“In every sound, the hidden silence sleeps.”
― Dejan Stojanovic, The Creator
In today’s modern movie making sound is almost a necessity. I don’t know how I would react if I were to enter a theater and upon the beginning of the film experience utter silence or have to watch the film while trying to drown out the noise of my fellow theater goers. I would probably get up and leave. Sound of some types is expected.
Sound for film is generally broken down into three categories; dialogue, sound effects, and music. Dialog is, of course, the spoken words of the actors. Words help enhance what appears on the screen. Additionally, “Effective movie dialogue expands or elaborates upon what is visible on the screen and does not simply repeat in words what is already obvious in the action.” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014) When watching the clip, “He Who Saves One Life Saves the World Entire” (Movieclips 2014), the words are as important as the cinematography.
Sound effects are engrained into movies also. I can remember how I felt even to this day when I found out that the “sound” of a punch was a sound effect and later added in post-production. I was crushed. Sound effect can range to a bubbling brook to the explosion of a planet. “Every film uses sound in some way to draw the audience into the movie and keep it there.” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014)
Music has a way of carrying the film along as can establish or associate a scene with a feeling. Since silent films different types of music could help a movie watcher laugh, cry, feel afraid, or even patriotic as with the score from “Top Gun”.
Schindler’s List was a dramatic documentary type film which used the sounds of people being rounded up, shooting, weeping, and strong dialog to convey its message of the Holocaust atrocities. The music had a European tone with violins which added to the sadness of the movie. The films documentary feel allowed for lack of dialogue and use of sound effects in its place to tell the story. The sound effects used in the film were realistic but subtle and did not overpower the viewer. I could believe what was happening on the screen. Although Schindler’s List contained great dialogue and sound effects and the subject matter was not “foreign” to the world, Spielberg could have eliminated some of the dialogue and still have an effective film.
References
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. .
Movieclips. (2014). He Who Saves One Life Saves the World Entire [Video file]. Retrieved from http://movieclips.com/mX2f-schindlers-list-movie-he-who-saves-one-life-saves-the-world-entire/
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