and gives the modern audience an insight into what the changeover from the silent to the talking film era was like. It displayed funny moments such as the microphone debacle where the director of the musical is trying to get Lina Lamont to talk directly into the microphone and she cannot grasp the concept that the microphone needs to pick up her voice in order for it to be recorded. The director desperately trys to find a suitable place to situate the microphone so as to pick up her voice but she continues to miss it on all occasions. The director repeats numerously “The sound goes through the wire and into the box” (1) which suggests to me that even in the beginning of the era of sound directors themselves did not fully understand how the concept of sound recording worked.

It was after these problems were ironed out and in these first films that directors could begin to experiment and introduce new types of sound to replace certain physical aspects of a particular scene or scenario. To this day we see both literal and emotive sound used highly effectively in film and an example that springs to mind is Gyorgy Pálfi's 2002 film Hukkle. Hukkle is a film that contains almost no dialogue whatsoever but is a masterclass in sound. Set in rural Hungary the film follows the lives of a number of residents of the rural village and contains techniques which can often go unnoticed in films with dialogue but on their own prove entirely effective, one that stood out for me was the use of sound to emphasise the extreme close up shots which Pálfi is very fond of throughout the film. Hukkle was Hungary's first ever film with a Dolby Digital Soundtrack. (2)

In film when discussing a particular sound I think it is fair to say that often that sound can contain both emotional and physical meaning. There is the physical element of the sound which contains an action or a movement made by a character but we constantly see that superimposed on this is the emotional consequence of that particular action whether it be on the viewer or a another member of the cast in the film. I have found it difficult to separate the two on many occasions as i feel they are almost always explicably linked. The soundtrack in particular can reflect the mood of the scene or story and can affect our feelings towards certain characters and at the same time can reflect the characters feelings. (3)

This blurred line is part of the reason that I often prefer cinematic technique to the actual story that is being portrayed to us by the director. There are so many resources in modern film in both the visual and sound departments to keep our interest as viewers that dialogue is not always necessary

as the film I spoke about Hukkle proves. One thing I have picked up on particularly in studying sound in film is that there is almost no way to portray mood effectively in film without sound.

One of the most silent things in the world is the process of the sun rising or the sun setting yet it is one of the most regularly used images in film. Commonly the image of the beautiful sunrise is brought to life by bright or cheery music which we can relate to from the real world and the image of the sun setting can often be portrayed by sounds of deep or dangerous notes. Before light existed night time meant switching from eyes to ears and there was an instinctual reliance on sound, film makers try to bring this home to the viewers and it often provides a backdrop for scenes where murder or dark acts occur

Often when we attend the cinema we may skim over certain sounds due to the fact that that we are visually encapsulated by the images in front of us but it is almost impossible to grasp the depth of the message or meaning of a particular scene without the use of sound. In the absence of sound images alone can lose their significance.

For the purposes of investigation I think sound in film can be divided into three basic categories: Music, sound effects and speech. More often than not the speech for the basis for literal sound and music and sound effects provide the emotive backdrop.

Never do we question the importance of speech or literal sound in film as it conveys the basic messages that the director is trying to get across to the audience but I think in particular that emotive sound has the power to influence our feelings and this is what may affect most of us in a deeper sense than words alone. Literal sounds are those which lead us to believe what we are seeing in front of us on the screen but emotive sounds are those which encourage us to feel something about what we are seeing. This can be credited to our particular life experiences to some extent but I would consider the universal language of sound effects to be a major contributor. In the same respect music is the psychology of film and is something which stirs inner emotions in us as humans.

Sound is the bridge to the emotions.

References:

(1) Singing In The Rain 1952

(2) Hukkle IMDB.com

(3) http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/1307/1/deutsch_soundtrack.pdf