Having chosen the design pathway of the course because of my interests in media such as films and video games, I was eager to begin to learn about how sound design for film relates to sound arts practice in a historical and contemporary sense.
The first thing that interested me about this session was the history of sound for picture. Having been interested in film for a long time but never taking any classes in film studies, this was my first formal introduction to the history of film in a classroom. I found the exercise of assessing wether sounds were recorded on set or added in post-production interesting as I would usually consider post-production editing to be a relatively modern development; seeing that Experimental early sound film 1905 ‘Five O’Clock Tea’ was produced by combining pre-recorded audio with a lip synced performance was surprising to me and demonstrated that the techniques that are more convenient today (like recording live on set) have taken over a decade to develop.
One discussion in class that surfaced repeatedly over the unit, but particularly in this session, was how sound design is commonly viewed as subservient to another medium (e.g. film) rather than being viewed as its own art form. Whilst others in the class saw this view to be harmful and counterproductive to the practice of sound art, I am a firm believer that sound, being used as an accessory to other artistic mediums demonstrates its value more than it denounces it. Whether it be gallery viewings with background music, film, Television, or video games, the fact that sound can be used to greatly enhance and shape these mediums demonstrates its flexibility and universal appeal. Although sound- especially in film- often goes unnoticed by the viewer, it nearly always completely dictates the emotional impact of a scene. I believe that sound’s ability to do this, whilst acting as a supplement to another piece, makes it truly unique and in no way reduces its credibility as an art form. When listened to on its own, sound is a rather ‘2D’ medium- in the sense that without the presence of picture, it is (for the most part) unable to act empathetically or diegetically (to communicate existing emotion) or Anempathetically / non-diegetically (to drastically shift the emotion felt in the medium). To put it simply, when acting as a supplement to film, sound is given more opportunity to be ‘3D’ and introduces more variation.
Following this session, I was motivated to continue to develop my technical sound design skills learnt in Jake and Jose’s sessions, such as synthesis. After some more experimentation with this, I will be eager to collaborate with other students in the film school.