Week 6: Film Sound Fantasies

Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice, and Sound Effects in Cinema, written by David Sonnenschein, is one very well-written article. It not only explains how sound and images coincide with each other through a very special interaction, but it also gives us visual references on what, specifically, Sonnenschein is telling us regarding what is going  on in our heads as we are exposed to them both.
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​The first main point of the article that truly stood out to me is that when we're watching a film, and we dive in to its storytelling, the film's soundtrack and sound effects tell us, the audience, what is going on inside or outside the main character's world, where the dialogue, effects, and music are coupled with the image. This is a very important factoid, especially since David makes the case of how the space and time of the film are determined by the combination of audio and visuals in the film, along with the bridging and breaking of the scenes. It is also fascinating how David Sonnenschein makes the point that we usually expect the sound and image in a film to be within sync, but at the same time, this can very well be manipulated into servicing the story, seeing as there could be more than one definition of a scene where these audiovisual properties are displayed in ways that are very purposeful. These are all the reasons why this point made by Sonnenschein is a truly valuable one that should be recognized by all the readers of this story.

The second main point of the article that should be seen is the table that David Sonnenschein made to show us the exact measurements at which our eyes and ears perceive sound and visuals such as frequency sensitivity, wavelength sensitivity, and the speed of light and sound. He also makes the case of how our eyes and ears operate when distinguishing ratios, our brains are primarily processing, are focused, are open or closed, in the environment of a habitat, and how they handle transmission. In this regard, he also mentions how while a very broad electromagnetic spectrum does exist on the subject of physics (radio, micro, infrared, visible, UV, x, and gamma rays), an unknown reason has caused our eyes to narrow down what light is functional, based on our own personal visual reception. When comparing the eyes to the ears of the human body, the ears have a humongous range of perception when it comes to the sensitivity of frequencies. This point is extremely important, as it definitely changes how us humans interpret how our brains respond to sound and visuals, which most of us would not have considered prior to reading this article.

The third main point of this reading is how humans interpret sounds that are "nondiegetic," which basically means that they are not sounds that would be heard by any of the characters in the film, or it could also be a sound that is not emitted from any sound event that occurs during the film's story. The most typical examples of nondiagetic sounds that occur in a film are incidental music and voiceover narrations. In addition, it is interesting to think about how recently, sound design has been slightly more creative than it previously was, in that it has incorporated ambiences that have been stylized, along with sound effects that are not expected which are changed with content that is emotional. A very good example of this is how the sound of a wolf howling could potentially pierce the redlight district of downtown. Another example is how the sound of an exaggerated clock ticking could possibly tower over an office worker who is under a heavy timeline with a rather strict deadline. Generally speaking, nondiegetic sounds function as interpretive elements, and they guide those listening to them towards certain feelings, and these feelings are subjectively beyond the visual elements in the person's brain.

I could go on for a long time about why this article is so incredible, but these are all the main highlights of what makes it so great. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article for all of these reasons, and would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about how our brains interpret sound and visuals, or anyone who is interested in learning more about sound and visual knowledge in general. Nobody who reads this article will ever regret it in any possible way.

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Designing a Movie for Sound, ​written by Randy Thom, was another phenomenal article to read. There are many reasons for this, but even the introductory sentence on its own is incredible. It states the following message: "The biggest myth about composing and sound designing is that they are about creating great sounds. Not true, or at least not true enough." What's so great about this introductory statement is that it captures the main message that Randy Thom is trying to convey in this article, where he says that there is a big myth circulating in this world where people believe that composing and designing sound is all about inventing great sounds, but on the contrary side, that is actually not ​what it is all about. This is just the beginning, though, and it gets even better as the article continues. Like the previous article, there are three main points that make it really catch a person's eye, and I will list them below.

The first main point of this article is that Thom states how the definition of "great sound" nowadays is merely just sound that is loud, which is the case far too often than it should be. Randy makes the case of how these sounds include high-fideilty recordings of explosions and gunshots, as well as alien vocalizations that are very well-fabricated. Randy Thom makes the case that while people may hold these sounds in very high regards, they do not count as being part of great sound design. He also feels that while well-orchestrated and recorded pieces are much better, they have minimal value if they are not integrated into the film as wholes. He also believes that giving the film characters many things to say in every single scene does not necessarily do a favour for the actors or film as a whole, because sound and music have value when they are part of a continuum, where they change over time, have dynamics, and resonate with other sounds and with other sensory experiences. This point is substantial, as I'm sure most of us would not have been very spoken about the soundtracks of films prior to having read this.

The second main point of this article is how Randy Thom feels a filmmaker should take advantage of sound to make it achieve its maximum potential. He feels a filmmaker should not simply make it possible to record good sound on the film's set, nor should they hire a talented sound designer/composer to fabricate sounds, but rather, they should actually design the film while having sound in mind, in order to allow the contributions of sound to influence the creative decisions in the other crafts that are part of the process of making a movie. Randy mentions how films like Citizen Kane, Star Wars, Raging Bull, The Elephant Man, Eraserhead, Once Upon a Time in the West, and Never Cry Wolf are all films that were thoroughly sound designed, despite no sound designer being credited on most of them. Thom also points out how while not every film needs to be like the ones mentioned above, at the same time, many films could benefit from those models. I think this is an excellent point because I, too, agree that if a film's soundtrack is not good, it wrecks the film tremendously.

The third and final main point made in this article is how Randy Thom feels that there are many film directors in this world who like to think  that they appreciate sound, but at the same time, they still have a very shallow mindset in regards to the potential into which the sound used in storytelling can be tapped. He explains how the view that is generally accepted among directors is that it is useful to have sound that is described as "good," with the intention of enhancing the film's visuals and root its images in a type of reality that is temporal. The problem with this is that it is not a collaboration; it is slavery. On top of that, the product that it yields is guaranteed to be not as complex or interesting than it would be, were the sound to somehow be set free as an active player in the process. He also makes the case that it is only when each craft influences every other craft that the movie does, indeed, begin to take on a life that is considered its own. I love hearing how Randy feels directors could improve their ways, as I totally agree with him.

These are all the reasons why this article is a tremendous learning material, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning how the soundtracks of films should be executed.

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Work Cited:

1. Sound Design: the Expressive Power of Music, Voice, and Sound Effects in Cinema, by David Sonnenschein, Michael Wiese Productions, 2009, pp. 151–171.

2. Thom, Randy. Desigining a Movie for Sound, 23 June 1999. 

 


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