Chion

Empathetic music (described as the ability to relate to the feelings of others) is an interesting concept addressed by Chion. Basically, both music and sound is designed to make the audience feel more involved in the action. For instance, during comedic films the music will usually be upbeat or dopey to match the character’s ineptness or the lack of sound when an horror film prepares for a “jump” scare. What is interesting is how this is effective at a subconscious level as we as the audience have been so accustomed to this idea. That being said, the best score/ sound design is thought to be not noticeable at all in its technique (which makes you question sometimes how the Academy always tends to notice). Sometimes, however, the score does indeed call attention to itself to brilliant results. Take Shutter Island for instance, the bombastic score completely sells the feeling the film is attempting to evoke, that is, a classic Hitchcock film.

What so interesting about sound is that, in film, it is almost entirely constructed in post-production and yet we the audience accept it as a reality. Essentially sound in film is no more real in its representation of reality than computer generated imagery. That being said, the absence of this construct makes the world of difference within the scenes. This is especially the case with Shutter Island. It’s the score of the film that sells the unsettling nature of the insane asylum that DeCaprio’s character is trapped on. The lighthouse in the film would just be another lighthouse if it were not for the bombastic score that accompanies the visual of it.

Chion also discusses how our attention as an audience constantly diverts to whoever is talking as we are trying to figure out who is speaking and what they are talking about. After we discovery this, Chion discusses how we will then get distracted by other noises as we are now comfortable with what is going on. If you think about it, the concept makes complete since and it is really interesting that we do that. Once we gather our bearings so to speak, we then become multi-taskers. That is why I think the sound design usually tapers off when a character is speaking onscreen. Yes, we more than likely need to here what he is saying, but we also do not need to be distracted.