Sound is important!

Projections of Sound on Image

I knew that sound was important, but this article explained more in depth than any other that I have  read. It taught about the senses and how they work, most specifically that ears work faster than the eye. Wow, I guess I never really thought about it because the added value is so involuntary. The visuals in cinema takes all the credit for what the sound helps direct the eyes to… according to the definite impression. I had never heard the words “vococentric” or “verbocentric,” so now I know that we are used to focusing on the verbal sounds of communication in our everyday lives. Sometimes we neglect to recognize the sounds of our natural surroundings because we are caught up in our own thoughts or small talk. I always knew that dialogue could sound cheesy in movies sometimes—I  think that in student films it would be much more helpful to focus less on dialogue and more on sound design. Not only because it takes a lot of practice to write natural sounding dialogue, but because sound has a huge impact on the way we process and remember what we see on the screen.

Acoustic Ecology

It’s so nice to read an article that isn’t written in film theory or critique! It is so important to be knowledgeable of all different subjects when filmmaking. I appreciated the scientific nature of this article. Reading about re-training our ears reminded me of my experience as a camp counselor this past summer. We all participated in exercises that helped the kids learn to listen to their surroundings in nature. When I closed my eyes and listened with them, I was somewhat surprised by the sounds I noticed. Even though we were out in the wilderness and next to a river, I was incredibly distracted by the sound of an airplane flying above us. Even though it was far away, it was really difficult to tune out. The way humans listen has definitely changed over the years/centuries. The kids noticed a lot of different sounds though, like leaves rustling, the dogs barking, the donkey neighing (it was on a farm). It’s great that we have programs like this that help people become reacquainted with things like this.

This article reminded me of another memory I have as well: One day I was walking downtown when I heard a bird… this particular bird was making the EXACT same sound as a siren or car alarm. I was amazed that it did such a specific pattern of annoying whirling noises, speeding up and slowing down. It definitely made me laugh. This probably affected his success with his mating call... as mentioned in the article.