Chapter 10 Aery in the dark The role of post-classical film sound Gianluca Sergi The word 'sound' has always had several positive meanings. Indeed, expressions such as sound thinking, a sound person, and sound judgements belong to our everyday vocabulary. However, all this stops when we reach the realm of Film Studies. Here, sound seems like an obstacle in the way of the essence of cinema: the image. This bias against sound, generated mainly by early film scholars, was partly supported by the limitations that characterized Hollywood film production and reception prior to the mid-1970s, as we shall see. However, since then, a series of technological developments and changes in production and reception have ensued, and these have modified the ways in which film sound has been constructed, and the relationship between sound and image, audience and film. It is this period, which we may define as the lDoVby_era', upon which I wish to focus here. In exploring its characteristics 1 shall follow two distinct 'tracks', an aes-thetic one and an economic .one, Jt is in the interaction between them that one can perhaps begin to identify the parameters of what might be called jx>st-classicaľ_ film_sound. The soundtrack: a misleading notion? Before launching into any discussion of the role — or roles — of film sound, we need to confront a major problem: the lack of a proper vocabulary with which to articulate the complexity of the subject. Although this is true of other areas of film (production design and art direction come to mind), this particular lack is an acute one. There are several reasons for it. Film sound shares the same physical medium as music, that is, sound waves, and this has often helped to reinforce the use of musical terms in discussions of sound. This is particularly evident in the í< insistent use of terms like £Jtc^Jone_arid_^^ terms are relevant but_ insufficient. They are simply not flexible enough to articulate the complexities of... contemporary soundtracks (for example, musical vocabularies are concerned with sound per se, while film sound works in symbiosis with the image). This The role of post-classical film sound 157 problem is intensified by the disparity in critical attention given to popular music as compared to the cinema. Whereas in the UK at least there are a number of TV shows which set out to discuss or to analyse films (such as Film 98 and Moviewatch), equivalent programmes on pop music simply present the product or performer without ever discussing their qualities or the ways in which they work (consider, for example, Top of the Pops and The Chan Show). In short, we have an inadequate vocabulary which is in any case rarely used in popular critical contexts. Perhaps we should attempt to side-step some of these problems by turning our attention to the soundtrack itself. Rather than being conceived as a complex combination of different elements, the term 'soundtrack' has come principally to signify the music track of a film, dialogue being confined to another — 'superior' — realm, that of the screenwriter. This is a rather convenient way of arranging perception and appreciation. First, by singling out specific portions of a soundtrack, critics can praise the contributions of , individual practitioners rather than focus on the much more complicated issue of what actually becomes of these contributions once they are recorded, mixed and reproduced not as independent elements, but as elements in a complex structure. Second, this type of approach betrays a certain attitude towards the more apparently 'ordinary' elements of the soundtrack, its everyday sounds: noise and silence. Critics seem to find it easier — and worthier — to focus on the art of the spoken word or the composed note than on the unsettling noise or the 'empty' silence. Yet it is precisely the relationships between all four elements — effects, music, dialogue and silence — that require investigation, and that mark the nature of the soundtrack itself. A soundtrack is like a cake. Each ingredient has its own distinctive flavour and makes its own individual contribution. However, once blended together they cannot and should not be separated one from another. Their contribution to the final product can only be considered by referring to the other ingredients and to the cake itself as a whole. Pre-Dolby sound Although production during the classical period did not present sound personnel with insurmountable technical and creative barriers, reproduction did, and damag-ingly so. The poor condition£j3f_smmjixe£ri3^ of cinemas wajsj^JwY_fort2£j2.^te simply, most film theatres were incapable of coping with complex soundtracks, and often produced disjxacj;irig_echqes and_ unwanted reverberations. Loudspeakers were capable of reproducing only a very limited frequency range (they were designed principally to reproduce audible j speech), and powerfuLsounds were in general not a feasible option because of the^ risks (or certainties) of sound distortion. Moreover, the (mal)practice of exhibitors in 'pumping up the volume' in order that action films had maximum impact f» ^ 158 Aesthetics and technology jj on spectators often had the effect of wiping out the more subtle dimensions of i^Jm- -. {[sound design. Given these limitations, filmmakers could only feasibly employ a. J/"'"'" "" limited number of tracks if they were to. avoid a cacophany of sounds, and tended ,/>■(?„-, i t;<.., to give aural priority to music and the human voice. This is not to underestimate the aesthetic efforts or the technological advances of the 1950s and 1960s. The differences between then and now .lie largely in the / combination of standards of production and reproduction. Where with a film like _ /CI, k^j ^ ' S2anac^(\2^^i^_^^QOjoy^r^^^^onyiM possible, with only a handful fj^'jöu of (extremely expensive) 70mm roadshow prints in a handful of first-run cinemas, the soundtrack oh Star Wars_^\ 977). couM.b.ej:epiQduced..^high standards ]n theatres thanks to jhe cheaper .and more flexible Dolby .system.. Thus where the costs of quality sound reproduction in the 1950s and 1960s and the concomitant lack of good sound facilities in most theatres tended to inhibit the development of a more positive approach to film sound, the availability-of Dolby has inspired confidence, and a concomitant willingness toje^cpeiřtnern^^. In the pre-Dolby era of the 1950s, and 19.6.0s, movie soundtracks were produced in-house by the studios, limiting external influences and generating a reli-^"^.oj^s^ďarď.practices,.established techniques and old sound libraries. In order to gauge the magnitude of the problem, it is worth bearing in mind that this was a period of profound changes and developments in aural terms. The 1960s witnessed the sweeping away of established listening patterns and the introduction ^ čjjncreasingly sophisticated experiments in sound recording and sound reproduc-tioninthe music industry as well as a much more 'aggressive' type. of.sound, Rocjk concerts'in particular, with-their blend of powerfully amplified music and^ enhanced 'sensual' experience (literally, sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll) introduced a ^^.^^S^^E^--^i^^^"a^9í^a^e^"^Äy-§í-e:i::^ capable of reproducing. _ good quality sound. Consumers, spectators and participants could now enjoy Wtejr_quaIítyloúnd..at concerts and in their homes than in the vast majority of cinemas. Filmland film theatres..desperately lagged behind and seemed unable to respond Jtö_s_uch.changes.. , The unexplored potential of the medium was embodied in the fact that sound, J5H j/i"—. ^a^ree-^mensionalpnenomenon> the only three-dimensional phenomenon in the ■■/■ t- it- - 1$ movies, was being deployed in a one-dimensional manner, and not merely in the -'—^^v,__r sense that sound..reproduction was.generally mc^ophonic. To put it simply, the agenda informing the use of sound was that it should fulfil one principal requirement: to match jhejmage_ without ajÜracling-4inwanted-attentLp^^yfin_when we ^"^fC"~$ "'' l°°k a£ one of the most obvious areas for potential aural innovation, the musical, "---■V ,.^-rt / w^.fin^ further evidence of a conservative use of sound. Hugely successful films *" ~ ' ^{^ like Gigi (1958) and My Fair Lady (1964).neyer_really threatened the established The role of post-classical film sound 159 power of the characters to open their mouths and summon up rivers of nie^ody^ Contrast this with later films jike American Graffiti (.19.73)..and Saturday. NightJFever^ (1977), where music and its sources (a pirate jradio station in Graffiti, a discotheque in Fever) must be actively sought for, and where the sounds of car engines and of New York slang are given~šu(^7tataslhat they are able to interrupt me ' so uncToTthe" music. However, as these examples demonstrate, the early 1970s saw some filmmakers trying to use sound in new and interesting ways despite the continuing limitations oT'te~chnolc^andTtüdio pjactice.__KÍmsJike The CqnvenatjmX^.^^.iMwiß.^2^hn^m and^xTOŕirer (1976) all evmcedjaj^olling^ by~choosing toforeground sound (as well as music) rather than using^ it _solely as a backaro^to^díe" image^ Moreover, this time a willingness to experiment (e^ecially on the partof the 'movie brats'1) intersected with the availability of a new and important technology. Listen, here comes Dolby The development of sound technology from the mid-1970s on has been extensively charted in the last few years, thanks to an increasing interest in the subject. (See the section on sound in Michael Allen's Chapter 7 in this volume.) Thus it will be sufficient here to highlight the three major changes central to an understanding of what follows. First, the mid-1970s saw the introduction of the Dolby?. ^^J ^^ Stereo Sound System. This was the first economically viable stereophonic system. Employing multi-channel technology, Dolby was able to reproduce a new range of sounds (thanks to its wider frequency range) and, most importantly, it provided ^ m^^ improved conditions of reproduction in most theatres. Second, at the beginning of the 1980s, George Lucas and his collaborators developed the THX Sound System.^^ -7 ^X ..., Arguably the most ambitious .'sound project in film history, the THX system enables conditions of reproduction in cinemas equal to those of professional mixing stages. In principle at least, it therefore enables the standardization .of ...^^^ sound reproduction as intended by those at the point of production. Last, but by^c^1^-no means least, the late 1980s have seen the introduction of digital sound in three different systems: DTS, Dolby Digital SR-D and SDDS. This is the present and ^TUC' ľíiU future of film sound, extending frequency range to maximum capacity and providing discrete multi-channel recording and reproduction.3 It allows soundtracks to reproduce extremely powerful and detailed sound at virtually zero distortion, and has generated a number of dramatic innovations. The result of these changes is that the situation now with regard to sound production and reproduction is almost the reverse of the situation prior to the advent of Dolby. I should like now to explore some of these changes in more detail. 160 Aesthetics and technology Multi-layered sound ^jLtA~..;f-,,-,! The first major development was the introduction of multi-channel recording technology. The use of an analogy may help us to understand the relevance of this change. Let us imagine that a film theatre has only one access door and that it is designed to admit twenty people at any one time. Should more than twenty people be admitted, the result would be chaos. This is akin to the situation prior to the mid-1970s, with the dominance of monophonic sound and A hence one channel or 'door'. The introduction of stereophonic technology meant the opening of new doors to the same auditorium, and helped remove the old limitations as to the number of tracks those who made films could employ. The result was the use of dozens of different tracks, which meant that filmmakers had to deal with an increasingly complex, and increasingly multi-layered, 'architecture of sound', an architecture requiring careful planning, coordination and ^y^ij^iisrr.............."..............."".................... ť- ■ !*Ví/.:/" tr-Z Multi-directional sound ^■u?<-W„$ i—í- One of the consequences of this development was that_multi-channel sound was ^Z-'j -„-..c *"■' projected into the auditorium from a number of different directions. Pre-{ l~\-Ajj towards us frontally, on the screen, it takes a bigger leap of the imagination to fi^J^f accept that it is flying over our heads and into the auditorium from a point in the Vw>K.,v cinema IobbyV^ Larger sound budgets and increasing numbers of sound personnel The more complex soundtracks became, the higher the budgets devoted to sound could be. Aside from the cost implications, this meant that more people could be employed to work on the construction of a soundtrack. Gone is the solitary credit attributing sound to one individual department head. In has come the listing on The role of post-classical film sound 161 credits of more and more people (over fifty in the case of The Fugitive (1993) and Speed (1994)), and more and more specialist functionsj_sounídeBg^eTviupěj^ jvising sound editor, sound editor fojey_artisk^ mixer,.and so on. Moreover, sound personnel are now often involved not just in production and post-production, but in pre-production and initial planning and design as well. Crucially, the waves of sound personnel who worked in Hollywood from the 1970s on came from a variety of sonic backgrounds. -They brought an awareness of sound and the possibilities of sound, bridging established patterns and contemporary innovations in both technological and cultural terms, and thus helped to spur and to enable the technological and aesthetic innovations of the j3Pjs.tr.Dolby era. The creation of new sounds The combination of new technologies, larger budgets and new personnel had an important effect: the_creation of 'new' sounds. In an era when soundtracks were mostly created in sound studios, this was an important and significant step. Indeed, it signalled a definitive break with the sound of the past.New sounds meant new styles^and in retrospect we can pinpoint two major styles orjchools: ~theprěase_ anddetailed- Bay Area sound, influenced, .by the electronic and esoteric/ stylizations of the 1960s, and the more gutsy New York Metropolitan sound, i Influenced, among other things, _by jap and other forms of black music. Instances./ cjjhe fpxiner can. be found in Spielberg'^films, from the sound of Indiana Jones' \ cracking whip in Raiders of the Lost Ark (\9&\) to the creakm^^^cJ^Lndler^lacket í in 5c7)inď/er's^js^JL2í^.)_._Eb^^ fihiis^_fromJ^e_La_Motta,s punches m^Raging Bull (1980) to the editing_of the._{ fast-talking dialogue and menacing sounds in Goodfellas (1990).7 Improved sound reproduction in cinemas Following closely on developments such as these, the quality of sound reproduction in auditoria began to improve. Sound engineers designed new auditoria arid helped adapt existing ones. Sound-absorbent material was used to minimize unwanted echojmdj-_everberatiori; sound insulation wasjmjproved to mufflejthe noise produced by projectors and air conditioning equipment, and to prevent the sounds^ from adjacent auditoria interfering with Qne .another. In this contextt it is_significant that_ Lucasfilm's THX.Division developed .not just .a sound reproduction system, but a set of criteria for sound reproduction as a whole. These developments signalled a definitive shift away from the.old.s.Qund_hierarchies-m---' wrdchj^eech_ and_^usjc_ wer^ were built with all four elements of the soundtrack in mind. 162 Aesthetics and technology New sounds, new pleasures: physical sound and heightened realism During the course of the 1970s, Hollywood's use and conception of sound underwent a fundamental change. The possibilities of multi-channel technology, a wider frequency range and improved conditions of reproduction encouraged filmmakers to feel more confident about sound, and led them to rely more and more on the soundtrack. As a result, contemporary filmmakers have shown an increasing awareness of the^physical^thre^dim^ atrdrenresja^'encouraged not just to listen to sounds but to 'feel' them — film- .. goers experience sound more sensually than .ever.-hefare.-Xhe- extensive-use of-deep. bass sounds, aJegacyoftbj^iov^^ .."'wjtiTnm^Js a mark of this new phy^c^st^l^However, it is not just a matter of, matching 'big' sounds with 'big' images; it is rather a matter of achieving a startling, communicative effect. Thus in the opening sequence of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Linda Hamilton's voice-over guides us through die devastat-lňg™e1Ťěcts ofthe machines' rej/qltjigajnst.die humans. The camera picks out a human skull. As it lingers for a moment, all sounds fade. Then as the_yoice-.ove.r-. ends, a mechanical^ foot appears and crushes the skuU.JThe .deep_bass„ sound., employed at this moment (a sound hardly close to the 'real' sound, an .action like this would produce) is used both to startle„the_ audience and to convey the mightiness of the struggle awaiting the humans in their fight against üTemacMnes."7' In such cases, to use an expression dear to sound designers, the soundjbreaks^ through the screen' and takes centre stage. < Another flěvélqp^ěnt^ and a further departure from classical sound, is the use of what might perhaps best be defined as 'heightened realism'. By highlighting particular sounds and softening others, filmmakers can enhance sound detail in such a way as to enable audiences to hear the unbearable. An example can be found in the opening sequence of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). Three villains try to outwit Dr Jones by tricking him into drinking a'glass of . poisoneďejianipagófcjhey reveal the nature of what it is he has drunk by .showing him a bottle,containing the antidote. In the struggle that ensues, the bottle is flung. across the dance floor amid scenes of chaos and confusion. Yet the sound of a bottle rolling on the floor is given prominence overjll the other sojLmds_we can hear. Thus contemporary film sound, unlike the sound in classical Hollywood cinema, is significant not just in terms of its literal meaning, but also in terms of its W£Íght!Jtspo\yer, its detail and its direction. Moreover, the complexities _of the. contemporary soundtrack alter the relationship between. s.oundland_image. No longer content to function merely as an aural backdrop, the soundtrack takes its ,j>iace as a site of interest and experiment in its own right. .-' The role of post-classical film sound 163 The economic dimension The need to reconsider the role and the relevance of film sound in contemporary Hollywood is as much a function of economics as it is of aesthetics. This is not just a matter of production costs. Other economic factors are at stake as well. Since the 1920s in particular,..sound, and in particular musical sound, has been of great importance in the marketing of films, and as an ancillary commodity or off-shoot of jhe industry and its product. In the form of sheet music, of stars like Eddie Cantor and At Jolson, and in the form of radio programmes and variety shows, the cinema, music and broadcasting industries have often been interlinked through the medium of sound, and sound itself used as a vehicle for attracting audiences to films. However, sound has never been such an important marketing force as it is today. Since the introduction of Dolby, the industry has enjoyed a slow but steady revival in terms of attendances, revenues and profits. Indeed, it is worth noting that the twenty bjggert._nioixey.spimier.s.in-HolLywx)od's.history have .... been produced in the era of Dolby sound^JEmphasis has often been placed on the visual aspects and attractions of diese. fihns...But_ it is at.least worth jiqtingjJie. _. contribution that sound has made as well, as it js_ajjtal element in the visceral^ aesthetic of the contemporary blockbuster. One of the major factors here is the extent to which audiences were now able to enjoy sound of a quality that matched, and often surpassed, that of the sound they could enjoy at home. Producers were quick to exploit the qualities of surround sound, for instance, not just in the films, but also in trailers and' advertise-ments/Film exhibitors rose to the occasion and started to advertise the^r theatres as being equipped with 'true stereo sound', and today all major chains make a -pomt of advertising those theatres equipped with THX or the latest digital system. In the last few years, the ever-expanding home video industry has elected .and, advertised surround sound as one of its principal commercial attractions. Meanwhile the advent of a wealth of consumer magazines run by a generation of sound-sensitive media journalists has been decisive in spreading knowledge about — and an, appetite for — high quality sound both at home and in the cinema. All these developments have accompanied and been accompanied by conglomeration;,, particularly in the multimedia field. Large media conglomerates have invested heavily in the sites of interaction between the film and music industries --it is no accident that as I write, the three biggest selling singles in the UK in the 1990s (after 'Candle in the Wind 97') were all showcased by films, and can all be found on their soundtracks.9 Almost inevitably, interest — financial as well as intellectual — in the new sound technologies has spilled oyer jnto^the computer^ industry.,...with Dolby developing .Dolby. Net, a surround sound-systemrforthe . Internet,. .. In addition, one of the bloodiest corporate battles of the last few years has been 164 Aesthetics and technology waged over digital sound. All the major companies are involved in this battle, each. having developed and marketed their own particular system. MCA—Matsushita (now MCA—Seagram) has_._dexelorj.ed-.DXS^--CBS—Sony has responded with SDDS," and Dolby has collaborated with Time Warner to produce Dolby Digital.. SR-D.!2 What has been impressive has been the pace of acquisition of what is still a relatively new technology. When Time Warner joined forces with Dolby to launch the Dolby Stereo Digital system in 1992, there were only a handful of theatres equipped to show Batman Returns (1992) in digital sound. Two years later, over 2,000 systems had been installed. Even more importantly, the availability of hardware has been increasingly matched by the availability of software. Most of the majors have now pledged to produce all their new features in one or more of the digital formats, _and digital is now also available in the lucrative home video and TV markets..__ Agendas for further research Vast areas still remain to be .researched. The relationship between sound and censorship is one. At present, there would appear To' exist" aň'unwritten rule that 'what you can't see can't hurt you', a rule which allows spectators to hear — but not necessarily see — crushing bones, searing jlesh. and record-breaking, sexual, activity^ A ft^dierjssue jsjhe.issue.Q.f pleasure. A„ great deal of attention has been _ j^d^p.^ual p]easu_:n^ that. „we. tejKJ_to.dunk of_production values in visual terms, not_in .aural ones,, despite the fact that the sound.i?fa_scxe^hing car. tyre in an, elaborate.chase sequence can.be.. •just as'imrjortant as the close-up ofthe tyre_itself. Another issue worth exploring is the issue of genre. Genres have frequently been defined in visual terms — in_ terms, for instance, of iconography — but rarely^ in^terms^of what. they. s.ound.Uke (the musical is~trte obvious excepJ^n)/_Yet.Jn films like Batman Returns we are often confronted with images that are drawn from fantasy and sci-fi, juxtaposed ~wÍíJfsoúndš"řemi^ This is ä long list of topics. What is at stake is the theoretical framework that we bring to the analysis of films. The place of sound in this framework has for too long been left in the dark. Notes 1 See Lynda Myles and Michael Pye, The Movie Brats, How the Film Generation took over Hollywood (London: Faber, 1979). 2 However, as Stephen Handzo has pointed out, the concept of 'correct' sound reproduction is by no means straightforward. See "The sound of sound', Cineaste, vol. 21, nos. 1-2 (199S), p. 68. 3 Six channels for DTS and Dolby SR-D, and up to eight for SDDS. The role of post-classical film sound 165 4 The only_ exception, as we have seen, being a handful of extremely expensive 70mm roadshow prints, prints whose soundtracks mostly —.a.nd..conventionalLy..=r_prior.itized.^ .music and speech. 5 Mary Ann Doane, 'Ideology and the practice of sound editing and mixing', in Theresa de Lauretis and Stephen Heath (eds), The Cinematic Apparatus (New York: St Martin's Press, 1989), pp. 47-56. 6 One of the best-known examples of directional sound occurs in the opening sequence of Star Wars, in which a rebel fighter and an imperial destroyer are first 'heard1 at the"" back of the audftörium'b^öfe'fl^hg^över trie headsof the spectators and eventually apjgearmg_pixthe screen... 7 Although the directors mentioned may call the shots, it is important to remember that behind these examples are the names of some of the best sound designers in Hollywood: Ben Burtt, Skip Lievsay, Frank Warner, Walter Murch and a number of others. 8 Some of these, specifically filmed for trailer presentation, employed sound in a very aggressive fashion to win viewers' attention. The sound of the earth-rumbling thumps of a terminator or ofthe glass-shattering force of a twister will command the attention of even the most dedicated popcorn-munching audience. 9 These are: Bryan Adams' 'Everything I Do, I Do It for You', from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Whitney Houston's Í Will Always Love You', from The Bodyguard (1992), and Wet, Wet, Wet's 'Love Is All Around', from Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). 10 DTS stands for Digital Theatre Sound, a sound-on-disc system capable of providing six discrete channels. It was launched -wiůi Jurassic Park in 1993. " 11 SDDS stands for Sony Dynamic Digital Sound, a sound-on-film system capable of providing up to eight discrete channels. It was launched with The Last Action Hero in 1993. 12 SR-D stands for Spectral Recording-Digital, a sound-on-film system capable of providing six discrete channels. It was launched with Batman Returns in 1992.