Short Answer Questions

Question

1. As is often noted, silent films were never silent. Describe what a typical audience experience at an early film exhibition (for example, at a nickelodeon theater) was like in relation to sound.
Early film exhibition spaces were usually loud and noisy. Loudspeakers and barkers would solicit patrons into the theater, where audiences would frequently talk or even yell during films and participate in “sing-alongs” during intermissions. To enhance films with sound effects and narration, movie theaters would often hire lecturers, stage actors, pianists or organists, small ensembles, and, later, full orchestras to perform in tandem with the film in the pit or on a stage below the movie screen.

Question

2. The advent of synchronized sound initially created a number of technological and business difficulties. Identify and describe some of these difficulties.
Early sound recording equipment was bulky and cumbersome, demanding changes in film production techniques, and film exhibitors were forced to pay the costs to wire their theaters for sound, which was expensive and, at first, of poor quality. Synchronized sound also created a major obstacle for international film distribution. While silent films easily crossed linguistic borders just by adding translated titles, movies with recorded sound required much more effort to reach international audiences. An initial strategy to solve this was to film a movie in multiple languages—which was very expensive and time consuming—but, as film technology evolved, that strategy was replaced by the much more cost-effective methods of dubbing and subtitling.

Question

3. What is the relationship between sound and image in a typical Hollywood film? How have certain art directors or experimental filmmakers sought to challenge those conventions?
Classical Hollywood filmmaking follows the notion of sound continuity, which strives for the unification of meaning and experience by subordinating sound to the aims of the narrative. To achieve continuity, sound effects are used primarily to add to the “realism” of the images and help create the illusion of depth or presence of the representations depicted. When an object or person is shown onscreen the sound will appropriately match what is being shown (e.g., a fired gun will make a gunshot sound). By using techniques such as sound montage, however, certain experimental film directors have sought to highlight the concrete nature of sounds and their potential independence of images and of each other and illustrate how sound can be used as a counterpoint to create meanings separate from the images being shown. For instance, in Natural Born Killers (1994), perky theme music and a live television laugh track add eerie irony to a depiction of Mallory’s life at home with her abusive father, commenting on the media’s use of sound to manipulate emotion.

Question

4. What role does human speech play in film? Why is it important?
Human speech, primarily dialogue, is central to understanding a narrative. The particular acoustic qualities of an actor’s voice provide us with a range of character information from cultural background to personality traits to emotional states. Perhaps most importantly, though, dialogue conveys plot information and establishes character motivation and goals.

Question

5. What are some of the primary functions of music in a narrative film?
Music is a crucial element of the film experience that deepens emotional responses and helps to create narrative rhythm. Film music encourages viewers to experience the movie as immediate and enveloping. Often music reinforces story information through recognizable conventions or can serve as a motif for a recurring character (such as the distinctive music that occurs whenever Darth Vader appears onscreen in Star Wars). Most notably, music is subordinate to that part of the narrative that competes in the realm of sound—the dialogue. A music cue will usually be most audible during sequences in which there is no dialogue, often helping to smooth a spatial or temporal transition.