The Role of Sound and Music in Modern Cinema - Essay Example

? How sound design and film music are used as storytelling tools in modern cinema As cinema is dramatically depicting how humans interact with one another, sound and music are used to express, support, underline and enhance different ways of communication. Sonnenschein (2001, p.xvii) states that when “giving meaning to noise, sound becomes communication. Humans have used sound for aeons to alert one another, organise activities, exchange messages, entertain, love, and battle”. The filmmaker can express a theme and convey a message to his audience in many different ways of communication: the cinematography, mis-en-scene, costume and make up design, set design etc. But modern film is not just a visual medium. Apart from our eyesight, the only other sense that is able to absorb a movie is our hearing. While we watch a film we don't just absorb visuals on the screen, but also the sound that is coming out of the speakers. Everyone has made the following experience while watching a film on the TV: As we had to turn away from the screen while something else needed our attention, we were still able to follow the action even though we didn't see it. In other words, you can 'watch' a film without looking at it because the sound design, score, music and dialogue provide crucial information regarding a film's narrative. The sound designer can use real sounds of people, objects and actions. He can also modify them by enhancing, reducing or mixing them with other sounds. But he is not tied to natural sounds, for example he can create ambient sounds of environments and locations from the scratch, according to Sonnenschein (2001), thus creating his own 'sound landscape'. Similarly, the composer is able to create and enhance an audience's emotional reaction, by writing a specific and unique score for a movie. Hence, just as the cinematographer is a creative and versatile artist who makes conscious decisions about framing, lighting, angles, filters and movement to create atmospheres and to provoke emotional reactions, the sound designer and the composer are equally important and influential artists. They use location sound, sound effects and music for exactly the same purposes as their colleagues responsible for the visual design of a film. The following examples show how sound has been used as a versatile and powerful storytelling tools in the movies. Sound can: set up the mood for a film: The opening scene of Le Mepris where shots of Brigitte Bardot's naked body are accompanied by a melancholic score that indicates that tragedy is looming. reflect a film's theme: The 'duelling banjo' scene in Deliverance, where a hillbilly boy outplays a city-slicker, supports the film's theme of socio-cultural differences between rural and urban America. be used as an editing tool to create rhythm: The sex scene in Delicatessen where all activities in an apartment building rhythmically adapt to the sound of coil springs under a couple's bed. create suspense: The aggressive string motif in Jaws indicates a shark attack is imminent. reflect a character: The light-hearted flute melody that introduces free-spirit Nobody at the beginning of My Name Is Nobody. place a film in a specific cultural and historical setting: Ska, Northern Soul and 1980's pop songs make up the soundtrack of This Is England (2006) that is set in the English Skinhead scene of 1983. It has to be noted that aforementioned films are examples of how sound design and film music (meaning both a score that is specifically composed for a film as well as published music) are used as a storytelling tool. Indeed, it is hard to identify just one film that doesn't use sound design and music on its soundtrack. Hence, my argument in the following essay will be that sound design and film music don't exist separately but make up a movie's aural landscape together, as they are both powerful audio storytelling tools in their own right. Furthermore, I will analyse the motivations behind individual directors' different approaches towards sound. This part will also include a closer look at individual directors' preferences regarding composed or published music and the respective effects on audiences. History of cinematic sound To fully appreciate and understand the crucial roles sound design and film music are playing in modern cinema, we need to look at the evolution of cinematic sound and the effect it had on film aesthetics and narratives. Even the earliest silent films had a score of sorts, as often a pianist or organist would accompany the film during the screening. The musicians would either improvise or use well-known classical compositions. As early as the Lumiere Brothers released their first films during the 1890's, this practice was common in movie theatres. Later, the studios would hire composers to write sheet music especially for certain films. Eyman (1997) attributes the advent of the composed music score to the first 'blockbuster' of the silent era, D.W Griffith's Birth Of A Nation (1915). Inspired by the work of its composer, Joseph Carl Breil's, it became relatively common for big budget movies to be accompanied by original, especially composed scores. It is also interesting to note that the early live orchestration of silent films already used a form of 'musical sound design'. For example: As part of their score pianists would often play fast, aggressive piano motifs to underline galloping horses on the screen. This example confirms how early sound was considered to be an important part of film language. It also shows that long before the advent of cinematic sound, sound design, even in its most primal form, and film music had already formed a close relationship. The first film that used synchronised sound and music was The Jazz Singer (Alan Cropland, 1927). The film featured several songs by Broadway star Al Jolson and also a few dialogue scenes. The sound was recorded on a Vitaphone recorder using a disc and was then transferred onto celluloid. During the screening the sound reel would be played in synchrony with the film reel. Inspired by Broadway musical Robinson Cruso (which had already featured Al Jolson) the film's narrative focused on a singer and his relationships, using songs to tell the character's story. It has to be noted that The Jazz Singer was also a massive marketing ploy to showcase Al Jolson's musical and acting talents in order to make him a movie star. Hence, it pioneered Hollywood's long tradition of successfully lounging the movie careers of singers by constructing a narrative that would give them a platform to display their talents1. But the advent of sound also provided screenwriters with new thematic inspirations as they were now able to explore the full dramatic potential of the world of show-business. Film historian Krin Gabbard (1996, p.66) states that The Jazz Singer "provides the basic narrative for the lives of jazz and popular musicians in the movies. If this argument means that sometime after 1959 the narrative must belong to pop rockers, it only proves the power of the original 1927 film to determine how Hollywood tells the stories of popular musicians.” The most important effect the advent of sound had on screenplays was that screenwriters were now able to use dialogue and give their characters a voice. (As screenwriters were used to just writing visual action, many were overwhelmed with the task of writing good dialogue. As a result, the studios would start hiring acclaimed playwrights who until then had only worked for the stage). Early sound films predominantly focused on two aspects regarding the audio: Dramatic scores were used to increase an audience's emotional reaction to the action on screen. Clean and audible dialogue recording was crucial, as dialogue had become a tool to convey information and characters (by giving them a unique voice and individual speech patterns). In other words, during the advent of the sound movie, filmmakers hadn't discovered the full potential of sound design and sound effects just yet. Sonnenschein (2001, p.190) attributes one of the most significant developments regarding sound design to a genre that usually isn't referred to as being of 'cinematic significance' - the cartoon: “Some of the most inventive sounds have their history in Warner Bros. and Disney animation with master Treg Brown and Jimmy McDonald, while others came from Jack Foley's pioneering work that initiated the whole art based on his name.” Foley had started his career with Universal Pictures. After the success of The Jazz Singer, Universal had realised that sound would play a crucial part in the future of motion pictures. But as microphones of the 1920's were only able to record dialogue, any other crucial sounds like footsteps, slamming doors etc. had to be recorded after the shoot in a studio. Foley introduced the technique of mimicking the actual sound source by using all kinds of every-day objects to create the most suitable sound for an action seen on screen. With the arrival of sophisticated emotional dramas, like Orson Well's Citizen Kane (1941) whose soundtrack is according to Elisabeth Weis (1982) just as flamboyant as his visual storytelling, and the thriller genre pioneered by Alfred Hitchcock, directors gained a new understanding of the psychological effects sound can have on a viewer. More and more, sound design was recognised by filmmakers around the world as a powerful storytelling tool. Weis (1982, p.14) reflects on Hitchcock's influence on the use of sound: “In his desire to maintain close control over his audience's reactions he never overlooked the possibilities inherent in the sound track. From the time of his first sound films he treated sound as a new dimension of cinematic expression. He hardly ever used it redundantly but rather as an additional resource. Indeed, he was actually very proud of his control over the sound track. Hitchcock said: “After a picture is cut, I dictate what amounts to a real sound script to a secretary. We run every reel off and I indicate all the places where sounds should be heard'." Furthermore, as Hitchcock was always keen to use the latest developments in technology in his films, he was one of the first directors to use computer generated electronic sounds to design the unsettling and terrifying bird noises in The Birds (1963). Oskar Sala (who was credited for 'electronic sound production and composition') used a trautonium, an electronic instrument, in essence a predecessor of the synthesiser. Weis (1982, p.14) is quoting Hitchcock: "Until now we've worked with natural sounds, but now, thanks to electronic sound, I'm not only going to indicate the sound we want but also the style and the nature of each sound”. Indeed, Hitchcock's thorough approach to sound design equalled the level of control he had over all other aspects of the production. And it did have the desired effect- listening to a Hitchcock film like The Birds can be just as disturbing as watching it. Weis (1982, p.16): “When sounds are heard from beyond the frame their intrusion does not seem accidental, but threatening. When Hitchcock uses deep-focus sound, he controls which sounds we attend to; background sounds contrast with or comment on foreground sounds.” Another crucial development in the history of cinematic sound was the increasing desire amongst neo-realist directors to use digestive sound (also referred to as 'on-location- sound') to represent the real world as truthful as possible. Digestive sound stems from natural sources on the actual set or location as opposed to non-digestive sound like the score. Digestive sound was first introduced by pioneering European filmmakers like Jean Renoir (who experimented with naturalistic sounds recorded on location in La Chienne, 1931 and Toni, 1934) and the Italian neo-realists of the 1940 and 50's like Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossilini and Vitorio De Sica. The neo-realists were particularly concerned with representing the poor and the working class in the movies. They preferred to work with amateur actors and to film on real locations, in order to convey a feeling of realism and truth to an audience. During the 1950 and 60's, Jean-Luc Godard, founder of the French Nouvelle Vague cinematic movement, continued the neo-realists' tradition of using digestive sound to create a heightened sense of realty. Furthermore, the recent development of portable cameras and sound recording devices, made it as easy as never before to film outside, on the street or in non-studio settings. Godard in particular used location sound to encapsulate socio-political and cultural change among the younger generation. His film Bande a parte 2 (1964) features an iconic dance sequence where the three young protagonists dance synchronised to a song that is played in a cafe. The scene combines various sound editing techniques and is a masterful example of how Godard used sound design to its full potential. At first, the sound consist of ambient cafe noises (including a beat song that is playing on the radio in the background) and a brief exchange of dialogue between characters. Then, the protagonists decide to dance and suddenly the digestive sound of the song in the background is amplified and becomes the main source of sound. While the nearly flawless synchronised dancing symbolises the unity of young people as a social group and their non-verbal mutual understanding, the abrupt pausing of the song gives the narrator the opportunity to explain what can't be shown in any other way but through the spoken word: their thoughts. During the narration when the song is paused, the other digestive sounds (like the moving feet and the clapping of hands that help the characters to synchronise the dance) continue to be audible. This gives the impression that despite differences in personalities (as their very different thoughts reveal), the three protagonists are united in their social group of young misfits by sharing common interests, in this instance a popular song and dance. Thus, the scene is a profound statement on the link between youth and pop culture and the unifying role it can play in the socialisation of young people. The actual term 'sound designer' was introduced during the 1970's and in 1979 the first proper sound design credit was awarded to Walter Murch in Francis Ford Coppola's recognition to his incredible contributions to Apocalypse Now. Murch and Coppola defined the original meaning of the term 'sound designer' to be the individual artist who is responsible for all aspects of a film's audio track (including dialogue) and who is overseeing its complete development from the recording of sound effects to the mix of the final track. Today, it can be safely assumed that sound design has become a crucial part of any film production. In 1982, film theorist Elisabeth Weis was still criticising a common neglect amongst directors regarding sound, which then was seen by many 'as the little brother' of cinematography. The sheer number of books that have been written on sound design and score since, are another clear indication that sound theory is informing modern film-making practices and that there is a strong desire amongst the film-making community to explore the possibilities of sound to its full potential. Furthermore, the advent of sound theory during the last century was accompanied by the digital revolution and the development of sound design and editing computer programmes. The possibilities of digital sound design are quite baffling and the complex programmes require well trained sound designers and editors, a fact that confirms that sound design today is a complex cinematic craft in its own right. Furthermore, the advent of Dolby Digital and Dolby Surround technologies and the resulting high tech cinemas proof that sound is being considered as a major ingredient of modern cinema - by filmmakers and audiences alike. Over the top sound effects in any given Hollywood blockbuster might not be desired by some cinema-goers, however they are a clear indication for the awareness of modern filmmakers regarding the power of effective sound design. Today, the size of the screen is not the only aspect that plays a role in a cineaste's decision as to where to watch the latest movie, but also the audio facilities. For example, IMAX picture houses impress with crystal clear Dolby Surround sound and a state of the art audio system.3 To sum up, the crafts of sound design and film composition developed over the decades thanks to the introduction of new technologies and filmmakers' increasing awareness of sound and music as powerful story-telling tools. The roles of sound design and music within film As I have explored in the previous part, throughout the history of cinema sound design and score have continuously been developed and optimised in order to have the strongest possible effects on an audience. Therefore, the sound designer and composer have become as influential regarding the overall film-making process as the DOP. However, the final decision regarding the overall audio-aesthetics, the levels of complexity and any preference towards sound effects, score or published music are down to the director. But it has to be noted that it's actually the scriptwriter who lays the foundations for the audio landscape of any film by including sound in his writing. The sound designer usually starts his working process with a thorough analysis of the script, regardless if footage has already been shot or not. This view has been supported in the work of Sonnenschein (2001). After a thorough analysis of the screenplay, covering all aspects of the artistic opportunities it offers, the director will then make his stylistic choices through a constant dialogue with the sound designer and if applicable, the composer. Weis (1982, p.16) reflects on the versatile possibilities sound design offers in conjunction with a director's overall style: “An analysis of aural styles might begin by characterising directors according to their overall approach to sound. They might be divided among the expressionists (such as Welles and Sergio Leone), who exaggerate their aural techniques, and the classicists (such as Frank Capra and John Ford), whose styles are more subdued...It is also possible to characterise directors according to whether their aural styles are closed or open. Directors operating in a closed mode (e.g., Hitchcock and Lang) are selective, stylised, and more in control of their material; their world is self-contained. Directors operating in an open mode (e.g., Renoir and Altman) are more realistic and less in control of their materials; there is an implication of life beyond the frame and independent of the camera.” In other words, sound design offers a director many stylistic and aesthetic opportunities to chose from. However, there is also one crucial decision the director needs to make regarding the film's music: Score or published music? I argue, that the director's decision regarding this question will be determined by what he feels is most appropriate for the particular story he wants to tell. As the history of cinema shows, published music has always been used in close conjunction with a film's narrative and its socio-cultural concerns. In actual fact, published music was used in films right from the start, often as a vehicle for its stars to showcase their musical talents, as in Al Jolson's case in The Jazz Singer. During the 1950's and 60's published songs by popular artists were used more and more in the movies. Directors and screenwriters became particularly concerned with youth culture and the struggles of young people. Consequently, to tell stories in an appropriate fashion that was attractive to younger audiences, the use of popular songs and music became a necessity for films depicting youth cultures. For example, Rock Around The Clock (Fred F. Sears, 1956), Easy Rider (Dennis Hoper, 1969) and Quadrophenia (Franc Roddam, 1979) have all become cult classics, not at least thanks to their era defining soundtracks. During the 1980's filmmakers continued to use popular songs to underline narratives that were concerned with the struggles of young people. Fame (Alan Parker, 1980), The Breakfast Club (John Hughes, 1984), Footloose (Herbert Ross, 1984) , St. Elmo's Fire (1985, Joel Schumacher) and Pretty In Pink (Howard Deutch, 1986) are just some of the most prominent examples where filmmakers explored the life of young people, accompanied by a soundtrack of modern popular music. Simon Frith claims that pop music is often an integral part of how we define ourselves and our tastes. He states: “We all hear the music we like as something special, as something that defies the mundane, takes us ‘out of ourselves’, puts us somewhere else. ‘Our music’ is, from this perspective, special not just with reference to other music but, more importantly, to the rest of life ... Music constructs our sense of identity through the experiences it offers of the body, time and sociability.” ( Netribution Film Network, 2001). Furthermore, the arrival of MTV and the advent of the music video as a marketing tool but also as an artistic visual genre in its own right, influenced the way movies were scored and edited. Donnelly (2005, p.1) refers to this trend as “a sop to the MTV generation's desire to watch pop videos in the middle of films”. Directors like Brian De Palma were perfectly aware of the influence MTV was having on youth culture. De Palma included a pop video sequence in his film Body Double (1984) as an ironic nod towards the music industries' new obsession with videos and the commercial opportunities they offered. Located on a porn movie set, the scene featured Frankie Goes To Hollywood singer Holly Johnson, who was given the opportunity to re-enact the sexual innuendo of the original video for hit single Relax, which had been banned by the BBC for apparent obscenity. Within the safe and artistically open environment of a feature film production by an acclaimed director, homosexual Johnson was now able to play with ironic sexual gestures without fearing to be constraint by commercial considerations or of being accused of indecency as it had been the case when the original video of Relax had been released. As this scene was nearly a direct copy of the original video, it can be read as a critique of the commercially driven and two-faced approach by the powers at be in the world of music, who preferred music videos to be adverts as opposed to little, artistic films in their own right. To sum up, as movies had become part of youth culture, their soundtracks had become the soundtracks of audiences' lives. But apart from a director's narrative motivation to support the thematic concerns of his youth-oriented films with an appropriate soundtrack, there is also a more sober motivation behind using popular song on a movie soundtrack. Since Steven Spielberg's groundbreaking Jaws (1975) the annual blockbuster (with the release often perfectly timed at the beginning of the summer holiday) had become the major revenue for studios. Now more than ever before, movie bosses wanted to capitalise on films as commercial franchises, including the available soundtrack4, merchandise, video (now DVD and more recently Blue Ray) etc. Especially since the James Bond series had made the title song an unique feature in the production's overall marketing plan, producers had realised the commercial potential of songs that either featured during the opening or the end credits. By the 1980's the title song of any successful movie had become a certain chart success: Ghostbusters- Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr, Back to the Future- The Power Of Love by Huey Lewis and the News, St Elmo's Fire- St Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion) by John Parr to name just a few. This trend continued during the 1990's (Titanic- Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On, Bodyguard -Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You) and has prevailed until today (8 Mile – the Academy Award winning title song Lose Yourself by Eminem). CD sales, chart hits, concert revenues, and the major influence a film can have on actors becoming successful singers (Patrick Swayze being just one example) reflect the fact that using pre-recorded music can result in enormous commercial revenues. This could indeed be one reason why Quentin Tarantino and other directors use recorded music as soundtracks for their films as opposed to a score. But it's not just the financial gain, but also the powerful marketing possibilities an eclectic soundtrack can offer to generate positive word-of-mouth amongst younger audiences. It is widely accepted, that Tarantino soundtracks have become as recognisable in their distinctive choice of alternative music of past and present, as his films. Tarantino (Getting The Score, 2009) explains his preference of pre-recorded sound to score even though he admires certain film composers: “I don’t normally use original score. I don’t trust any composer to do it… The music is so important. The idea of paying a guy and showing him your movie at the end and then he comes over it; I would never give anybody that kind of responsibility…I have one of the best soundtrack collections… That’s how I write it, that’s how I design it; I go into my soundtrack collection and I start visualising the sequences…I cut out the composers. I work with the best composers, Ennio Morricone, Lalo Schifrin, John Berry…but I don’t deal with them.” But far from just following stylistic considerations, Tarantino actually uses songs to convey characters, their motivations and relationships to one another as in the 'Like A Virgin' opening scene of Reservoir Dogs (1991): “Part of Tarantino’s work is typified by the way in which his characters actually discuss pop music...we have been introduced to the characters in the film by the fact that they are discussing music. This discussion has begun to define their relationships before we even know who these people are. The fact that they banter about the true meaning of ‘Like a Virgin’ or express shock at somebody who doesn’t know the song ‘True Blue’ implies that they have a close friendship. When we discover later on in the film that these people hardly know one another then we can tell that this discussion about music has in fact brought the characters together.”( Netribution Film Network, 2001). Furthermore, I argue that songs even provide Tarantino with narratives, as it seems to have been the case with the song Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) by Nancy Sinatra for Kill Bill Part 1 and 2. But as we have seen before by analysing youth culture films of the past, Tarantino surely hasn't been the first director to use pop songs to convey character or a theme. Moreover, unlike most contemporary directors who use popular song just to have their soundtracks perceived 'to be cool' (for example in the shallow British gangster films by Guy Ritchie), Tarantino is a truly post-modernistic director who is consciously referring and drawing on past works to achieve new meaning within his own films. Sergio Leone was also attributed by film critics to be a post-modern director, due to his clear references to classical Hollywood westerns by masters of the genre like John Ford and Howard Hawks. However, Leone relied on especially composed scores for his movies, forming one of cinema's most famous and powerful director-composer relationships with Ennio Morricone. There is an obvious reason why many film theorists have called Leone's work 'melodramatic'. As the term implies, melodrama is drama expressed by the means of music. Often, Leone would choreograph his actors' movements and scene actions alongside Morricone’s score, which he had completed before shooting began. Movement, gesture, mimics and posture were vital tools to convey character and their relations to one another, the plot and the landscape, especially as dialogue was sparsely used. Morricone's phrases and motives range from the funny (Nobody's theme in My Name Is Nobody), to the melancholic (Harmonica's theme in Once Upon A Time In The West), the dramatic (the 'Ecstasy Of Gold' composition in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly) and the romantic (Sean's theme in A Fist Full Of Dynamite). Leone wanted audiences to be deeply and emotionally involved with his work, just like he had been with the films of his hero John Ford. Thus, he used the manipulating power of the movie score to the best possible effect. Donnelly (2005, p.4) states: “Screen music is a controlling device, in that it wishes to influence behaviour, shaping audiences reaction to the film or television programme in which it appears”. And: “Screen music is pervasive and might be construed as insidious.” However, Leone, unlike few directors before and after him, didn't just rely on the score to support his narratives. He also used sound design as a thematic and stylistic story telling tool. Characters would often have specific leitmotifs that were audible whenever they would appear on screen, or to herald their eminent appearance (f.e Charles Bronson's character is introduced by the sound of a harmonica in Once Upon A Time In The West). Leone expert Christopher Frayling (1998, p. 168) calls Morricone's soundtracks 'caricatural' and elaborates on Leone's use of simulated sound-effects and character specific instrumentalisation: “Morricone uses sounds and snatches from main themes to represent characters, loud orchestral passages for action sequences or panoramic landscape shots, and formal trumpet solos for set pieces.” Furthermore, Leone was a master of building up nearly unbearable suspense in long and elaborate sequences that progress towards a brief moment of explosive violence. The legendary 10 minute opening sequence of Once Upon A Time In The West (with hardly a word spoken) is a superb example of his unique vision and understanding of all film-making techniques, including sound design: In plot terms the set up sounds fairly non dramatic: three men wait for a train at a deserted station in the middle of nowhere. But Leone exaggerates all location sounds: the creaking windmill, the fly that is annoying one of the men, water dropping on the hat of his mate, the blowing of the wind that eventually gets disrupted by the sound of an approaching train. The men wait in anticipation, they have a job to do (to kill Harmonica) and as we all have experienced when concentrating on something, an usually quiet sound can become amplified (the otherwise quiet buzzing of a fly that disrupts one's sleep is a great example). The consequence of this orchestration of amplified sounds is that an audience is totally drawn into the action and seemingly non-dramatic events. To sum up, Leone and Morricone's distinctive use of a soundtrack that powerfully combines sound and score was a groundbreaking addition to cinematic language. Sonnenschein (2001, p.101) actually regards score and sound design to be two sides of the same coin, and writes about their close relationship to one another: “The building blocks of music- rhythm, melody, harmony, tonal centre, silence and contrast- can be applied to other elements of sound design as well”. In other words, the sound designer and his work and the composer and his score (and/ or the published tracks) compliment one another to create the overall audio landscape of any given film. Both artists are able, and indeed have a mutual goal to emotionally influence an audience's viewing experience. Sonnenschein continues that therefore a sound designer must be totally immersed in all aspects of the film (plot, theme, characters, style). Just like the composer, he needs to be an orchestrator who uses all available tools of music, psychology, acoustics and drama to be able to select the right sound for the right moment. An example for the close relationship between sound design and score, is the following analysis of Martin Scorsese's use of popular song. Just like ambient sound design can create atmosphere, so can the use of songs. Rolling Stones fan Martin Scorsese is famous for including their songs in his films. Set in sleazy, dangerous and criminal environments, the characters of Scorsese's films will often find themselves in a shady bar or a club that, appropriate to its rough atmosphere, will play edgy rock music. Furthermore, Scorsese is not shy to apply a little post-modernistic self-referencing to his own work that is spanning 4 decades: Whereas a Rolling Stones song in Mean Streets (1973) reflected the tastes of the young protagonist played by Robert De Niro, the use of music of the same band in The Departed (2006) reflects the taste of the old antagonist Jack Nickolson who listens to the Rolling Stones in his local bar as opposed to the young, good guy Leonardo Di Caprio. A good example of sound design creating atmosphere are the films of David Lynch. Dialogue is used sparsely in Lynch's work, he prefers using ambient sounds to create surreal atmospheres that unsettle an audience. For example in Erazerhead (1977), the constant, sharp, distorted hissing noise of a radiator enhances our feeling of loneliness and displacement regarding the main character. To conclude, sound design and score can't be read as unrelated entities in a films' soundtrack. Throughout the history of cinema, filmmakers have discovered that sound design and film music are equally effective story telling tools. Combined and treated as equal partners, they make up the soundtrack of modern film today. Rabiger (2003, p.546) confirms this view, when he writes about the post-production stage where the director works closely with the composer and the sound designer: “Although sound is made of different elements-music, dialogue, atmosphere, effects- it is a mistake to put them in a hierarchy and think of them separately at this, the ultimate compositional stage.” The use of sound in any particular work is therefore determined by the stylistic, aesthetic and narrative motivations of the director, or in other words, his overall vision. Similarly, the decision as if to use a score or published music depends on the filmmaker's artistic intentions. Furthermore, it can be argued that sound design is also 'composed', because it uses similar techniques and building blocks just like music composing, such as rhythm, tonality, pace etc. Hence, regarding the role sound design and film music are playing within the film-making process, there isn't actually a distinction between sound designer and composer as they are both story-tellers with a mutual goal: to emotionally and intellectually stimulate an audience. A distinction can only be made regarding a director's specific stylistic and aesthetic choices within the respective crafts (such as digestive versus non-digestive sound, published music versus score). And as the development of sound over the decades has shown, the advent of new technologies, film theory and criticism, audiences and genre expectations, studio interests, marketing issues, casting, social movements, trends and fashions can all influence a director's reasoning behind the individual design of a soundtrack. By exploring the historical development of sound in the movies, from a pianist visualising galloping horses to its first appearance in The Jazz Singer in 1927, to the masterfully executed dance scene in Godard's Band a parte, to Tarantino's post-modern usage of popular song, it is clear that sound has developed into the equal partner of cinematography as the director's main storytelling tool. Pioneered over the decades by such versatile directors like Renoir, Godard, Hitchcock, Leone and Coppola, sound design and score have given characters a voice, locations an atmosphere, the narrative an unifying force and resulted in audiences not only being able to enjoy spell-bounding visuals, but also to appreciate a film with all its emotional, subconscious, realistic or surrealistic audio-aesthetic facets. Bibliography Donnelly, K.J., 2005. The Spectre Of Sound: Music in Film and Television. London: British Film Institute Publishing. Eyman, S., 1997. The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution, 1926-1930. New York: Simon & Schuster. Frayling, C., 1995. Spaghetti Westerns- Cowboy and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone. London: I.B. Tauris & Co Limited. Gabbard, K., 2004. Black Magic- White Hollywood and African American Culture. Piscataway: Rutgers University Press. Rabiger, M.;2003. Directing- Film Techniques and Aesthetics. Burlington: Focal Press. Sonnenschein, D., 2001. Sound Design- The Expressive Power of Music, Voice and Sound Effects in Cinema. Studio City: Michael Wiese Productions. Weis, E.,1982. The Silent Scream- Alfred Hitchcock's Soundtrack. Fairleigh: Dickinson University Press Webography Netribution Film Network, 2001. 'I didn't know you liked the Delphonics'. [online] Available at: http://www.netribution.co.uk/features/essays/quentin_tarantino_music.html [Accessed 19 April 2011]. Getting The Score, 2009. Tarantino On Composers. [online] Available at: http://gettingthescore.com/?p=307 [Accessed 19 April 2011]. Filmography A Fist Full Of Dynamite. 1972.[Film]. Directed by Sergio Leone. Italy: Paramount Pictures Apocalypse Now. 1979.[Film]. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. USA: United Artists. Back To The Future. 1986.[Film]. Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Universal Pictures. Band a parte. 1964.[Film]. Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. France: Embassy Pictures Body Double. 1984.[Film]. Directed by Brian De Palma. USA: Columbia Pictures Bodyguard. 1993.[Film]. Directed by Mick Jackson USA: Kasdan Pictures. Birth Of A Nation. 1915.[Film]. Directed by D.W. Griffith. USA: Epoch Film Co. Citizen Kane. 1941.[Film]. Directed by Orson Wells. USA: RKO Pictures Delicatessen. 1991.[Film]. Directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. France: Miramax Films Deliverance. 1972. [Film]. Directed by John Boorman. USA: Warner Bros. Easy Rider. 1969.[Film]. Directed by Dennis Hopper. USA: Columbia Pictures Erazerhead. 1977.[Film]. Directed by David Lynch. USA: Libra Films Fame. 1980. [Film]. Directed by Alan Parker. USA: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Footloose. 1984. [Film]. Directed by Herbert Ross. USA: Indie Prod Company Productions Ghostbusters. 1984.[Film]. Directed by Ivan Reitman. USA: Columbia Pictures Jaws. 1975.[Film]. Directed by Steven Spielberg. USA: Universal Pictures Kill Bill Part 1 and 2. 2003/04. [Film]. Directed by Qunetin Tarantion. USA: Miramax La Chienne. 1931. [Film]. Directed by Jean Renoir. France: Gaumont Le Mepris. 1963. [Film]. Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. France: Embassy Pictures Mean Streets. 1973.[Film]. Directed by Martin Scorsese. USA: Warner Bros. My Name Is Nobody. 1973.[Film]. Directed by Tonino Valerii. Italy: Universal Pictures Once Upon A Time In The West.1968.[Film] Directed by Sergio Leone. Italy: Paramount Pictures Pulp Fiction. 1994.[Film]. Directed by Quentin Tarantino. USA: Miramax Pretty In Pink. 1986.[Film]. Directed by Howard Deutch. USA: Paramount Pictures Quadrophenia. 1979.[Film]. Directed by Franc Roddam. UK: The Who Film Reservoir Dogs. 1992.[Film]. Directed by Quentin Tarantino. USA: Miramax Rock Around The Clock. 1956.[Film]. Directed by Fred F. Sears. USA: Columbia Pictures. Shine A Light. 2008.[Film]. Directed by Martin Scorsese. USA: Shangri-La Entertainment St. Elmo's Fire. 1985.[Film]. Directed by Joel Schumacher. USA: Columbia Pictures. The Birds. 1963.[Film]. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. USA: Universal Studios The Departed. 2006.[Film]. Directed by Martin Scorsese. USA: Warner Bros. The Jazz Singer. 1927.[Film]. Directed by Alan Crosland. USA: Warner Bros. The Breakfast Club. 1984. [Film]. Directed by John Hughes. USA: Universal Studios The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. 1967.[Film]. Directed by Sergio Leone. Italy: Paramount Pictures This Is England. 2006.[Film]. Directed by Shane Meadows. UK: Optimum Releasing Toni. 1935 [Film]. Directed by Jean Renoir. France: Gaumont Read More