sound, image, text
Lecture Five
Wed Aug 20, 2008
1.
An Important Idea regarding Sound and Space
and
2.
Contextual Meaning:
Altering how we see and hear the world
PART 1; SPACE IS THE PLACE
• Up to now we’ve talked a lot about specific audiovisual correspondences between sound & image and
the ways these are articulated in film, music, art etc.
• We’ll now turn to the idea of SPATIAL
CORRESPONDENCES.
• In particular the distinction between sound which
originate from INSIDE and OUTSIDE a narrative
space.
• Diegesis is a Greek word for "recounted story" A
diegesis is the total world of the story action
SPACE IS THE PLACE
Sun Ra (1964) Blaxploitation Free Jazz Epic…
Non-diegetic sound
NON-DIEGETIC SOUND - Where sound is represented as coming
from a source outside the story space we called the sound
Non-diegetic
The source is INVISIBLE and has NOT BEEN IMPLIED by the
onscreen action. Common examples include:
• Narration, commentary, voice over
• sound effects which are deliberately unrealistic
• Score music – ie. Non-diegetic Music.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm7UiSObOlQ
Diegetic sound
• Where the source is VISIBLE on the screen or is IMPLIED to be
present by the action of the film we call the sound Diegetic
• Diegetic sound originates within the Story Space or Diegesis .
•
•
•
•
character voices / dialogue (internal or external)
sounds made by visualised objects
music from instruments or implied sources
ambient / atmospheric sound
• ON-SCREEN SOUND - sounds/ dialogue heard while seeing
the source of the sound on-screen
• OFF-SCREEN SOUND sounds that appear to come from
outside the frame but are implied by the story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axrr-jYIuus
Narrative space
“The distinction between diegetic or non-diegetic sound
depends on our understanding of the conventions of film
viewing and listening. We know of that certain sounds are
represented as coming from the story world, while others are
represented as coming from outside the space of the story
events. A play with diegetic and non-diegetic conventions
can be used to create ambiguity (horror, suspense), or to
surprise the audience (comedy). “
http://www.filmsound.org/terminology/diegetic.htm#diegetic
PART 2; SOUND MUSIC MEANING
• The MEANING of sound / music / images are relative
to CONTEXT
• Music especially could be said to carry little
INHERENT meaning; it is dependent on context.
• New or evolving contexts = new ways of
understanding or interpreting meaning.
Subjective Interpretations
• Our interpretation / reading of a sound or musical text
could be based on:
– personal values or experiences
– cultural & social conventions and knowledge
– physiological / neurological response to sound
• In the interplay of sounds, images and language we
can distinguish between the material (i.e. what we
hear, see, sense etc) and contextual meaning (i.e.
what we understand, interpret).
Example: Decasia by Bill Morrison. Music by Michael Gordon.
Music Constructs Meaning Beyond Words
• Nicolas Cook (1998) describes music as a source of meaning
beyond what can be expressed with words. Music in its
abstracted form has no meaning but when placed in the same
space as words and pictures it is “a potential for the construction
or negotiation of meaning in specific contexts” (eg. Soap
Operas)
• At the same time, the strong social or cultural meanings of
sounds and music are used to engage specific target groups.
This happens in advertising, film, everywhere… meaning is
based on preexisting notions of a social group or culture.
• Ex… Grand Theft Auto uses in-game radio stations, building
social identity or choice into the game world.
Metaphor
• A metaphor connects two ideas by creating a conceptual link.
• One thing is conceived as representing another; a symbol:
"Hollywood has always been an irresistible, prefabricated metaphor for
the crass, the materialistic, the shallow, and the craven" (Neal Gabler).
• In a metaphor, one thing stands in the place of another. One thing IS
another: Johnnie IS a shark. Yet in understanding metaphors we
accept that a thing IS (metaphorically) and IS NOT (literally) the thing
it refers to.
• In many creative works we see & hear sound, images and words as
symbols for other things. (Two low notes oscillating back and forth
represent a shark in Jaws)
• A more esoteric example: Spontaneous Music Ensemble – sound as a
metaphor for anarchic utopian civil society.
Intertextuality
• The term ‘TEXT’ in semiotics (the study of meaning) refers to
anything that can be interpreted for meaning. A text is a system
of signs (sounds, words, images, and/or gestures) that exist
according to the conventions of a genre or medium. (Chandler,
2002)
• INTERTEXTUALITY refers to the relationship between one text
and another (eg a novel and a film based on the novel, the
songs on an album)
• INTRATEXTUALITY refers to the internal relationships between
the parts of one specific text—-that is the internal tensions and
linkages between components of a whole. (eg a song and its
title).
• Where are the ‘boundaries’ of a work? Where does a sound
become an image, or an idea become a song, or a text merge
with its interpretation?
An Intertextual Example
Artists: People Like US (UK)
Title: Story Without End
http://www.ubu.com/film/plu_story.html
About the work: Made using footage from the Prelinger Archives
this film explores how technology enables us to communicate
faster. The narrative is from a public domain film of the same name
made in 1950 about the development of microwave radio
transmission and the transistor.
An interpretation: By recycling visions of the future from the past,
recontextualising these visions, we project new meanings onto
old images and sounds.
Multiplicity of Meaning
• When we start to address the meaning of sounds/
music, images and words we see in many examples
multiple layers of interpretation are possible.
• Interpretation is based on a mix of subjective
(personal) & collective (or cultural) meanings.
• There is no definitive interpretation of a text - the
composer’s (or author’s) intentions give way to the
listener’s (readers) (re)interpretation of the work.
Brecht’s Alienation Technique
• The ALIENATION EFFECT is a theatrical or cinematic device
developed by German playwright / director Bertold Brecht. (Its literal
translation is ‘to make strange, uncanny, bizarre)
• It occurs when a text BREAKS THE ILLUSION of reality it has
constructed. The Suspension of Disbelief is shattered. This
emotional distancing effect allows the audience to reflect critically
on what is being presented
• Techniques include:
– direct address to the audience
– disruptive or ironic use of song or music
– reflexivity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvd3kaupZ60
tasks & readings
TASK
Prepare a brief outline of your tutorial presentation (max 1 page) for discussion in
class next week.
Consider:
• the essential style or quality of the each medium: SOUND/ MUSIC, IMAGE
and/or WORDS/ TEXT
• the key CONTEXTUAL aspects of your example (ie. genre, history)
• the ROLE or FUNCTION of sound/ music in relation to the image and/ or text
elements. How is sound shaping our understanding of your example.
• the STRUCTURE of the sound/ image/ text relationships - how the elements
relate to each other e.g. synchronisation, rhythm, layering
• the RELATIONSHIP of sound/ music to other CONCEPTS such as narrative,
diegetic and non-diegetic distinctions.
• the INTERTEXTUAL or INTRATEXTUAL relationship between your example and
another text i.e. film, song, narrative. How is meaning constructed through this
relationship.
READING
Chion, Michel. Audio-Vision, Sound on Screen, New York: Columbia University Press,
1990 - Chapter 4. On CMD
references
Source: Daniel Chandler. Semiotics for beginners.
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/semgloss.html#A
Cook, Nicholas. Analysing Musical Multimedia, Oxford
University Press 1998.