A 10 min Lesson on Sound in Cinema (Pedagogy exercise)

1. Go to the padlet https://padlet.com/maudce/sound_film and write 1 word or a short sentence on what you think sound does in a film

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2. Let's consider a main difference between cinema and post-cinema according to film theorist of sound Michel Chion

Fictional Cinema Post-Cinema

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Ex: music videos, news on TV, YouTube channels

Sound as ‘added image’: Images as added value

‘added-value’ to the image to sound

may seem secondary, Sound organises

unnecessary, or images,

duplicating meaning,

But sound actually Images do not make

brings meaning to the image sense without sound

(Michel Chion, Audio-vision, 1994) (Steven Shaviro, Post-Cinematic affect, 2001)

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3. Different ways of characterising sound:

Different characteristics of sound will have a different effect on screen

How was it recorded?

Direct (recorded when filming),

Postsynchronised sound (added in studio)

Where does it come from?

On screen,

Off screen,

Voice over

Do characters hear it?

Diegetic (ex. dialogues)

Non-diegetic sound (ex: music)

Check this page

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4. Exercise: Watch this short clip of Hiroshima, mon amour (Alain Resnais, 1959), from 1:14 - 1:59

First, with sound

Second, without sound

5. What did you lose? What did you gain? Go to the padlet https://padlet.com/maudce/sound_film and answer with short sentences