FILM SOUND THEORY  
 

"Not a single sound in cinema can be adequately  described with musical terminology"  Rich Altman criticizes musical terminology  

Every sound has it own distinctive wave form. Nine components must be considered to successfully reproduce or create new sounds. 

Musical components: 

• Pitch 
• Timbre
• Harmonics (overtones)
• Loudness
• Rhythm

• Attack
• Sustain
• Decay

• Speed

Acousmatic sound  
- sound one hears without seeing their originating cause   

Acousmêtre  
- a kind of invisible voice-character with mysterious powers  

Added Value  
- the expressive and/or informative value with which a sound enriches a image   

Audiovisual Contract 
- An agreement to forget that sound is coming from loudspeakers and picture from screen  

Anempathetic Sound  
- music or sound effects that seems to exhibit conspicuous indifference to what is going on in the film's plot  

Empathetic Sound  
- music or sound effects whose mood matches the mood of the action  

Extension (of Sound Space)

External logic 
- the logic by which the flow of sound includes effects of discontinuity as nondiegetic interventions  

Internal logic
- the logic by which the sound flow is apparently born out of the narrative situation itself  

"Chronography"
- cinema became chronography when projector speed was stabilized. 

Magnetization (spatial) 
- "mental pan" of the sound source  

Materializing Sound Indices (M. S. I.) 
- sonic details that "materialize" the sound source  

Rendering  
- The use of sounds to convey the feelings or effects associated with the situation on screen  

Synchresis  
- the mental fusion between a sound and a visual when these occur at exactly the same time   

Temporalization 
- influence of sound on the perception of time in the image 

To the top

• Sound Design of Star Wars

• SOUND OF ILLUSIONS Sound of Moving Images 

• Robert Bresson's Notes on Sound

• Lang's M - editing sound as visuals

•  Blue Velvet - a mixed genre film with horror film sound 

• Moving Pictures That Talk  

- The early history of film sound   Sound recording and the ability to photograph and reproduce motion pictures began intersecting at the very beginning...... In 1891 a Dr. Georges Demeny makes claim to synchronous sound....Even earlier, in 1891, Edison was making inflated claims of achieving synchronous projected sound films....(by Mark Ulano, C.A.S) 

• Post FAQ's
  - Frequently Asked Questions about Audio in Film & TV Post-Production

• Film Sound Bibliography

- contains links to more than 30 on-line articles 
 

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I look forward to expanding and improving this page with your help! Thanks for visiting the Film Sound Theory Page. Sven E Carlsson