Author: Eleanor Anderson

Hannah Kemp-Welch spoke and mentioned the power of silence in her lecture. Claiming that despite the fact we work with the sound we can also embrace silence in our work to create the true effect. I wanted to read into this and maybe experiment, especially when including other mediums such as screens.

After the discovery of sound on screen in the 1920s, ‘The Jazz Singer’ – 1927 became the first movie to premiere with additional sound. It can be noticed that this was a monumental step for cinema one to which most people would never go back. Despite music and sound is such a vital part of cinema and television can it be said that silent movies still have the same effect? 

Silence movies back in the day were as much of a success as they were before cinema added sound. As humans, we are now conditioned toward expecting movies to have a dazzling score… For example, if someone plays the film with the volume muted no one would fight the urge to turn it up. However, I strongly argue that silence can be just as powerful. Intrigued by this I researched several different modern silent movies to see if this old fashioned way of creating film still existed. Although despite many google searches I was shocked to find that all modern silent films had adopted old fashioned aesthetics such as the time in which it was set, filters, cameras and storylines. Examples such as Brand Upon the Brain! ( 2006) and Return to Babylon (2013) all fit into one certain style. All films were made to look as if they came out before the invention of sound. Is this because we have made silent movies a cliché and habituated ourselves into thinking that modern styled film can not be silent. 

If I worked in sound for the screen I would one day like to experiment with silence and use it as a powerful technique rather than an approach for 1920s cinema.

Sharon Gal spoke about the importance of architecture and the effects it can have on your performance. Space is a crucial part of making recordings and performances. She spoke about using space as a friend and incorporating your surroundings into your performance. This reminded me of a great example of work that spoke to me when using spaciality in a unique way.

After watching Sky’s critically acclaimed series ‘Chernobyl’ I was so deeply moved by Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score and sounds played throughout. As I later researched her process I began to r3spect what I was hearing on another level. The sound was built on a series of field recordings captured at a power plant in Lithuania where the series was filmed. In an interview, Hildur said “The radiation was going to be connected to the space with actual sounds and the human side, which was the reason for all of this happening in the first place, [evoked] human error, loss, and grief. As I read the script, these feelings were raw to me. And the best way for me to access these emotions personally was to use my voice for the choir parts.”

To me, it amazes me how despite nuclear energy physically being so silent when in the air the sounds she produced in the power plant held such a dark story towards the nuclear forces that loomed within Chornobyl and Russia at the time. 

Despite the fact I have made field recordings in the past and incorporated them into a script I hope to copy Hildur’s technique and instead of just recording what’s around me; take my sounds to produce there and use the space/ acoustics to my true advantage. 

Spoken Word landed on its feet in the late 1990s after the Postmodern Art Movement. I decided to use this in my work as I chose a contemporary theme which I believe fitted the late 20th century aesthetic of spoken word within the song. 

Despite this, I chose this technique as I wanted my art piece to be as immersive as possible. The work itself is named ‘A Party At 10 Downing Street’ and I wanted this to reach out to the listener as if they were truly there. I decided to use sections of Boris Johnson speaking in a spoken word aesthetic. Despite it having a dramatic effect when alongside the music it also made the piece clearer about what it was aiming to say. The spoken word worked well as it becomes almost a mockery of the prime minister and compliments the music that goes alongside this. His persona and seriousness and his job title amplify to the world juxtapose how I have portrayed him in this piece by manipulating what he said and pairing this with comical sound effects. 

Although this has been the first time using spoken word within my work I hope to use it again as I believe it allows another value to sound work and allows an extra avenue for the reader to connect to the piece.

Podcasts are episodic series of audio files. As the term developed I realised the scale of different genres involving podcasts. During my radio project, I realised the importance of the voice. A human voice is a key instrument that many many people begin to forget. When recording a podcast or audio project the voice must fit the aesthetic and theme of the piece. Like an electric guitar to a rockbound, the vocal aspect is a jigsaw puzzle in the overall performance. When the voice is less suited I found that layering the piece with sound effects and different levels became a way of masking this. However, when the vocals are suited, the piece only needs minimalistic sounds added on top for effectiveness. In future, I will consider this and ensure that my vocals used are always suited to the aesthetic of my art piece.