Role of Sound Effects in Movies - Essay Example

1250-1500 WORDSINSTRUCTIONS: Sound its lack and its presence is a critical element in both the 1927 film The General and the 1952 film Singin’ in the Rain. Compare and contrast the impacts that sound have in both films and how this contributes to their respective diegesis. Sound Effects in Movies – The Contemporary Scene Sound effects play a very important role in movies. They contribute to the thrill and audience attraction. Sound in movies is studied and applied with a totally different perspective in comparison to sound used in a standalone manner for example in music concerts, opera, stage performances in vocal and instrumental categories. When sound is punched with its visual counter-part, it becomes ‘sound effect’ and not just merely sound. In the technical jargon of film makers and sound experts it is known as sound track which is recorded separately in a single or multiple sessions. Sound effects are a deciding factor in determining the audience response and viewership especially when it comes to horror, action and futuristic movies. Sound effects can be further categorised as: dubbing, special effects, background scores, playback, music track etc. Each category is applied in present day films and consequentially sound effect has tremendous significance in the success of a movie. Absence of Sound The absence of sound in the 1927 film The General, a classic of the silent era, makes much room for convincing acting and gesticulation to make situations, conversations and the overall plot clear. Screenplay gets more space and opportunity to experiment and compensate for the lack of a sound track. The presence of a slow and detailed video shoot frame-by-frame can be seen in the film ‘The General’, deliberately reeled in a slow pace for the audience to understand the incidents in the movie and follow the overall plot. Closer shots are taken in order to lip read the dialogue. Anticipation of expressions and dialogue After watching silent movies and especially the movie that we’ve chosen to analyse and discuss: ‘The General’ we can say that a lot is left to the audience’s anticipation. The reactions of various characters in the movie can have multiple verbal interpretations or dialogue association where the visuals of lip movement or even the gesticulation is obscure. It is similar to reading a book where greater attention is required due to the complete absence of one sensation: that of sound. Enhanced movements, stunts and visual effects A movie is all about entertainment. If we consider the silent era series: Charlie Chaplin or Laurel and Hardy we can easily connect to the obvious fact that silent movies necessitate heightened visual drama, distinct actions and riveting visual effects to keep the audience invested in watching the movie till the end. All these movies and TV series have one thing in common: a convincing visual appeal. In the movie, ‘The General’, Buster Keaton performed several daring stunts that later fetched him critical acclaim, appreciation from audience and applause from all quarters: film critics, co-stars, audience and the entire fraternity. Keaton performed several life-threatening stunts on and around the moving train. Stunts included jumping from the engine to a tender and leaping onto a boxcar. Keaton sat on a cow-catcher of the slow moving train while holding on a railroad tie and running precariously over the roof the train. (Art Films Animation 2011) All these stunts clearly were attempts to magnify the visual effect to compensate for the lack of a sound track. Whether it was a conscious or unconscious effort to have such a pronounced visual effect, it is clear that emotions and actions were paid attention to in much greater degree and greater detail in the silent film era. The most breathtaking stunt occurred when Buster sat on one of the coupling rods connecting the divers of the locomotive. The train starts gently and gradually picks up speed as it enters a shed. The film climaxes when a bridge collapses as the train crosses, an act of sabotage by Johnnie. We can see multiple evidences of increased emphasis on daring, emotionally appealing, visually pleasing and overall stimulating visual elements. This was a constant motivation factor in silent movies and the movie ‘The General’ was no different, initially faring poorly in the box office, but later being heralded as the greatest silent movie of all time by critics and connoisseurs alike. Presence of Sound Sound tracks became a popular rage when the technology necessary to record and mix it with video was invented. It added more realism and made movies more entertaining than earlier. However, here the audience was being fed with sequences and events just as they happen in real life sound, visuals and their combined realistic effect. The movie ‘Singing in the rain’ was the maiden effort of a silent movie production company to experiment with sound and make a movie that would forever change the art of making and viewing films. As stated in the introductory paragraph the areas of sound included: play back, background score, instrumental music, dialogue and special effects. For the first time the effect of music over film was experimented leading to tumultuous success and proclamation of the movie as one of the finest classics in the era of contemporary film making. ‘Singing in the Rain’, an American musical comedy takes the art of story telling a step forward at a time when entertainment was limited and silent movies prevailed over theatres, the only other alternative being opera, music concerts, dance drama or theatre. The movie included several dance and song sequences. It was later described as one of the best musical ever made. (IMDb 2012) Conclusion From the detailed analysis and discussion of the two films of two different eras we can conclude that the absence of sound demands a greater contribution from the visual effect. Much more and out-of-the-ordinary screen acts needs to be done to compensate for the lack of sound in order to keep the audience interested in the movie. Absence of sound tracks accounts for chasm in the sensory experience in movies, leaving expressions, emotions, reactions and perceptions for the audience to interpret on their own. Absence of sound needs a slow paced plot and a event by event depiction of the movie for the audience to follow the trail of events. On the other hand presence of sound adds to the pace, colour and experience of film watching. It makes expressions, emotions and gestures more lifelike filled in with familiar human emotions and fills up the chasm in our space of imagination through background scores, special effects and dialogues. Presence of sound in movies and typically our movie of choice: ‘Singin’ in the rain’ applies the effect of situational music along with visual effect of dance and gesticulation to revolutionise ‘diegesis’. Finer shades of human emotion are possible through the introduction of sound tracks in movies resulting in a wide variety of plots and scenes that can be filmed for the purpose of entertainment. Works Cited 1. Art Films Animation. “The General”. 5 Jun. 2011. Web 17 Nov. 2012. Retrieved From: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT8xVLguur0 2. IMDb. “Singin’ in the Rain”.2012. Web. 17 Nov. 2012 Retrieved From: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045152/ Read More