Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Is it a bird? Is it a Plane?
No, it's Ambiguity, Man!
further liberating the sound recording process.
For the first time the messy, wild, aleatoric, ba-
nal, everyday, even “abnormal” sounds (broken
machines, leftovers and trash found in basements
and attics) were embraced, becoming part of the
material the “movie brats” worked with. This led
to a reconsideration of the constructed nature of
any soundtrack and the meticulous de- and re-
construction of the complex fictional sonic event.
Sounds were now combined in layers, in complex
sonic alloys, combining several qualities into a
single sonic “transobject”. A prominent example
is the sonic re-engineering of the “used future”
in THX 1138 and in Star Wars (Lucas, 1977)
with its laser swords, haggard, stuttering space-
ship jet engines and worn out androids (Burtt in
LoBrutto, 1994).
As a consequence of new ideologies and tech-
nologies, the limitation imposed when sound is
treated as an index of a single, recognizable source
was overcome. All levels of association of sound
and its source, be it on-screen, off-screen, or even
in a reference to a cultural framework beyond the
film itself, became possible. The reduced listen-
ing, abstract qualities in sounds, such as structural
instability, change in energy and power, organic
or synthetic notions and so on became impor-
tant, particularly within the science fiction genre
(Whittington, 2007). A common design strategy
relates to the ability to “play” with the familiarity
of a sound, using de-familiarization as a narrative
device. In addition, unidentifiable or ambiguous
sounds can create interpretive spaces and activate
the viewer. They also can frustrate expectations and
even create fear by proposing an unknown source
or phenomenon, the alien and incomprehensible.
Postmodern, anthropomorphic, ambiguous, hybrid
machines could be created: The robot R2D2 from
Star Wars “speaks” with synthetic beeps which
remind the viewer of baby talk (Burtt in LoBrutto,
1994). Despite this ambiguous, uncanny sonic
identity, the form is accepted, and even loved,
by the listeners.
The Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky in particu-
lar explored ambiguity as a catalyst for engaging
experience and depth. His use of ambiguity in films
like Solaris (1972), Stalker (1979) or Sacrifice
(1986) creates a sonic environment in which the
audience struggles to make sense of a sound heard,
creating meaning through establishing coherence
between the heterogeneous elements of the audio-
visual narrative. This diegetic playfulness leaves
the spectator struggling with her beliefs. Truppin
(1992) describes specific design strategies used
by Tarkovsky: The revelation or negation of a
(unexpected) source of a sound, the subversion
of the coherence between sonic and visual space,
or the use of sounds on parallel levels in order to
enunciate qualities of both the material and the
psychological or spiritual. On the other hand,
Truppin notes that this use of clearly identifi-
able, specific and naturalistic sounds in a surreal
setting might unhinge established conceptions of
the real or provide signs of safety in an otherwise
confusing narrative world.
sonic Perspective breaks Loose
The liberation of sound from source and the
increased flexibility in the recording and produc-
tion process led also to the deconstruction of the
perspective relationship between sound and im-
age. So far, practices to create sonic perspective
were motivated either by the need to understand
dialogue or the maintenance of a more or less
naturalistic sonic perspective (Wurtzler, 1992).
Microphone placement possibilities provided
additional restrictions. The critical authors of the
Nouvelle Vague fundamentally questioned these
conventions. In Godard's films, for instance,
sounds would appear relatively loud, negating
the division between foreground and background
and would even refuse to disappear when “more
important” information appeared. What is more,
Search WWH ::




Custom Search