The Body and Soul of FilmA look at how sound has revolutionized and emotionally

charged theatrical motion pictures.By Jared Bergknoff

To understand this piece you must be willing to look at film from a different perspective. Unlearn what you know about the cinema and approach film as more than just moving pictures and cheap entertainment. Film is, like you or I, a living and breathing creature. It has the ability to tell us a story, keep us enter-tained, teach us valuable lessons, and evoke an emotional attachment that can tap in to a viewer’s heart. If a picture says a thousand words, what do twenty thousand moving pictures say?

When motion pictures were first created, they told simple stories or no story at all. They merely proved that it was possible to capture images in a se-quential linear format and that they could be replayed for viewers easily and inex-pensively. However, as motion pictures became more advanced the means of presenting them did as well.

The next step in the exhibition of film became the synchronization of pic-ture with sound. Upon entering the 20th century, when film was still in its infancy, a live musician would play an accompanied soundtrack during every presenta-tion. This was the first effort at creating emotion in film; it gave a viewer more of a sensory experience while watching. Instead of relying solely on visuals to con-vey its message, film began using auditory techniques to bring audience mem-bers deeper into the story. The film then became the body of the art while the soundtrack became the soul.

Have you ever cried during a film? Even the roughest, toughest men have cried one time or another. If you’re shaking your head in the negative, you’re ly-ing to yourself. Now think back to these moments when you cried, besides a sad image what do you hear? Perhaps we heard the sound of a downbeat instru-mental piece of music playing? For most readers let us choose something that almost anyone can remember. In Disney’s The Lion King, when Mufasa dies – minor spoiler - and Simba is approached by his uncle Scar, we hear a slow paced piece of dramatic music. The piece heightens our emotional level and when combined with the visuals of Mufasa’s body, tears fall faster than water over Niagara. But will the audience feel the same way if you remove the sound?

Now here’s a fun idea that everyone should try. Next time you’re watching a movie at home, turn the film on mute for one to five minutes. During that time make notes on what you see or how you feel. Did you get bored? Did you get distracted? Well, besides not being able to hear the dialogue you didn’t hear the film’s score either. The images become bland and uneventful as though they just

occupy color on a screen with no meaning. Now reverse things. Leave the sound on but close your eyes. It would be best to finish reading this article be-fore continuing; however, you may throw caution to the wind and continue at your own risk. Do the same as before. Take notes on what you hear and how you feel. Keep your eyes closed the entire time and no peeking – you know who you are.

What happened? Did you notice a difference? If nothing changed then check your pulse and consult a doctor, you may be broken or dead! Your mind should have created an image of what the film should look like. And depending on what type of film it was, the score should have created an emotional response as well. This test proves that without sound, films are just thousands of still im-ages that deceptively move.

Examining most horror films, if not all horror films, we can clearly see this process in action. When the killer is on the loose or something intense is about to happen the dialogue usually fades and the score becomes louder. You feel your pulse start to rise and your nerves tighten up. You eagerly anticipate some-thing terrible happening and then the cat appears from behind a door. You want to kill the stupid cat as the music fades away and you’ve jumped out of your skin. Then the killer shows up behind the victim – the music intensifies – and blood splatters everywhere with the death of yet another person. You jump again and all the while it has been music not words that caused you to jump. Watch the scene again with no sound. It just doesn’t have the same effect anymore. Just like a person, a film cannot survive with little emotion and if it did it would be ex-tremely boring.

Besides its ability to carry the emotion of a movie, a film score can also be a memorable and everlasting part. For instance, someone is in a pool or the ocean and another person quickly says “duh-nah, duh-nah”. Your mind races to an image of a great white shark on the prowl. Obviously there isn’t a shark around and, if there were, I hope someone would say more than “duh-nah” to get them out of the water. But the whole film of Jaws can be remembered and re-called from two little words. A villain became immortalized in cinematic history through these two little words. In fact, they’re not even words, they’re grammati-cal depictions of sound. One would have to admit that being memorable for so little seems to be quite an impressive feat.

Film is truly one of the most versatile mediums in modern society and with recent advances in technology it is one of the fastest changing forms of artistic creativity. As an audience, we are able to be taken to far off lands, to be scared stiff, to be tickled pink, to be swelled with tears, to be enraged with anger, to be filled with love and shown every facet of human existence; however, without the music behind the imagery all of these are merely pictures with no heart. And the film that they comprise is simply a body with no soul.