District 9 - Sound

In 1927 the inclusion of sound in film, called the talkie era, was introduced by the film The Jazz Singer (U.S.A., 1927). The use of orchestra’s, piano’s, and organs to add music to silent film would begin to decline, but not without resistance. Synchronous sound recorded as the film was rolling, limiting the movements of the actors and the camera to enable the microphones to pick up the dialogue. Many producers unsatisfied with the limitations of synchronous sound began to develop new ways of adding sound to film. Rene Clair began to film many scenes without sound and dubbed the clips when filming was complete. The development of new sound techniques would affect the filming of movies and the acting styles required forever.

Prior to the addition of sound in film, the tone or pitch of the actor’s voice was relatively insignificant. Silent film stars were critiqued on their looks and ability to evoke emotion by their actions. The realism added by sound reduced the need for dramatic emphasis in scenes to convey the message. Actors were now forced to focus on their spoken words and correlating actions rather than miming their way through a scene. The film District 9 (U.S.A., 2009) exemplifies how accurately sound, even an alien language, can effectively convey emotion. The film requires alien refugees to interact with increasingly less cordial humans. Throughout the film the aliens speak in their native language, only being subtitled during longer dialogue sequences. The sounds the aliens produce are however nearly sufficient to convey their message. The grunts, clicks, and associated sounds of the alien speech effectively displays the emotion associated with a scene, whether it be anger and frustration or patience and caring. The inclusion of sound also changed the way that directors filmed a sequence and what they chose to emphasize.

The silent era of film often required directors to include subtitles or dialogue cuts to convey messages. The inclusion of necessary scenes to develop character often directed the directors rather than the film being shot purely for plot content. The innovation of sound now allows directors to set the tone and mood for a scene with very little visual clues. The sound of a slowly creaking door clearly signifies impending danger, while the sound of happily chirping birds sets a much lighter mood. The contribution of sound to the content of a film allows for increased comprehension of a scene.

Films prior to the late 1920’s required a great deal of exaggeration from the actors and a dedicated effort by film makers to visually develop a story. A vast amount of experimentation and dedication to develop the audible content included in film has influenced the requirements for actors and editors alike. The inclusion of synchronous and nonsynchronous sound working together in modern films has bridged the gap between concerned formalistic and realistic directors. Audible cues such as, an actors tone of voice or the off screen sounds of a crying baby, have given directors an increased ability to influence the emotional involvement of the audience.