rately to the images. In recording an original score,
the conductor and musicians work on a specially
equipped recording stage, which enables them to
screen the film and tailor every aspect of the music’s
tempo and quality to each scene that has music (sim-
ilar to the way that Foley sounds are created).
Further adjustments of the sounds of individual
musicians, groups of musicians, or an entire orches-
tra are frequently made after these recording ses-
sions and before the final release prints are made.
Similar efforts are made to fit selections taken
from music libraries with the images that they
accompany.
Silence
As viewers, we are familiar with all the types of film
sound that have been described in this chapter, but
we may be unfamiliar with the idea that silence can
be a sound. Paradoxically, silence has that function
when the filmmaker deliberately suppresses the
vocal, environmental, or musical sounds that we
expect in a movie. When so used, silence frustrates
our normal perceptions. It can make a scene seem
profound or even prophetic. Furthermore, with
careful interplay between sound and silence, a film-
maker can produce a new rhythm for the film—one
that calls attention to the characters’ perceptions.
The Silence before Bach(2007; sound: Albert Man-
era), a film by the legendary Spanish Surrealist
director Pere Portabella, does just that. It’s a feast
for the ears and eyes, providing an avant-garde
filmmaker’s look at how the music of Bach and the
contemporary world might interact.
Classic directors such as Ingmar Bergman (e.g.,
Wild Strawberries, 1957) and Michelangelo Anto-
nioni (e.g., The Red Desert, 1964) control their own
sound designs, imaginatively using silence to evoke
the psychological alienation of their characters.
Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams(1990; sound: Kenichi Ben-
itani) consists of eight extremely formal episodes,
each based on one of the director’s dreams. The
third episode, “The Blizzard,” tells of four mountain
climbers trapped in a fierce storm. We hear what
they hear when they are conscious, but when they
are exhausted and near death, they (and we) hear
almost nothing.
As the episode begins, we hear the climbers’
boots crunching the snow, their labored breathing,
and the raging wind. They are exhausted, but the
leader warns them that they will die if they go to
sleep. Nonetheless, they all lie down in the snow.
The previous loud sounds diminish until all we hear
is the low sound of the wind. Then, out of this, we
hear the sweet, clear, high sounds of a woman
singing offscreen. The leader awakens to see a
beautiful woman on-screen—the specter of Death—
who says, “The snow is warm.... The ice is hot.” As
she covers the leader with shimmering fabrics, he
drifts in and out of sleep, trying to fight her seduc-
tive powers—all in silence.
Ultimately, Death fails to convince the leader to
give up. When it’s clear that he has regained his
consciousness and strength, he is able to hear the
loud storm again. Death disappears, accompanied
by wind and thunder. Perhaps her beauty has givenThe sound of silenceIn Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall
His Past Lives(director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul), there
is silence everywhere in the Thai settings. In this tranquil
image, Boonmee (Thanapa Saisaymar, right) and his sister-
in-law Jen (Jenjir Pongpas, left) are sampling honey
harvested at Boonmee’s farm. With the exception of a few
words, the only sound we hear is the soft hum of the bees
and some distant ambient sound, perhaps a gentle wind or
small river. This aesthetic pervades the entire movie, especially
in the scenes where ghosts from Boonmee’s family appear.
Of course, we cannot call it a “silent film,” but it powerfully
demonstrates how to tell a story primarily with visual
images.TYPES OF FILM SOUND 409