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Tag: Evoke Feeling

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Contemporary Issues In Sound Art Second Year

Joseph Kamari:

I found Joseph Kamari’s work profoundly moving as he talked about his awareness of the world around him. His work focussed so deeply on the everyday noises but simultaneously felt like something new and fresh. After watching his new live stream at HÖR Berlin if felt highly inspired by his sonic positioning and art.

Kamaru works with familiar noises in our society and applies different synths and drones which almost mask what are hearing. These sonic effects make his sonic sound inaudible to fully understand; I find such beauty in this. Blurring the boundaries between understanding and unfamiliar can almost place a mediative effect on the listener. Complications and chaos of civilisation can tarnish how we hear sounds. Our ethnographies build up a list of connotations linked to sounds we hear and can almost create a negative and presumptuous mindset. How his work blurs these certainties within this live stream leaves thinking space for the viewer to create new preconceptions around the sound.

As humans, we are so driven physiologically to the source of sound and how it looks. However, Kmaru’s work has inspired me to listen deeper beyond the context and around the sonic itself. Humans think about the source of sound when listening due to a combination of innate cognitive processes and learned experiences. I researched into this, finding that the main reasons stem from us having, survival instinct, spacial awareness, social interaction and being environmentally aware.

I will talk about the idea of this deeper listening within my essay and express the vitality of how we chose to hear and see rather this listen beyond the what who and where.

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Second Year Sound for Screen

Blog Post 7: Volker Bertleman – Sound For Screen

Volker Bartleman – sound searcher – synthesisers – modern sounds – German techno – relatable – universal – relevant – recurring motif – shocking – alert – new – the fresh – second version of the film – a combination of classical and modern 

Volker Bertleman identifies himself as a ‘sound searcher’. His scoring for the new 2022 version of ‘All Quiet on The Western Front’ shows his ability to represent modern-day themes in a  soundtrack focused on past events. It is often difficult to create updated versions of classics. However, Netflix’s version of the movie proved to be highly successful with an artistic approach to representing the vulgar truth.

Despite this film showing historical events from the WW1 German frontline, this modern remake cleverly shows this with an even more fresh style than before. Volker Bertleman uses a combined mixture between synthesisers and classical scoring to weave together the combined themes of the modern day and the historical past. The clever connection between old-school musical techniques and current electrical sound scoring highlights how dated stories still live on through modern themes today. 

His unique and attention-grabbing sounds through electronic noise are a symbolic reacquiring motif throughout. They quickly alert the listener taking them out of the comfort zone of a classical moving score. The sounds are abrupt and unexpected which cleverly narrate danger and destruction are approaching. The suddenness from the electric synthesised noise reflects the abruption constantly shown throughout the film through explosions on the battlefield. Every time this same sound is played death is shown on screen; highlighting how common it was and still is in high-conflict wars.

Despite his incorporating modern-day electronic sounds which are factually incorrect to the times in which are presented. This makes the score relevant and responsive to modern-day listeners/viewers. War is a constant theme still in today’s society and Volker Bertleman’s modern scoring techniques highlight this. The use of contemporary sound effects reflects a connection to modern-day society making the themes on screen admissible and more believable.

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Second Year Sound for Screen

Blog Post 6 Sound For Screen:

“If only we could learn to listen to the world in the right way, its sounds could become all the music that cinema will ever need”

Tarkovsky’s approach to realism paved the way for sound for a screen that we still see and hear today. His heavy use of only foley creates realistic soundscapes. He believed that music over the screen was wrong and false. He stated, “I do not need ordinary film music. I cannot stand it, and I do my utmost to escape it …”. 

Despite some viewers finding his work a more stripped-back approach, it provides audible space for understanding and thought-provoking moments on screen. Music is used as escapism within the screen. Often used to highlight certain emotions within the context of the movie or help narrate characteristics. However, when this is taken away we are left with no audible instruction but ‘realism’. With no music to tell us how to feel it can in some cases create deeper and more thought-proven effects on a storyline. When humans are left in silence to think by themselves, deeper emotions appear. Tarkovsky wanted the audience to “connect their meanings”.

A modern example of Tarkovsky’s approach to sound for the screen is sound is Philip Barantini’s ‘Boiling Point’ starring Stephan Graham. Sound composed by Aaron May and David Ridley uses a one-shot film with no music and only foley sound effects. The foley is not exaggerated and instead mixed to realistic levels. Throughout the film, the sound feels as if it has been completely left to its natural form; meaning there are no special effects or EQ added. This continues throughout the entirety of the film which brings an almost immersive experience. The camera angles used in a Point of View from the sound match this entirely well. Leaving an utterly pragmatic effect as if the viewer was there within the story.

I believe this approach matches Trakovsky’s aims and approaches to cinema and creates an all-round authentic piece of work.  

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First Year Thinking & Doing Sound

What Is Sound Art?

What is Sound Art? – 05.10.21

Today we were asked to break down and form an Ontology of Sound Art. Although this practice could take years (if not forever!) to find the answer, I believe I have found a happy medium in which I can continue my creative process towards the future. Basing back on the studies shown on Sam Auinger I continued the idea that ‘Sound Art’ was creating noise into something worth listening to; in order to evoke emotion or feeling. We touched upon the basis of positionality and how it is this which shapes not only the art you create but also the art you listen and connect to; e.g. your race, culture, heritage, age, gender, religion, etc… This for me was an interesting concept as it apposed the question of what actually is sound art subjective snd objectively. Some members of the class stated that it is sound that was “intentionally made”. However once again linking back to Sam Auinger’s work on urban planning he uses traffic noises, which I am sure drivers had no intention of making art. Others in the class also stated that music is not sound art. This I disagree with entirely! To me, my subjective point of view on sound art is that any sound ever can be made into art and who is to decipher whether it fits into the category of “sound art” or “sound”. A common example used was a bird singing or other animals creating animal noises. To one that may just be sound whereas to others that can be sound art, or in some senses music! Although I agree music follows more traditional concepts such as musicality, rhythm, and melody; an array of organised sound. However, this does not mean it can not be sound art. This phrase overlaps into so many genres and I don’t believe there is one set answer. When recently watching a documentary on the making of ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ – The Beatles, it was described that during the bridge of ‘A Day In The Life’ the orchestra was told to play any random notes so long as they didn’t correspond to the person sat next to them. This reflects the idea that although it is widely known as music it is not organised and could be used as an idea or concept as sound art. This piece for me uses sound to create and evoke so much emotion and feeling which is what I believe sound art does. So can I not call it sound art yet? It uses sound as the medium to tackle someone’s feelings based on their positionality and contextual background. Similarly, Sound Art for the screen is a commonly used practice, however, does this give composers such as Hans Zimmer the right to be called a “Sound Artist” or do they just create organise music.  Although one should be known as what one wants it to be known as – to me there is no differentially between the two. Sound Art is the tree and their style or genres are the branches and the leaves. I look to approach and use this theory within my future work and hope to develop a sound that creates feeling and touches someone based on the context and subjectiveness of the piece. I don’t believe in restricting any sound from the subject as “Sound Art” and hope to continue this in the most unique and creative way I possibly can. Any sound can be sound art it’s just whether or not it suits your positionality.

“Sound Art is an art that can be heard”- Tate