Select from one of the readings, up to but not including Week 5, and briefly describe two points that you have taken from it. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you.

Week three’s reading outlined the ability for sound to create emotion to communicate an idea, unlike with the sense of sight where the idea communicates the emotion. Sound is a force that can excite meaning, convert meaning, and, if it is loud enough, resonate body – it’s ability to influence a viewer’s perception of film or television transports the audience from just viewing to experiencing. Below are two interesting points from the reading:

“If you’re not listening, sound remains part of the environment; it does not become part of your consciousness.”

– Page 7

The reading argues that most sounds are part of the environment and many offer little aesthetic satisfaction that they are not worth listening to. Listening should be selective and you learn what to listen for by analysing both the components that make up a sound and the relationship of a sound to its environment. It’s quite interesting how much sound we choose to ignore everyday, and yet when we watch film and television we form an almost default understanding to listen. Thinking of this in relation to music, songs have the ability to create feelings and emotions through sound as we allow it to become part of our consciousness, it’s for this reason people have attachment to certain songs.

“A director was once asked why, after an extremely dramatic, revelatory event in a scene, he chose to have silence. He replied, “Silence was the most awesome sound that we could get.” ”

– Page 276

Silence can be used to enhance sonic effect, it is in the pauses or silences between words, sounds and musical notes that help to create rhythm, contrast, and power. Silence in film gives the audience a chance to recollect their thoughts and process of hearing so that in times of aided audio they can experience the desired effect. For me silence resonates moments in film; they are moments of freedom where you’re allowed to interpret the scene. Silence needs to be appreciated, because it’s tempting to put music and sound effects over everything but a true listener will know when absence says enough.

References

Bresson, R. “Sight and Hearing.” Notes on the cinematographer, London: Quartet, 1986. Page 50-52

Alten, S. “Creating the sound design.” Audio in Media, Belmont: Wadsworth, 1994.      Page 266-286