REQUIRED
FILMS [
TOP OF THE
PAGE]
You have to rent these films on video and watch them. I will let you
know when to do so. Don't do it before I say because you will not
know what to watch and listen for in these movies.
DIEGESIS:
[ TOP
OF THE PAGE]
The total world of the story action. What is assumed to exist in
the WORLD that film depicts.
Diegetic Film
Sound:
The sound source which is situated in the diegetic space/time.
Non-diegetic Film Sound:
Sound not perceived by diegetic characters. (voice over, musical score)
Meta-diegetic Film Sound:
Subjective sound such as internal monologue which represents character's thoughts as they are happening in present tense. Sound imagined by a character as a result of auditory hallucinations, or other kinds of altered states of consciousness.
To my knowledge, the first one who proposed the meta-diegetic category for, so called, internal sounds was Claudia Gorbman1 in her film sound taxonomy. According to Gorbman, sound source on the narrative level may be diegetic2, extra-diegetic3, and meta-diegetic. Meta-diegetic sound was explained as sound imagined, or perhaps, hallucinated by a character. Before Gorbman, there have been numerous theories which agree on the basic principle that film sound may be perceived as either diegetic, or non-diegetic--as defined by its source of origin. Therefore, the sound which is normatively perceived and understood by the film characters may be called diegetic; e.g. all the dialogue, sound effects, and music that originate in diegetic space; and non-diegetic sound which would then be the opposite from diegetic; e.g. voice-over narration, and musical score--both of whose existence film characters are unaware.
Bordwell and Thompson4 unnecessarily complicated this matter by looking at the diegetic and non-diegetic sound from its temporal relationship to the image. According to them, film sound can appear earlier, simultaneously, or later than the image. Classifying even further, they recognized displaced diegetic sound, which takes place in the past or the future, and simple diegetic sound, which is taking place in the present. In addition, they propose, each of these categories may be external, i.e. spoken aloud by the character(s) and internal, i.e. imagined in the characters head (thoughts).
Theorizing even further Michel Chion proposed two additional sub-categories for internal sound. He writes:
Internal sound is sound
which, although situated in the present action, corresponds to
physical and mental interior of a character. These include
physiological sounds of breathing, moans or heartbeats, all of which
could be named objective-internal sounds. Also in this
category of internal sounds are mental voices, memories, and so on,
which I call subjective-internal sounds.5
All these film theories that attempt to classify film sound into
absolute and complicated categories talk about sound which parallels
or counterpoints the images, sound that is synchronous or
asynchronous in relation to the images, sound that is either
realistic or unrealistic, or sound that is literal or nonliteral. In
order to accomplish this impossible pursuit and get to the bottom of
the meaning of film sound, all these theories needed several
sub-categories which in return required their own sub-sub-categories,
and so on ad infinitum. The reason why these film sound theories have
difficulties lies in their attempt to get absolutely finite results
beyond contingency, instead of the contextual relationships.
Unfortunately, in the end they become more about making
classifications than they do about understanding cinema.
Even though Gorbman was critical of over-classifying film sound by the others, she likewise proposed just another set of categories. Gorbman was of considerable significance, since she established the term meta-diegetic and opened up the whole new analytical world of subjective and non-normative film sound. Here, I am going to focus on meta-diegetic sound, but before I do that, let me introduce another important term--oneiric. In ancient Greek oneiros means dream and the first one who adopted this term was Vlada Petric using oneiric cinema to describe films that deal with various kinds of altered states of consciousness. Petrics interest in oneiric film perception exists mostly on visual level, he states:
On a purely cinematic level,
oneiric implies film imagery that stimulates a paradoxical
experience: while the event on the screen is perceived on a rational
level as absurd and impossible, it is at the same time accepted as
"reality," with full psycho-emotional involvement on the part of the
viewer in the diegetic world presented on screen.6
There is a significant difference in achieving the oneiric at visual
and aural planes of experience, but if there is a common element it
is represented by a departure from normative perception of reality.
Freud writes in his preface to the first edition of Interpretation
of Dreams that "the dream represents the first class of abnormal
psychical phenomena";7
he depicts
it as a deviation from the usual condition of mind.
I am going to use meta-diegetic to signify characters subjective perception of the reality, and oneiric to signify characters departure from reality. Both of these terms are referring to the deviation from normative film sound into a subjective sound of altered states of consciousness. Nonetheless, the notion of meta-diegetic perception could be traced back into the silent days of Italian Futurist cinema. Written in 1916 Manifesto of Futurist Cinema8 among other important points stated that their films would be a sort of polyexpressive symphonies and dramatized states of mind. Siegfried Kracauer has written about special modes of reality 9 that could be cinematically represented. Kracauer pointed out that "films may expose physical reality as it appears to individuals in extreme states of mind generated by" various kinds of "mental disturbances or any other external or internal causes." The first actual creative use of meta-diegetic film sound as a dramatized subjective state of mind dates back to 1929 and the first British talkie Blackmail by Alfred Hitchcock. In the well known knife sequence Hitchcock is using sound to penetrate the subjective mental state of Alice (Anny Ondra) whose aural perception of reality suppresses everything but the word knife, which rings in her mind and becomes the solely focus of her attention, until her father interrupts: Alice, cut a bit of bread, will you10 waking her up from her thoughts.
The most common use of subjective
film sound is certainly in a form of the internal monologue. Bela
Balasz wrote in 1952 that film sound would be most expressive when it
was asynchronous to the picture.11
Such
sound would be conceived independent of the image but, at the same
time, give it a parallel meaning--a sort of running commentary to the
scenes. Balasz wrote:
In one of the Soviet war films there was a young soldier whose nerves
give way when he first comes under fire. He deserts his comrades and
hides in a shell-hole. A close-up shows his face and by his closed
mouth we can see that he is silent. Nevertheless we hear him talking.
The monologue we hear is in his mind and we listen tensely to what he
is silently saying to himself. If he had really spoken aloud and said
the same words in a voiced monologue, this scene would have been
unbearable. For nowadays even on the stage we find an 'unnatural'
monologue difficult to accept.
Balasz also stressed that "asynchronous sound has no need to be
natural. Its effect is symbolic and it is linked with the visuals it
accompanies through its significance, in the sphere of mind, not of
reality." Balasz was convinced that "this is the richest and deepest
possibility of artistic expression of sound film," because the action
can move on two parallel levels at the same time, "in the sphere of
sound and in the sphere of visual image."12
Mary Ann
Doane stressed the difference between the voice-over and the interior
monologue. She emphasized that interior monologue displays what is
inaccessible to the image, what exceeds the visible: the "inner life"
of the character.13
An aural oneiric-feeling in narrative cinema, as stated earlier, is usually achieved by some kind of departure from normative film sound, which may be looked at as the representation of usual state of mind. Most of the film sound is normatively diegetic and non-diegetic, thus deviation from it may lead into oneiric or meta-diegetic. There are two terms from theories of sleep and dreams which may come in handy for our understanding of oneiric--hypnagogic and hypnapompic. Hypnagogic representing the state of falling asleep or drifting away from the reality world, and hypnapompic representing the state of waking up or coming back to the reality world.
Meta-diegetic use of sound as internal monologue has become a fairly common practice in contemporary film making. I would like you to pay attention to a more complex but very effective use of film sound creating an oneiric mood for meta-diegetic soundscape. Now, I am going to present several examples of aural oneiricism as used in different films. Since all these examples share the common element of move into non-normative film sound lets see what are the ways of achieving it. One of the simplest and most vivid jumps into an oneiric mood is by completely dropping off the normative ambience and sound effects while letting the music alone to take over.
One of the most vivid and interesting examples of an oneiric soundscape comes from Witness (USA 1985) directed by Peter Weir. In the sequence at the police station where detective John Book (Harrison Ford) is showing the mug shots of the possible killers to the Amish boy, Samuel (Lukas Haas), sound effects to create the atmosphere of a police office are deliberately mixed in, much louder than normally. This is done to highlight the subjective reaction of the Amish boy to a alien environment of a police office. Then, wandering around Samuel sees in a display cabinet a paper clip and the photograph of McFee (Danny Glover), a top narcotics officer, honoring him for his achievements in a youth project. At that moment, the boy realizes that McFee is actually the killer, meanwhile the sound effects of the police office ambiance have been dropped out (leaving the reality) and the musical score (Maurice Jarre) alone, creates an oneiric mood. Detective John Book comes in a subtle slow motion towards the boy who is pointing his index finger to McFee's photo identifying him as the killer. Book stunningly realizes the implications of boys discovery and the fact that the police department itself is involved in the killing. The wake up call from this oneiric state comes as a lead-in sound effect of a door buzzer making a short transition to the upcoming scene.
I would like to conclude stating
that, regardless of the category, film sound is trying to create a
hyperreal aural representation of the plot which can make the
audience transcend the limitations of cinematic medium and believe
the conceit presented before them. Looking at the examples I
analyzed, it is clear why narrative cinema is such a powerful medium
creating its better than reality virtual world. So far, not much has
been written about the aural oneiricism as a part of cinematic
virtuallity, and I hope that my contribution will prompt the film
makers to more often effectively use meta-diegetic and oneiric film
sound in their ways of artistic expression.
FILM 498/698 TEST SHEET print your name_________________________________
CLIP #_____ FILM TITLE___________________________________________________
This clip is a _________________________________________ comprised of ______ parts.
This clip is about __________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
PART #
1 DIEGETIC:
Dialogue Music SFX NON-DIEGETIC:
Dialogue Music SFX META-DIEGETIC:
Dialogue Music SFX PART #
2 DIEGETIC:
Dialogue Music SFX NON-DIEGETIC:
Dialogue Music SFX META-DIEGETIC:
Dialogue Music SFX PART #
3 DIEGETIC:
Dialogue Music SFX NON-DIEGETIC:
Dialogue Music SFX META-DIEGETIC:
Dialogue Music SFX PART #
4 DIEGETIC: Dialogue
Music SFX NON-DIEGETIC: Dialogue
Music SFX META-DIEGETIC: Dialogue
Music SFX
Contextual Meaning of Music
[ TOP OF THE PAGE ]
These points are wonderfully articulated by John Blacking in his book "How Musical is Man"
RHYTHM
The organization of music in respect to time. The aspect of music concerned not with pitch but with the distribution of notes in time and their accentuation.
TEMPO
The pace of a musical performance as determined by rate of speed (fast - slow).
PITCH
The word used to indicate the relative location (high - low) of a musical sound.
MELODY
A succession of three or more (musical???) sounds varying in pitch. Melody is a horizontal aspect of musical 'texture'.
DYNAMICS
Gradations of intensity (loudness - softness) in a musical performance.
HARMONY
The simultaneous sound of three or more notes in a way that is musically significant. The vertical structure of a musical composition.
TEXTURE
The horizontal and vertical relationships of musical materials.
MONOPHONY
Music consisting of a single line without additional parts or accompaniment.
POLYPHONY
Music which is conceived as a combination of two or more independent lines.
TIMBRE (Tone Color)
The characteristic quality of sound which distinguishes a note as performed on one instrument from the same note performed on other instruments or voices.
ORCHESTRATION
Employing the various instruments in accordance with their individual properties (tone colors) in an instrumental composition.
PHRASING & ARTICULATION
Terms used to describe clear and meaningful rendition of music (chiefly of melodies), comparable to an intelligent reading of poetry.
MOTION
The rate of change applied on any of the above.
- Middle Ages 500 - 1450
- Renaissance 145 - 1650
- Baroque 1650 - 1750
- Classicism 1750 - 1850
- Romanticism 1850 - 1920
- Impressionism 1890 - 1930
- Expressionism 1905 - 1930
- Avant Garde 1950 - 1980
WOODWINDS
flute
oboe
clarinet
bassoon
BRASS
French horn
trumpet
trombone
tuba
PERCUSSION
timpani
all kinds of drums and cymbals
xylophone
marimba
tubular bells
etc. etc. etc.
STRINGS
violin
viola
cello
double bass
ADDITIONAL
INSTRUMENTS
piano
harp
harpsichord
accordion
guitar
saxophone (woodwind instrument)
OLD MUSIC<------>NEW MUSIC
TONAL<------------>ATONAL
ACOUSTIC<------->ELECTRONIC
WARM ------------- COLD
NATURAL -------- ARTIFICIAL
EMOTIONAL ----- ASED ON REASON
Inspiring ----------- CALCULATING
FERTILE ---------- STERILE
HEALTHY -------- DISEASED
DIVINE ----------- DEMONIC
Easy-listening music and film music have much in common. They are both utilitarian; both received in a predominantly nonmusical context; neither is designed to be closely attended to. This type of music is called functional and in its consumption subordinates its form and volume (presence) to the context in which it is deployed. Its effectiveness often depends upon its not being listened to; its primary goal is the service of the narrative. Film music exists primarily for emotional dimensions and aesthetic enrichment of the scene that it supports. Film music is not intended to stand alone as music, with an exception for the use of songs. In general, non-diegetic music tells the audience what they "should" feel about the images they are watching. It may also tell them what certain characters within the film feel at different occasions.
SPOTTING [ TOP OF THE PAGE]
During the SPOTTING SESSION composer, producer, director, film editor, and music editor get together to watch the film and decide a) where the music will start and stop throughout the movie b) the function of music as it relates to the specific places within a scene or a sequence. Probably the most important questions which are wrestled with during the spotting session come down to: a) Why should we have music there? b) What is the function of music at that point? If the scene is dramatically strong it would probably need no music, or it may need music to add another dimension to the scene, but if it is "a little weak" it may actually need a big or little help of music.
MAIN TITLES [ TOP OF THE PAGE]
During the opening titles there is probably going to be some music. Main title music may say to the audience, "The movie you are about to see is ..." and then establish the overall tone and attitude of the film, or prime the audience's expectation what will follow. It is more than likely that the main theme (main leit motif) may be introduced at this time; think of "Superman", "Star Wars", etc.
MUSIC PAINTING [ TOP OF THE PAGE]
Film music may use a technique known as music painting. This technique uses stereotyped-redundancies such as: high pitched notes = heaven - good; low pitched notes = hell - bad. Again, keep in mind the context; there are lots of scary pictures accompanied by high pitched music--think of a shower scene in "Psycho".
LEIT MOTIFS [ TOP OF THE PAGE]
Leit motifs are based on attaching a specific "tune" (a short melodic theme) to a character, place, object, or even an emotion; and then varying that "tune" as the situations change within the film. Themes (leit motifs) accumulate meaning to varying degrees. Richard Wagner used motifs in his operas and named them "motifs of reminiscence." They had these features: the memory motif must first be stated in conjunction with a verbal text; it functions specifically to evoke a memory; and this memory belongs to a character in the drama.
WEIGHTED MUSIC [ TOP OF THE PAGE]
If music in the film is already known to the audience then it carries the weight of extra-cinematic meaning. This is the most effective if used as diegetic music like "Satisfaction" by Rolling Stones, in "Apocalypse Now". It may be also used as non-diegetic music in a form of a well known song that may comment on the visuals like "California Girls" by Beach Boys, in "A View to a Kill". Another way may be to use a familiar theme and vary it in non-diegetic score, like Dies Irae in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". All these examples assume that the audience has already preconceived notions about the music with extra-cinematic weight, therefore that weight of meaning may be used as a very strong statement; much stronger than original non-diegetic music can ever make.
RED HERRING [ TOP OF THE PAGE]
The score may give the audience a false sense of urgency or terror. Music builds to a climax just before something does not happen; like in "Sleeping with the Enemy" where Julia Roberts opens a kitchen cabinet and finds nothing in it. Listening to the musical score the audience is emotionally set up to believe that something terrible is going to happen when Julia Roberts opens the kitchen cabinet. Music climaxes just before she opens the cabinet and when we find out that is nothing in there, music makes no resolution creating a sense of unfulfilled expectation.
STINGER [ TOP OF THE PAGE]
A strong musical accent that is used to point up a specific cut, person, object, or action. An accent in the score may be necessary to help emphasize a particular moment. This is a very common technique used in the horror movies.
ORCHESTRATION
- INSTRUMENTATION
[ TOP
OF THE PAGE]
The significance of the orchestration may imply all kind of different semiotic meanings. These are heavily dependent on the established cultural redundancies. French horn may symbolize heroicism, a harp may symbolize heavens (angels) or goodness in general, a flute may be used for subtle emotions (love). This all depends on the context. Harp may be used violently in an atonal manner. Here it applies everything we have learned about acoustic versus electronic music, but again keep in mind the context.
LOCATION [ TOP OF THE PAGE]
Music, through stylistic associations, may locate the audience in a specific setting. Many musical styles and themes are indigenous to particular regions. In "Don Juan DeMarco", through the Mexican flavored music, geographical film diegesis is instantaneously located in Mexico. This could be also applied to set the ethnic tone for the film, like in case of Italian style music used in "The Godfather". The score may provide a period setting for a film, like the twenties in "Victor/Victoria". In addition, the score may locate the socio-cultural setting of the film, like contemporary youth culture in "Kids".
MICKEY MOUSING [ TOP OF THE PAGE]
Whenever the music mimics the action and follows the movement 1-to-1, as in cartoons, that is called Mickey Mousing. If overused in a dramatic film context it may create a rather comic effect.
IRONY [ TOP OF THE PAGE]
Diegetic music my create irony by being "indifferent" or "unaware" of the dramatic situation like happy Christmas music in "Consenting Adults" which counterpoints the souring relationship between the protagonists. The use of diegetic music in an ironic setting may be deliberate like Wagner's music "The Ride of he Valkyrie" in "Apocalypse Now" which is played throughout the battle coordinated by Robert Duvall.
PREMONITION [ TOP OF THE PAGE]
Film music may create a premonition making you believe that something is going to happen. Virtually all scenes in which doomed characters make plans for the future seem to have menacing music to punctuate their dreams. Music may anticipate the plot, but this should happen only when the audience is already emotionally set up for the scenes to come. T-Rex scenes in "Jurassic Park"use this technique.
POINT OF VIEW [ TOP OF THE PAGE]
Film music can play either audience's or character's point of view. The score may reflect audiences emotional reactions to the film or character's reactions, which may be different than the audience's. Keep in mind that the audience may know more (or less) then a specific character in the film. A character may think she is in a big trouble while the audience may know that she is not. The score may play either point of view; or it may switch back and forth between these two options.
MOOD [ TOP OF THE PAGE]
No other element of "film language" may set up an instantaneous feeling, atmosphere, or mood, like film music can. Such expressions like: anxiety, depression, happiness, melancholy, etc. may be established through music in just a few seconds. The mood of a scene or an entire film may be created by its music.
CONTINUITY [ TOP OF THE PAGE]
Music is used to provide temporal and locational transitions between the scenes and sequences. Music may typically begin at the end of scene A continue through the scene B and finish at the beginning of scene C (note the similarity to sound effects--lead in, overlap, and segue).
DRAMATIC EMPHASIS [ TOP OF THE PAGE]
Dramatic emphasis is the most pervasive use of music in a narrative film. Successful film score has always something to contribute that will help the picture emotionally. A romantic music emphasizes the quality of love between the two people when they first meet, like in the "Blue Velvet" when Laura Dern and Kyle MacLachlan meet on the street.
SUPPORT
OF ONEIRIC and META-DIEGETIC MOOD
[ TOP
OF THE PAGE]
As noted earlier, if sound effects of the ambiance that represents reality are dropped from the soundtrack while music entirely takes over, we are probably looking at an oneiric scene. This is visually, more than likely going to be a slow motion scene--which are the possible signifier of an oneiric mood.
[ TOP OF THE PAGE ]
Cue is each individual piece of film music within the entire film score which may have 20 to 40 cues.
Cue Beginning May Happen:
1. A new emotional emphasis or subject in the dialogue.
2. A new visual emphasis with camera.
3. A camera move (emphasis).
4. A new action (a car driving off, a person entering the room).
5. A reaction to something that has been said or that
occurred.
Cue Ending May
Happen:
1. Emotional de-emphasis.
2. Cut or dissolve to the next scene.
3. Intrusion of another person or element which breaks off the
mood.
4. Music just goes out.
The reasons for ending:
A. If it goes on it will be less effective.
B. The new cue is coming up and it would be more effective to start from silence.
A CUE may start and end as
SOFT or HARD:
HARD IN - HARD OUT = a sharp accented beginning or ending of
music
SOFT IN - SOFT OUT = a musical fade-in or fade-out
[ TOP OF THE PAGE ]
Hit Points are
any important moments within a
Cue
Important moments may be represented by any of the reasons
for CUE's beginning or ending as listed above. At those points the
following musical changes may be expected.
A change of:
ANALYZING THE CUE ALWAYS ASK YOURSELF:
[ TOP OF THE PAGE ]
From REQUIEM-Mass for the
Dead
sung in Latin
Day of wrath,
It shall dissolve the world into embers,
As David prophesied with the Sybil.How great the trembling will be,
When the Judge shall come,
The rigorous investigator of all things!
Dies Irae is a special case of
"weighted music" that I want you to be knowledgeable of. It is a
medieval chant that was often quoted motif in "classical" as well as
film music. It is usually associated with something foreboding, bad
and dark, but also mysterious, un-earthy, un-holly, demonic, etc.
ALTERNATIVE
TERMINOLOGY USED FOR FILM
MUSIC
ACTUAL (diegetic) - COMMENTATIVE (non-diegetic)
SYNCHRONOUS (on screen [source]) - ASYNCHRONOUS (off screen [score])
PARALLEL - CONTRAPUNTUAL
According to Max Steiner:
EFFECTIVE
NON-DIEGETIC MUSIC SHOULD ACHIEVE:
From: UNHEARD MELODIES by
Claudia Gorbman
FILM
COMPOSERS ON FILM MUSIC
[ TOP OF THE PAGE ]
Good music can improve a fine film, but it
can never make a bad film good.
Henry Mancini,
composer
No music has ever saved a bad
picture, but a lot of good pictures have saved a lot of bad
music.
Jerry Goldsmith, composer
If the picture is good, the score
stands a better chance of being good.
Max Steiner,
composer
The function of music is not
to illustrate but to complete the psychological effect.
Miklos Rozsa,
composer
We all talk about the same thing:
emotions.
Philippe Sarde,
composer
From: LISTENING TO MOVIES by Fred Karlin
I think the best way to use music
is when it's a complement of the film, instead of being an
illustration.
Maurice Jarre, composer
I've always said you're putting an
emotional hook into the nose of the audience and moving them around
this way emotionally while the picture's going
on.
Alexander Courage, composer-orchestrator
From: ON THE TRACK by Fred Karlin/Rayburn Wright
[ TOP
OF THE PAGE ]
FILM 498/698 TEST SHEET
print your
name_______________________________
CLIP #_____FILM
TITLE__________________________________________________
This clip is a ________________________________________ comprised of
_______ parts.
This clip is about
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
[ TOP OF THE PAGE ]
YOU MUST ANSWER QUESTIONS IN
ITALICS:
MUSIC
SOUND EFFECTS and DIALOGUE
IF YOU NEED MORE ROOM TO
WRITE, USE THE BACK OF THIS PAGE
and circle this
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>OVER
[ TOP OF
THE PAGE ]
NOTES:
1 Claudia Gorbman, Teaching the Soundtrack Quarterly Review of Film Studies (November 1976): 446-452. [BACK]
2 The total world of the story action is called diegesis in the ancient Greek. [BACK]
3 Later writing about film music, she changed it into non-diegetic. Claudia Gorbman, Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1987), 3. [BACK]
4 David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction 2nd. ed. (New York: Addison and Wesley, 1979), 246-249. [BACK]
5 Michel Chion, Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994),76. [BACK]
6 Vlada Petric, Oneiric Cinema: The Isomorphism of Film and Dreams, Handout for the course Oneiric Cinema, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, Spring 1995), 1. [BACK]
7 Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, (New York: Avon Books, 1965), xxiii. [BACK]
8 F. T. Marinetti, Bruno Corra, Emilio Settimelli, Arnaldo Ginna, Giacomo Balla, and Remo Chiti, (Milano: LItalia Futurista, 1916); In the US could be found in, Umbro Apollonio ed., Futurist Manifestos, (New York: The Viking Press, 1973), 218. [BACK]
9 Siegfried Kracauer, Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960), 58. [BACK]
10 Many authors have written about this scene:
After having killed her assailant with a knife, the young heroine of Alfred Hitchcocks "Blackmail" finally returns to her parents' shop and there overhears the chatter of a gossipy woman customer. The camera is just focusing on the listening girl, as the woman suddenly drops the word "knife."
Siegfried Kracauer, Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960), 122-123.Like images, sound can be used subjectively to express the impressions or state of mind of a character in the film. There is the famous scene from Hitchcock's Blackmail in which the words 'Knife, Knife, Knife', are repeated in a frightened girl's mind.
Ralph Stephenson and Jean R. Debrix, The Cinema as Art, (Baltimore, Maryland: Penguin Books, 1965), 198.Most of the experiments are in the expressionistic mode, the two most famous examples being the subjective distortion of the word "knife" in "Blackmail" and the interior monologue in Murder. Both experiments are attempts to convey a character's thoughts and feelings. Yet at the same time both techniques draw attention to themselves as tricks and leave the audience emotionally outside the characters.
Elisabeth Weis and John Belton, Film Sound: Theory and Practice, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1985), 302.
[BACK]
11 Bela Balasz, Theory of the Film: Character and Growth of a New Art, (New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1970), 218-219. [BACK]
12 ibid. 219. [BACK]
13 Philip Rosen, ed. Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology: A Film Theory Reader , (New York: Columbia University Press, 1986), 341. [BACK]