When I first started reading the Sound article that details the history of sound and sound effects, I was fascinated by what was written about the drawings of the cave walls of the Neanderthals some 30,000 years ago. Most interesting to me was the theory that in these caves and underground passages, you were meant to focus more on the sounds rather than the images. Ethnographer Iegor Reznikoff studied the caves and analyzed their echoes and reverberations. He determined that all of the cave drawings were all at the “most acoustically interesting parts of the caves” (Steven Johnson, 88). Although very interesting, and heavily supported by scientific evidence, I am still quite dubious that the Neanderthals put these paintings there on purpose. I find it very hard to believe that they went around to different parts of the caves, made noises, kept track of which spots were the most “acoustically interesting” and painted in only those areas. I think that these caves were “acoustically interesting” in almost every part, and it just so happened that these drawings were placed in the most acoustically interesting parts. I think it is an interesting coincidence, but I find it hard to accept as a theory.

This article shows us the importance of truly understanding and being able to properly analyze the media we consume. It stresses the importance of knowledgeable viewing. Scenes in a musical, for instance, should be viewed balanced against one another, rather than as independent scenes. “Each segment must be understood not in terms of the segments to which it is causally related but by comparison to the segment which it parallels” (Altman, 20).

It also demonstrates the importance of considering different scenes along side on another, rather than as independent scenes. The theme of scene duality also arises a lot. The musical Gigi is the example used in the article to demonstrate duality. Both characters, Gigi and Gaston, have very different experiences with others around them. However, through duality, the two seem very similar and seem to be going through extremely close experiences. This principle of duality shows the “less linear configuration” of the musical. There are many parallels held between Gigi and Gaston not only by their shared experiences but also by the songs they sing in the musical. This demonstrates a way in which music can greatly impact the narrative of the story. The music brings two characters together in ways that might not have been able to accomplished with words alone.

I am extremely fascinated by the concept of Foley artists. Being able to completely recreate genuine sounding effects using something completely different than the sound being imitated is incredible to me. I really enjoyed clip we watched today in class about Ben Burtt and his work with WALL-E and others.  The clip gave me a new appreciation for the art of sound making and editing. There are so many intricate details that go into making the effects for movies. For instance, Ben Burtt discussed how heavy the impact was of sound. Sound effects, especially in a film like WALL-E where these effects are the main component of the movie since dialogue is limited, can change the whole emotional vibes of the scene. You have to be careful because if an effect sounds too sad, then the audience will interpret that as intentional and potentially get a skewed view of the scene when, in reality, there are no sad parts of the particular scene. It was interesting to see how major of a role such small and seemingly minor effects had on the whole film.

In The Sandman, two things that stood out to me about the sound were the parallelism the director included, as well as the synchronous sound.  With parallelism, the entire film had a creepy and eery vibe; the lighting was very dark, the way the characters looked and acted, and they were in an old, creaky house.  The creepiness that the director included was strongly emphasized by the musical scores he decided to include, for the music was making it seem that something was going to happen to the little kid (which eventually did), and it also generally gave off a sketchy vibe, making the combination of the sound and the creepiness of the setting and characters very effective.  Additionally, the synchronous sound the director included also added to the overall creepy feel.  For example, when both the little kid and The Sandman were going up the stairs to the kids bedroom, the stairs creaked, which in film is typically viewed as very creepy and spooky.  Also once the wind blew open the window, the slam of the window and the roar of the wind not only scared the kid, but it made the audience wonder if something was about to happen to him.

One thing I noticed about the sound in Bride and Prejudice is that every time the characters would switch countries the music is the background would change to the country’s songs they would listen to. However, it would only be played for a brief amount of time and then return to the indian genre music.

https://m.youtube.com/watchv=6dTq20x1d4M

After reading Sound by Steven Johnson, it is truly amazing how to see how technology has advanced over the years. Due to these innovations, we are able to experience such significant breakthroughs in science during our lifetime. For example, Johnson talks about how thanks to Edouardo- Leon Scott’s phonautograph, throughout the years cultural innovations came from using new technology in unexpected ways. These miscalculations lead to the invention of the sonar, which was the main  tecnology used in finding the Titanic. The link above teaches and shows how truly amazing the technology is.

The history of all the different inventions of sound is much like that of the moving picture. Along the way humans wanted more out of the technology they had been given and thus new innovations were created. From Gutenburg’s printing press to motion picture, film has a come a long way.

I think the editing in JFK is incredible. The ability to use real footage and incorporate it into the film without skipping a beat is very impressive. I think the ability to do this relies on the ability of things like mise-en-scene and cinematography. Because the film looked and felt like it was during the 60’s really allows Stone to freely incorporate the old footage. Sometimes, It was even difficult to determine if the news footage was real footage from the time period or footage Stone created. Without the ability to make everything seems like it was in the 60’s I don’t think stone would have been able to incorporate this footage so easily. It gives the film a truly realistic vibe and feels like I am watching the story unfold as it happened in 1960

One important type of editing we talked about in class today was elliptical editing.  Elliptical editing makes it that an event’s duration on-screen is shorter than its duration in the story and in character development.  Many directors utilize elliptical editing simply to compress the length of a film, and to develop the story in as little time as possible.  An example of elliptical editing could be a man on a journey; he could be walking through different landscapes and weather conditions every time the shot dissolves, until he reaches his destination.

However, another way in which I believe elliptical editing can be used is to convey emotions.  For example, when we initially brought up the point of elliptical editing, I immediately thought of the Pixar movie “Up”.  In the movie, elliptical editing was used at the beginning of the film to summarize Elle and Carl’s relationship as it progressed from when they were young kids to them growing old together eventually leading to  Elle’s death.  The elliptical editing used not only to compress the length of their story, but I also believed that the director decided to include the elliptical editing to spark emotion among the audience and get the audience to sympathize and realize the loneliness Carl was going through at the time.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2015/02/19/387535508/composing-the-folk-music-of-a-made-up-country

As some of you may know, Alexandre Desplat won an oscar of best original score in Wes Anderson’s film, The Grand Budapest Hotel (Anderson, 2014). Although Desplat was nominated twice in this category, this NPR segment of All Things Considered explains why this award was well deserved.

The Grand Budapest Hotel takes place in a fictional central European country, “The Former Republic of Zubrowka”, therefore while spotting the film with Anderson, it was Desplat’s job to not only score music that complimented each character, but also to score music that depicted the culture of Zubrowka’s people.

I won’t give the NPR segment away, but Desplat and Anderson put in a ton of effort to find the perfect score for the sound bridge that the viewers experience in the very first scene of the film. An fascinating process and an interesting article!