The document discusses the evolution and complexities of sound in cinema. It covers fundamental concepts like loudness, pitch, and timbre that shape the viewer's experience. Sound recording and manipulation are used to guide attention and enhance narratives. Techniques like mixing layers of sound and using musical motifs can contribute to continuity or emphasize points. Dimensions like rhythm, fidelity, space, and time are also examined to show how sound relates to other elements and how patterns in sound function in films.

1. Chapter 7
Sound in the Cinema
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2. Sound in the Cinema
• Sound can be difficult to analyze. It’s elusive.
• It can create a strong effect, yet often remain
unnoticeable.
• The auditory world in film has evolved to
become increasingly complex.
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3. The Powers of Sound
• Can have a unifying effect with visual
qualities.
• Shapes how we perceive and interpret the
image.
• Directs our attention and creates expectation.
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4. Fundamentals of Film Sound:
Perceptual Properties
• Loudness is connected to perceived distance,
but is constantly manipulated.
• Pitch is the highness or lowness of the sound,
and helps viewers distinguish different
sounds.
• Timbre is the tone quality, whether nasal,
mellow, or in between.
• Together they create the sonic texture of a
film and shape the experience for the viewer.
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5. Recording, Alteration, and Combination:
Choosing and Manipulating Sounds
• Recording audio occurs during production and
postproduction.
• A soundtrack is made by selecting sounds that
fulfill a function.
• Often this means that sound is used
unrealistically, for special effect.
• Sound selection and manipulation help to
guide viewer attention.
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6. Recording, Alteration, and Combination:
Sound Mixing
• Mixing is combining sounds together, creating
layers of sonic information.
• Some techniques can contribute to continuity.
• In Seven Samurai, the combination of sound
enhances the unrestricted, objective
narration.
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7. Recording, Alteration, and Combination:
Sound and Film Form
• Choice and combination of sound can create
patterns that run through the film.
• Musical motifs can reappear throughout the
film but are re-orchestrated to emphasize
narrative points as in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
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8. Dimensions of Film Sound: Rhythm
• Sound relates to other film elements in several
dimensions.
• Rhythm involves a beat, a tempo, and a pattern
of accents.
• Coordinated rhythm synchronizes visuals with
sound.
• Disparity between sound and image can smooth
over shot changes and create an expressive
counter-rhythm or convey a feeling.
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9. Dimensions of Film Sound: Fidelity
• Refers to whether the sound is faithful to the
source as we conceive it.
• This revolves around expectation, and can
create jokes or artistic commentary.
• Can also refer to volume.
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10. Dimensions of Film Sound: Space
• Sound comes from a source and what we
think about that source can affect how we
understand that sound.
• Diegetic sound has a source in the story world.
• Nondiegetic sound comes from outside the
story world.
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11. Diegetic and Nondiegetic Sound
• Diegetic sound can be onscreen or offscreen.
• Diegetic sound can be external (objective) or
internal (subjective).
• In No Country for Old Men, the narration at
times restricts us to Moss’s range of
knowledge through subjective sound and
visuals, creating suspense.
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12. Playing with
Diegetic/Nondiegetic Sound
• Sometimes it isn’t clear if a source is
nondiegetic or not.
• This can be a commentary or create jokes.
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13. Sound Perspective
• Sound perspective is a sense of spatial
distance and location being analogous to
visual depth and volume.
• It can also have to do with timbre.
• Stereophonic and surround tracks can create a
very specific sonic landscape inside a theater.
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14. Dimensions of Sound: Time
• Can be synchronous or asynchronous,
simultaneous or nonsimultaneous.
• Sound bridges create expectation, as can flash
forwards.
• Usually nondiegetic sound has no temporal
relationship with the story.
• These categories help us analyze film sound
and identify patterns and function.
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15. Functions of Film Sound:
Conversation Piece
• Uses sound for purposes of misdirection.
• Simultaneous use of objective and subjective
sound creates ambiguity and mystery.
• Repeated audio motif plays over nonlinear
visuals.
• Sound mixing an extremely important part of
the plot.
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