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CHAPTER 6
FILM SOUND: LISTENING TO THE CINEMA
KEY OBJECTIVES
• Explain the various ways sound is important to the film experience.
• Describe how the use and understanding of sound reflect different historical and cultural influences.
• Explain how sounds convey meaning in relationship to images.
• Summarize how sounds are recorded, combined, and reproduced.
• List the various functions of the voice.
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
The last of four chapters that deal with different elements of film form, Chapter 5 explores how speech, music,
and sound effects are constructed and how they are perceived by the film’s audience. Beginning with the chorus in
classical Greek theater, the chapter outlines the social and technological history of film sound. It then examines
voice, music, and sound effects in detail. Finally, it discusses the significance of sound in film; that is, how a
soundtrack re-creates sounds from the world around us and creates new patterns of sound that construct or
emphasize meanings and themes in a film.
This chapter encourages students to consider sound analytically, something they may never have done before. It
is not only viewing, but listening to movies that defines the filmgoing experience, and advanced sound technologies
make that experience even more immediate and immersive.
TEACHING THE OPENING VIGNETTE
One way in which an instructor might use this opening scene from The Piano (1993) to introduce film sound is
by placing it within a larger context of voice and music in film. Ask the class: How does our reception of Ada’s
“mind’s voice” change when we are familiar with actress Holly Hunter’s natural Southern accent? What does the
music—and noise—from the titular piano do to challenge and expand our traditional expectations about the role of
underscoring in movies? What is the difference between her voiceover and a male voiceover from film noirs like
Sunset Boulevard (1950) or Double Indemnity (1944), or from a magisterial voice of God like Morgan Freeman,
who narrates March of the Penguins (2005)?
TEACHING THE CHAPTER
Film is an audiovisual medium, but film studies frequently privileges the visual, referring to viewers and
spectators, words rooted in the sense of sight, rather than to auditors and audiences. A film’s soundtrack is
constructed out of many layers of sound, from the dialogue to the background score. Sound is a sensual experience
that potentially makes cinema’s deepest impression. To perceive an image, we must face forward with our eyes
open, but sound can come from any direction. During a particularly frightening moment in a film, we may cover our
eyes to hide from the image, but we remain connected to the action through the sound. Although film sound is the
least visible of the formal and technical elements of the movies, it is the element that engages us most viscerally.
From a Historical Perspective
1895–1920s: The Sounds of Silent Cinema: One of the more interesting examples of the “sounds of silent cinema”
is the benshi, or silent film narrator, in Japanese film culture. As celebrated as the silent film stars to which they
gave voice, the benshi popularized an art of narration by creatively interpreting silent Japanese films, as well as
silent film from the West, as they were screened, live, for audiences. If possible, you might consider visiting in class
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the Matsuda Film Productions webpage devoted to “The Great Silent Film Interpreters” at
http://www.matsudafilm.com/matsuda/c_pages/c_c_2e.html and play some of the sound recordings of the
greatest benshi.
1950–Present: From Stereophonic to Digital Sound: Consider examining this era in the context of the evolution
of consumer audio equipment over the same period, as phonographs and reel-to-reel players gave way to eight-track
tapes, cassettes, CDs, and now digital music players.
Teaching Technical Vocabulary and Key Concepts
An approach to evaluating comprehension could be to conduct cinematic “dictees” during class: students watch
a film clip, then alone or in groups describe it using as many terms from the chapter as they can. Ask them to present
their “translations” to the rest of the class.
TEACHING THE VIEWING CUES
Sound and Image, p. 215
Technologies of watching—and listening to— movies have changed rapidly in recent years. Characterize the audio
experience of the last film you watched. How much of this experience was specific to the film’s sound design and
how much to the format, platform, or venue through which you watched the film?
This Viewing Cue could work as a journal prompt or as a one-page writing assignment following a class
screening.
Synchronous and Asynchronous Sound, p. 216
Distinguish an example of synchronous sound (with an onscreen source) from an example of asynchronous sound
(with an offscreen source) in the film you are studying. Are these sounds easy to distinguish?
This Viewing Cue can be used to explore the complicated play of synchronous and asynchronous sound in the
Film in Focus movie Singin’ in the Rain. During the “Make ’em Laugh” number, where is the orchestra? Or, view
the opening credits of Ghost World (2001) during class. At first it seems that the Bollywood song “Jaan Pehechaan
Ho” is asynchronous. Then we learn the music comes from a movie that Enid is watching on television. At times,
though, the image from the movie Gumnaam (1965) fills the whole screen. Ask the students whether there is a
synchronous source for “Jaan Pehechaan Ho” within the dancers’ diegesis.
Diegetic and Nondiegetic Sound, p. 217
Watch this clip from Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). What would the scene be like without the nondiegetic sound?
Beginning with the fade in from black, show the scene from Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972) in
Voiceover, p. 224
Identify specific uses of voice in the film you will screen next in class. Is dialogue abundant? If voiceovers are used,
what are their function and diegetic status?
Consider contrasting the braying voice of Lina Lamont in Singin’ in the Rain with the “mind voice” of Ada in
The Piano to introduce a discussion about voice. Ask students to speculate what a Lina voiceover might sound like.
Would it give us new insights into her broad character? Conversely, what if we had no access to Ada’s inner life?
Narrative Cueing, p. 229
As you watch the film assigned for your next class, pay particular attention to its music. Is the film’s score drawn
from the classical tradition? Is popular music used? How do scoring choices contribute to the film’s meaning?
Screen the Film in Focus Singin’ in the Rain and ask students to list one scene with a traditional score, one that
uses popular music, and so on. Other films that work well with this Viewing Cue are American Graffiti (1973) and
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Dazed and Confused (1993). Jeff Smith’s chapter from The Sounds of Commerce (Columbia University Press, 1998)
on American Graffiti and the pop compilation soundtrack make excellent supplemental reading.
Sound Effects in Film, p. 231
To what extent do sound effects add to a film’s sense of realism? Watch this clip from Debra Granik’s Winter’s
Bone (2010) and explain how sound effects create a particular impression of location, action, or mood.
Ree navigates a world that is marked by starling sounds (that chainsaw!) as well as meaningful silences, and her
Sound Effects in Film, p. 231
Watch this scene from Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line (1998) and determine which sound seems especially
responsible for conveying information to the spectator. How do voice, music, and sound effects work together?
This Viewing Cue works particularly well as a journal entry prompt or as an exam question. Ask them to
engage with the interplay of nondiegetic score, diegetic natural sounds, and semi-diegetic voiceover. Or consider
asking students to identify a scene from a film screened for class, then describe another such scene from a film
they’ve watched outside of class.
TEACHING THE FORM IN ACTION
Popular Music in Film , p. 228
Most students come to The Graduate and Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction with extradiegetic
associations with the leads, Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta, respectively, as the ages they are now. The shock of
seeing them as younger men might provide a good way of recreating the shock caused by their respective films’
soundtracks when they debuted. One way to explore the blurry distinctions between diegetic and nondiegetic music
in Pulp Fiction could be to ask students as a class to assemble a compilation of original versions and covers of the
TEACHING THE FILMS IN FOCUS
Sound and Image in Singin’ in the Rain (1952), pp. 218–219
There are a number of wonderful musicals, but Singin’ in the Rain has the added advantage of a plot that pivots
on the relationship of sound to image, the history of film sound technologies, and the process of recording and
reproducing sound. It also has moments where the distinction between diegetic and nondiegetic sound gets very
slippery.
Discussion Question 1: Can Gene Kelly’s Don Lockwood hear the orchestra accompanying his singing and dancing
in the title number?
Discussion Question 2: Why can we only hear the taps of his shoes some of the time? Furthermore, why would he
wear tap shoes outside a dance studio?
Discussion Question 3: Why didn’t Don wear one of the bright yellow raincoats featured in the “Good Mornin’”
number (seen just minutes before) to see Kathy home? These questions can make students more conscious of how
filmmakers play fast and loose with sound design in their quest for greater “authenticity” and help them become
more analytical listeners. Peter Wollen’s shot-by-shot analysis of the number in his monograph on the film (Singin’
in the Rain, British Film Institute, 1992) is a useful resource.
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as when Juliette’s husband and his friend listen to radio broadcasts about the war in Vietnam, or when the
construction noises in Paris are foregrounded in the sound mix, or via Godard’s own hushed voiceovers.
The Role of Sound and Sound Technology in The Conversation (1974), pp. 236–237
Harry Caul’s surveillance expert hit screens a few months before the resignation of Richard Nixon. Placing the
film within the context of Watergate crimes like illegal wiretapping and the secret recording of telephone
conversations can launch a lively discussion of the ethics of surveillance. Sound is used in service of narrative, but
the narrative is about the uses of sound.
Discussion Question 1: How is sound used to suture us into the story—and implicate us in Caul’s eavesdropping?
Discussion Question 2: How does sound designer and editor Walter Murch subvert the conventions that usually
govern sound perspective and room tone to tell the story?
Discussion Question 3: How is the physicality of sound represented in the scene in which Caul plays his saxophone
along with the record player, or when he later returns to his ransacked home, festooned with unraveled magnetic
tape?
Additional Suggestions: The Lives of Others (2006), in which a zealous East German Stasi captain conducts
surveillance on a playwright and his actress mistress, is an obvious successor to The Conversation. An interesting
project would be to focus on the equipment used in each film. The Lives of Others uses authentic Stasi listening and
ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS
Alternative Activity
Create two scores for a sequence from a movie using prerecorded music—classical and popular—that express
the psychology and interior landscapes of the characters. Write “liner notes” explaining the rationale behind your
choices.
Alternative Activity
Visit FilmSound.org and use the list of film sound clichés as a reference to analyze the film you watched for
class. Or select sound effects from the free libraries and create an alternative soundtrack for a sequence that changes
its meaning.
FILMS CITED
Alexander Nevsky (1938)
American Graffiti (1973)
Applause (1929)
The Artist (2011)
Band of Outsiders (1964)
The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
Barton Fink (1991)
The Big Chill (1983)
Broken Blossoms (1919)
Casablanca (1942)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Conversation (1974)
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Dazed and Confused (1993)
Diva (1981)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Don Juan (1926)
Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Duck Amuck (1953)
Edison Studios’ Sound Experiment (1895)
Enthusiasm (1931)
Eve’s Bayou (1997)
Far from Heaven (2002)
First Name: Carmen (1983)
42nd Street (1933)
The Harry Potter films (2001–2011)
High Noon (1952)
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Indiana Jones series (1981–2008)
India Song (1975)
Jaws (1975)
The Jazz Singer (1927)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
King Kong (1933)
La Jetée (1962)
L’Argent (1983)
Laura (1944)
Le Million (1931)
The Lives of Others (2006)
Looking for Langston (1989)
M (1931)
Madame X: An Absolute Ruler (1977)
The Piano (1993)
Pickpocket (1959)
Playtime (1967)
The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Psycho (1960)
Rocky Balboa (2006)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
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Saturday Night Fever (1977)
The Searchers (1956)
The Shining (1980)
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Spellbound (1945)
The Third Man (1949)
THX 1138 (1971)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Tree of Life (2011)
The Truman Show (1998)
Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
War Horse (2011)
Way Down East (1920)
Weekend (1967)
Winter’s Bone (2010)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)