Use of Sound in Citizen Kane and Stagecoach - Article Example

Client Sound in Film Sound in film is created through the layering of elements that create more than just a delivery of dialogue. The sounds produce an environment in which the story can flourish and be revealed. The way the music swells or quiets, the natural sounds are mixed, and then the delivery of the words and emotions will provide a sense of the story as much as the telling of it. Through an examination of two early films, the revelation of the importance of sound will bring together a sense of the overall film experience. Citizen Kane and Stagecoach are films in which the sound of film was still relatively new and listening to the voice that is created in these films provides a sense of the importance of sound in film. While sound in film was being developed as early as 1911, it wasn’t until 1927 when the first monumental moment in sound occurred. Alan Crosdale’s The Jazz Singer provided not only the first real example of the technological advancement, but gave Warner Bros. a marketing advantage that was intended to bring a waning audience back into the theater. Sound in film allowed for a stronger competitive edge against both radio and vaudeville which were distracting audiences from the movie theatres (Hayward 333). The new technology had an effect on a great number of aspects of the film industry. Client Last Name 2 The sound that would now be included as part of the development of a film had an impact on a great number of factors that would affect a movie as it was produced. First and foremost, actors who could not emote verbally or whose voices did not have a pleasing or correct sound could no longer make a living on film. As well, new positions were created as the way in which sound was applied to film called for specializations in those areas. The Jazz Singer had singing and a view improvised lines, but the first film to include a full dialogue was also released by Warner Brothers and titled Lights of New York in 1928 (Shepard 3). The animated Disney film Fantasia is credited with having been the first film with a full orchestral arrangement developed with overdubbed instruments to provide a stronger audio experience (Shepard 3). The methodology of creating sound with film was first developed by having two separate systems that were synchronized for sight and sound. The Movietone system that was developed in the 1920’s allowed for sound to be put directly in with the film so that it could be cut together and then layered by the sound technician (Tibbets 195). However this caused its own problems which created the development of sound that was created separately to the film so that more control could be implemented by the editors. The Birth of a Nation in 1930 was the first film to take full advantage of the asynchronization of sound and image (Tibbets 196). The result was that the film was no longer bound by the stage and could be set free to explore environments outside of the film stage. This created a new wealth of creative possibilities that would expand the way Client Last Name 3 in which stories were explored on film. Because sound was a separate issue to film, the constraints that were previously on the crew were now untethered. Stagecoach, a film released in 1939, used a great deal of synchronized sound in order to produce the final product. There is a great deal of criticism over the fact that the dialogue becomes softer and louder as the actors move closer and farther away from the microphones that were placed on the set. Some, however, remark that this created a more realistic aspect for the outdoor scenes of the movie. Asychronized sound was also used in the film. There is one interesting element of an added donkey sound that is associated with the sergeant that is used twice to indicate a sense of buffoonery and through this convey a subtle sense of the character of the man (Weis and Belton 224). Film is a highly collaborative process and while the director most often gets the largest amount of credit for the work, a long list of participants are also responsible for the overall success of a production. A key factor in creating the environment of a film resides in the hands of the sound editor who puts the auditory elements together in order to emphasize one emotion over another. The sounds create a sense of the story that sometimes need no dialogue in order to further the tale that is being told if the sound provides the emotional and psychological cues. When Orson Welles directed Citizen Kane he was a relatively new director with a limited experience. He did have a great deal of talent, but this was yet fully proven and there is no doubt that the other players in the crew must be given credit for their Client Last Name 4 contributions to this timeless classic film. Citizen Kane was released in 1941 and used a soundtrack to underscore the emotional content of the film. This technique was so successful that without dialogue a viewer would still be able to feel the emotional content of the story (Carringer 102). As well, the experience that Wells already had in radio production provided an element to the production that expanded the way in which film can be understood in regard to sound. Wells aimed for an extreme sense of realism for the sound in Citizen Kane, setting a new standard for film production in sound (Carringer 102). The production is defined by Wells and is unique because of his vision, but without the other players the film would not have the strength that it does have. The sound can be described as having a somewhat eccentric feel as the dialogue has a strong sense of overlap as the characters attempt to gain dominance over one another. Because of the onset microphones, this does create an imbalance as the voices weave forward and back from predominance. However, the result is successful and lends the production of Citizen Kane a unique standing within film history. In addition to this sense of weaving sounds that both overlap and do not overlap, the sounds of the music, effects and voices create a symphony of story telling (Naremore 169). The dialogue in both films is important as the story is told not only through emotion, but in the telling of it through the progression that is voiced. Sound in the scenes of Citizen Kane create a tension that might not have been possible without the addition of Client Last Name 5 sound within the experience. The overlapping dialogue is done with a precision that creates certain sounds that either assault or please the ear, depending on the intended emotional context. According to Naremore, the scene in the boarding house depends on not only the depth of focus in order to suggest space, but layering of sound in order to suggest distance and conflict between the characters. The subtle echoes of the realities of the space within the film mirrors the emotional sense of the story (166). The way the sound is created in the film is intended to create a linguistic sense of the effect of syllable and rhythm so that Citizen Kane is directed auditorially as if it were a musical arrangement (Naremore 166). As a narrative style of film, the Wells classic work uses the dialogue for more than just the simple communication it provides. The sounds of the words have an impact on the viewer and the intonation of the syllables and they way they overlap tell as much about the story as the actual words reveal (Purcell and Tavella 2). Director John Ford preferred his dialogue to be as terse as possible. The dialogue is used far less than the action to move the story forward, but the economical use of dialogue suggests that the what is said holds a bit of importance to the film. Ford had a stylistic belief that a film should not depend on words. The visual format of the film genre of art demanded, for him, that imagery take precedence over all other aspects of the work (Grant 79). Ford is credited with having said that he would rather hear good music in a film than dialogue (Hughes 32). For the film Stagecoach, Richard Hageman created an Oscar winning score of folk music in order to enhance the historical feel of the film Client Last Name 6 (Hughes 33). In watching a film like Citizen Kane and examining it for the way in which the sound was developed, the importance of sound becomes overwhelmingly clear. While the other elements of the film are strong and stand as great examples of how best to use the tools of film making, the sound is exceptional and provides a sense of the film that would not be present should the sound technologies not have been available. The background of Welles in radio provided a stronger sense of the emotional qualities that sound could have for the telling of a story. With this knowledge, the sound in Citizen Kane has superior emotional content within the story. The sound of an action film such as Stagecoach allow for a furthering of the emotions of a film to be heightened through the volume and the intensity of what is played. Without a sensory experience to accompany the visuals, the imagination has to work harder to feel the movement. As well, a fine musical score allows for an environment to be created around the storyline that can have an immediate affect on the viewer. Where in a silent film the viewer must search for the telling elements, in a sound rich film, the viewer will feel and sense the environment long before the visuals create an impact. One of the losses, however, that film experienced once sound films replaced the silent films in the 1920’s is the power of the visual emote that could now be easily transferred via sound to the viewer. A film such as Intolerance which required the Client Last Name 7 building of an entire set to look like Babylon, is lauded for its immense use of imagination in order to create the story. Where a film like Ben Hur which had great technological advances that would have not been available to Intolerance, was made a mere 8 years later but doesn’t have near the appreciation that is given to the more difficult film to make. The advances in sound create advantages that both create better films and make it easier to make them. Therefore, the reach for the more advanced technologies will always make it harder and bigger in their creation. Examples of the use of sound in order to drive films can be seen throughout the film catalogue. In the film Jurassic Park, the advances in CGI created realistic looking and moving dinosaurs that made them almost indistinguishable from the real life actors in the film. However, according to Gordon, one of the most difficult effects was to make a sound induced visual effect of a cup of water responding to a booming step of an enormous T-Rex (216). While the solution was the vibration of a string under the cup, the effect is powerful as the approach of the menacing creature is emphasized by the visual created by vibration, and the actual boom of the step as it approaches. The tension is thick and anticipatory in a way that can only be experienced through the sound. Another example of how sound affects a film is in the cry of roar of the T-Rex character. This dinosaur was created entirely out of CGI and puppetry, but the real selling and terrifying moment with the T-Rex comes when it opens its mouth and roars a deafening sound that inspires fear within the viewer. The sight of the creature did not Client Last Name 8 come near to the effect of the sound. From this far advanced technological example, it is possible to see how the earlier advances that affected the production of Stagecoach and Citizen Kane carried a new and exciting impact on those audiences who were experiences this sort of emotional manipulation created through auditory environments that create tension and propel the films forward. While sound, as in every other aspect of film making, has gone through a long series of advances that have improved the movie going experience, the nature of being a member of the audience has not changed. The viewer goes to the movie theater to experience an environment that is released from the full control of the director and put out into the minds of the audience. The creation of that environment is successful when it is created in such a way that the viewer is engaged and does not leave that universe until the story has been fully experienced and told. New films do not strive for anything more than the old films in giving this experience to the audience. Sound developed in such a way that tricks and simple enhancements were devised to create natural environments that were enhanced by musical accompaniment. In Citizen Kane the experience has a tension that is conducted through the use of linguistic tools that emphasize the telling of the story. In Stagecoach the use of a great score and an economy of dialogue create a story that impacts visually while the auditory sense is filled with a sense of the era and the emotional intent. Without sound, the film experience would have been stunted. While the emotional imagination of the silent film has merit, the manipulations of sound within a film create an environment that has more depth. Client Last Name 9 Works Cited Carringer, Robert L. The Making of Citizen Kane. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. Grant, Barry Keith. John Fords Stagecoach. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003. Everson, William K. American Silent Film. New York: Da Capo Press, 1998. Gordon, Andrew. Empire of Dreams: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of Steven Spielberg. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. Hayward, S. Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. New York: Routledge, 2000. Hughes, Howard. Stagecoach to Tombstone: THE FILMGOERS GUIDE TO GREAT WESTERNS. New York: St MartinS Press, 2007. Naremore, James. Citizen Kane: A Casebook. Casebooks in criticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Purcell, John, and Dominick Tavella. Dialogue Editing for Motion Pictures: A Guide to the Invisible Art. Boston: Focal Press, 2007. Shepherd, Ashley. Pro Tools for Video, Film, and Multimedia. Boston, Mass: Muska & Lipman, 2003. Tibbetts, John C. The American Theatrical Film: Stages in Development. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1985. Weis, Elisabeth, and John Belton. Film Sound: Theory and Practice. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985. Read More