Sound Shaping Images - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Since Chion is an authority on sound and cinema, he is often quoted and referred to in this paper throughout. This paper will include the following points to analyze. Sound in a film can transform not only the perception of the film goers but also the whole outlook of the film. Different sounds are used to portray and impart different set ups and also for different moods. The contextual music in a film often enhances the feelings and emotions felt in the film and the audience. There are certain patterns and ideas about specific sound patterns in the film usually followed by the film makers and the audio experts. Mostly, audio surpasses rules regulations of the natural theory like the poetic license. Sound creates a new dimension to the film by creating unnatural sounds. Sometimes there is a cross identification of sounds and this will be explained later on in the paper. We will also certain movies and show how the director modulated and even manipulated the audience by using certain sound effects. Last but not the least we will discuss the part Foley plays in the sound effects of any movie.
The 'Silent City' has been taken to prove this particular idea that sound plays a much larger part in this film. Through the use of the sound effects we can see that sound portrays a greater emotion. But it also acts as an indicator to the action displayed on screen and makes the viewer's attention to certain elements as the brain perceives the sound and the object that makes the said sound.
In this film sound can also be used to determine time lines which in another sense, is very important to the set scenes and set locations. In this film, in Paris, Texas (directed by Wim Wenders) sets the location as Paris, Texas and it also uses the shared cultural knowledge. the traditional instrumentation of the place That are male voices, guitars and drums of the film 'The Silent City' achieves all this and more because of the clever use of film and sound techniques. Hence the viewer gets the full picture and the whole range of emotion with the sound backing up the film perfectly. The audience views it to be Texas. First of all how sound and image can transform one another in the filmgoer's perception with be elucidated. According to Chion, this shift occurs not because of any "natural harmony" between image and sound, but owing to the "audio-visual contract", wherein, "the two perceptions mutually influence each other...lending each other their respective properties by contamination and projection." (The Voice of Cinema. by Chion) Chion's view point is that sound, for example, music, "adds value" to the image. The nature of the sound occurring or existing at the same time or having the same period or phase causes the filmgoer to construe the image differently, and thereby the relationship of sound and image in a film should not be "associationist", but as "synergetic"; and they enter into a "contract" in the filmgoer's perception. (Chion's own words are used in quotes.) The film explores the abstract ideas of compassion, companionship and loss. It examines minutely the depths of human emotion and there are many scenes in this film pushing a person to the very edge of sanity. If we see the whole film without the sound (audio) or muting the sound as it is , we will realize the real meaning of my argument. Without the sound, the opening scenes have lost its dramatic quality to show the audience that it is dreamlike. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More