In Bride and Prejudice, I noticed that there were some signs referring to Hinduism. In the scene where all the girls are singing in the streets about how happy they are that their friends is getting married and moving to Britain, I noticed they showed a store that was named Vishnu. Vishnu is a Hindu god who is known as the preserver and is commonly seen with a halo around his finger. I thought it was interesting the director decided to show this. Vishnu is the preserver of the religion and it almost like the director was trying to say that the girl getting married to a nice European boy is preserving the Indian culture by marrying a nice, wealthy man, but she is also still staying faithful to her indigenous culture.

I thought the video we watched in class a few day ago about the foley artists was awesome. I learned a lot about how much sound really can add to a movie/ cartoon. I thought it was very cool how the sounds from these cartoons came from objects that had nothing to do with the sounds in which they were producing. When I used to watch cartoons, I never perceived the sound of the wind, footsteps, and other subtle sounds to be anything other than what they were in the cartoon. The fact that elaborate objects were created to imitate these sounds is truly amazing. Sometimes when I heard the sound from the object, it was hard for me to picture what sound it was supposed to be representing. When the sound was synchronized to the image however, it became clear and really helped emphasize the actions of the characters. I also couldn’t believe that someone ever was able to come up with the idea of hanging a slinky from a ladder to create the Star Wars laser gun sound.

As Birdman has just won best picture, I think it is appropriate to comment on an interesting aspect of the movie; its use of the long take. After watching the behind the scenes of Children of Men, it is obvious the amount of preparation and precision that is needed to pull a scene like this off. This scene however was only 4 minutes. Birdman was filmed over 90 minutes with what seemed to be one long take.  According to an article, however, while there were very long takes used, the director was able to use tricks to make it seem like there were no cuts throughout the entirety of the movie. For example, they would cut in the middle of a pan, which made the scene look seamless to the viewer. I thought this was a very cool and unique aspect that really added to the movie. http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a30653/birdman-movie-tracking-shot/

After reading the sound article by Steven Johnson, I am amazed about how sound transformed into what it is today. Something I found interesting is how many inventors imagined how their inventions would be used in the future of society. For example, Leon Scott de Martinsville invented the phonautograph, which would etch out waves according to what was said into the hornlike apparatus. Scott thought that in the future, we would learn how to read these waves, almost like a second language. This was a good idea in the sense that it could transcribe what a person was saying; however, it had a shortfall in that no one was going to learn a new language to read it.

Another interesting example was the thought Edison and Bell had for their invention’s future usage. Edison had invented the phonograph as a way of sending audio letters through the postal system. Bell had envisioned the telephone as a way of listening to music, with an orchestra on one side of the line and the person on the other. These two inventions were actually used for reversed reasons. The telephone was used for communication, while the phonograph was used to listen to music.

Steven Johnson’s article on sound helps to demonstrate the importance of sound in film and media. Johnson’s writing explores the history of sound technology and the role that different advancements have played in shaping society. Through this holistic approach, we can more thoroughly understand why sound is such a paramount aspect of film. It was interesting to read that when sound was initially introduced to film, it was seen as a sort of corrupting influence that devalued the experience. This sharply contrasts with the usage of sound in today’s media, where the viewer’s relationship with a film is forcefully guided by the sound tracks that accompany the film’s visual elements. Johnson describes the history of the first radio devices and how they were ill-suited for transmitting opera music, but were able to play jazz music with considerable efficacy. His explanation of the radio’s influence on making jazz music more readily available is quite striking. The idea that the radio allowed for the injection of jazz music into US households, which resulted in an increased appreciation for the black community from white citizens, is quite noteworthy. The article goes on to explain how jazz was instrumental in dissolving racial barriers between whites and blacks by allowing them to bond over their mutual appreciation of jazz music. This example illustrates human’s inherent attraction to sound, as well as their primal inclination to be affected by sounds which they find to be moving.

These examples can be applied back to sound in the context of film. As a class, we watched some of the many ways that sounds can be generated for a film with various household items. It was surprising to see that many of the sounds in the advanced animated film Wall-E were not generated by computers, but were made using common items like springs and other noise making devices. The fact that these sounds are still generated by analogue means speaks to the importance of having a realistic and relatable soundtrack. Wall-E’s directors explained that the importance of sound was central to their film, as there was no spoken dialogue. Each of the character’s squeaks and bodily adjustments had to convey some sort of emotion that would normally be accomplished with dialogue. When studying film and media, its easy to focus on cinematography, themes, and acting techniques. However, sound is such a central aspect of human perception that a well-orchestrated soundtrack almost accomplished more by being not noticed. Realistic sounds are taken for granted in that they align effectively with a film’s visuals to realistically portray what is occurring on screen.

Despite extraordinary advances in film and audio technology, many aspects of film soundtracks are added in during the editing process. Sometimes a microphone’s recording of a car driving off is less favorable than a sound that is added in post-production. This is very interesting, as many of the sounds we experience in films are not accurate. An example of this would be the prevalence of tire screeching whenever a character gets in a car and drives off in a hurry. Its noteworthy that sound engineers play such an interesting role in mediating our perceptions of a film through their tactful application of sound effects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBgghnQF6E4

Mickey-Mousing–overillustrating the action through the musical score, drawn from the conventions of composing for cartoons. An example of mickey-mousing is accompanying a character walking on tiptoe with music played by plucked strings.

Since we watched The Sandman the other day in class to see how music and sound editing play a key role in animation (particularly in terms of setting the scene or story), I thought it would be cool to show Steamboat Willie, which was the very first animated short to feature sound, paving the way for future animated works.

Most of you have probably either seen or heard of Steamboat Willie, because this was one of the very first Mickey Mouse cartoons and is considered one of the best pieces of animation. Debuting in 1928, the film was an enormous hit, not only because of its achievements in animation (for the time, the quality was considered “fluid”), but its in contributions to sound editing. Walt Disney was a firm believer that sound was important in telling a story, and even though buying the sound equipment and working with composers was incredibly expensive for an animation studio at the time, it was a worthwhile and groundbreaking investment.

While the animation itself is humorous, all of the actions are heightened and dramatized by the sounds that accompany them. Sure, in the real world bodies can’t stretch like Mr. Fantastic and then return to normal, so there wouldn’t be a sound that really corresponds with that. But in animation, the sound of a stretching rubber band can do a a great job of making this impossible action seem believable and understandable to an audience. Disney Studios combined an actual score with musical instruments, minor voice acting (provided by Walt Disney himself), and a variety of random household objects in order to make a convincing and entertaining story through sound. Each action would be entertaining on its own, but without the sounds they would be far less convincing. Some of the sounds are a little over the top, but they help to solidify this fake world.

Disney Animation Studios continued perfecting this technique for a few years, experimenting in a couple of shorts and eventually making Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937), which was the first fully-animated feature film, that also contained sound. Since then, Disney has been well-known for their ability to combine music and imagery to tell a powerful story. When they eventually branched into musicals (which includes all of our favorite 90s movies like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Aladdin), they knew that not only could they make the songs catchy and relatable, but they could be used to tell the story of the film more effectively. They’ve come a long way since Steamboat Willie (the sound effects are a little more realistic and less “cartoonish”), but looking back, we can still appreciate this short film for introducing a new way to look at sound in film.

Since we’re talking about sound this week, I was reminded of the 2012 Best Picture winner The Artist. For those who haven’t seen it, The Artist is an homage to old silent films of the 1920s. Throughout the film, it’s completely silent diegetic sound-wise with just an orchestral backing track, except for some very key scenes. It feels claustrophobic throughout the film and this is evident in many of the scenes as the characters experience distress over the concept of sound. One of the best movies about sound and the effects of sound in cinema.

One thing that caught my attention was the dimensionality of the movie. The movie started off with multiple relationships. There were the familial relationships between the sisters and their parents, the more intimately designed relationships, and basic friendships between people. Also, there were multiple main “sites” that were involved in the movie. I just enjoyed tracking the different relationships being formed as if they were all their own separate movie. The twists and turns between all the different relationships gave the movie a sense of “dimensionality” that isn’t found too often. In addition, I was always intrigued to hear all the opinions about these relationships as every character seemed to want to state their stance on “who loved who” or “who would marry who” and why or why not it was right to them.

I really liked this short film. It had a very eerie and frightening feel to it with a little bit of dark humor, in my opinion. The film starts by showing us a mother sitting in a chair doing embroidery work while her son is walking around in circles beating a drum hanging around his neck and a cuckoo clock was audibly ticking as the son’s bedtime was approaching. It seemed as if all three motions were acting at the same exact time. The mother’s sewing was in time with the boy’s drumming and those were both time with the ticking of the clock. His bedtime is announced by the cuckoo clock chiming ten (?) times. To add to the eeriness, the “cuckoo” of the clock is actually a skeleton, possible foreshadowing what is to come. The boy then reluctantly goes up a series of stairs to his room. On his way up, he encounters a creaky stair, at which he pauses and takes a noticeably longer time to pass the stair. We don’t know it yet, but the ominous figure that is the Sandman will pause at this same step later on in the film.

Speeding ahead, the boy is in his room, thinks someone is coming in, the audience thinks it is the Sandman because we see the Sandman coming up the stairs, and we are surprised by the fact that the person that enters the room is the boy’s mother. She tucks him in, kisses his head, and closes his eyes, providing him and us with a sense of false hope, comfort, and serenity. Moments later, the Sandman bursts through the door of the boy’s room and tries to frighten him. In my opinion, the film has bits of humor dispersed throughout. For instance, the Sandman tries to wake the child and frighten him but is unable to because he is sound asleep. It is almost like they are playing tag or something. Every time the Sandman is in the boy’s field of vision, the boy has his eyes closed. This goes on for about a minute or two. The boy is tossing and turning and the Sandman keeps on moving around to be in front of the boy. I think the humor makes the film even more frightening. We are presented with a form of humor only to then be disgusted and terrified when we see that the Sandman eventually extracts the boy’s eyes, brings them with him back to the moon, and feeds his children. What’s more, this isn’t even the first time. There is a collection of eyeless boys shown after the credits begin to roll at the end of the film.

The Mexican restaurant scene is very interesting. It begins with Mexican music being performed by the Mariachi band. As Darcy and Lalita begin to hit it off however, the sound shifts back to a more traditional Indian sounding song performed by the mariachi band. It is interesting because previously in the film, the music matched up with the culture, rap music in California and because of Mr. Kholi. It seems that when love scenes happen, the sound returns to the traditional Indian sounding music. The music is non-diegetic, async sound. It is also a good example of parallelism. The song is titled Show me the Way  to Love or Take me to Love. As Darcy is taking Lalita all over California, they are falling deeper in love. He is showing her the way to love. They also use a sound bridge. Wherever Darcy and Lalita go, in the helicopter, on the beach, etc., it has many different transitions from day to day yet the music stays and follows the action. It is a way to show the progression of their love. This is a typical elliptical editing scene especially in Bollywood film. It compresses the time while showing many different days and dates and costumes all within a couple of minutes.