ANTH 576L, Jennifer Cool
Week 4 Lecture
Fall 2010
1

Time Plot of an Actual Sound
2

Speed of Propagation = Frequency x Wavelength
3

4

o o
Most sounds are a complicated mixture of vibrations
A sound spectrum is a representation of a sound in terms of the amount of vibration at each individual frequency, usually presented as a graph of either power or pressure as a function of frequency.
The sound spectrum of the flute playing this note has a series of peaks at frequencies of 400 Hz,
800 Hz,1200 Hz, 1600
Hz, 2000 Hz, 2400 Hz, etc., which we can write as: f 2f 3f 4f .. nf where f = 400 Hz is the fundamental frequency of vibration of the air in the flute, and where n is a whole number
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor are needed to see this picture.
5

Audible range about 20 Hz to 20 kHz
• Frequencies • Sound pressure level in dB
6

7

8

QuickTime™ and a
decompressor are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor are needed to see this picture.
9

o o o
Loudness o
Physiological description of the magnitude of an auditory sensation
Pitch o o
Perceived attribute of sounds, which enables an ordering of sounds on a scale extending from low to high
Fundamental frequency (f0) = corresponding physical (not perceptual) term. Pitch & frequency often (mis)used as synonyms
Timbre (tone color) o o
"The quality of a sound by which a listener can tell that two sounds of the same loudness and pitch are dissimilar.” (ANSI, 1973) Defined by what it is not.
Some important acoustic parameters of timbre o
Brightness (spectral centroid) o o o
Attack time and type
Formant structure
Spectral fluctuation during the playing of the sound o
See: http://www.zainea.com/pitchtimbre.htm
10

Cocktail Party Effect o o o
The ability in perception to select one desired sound from a background of ambient noise. e.g., at a party, where many voices speak simultaneously, we can “focus” our ears on one conversation and “filter out” voices and sounds which are equally strong.
A microphone cannot “filter” noise from signal and, thus, placed at the party, records a babble of sounds.
Ear-brain system: moves us from acoustics to psychoacoustics.
11

12

o
Richard Leacock’s anecdote about working with Robert Flaherty on Louisiana Story .
o
“the most difficult discipline” — never stop looking, never stop listening, never stop responding to the world around you.
13

“We gestate in Sound, and are born into Sight.
Cinema gestated in Sight, and was born into Sound.”
— Walter Murch
“Film is fifty-one percent sound”
— Jean-Luc Godard
14

o
Alan Lomax (1915 – 2002) was an American folklorist and musicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the
United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the
West Indies, Italy, and Spain.
15

o o o o o
Filmmakers as observers, reject role of promoter (Griersonian style documentary)
New light-weight equipment made intimate observation possible
Intent on both listening and watching, fascination with sound and speech rhythms
Focus on people and places society was inclined to ignore or keep hidden
Films were ambiguous, leaving conclusions to the viewers
16

o o o
On the Bowery (1956)
Momma Don’t Allow (1956)
O Dreamland (1953)
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor are needed to see this picture.
17

o o
New focus on speech —talking people—had revolutionary impact
It was to these people —including people whom audiences had not counted as part of their world —that viewers reacted
18

o o
Drew Unit at Time, Inc.; Drew Associates o o o o
Robert Drew
Richard Leacock
D.A. Pennebaker
Peter Bogdanovich
Cut the cord between camera, sound recorder, and microphone o
Synchronization established through use of
“Accutron” watch
19

o o o o
Mobility
Changed role of voice-over narration o
“When the field footage began to talk and assumed human dimensions, it raised problems: the commentary was in the way.” (Barnouw, 251)
Changed style of editing o
“Real time” asserts itself over “Film time”
Subjects begin to “speak for themselves”
20

o o o
Technical o o
Subject is in frame, in focus, and well illuminated
Camera, sound, and editing as crafts that support narrative and aesthetic aspects.
Narrative o o o o o
Film time is not clock time. It is story time, time is condensed, expanded, elided.
Narrative time is configured. Time governed by plot.
Plot: drawing a “sense of whole” out of a chronology
Characters: agents who both act and suffer
Classic Three act structure: beginning, middle, and end
Aesthetic o o o
Technical craftsmanship does not detract from message.
Form and content work together
Be especially aware and reflexive of the aesthetic to which you appeal.
21

o
“The end of writing is to instruct; the end of poetry is to instruct by pleasing.”
— Samuel Johnson
The Preface to Shakespeare (1765)
22