Film Sound: Theory and Practice

by Elisabeth Weis (Editor)

This classic anthology provides essential models for analyzing sound stylistics through the detailed study of critical sound films. Elisabeth Weis and John Belton carefully curate major essays from the world's most respected film historians, aestheticians, and theorists, including Douglas Gomery, Barry Salt, Rick Altman, Mary Ann Doane, S. M. Eisenstein, V. I. Pudovkin, René Clair, Béla Belázs, Siegfried Kracauer, Christian Metz, David Bordwell, Kristin Thompson, Noël Burch, and Arthur Knight. Their selections recount the innovations and triumphs of Ernst Lubitsch, Fritz Lang, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Rouben Mamoulian, Dziga Vertov, Robert Bresson, Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Altman, and Francis Ford Coppola, among many others, and explicate the techniques and practices of sound filmmaking from initial recordings to final theater playback. Film Sound is the ideal companion for anyone seeking both a comprehensive introduction to the form and a rich survey of its historical and global evolution.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film

462 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Tim]

I got this book because after 4 years of film school, I still felt as if I had been shortchanged when it came to learning sound design. I had been taught how to record and edit sound, been taught how to do ADR, been taught all the different types of microphones; but I still didn't know WHY to use one type of microphone over another, WHY using an omnidirectional, or a shotgun, or a lavalier mic would change the feel of a scene (and how this would in turn change depending on whether that sound was being matched with a closeup or a long shot). In short, I was never taught the aesthetic significance behind any of the options I was presented with. My formal education on the topic had been entirely technical. As the editors make clear in the preface to this anthology, it was their attempt to compile a book "addressed to aestheticians rather than technicians." At this they've done an incredible job.

The scope is broad - covering theory, practice, history, as well as the technological side - different essays focusing on individual films, directors, genres, historical periods or the medium as a whole. The viewpoints of the authors are also as diverse as anything you'll find in film studies generally, ranging from Marxist, formalist and psychoanalytic analysis to more straightforward historical or technical writing.

As a filmmaker, this book has been eye opening (or should I say ear opening?). For the first time I am finally able to think about sound design in the same way that I think about any other element of a film. Since starting to read the book, I've paid more attention to the sound design in all of the films I've watched.

This book was written in 1985. No doubt does this mean that innovations in the field since 1985 (most notably the dawn of digital editing and sound mixing) are left out from the book. But even so, if you are a filmmaker who is looking to gain some insight into what film sound is all about, this is an excellent place to start.

[maha]

مجموعة من المقالات عن استخدام الصوت في السينما

اعجبني اقتباس من هذا الكتاب: "لطالما نظرنا الى الصوت كخاصية للأشياء، مما منعنا من أن نعرفه بأنه شيء بحد ذاته، بخواصه الخاصة

وكذلك "الصمت على الشاشة يجمع الاشياء معا، بعكس الصوت الذي يميز كل منها"
انه ذات الصمت الذي يخيم على الجماعة عندما يدخل شخص جديد الى الشاشة

[Lindsay]

Great read. Lots of fun to learn about the transition from the silent era of sound to the modern era.

[Creative Wool Media]

The first few chapters on the history of sound on film is fascinating!! The other chapters didn't do much for me.