Abstract

Performances are typically associated with religious ceremonies and performative arts such as theater, dance, and music. All of these performances share characteristics in common such as rituals and traditions on one hand and play and creativity on the other. Theater and music both make use of sound in performative ways. Film sound mixing, which is the process of adjusting the fundamental properties of recorded sounds to create an immersive cinematic experience, also shares some of these performative qualities. However, film sound mixing has not been the subject of much study in the context of performance.

This research studies film sound mixing through the lens of performance. Performance is observed in the light of theories ranging from the time of classical antiquity to the twentieth century. Mixing is also seen through its evolution from early talkies to high-production modern filmmaking, delineating its performative aspects. By combining these theoretical ideas, we have hypothesized five traits of performative mixing, namely, collaboration, control, layers, experimentation, and flow. A survey has been conducted with content analysis to evaluate the performativity of film sound mixing and to get insights into its performative aspects. We have concluded that console mixing, digital recording, and limited use of automation result in the most performativity. Furthermore, age, experience, and use of linear mixing, has been observed to be correlated with a more performative perspective on mixing.

Abstract

This paper is a case study of Michael Haneke’s 2005 film Hidden. Our focus is on the use of whodunit genre conventions, and how the deconstruction of genre is used to structure the narrative and allow the political and social context of the main protagonist’s guilt to surface. Film forms around the lack of guilt represented through the main character’s refusal to acknowledge responsibility, and face his past. I aim to explore how circumventing genre conventions is used to structure the narrative and form a particular point of view. I will analyze the implications of this in the context of the whole narrative, but focusing on three key sequences within the film, as part of the mystery genre structure. The opening sequence, and the way it positions the spectator and launches the whodunit narrative. The sequence leading up to Majid’s suicide, as a genre narrative “false trail”, in setting up the brutal realism of Majid’s suicide. And the ending, as a third sequence, analyzing betrayed expectations of the reveal, and the lack of narrative answer to the driving question of the film. Haneke structures Hidden as a mystery/who done it film, with the aim of betraying the expectations of the audience, by not clearly reviling the answer to the “who has done it” question. Instead, he uses the lack of answer as a question in itself, and in doing so frames the underlining context, allowing the theme to be understood and questioned in a wider social level of guilt and culpability of indifferent viewing.

Abstract

The story of our short film “VÕÕRAD”, shifts between its characters which is reflected in audio-visual experiences of the narrative. Changes in auditory focus caused by sound design give the impression of being in an out of a character’s mind. “Subjectivity” is used as a tool to guide attention, create suspense, raise expectation, and shift the focus of the storytelling related to the state of the character’s mind.

Abstract

This thesis develops the concept of the non-existent acousmêtre by studying the theories of acousmatic listening, off-screen space and noniconogenic narration as defined by Michel Chion. The term borrowed from Chion’s concept of the acousmêtre relates to the presence of an inaudible yet imagined acousmatic voice situated in the off-screen space that has the capacity to influence the narrative, the protagonist and the viewer. While there is little research on the role of imagination in creating an engaging experience through unseen and unheard characters in film, the analysis borrows from the studies of imaginative processes by Murray Smith and Robert Sinnerbrink to contextualise the imaginative capacity of the non-existent acousmêtre. In order to exemplify the latter, The Human Voice, a play written by Jean Cocteau (1930) and adapted to film by many, including Pedro Almodóvar in 2021, is studied. The Human Voice follows a single character of the Woman as she is having the last phone conversation with her ex.

The Man who the audience never hears is an example of a non-existent acousmêtre. The assumption that the character of the Man is a subtle but key factor in building an engaging viewing experience in Almodóvar’s The Human Voice stipulates a review of the factors that indicate the non-existent acousmêtre’s presence in the absence and situate him in the off-screen space. The analysis refers to these factors in order to provide evidence that proves that imagination processes intensify the power of the non-existent acousmêtre and make him instrumental in building engagement with the narrative, the protagonist and the viewer.