Topic for Spring 2014: Film Sound / Film Silence -- Listening to the Movies
This course will cover terms and methods for analyzing and interpreting the relationship between sound and image in the cinema. We will examine the interplay between the three relatively autonomous components of the soundtrack – dialogue, music, and effects. In addition, the course will consider the role of sound in the exhibition of “silent films” as well as various ways that the cinematic image has been utilized to emulate music and the function of silence in movies. We will explore the historical development of cinema sound technology with attention to how technological advances have altered the structural relationships between film’s visual and audio elements. The overall goal is to shift the emphasis from being film “spectators” to being an “audience,” by focusing on cinema as an aural experience.