Abstract
Every sound has meaning, but some sounds seem more meaningful than others. In the real world, the separation of significant sound from inconsequential background noise is always done—consciously or not—by us. In the fictional world of narrative cinema, the separation is typically done by the filmmakers.
This chapter explores artificial sounds that, in the context of cinema, are interpreted by audiences as real as well as sounds that in the cinema somehow seem much more than real. It deals, too, with sonic symbolism and with sonic double entendres. But the chapter’s primary focus is ‘special’ sound of the sort that has figured into cinema since the advent of three-dimensional Dolby stereo and which is used not just for effect but for potent affect.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ament, V.T. (2009) The Foley Grail: The Arts of Performing Sound for Film, Games, and Animation (Abingdon: Focal Press, 2009).
Bellour, R. (1975) ‘The Unattainable Text’, Screen, Vol. 16, No. 3, 19–27.
Biskind, P. (1998) Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock ’n’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (New York: Simon & Schuster).
Booker, K. (2007) Postmodern Hollywood: What’s New in Film and Why It Makes Us Feel So Strange (Westport, Ct.: Praeger).
Bottomore, S. (1999) ‘An International Survey of Sound Effects in Early Cinema’, Film History Vol. 11, No. 4, 485–98.
Buckland, W. (ed.) (2009) Puzzle Films: Complex Storytelling in Contemporary Cinema (Oxford: Blackwell).
Chion, M. (1994) Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen, trans. Claudia Gorbman (New York: Columbia University Press).
Hanson H. (2007) ‘Sound Affects: Post-production Sound, Soundscapes and Sound Design in Hollywood’s Studio Era’, Music, Sound, and the Moving Image, Vol. 1, No. 1, 27–49.
Hayward, S. (2000) Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts (New York and London: Routledge).
Heller, L.M. and L. Wolf (2002) ‘When Sound Effects Are Better than the Real Thing’, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 111. No. 5, 23–39.
Kerins, M. (2011) Beyond Dolby (Stereo): Cinema in the Digital Sound Age (Bloomington: Indiana University Press).
Schreger, C. (1978) ‘The Second Coming of Sound’, Film Comment, Vol. 14, No. 5, 34–37.
Schroeder, D. (2012) Hitchcock’s Ear: Music and the Director’s Art (New York and London: Continuum).
G. Sergi (2002) ‘A Cry in the Dark: The Role of Post-Classical Film Sound’ in G. Turner (ed.) The Film Cultures Reader (New York and London: Routledge), 107–14.
Sergi, G. (2004) The Dolby Era: Film Sound in Contemporary Hollywood (Manchester: Manchester University Press).
Siegel, J. (1972) Val Lewton: The Reality of Terror (London: British Film Institute).
Sullivan, J. (2006) Hitchcock’s Music (New Haven: Yale University Press).
Tallis R. (1985) ‘The Realistic Novel versus the Cinema’, Critical Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 2, 57–65.
Truffaut, F. (1984) Hitchcock (New York: Simon & Schuster).
Weis, E. (1982) The Silent Scream: Alfred Hitchcock’s Sound Track (Rutherford, NJ: Farleigh Dickinson University Press).
Wierzbicki, J. (2003) ‘Sound as Music in the Films of Terrence Malick’ in H. Patterson (ed.) The Cinema of Terrence Malick: Poetic Visions of America (London: Wallflower Press), 111–22.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wierzbicki, J. (2016). Sound Effects/Sound Affects: ‘Meaningful’ Noise in the Cinema. In: Greene, L., Kulezic-Wilson, D. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Sound Design and Music in Screen Media. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51680-0_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51680-0_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-51679-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-51680-0
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)