Sound and Aurality as Social, Technological and Aesthetic Practice - Literature review Example

Study of Sound and Aurality as Social, Technological and Aesthetic practice The 19th century is marked as a time when writers agreed that there was clear identity between music and poetry. The first musical poetry was performed in 1820s to1850s which provided an experimental experience of sound and art (Guide to the Years Work 318). It was displayed in Victorian Poetry that was used to portray the way of life at the time, mostly targeting social life and politics. Some of the poems were on pictures combining sound, image and writing. For instance, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’ poems of 1850s contain narration of her personal life and writing experience among German women writers (Guide to the Years Work 330). The poems include; “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point”, “The cry of the Children”, “The Seraphim” among others which captivated readers over the centuries. The work she did involved visual arts, especially portraiture which was not popular at the time. One of her famous portrait poems is “On a Picture of Riego’s Widow”, which she did in 1826 qualified her to be featured in the National portrait Gallery (Guide to the Years Work 337). Other poets who later used portraits along with their poem citations were Eliza Fox Bridell who did a chalk portrait representing “The Aging Poet” and Michele Gordigiani known for his oil portrait in 1858. Other writers such as La Porte confessed to adore Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s (EBB) work for its celestial aesthetic compared to other work of the early poetry. An interesting performance is displayed in the poem “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point”, where the poem takes the form of a dramatic monologue (Guide to the Years Work 347). The poem creates extreme sensations in many readers, especially because; at its beginning, the killing of a child is displayed in details. Although, from a creativity perspective the poem is criticized, poets acknowledge the combination of sound, visual, and imagery as above the standards of art during her time. Towards the late nineteenth century, and the early twentieth century, there was a decline in artistic performance (Guide to the Years Work 359). However, in the 1960s there was a comeback of poetry art where written art included drama and theatre. It was characterized by online representation of poetry in motion, mostly adopted from the ‘Dynasts’ of early 19th century. The Dynasts were transformed to display the ‘Napoleonic Image in Hardy and Tolstoy’ which was done by the two poets Hardy and Tolstoy, normally known as the 19th century contemporaries. Hardy has used music in his poetry such as in the poems “A Church Romance” and “The Darkling Thrush” (Guide to the Years Work 359). In addition, he has the collection of his poems in a publication, ‘The Hardy Review’, and online (Guide to the Years Work 363). The art work of the early 19th century and that of the 20th century evoke sensational and melodramatic feelings in the audience, hence involving them into the performance. For example, Hardy is famous with his aesthetic expression of romance, thus drawing the audience to identify with his status in the poem. In every artistic presentation, there is evidence of organization in terms of language, flow of the concepts, variation of sound, and motion. These factors captivate the audience, draw them to the performance and engage them mentally. “Guide to the Years Work” views auditory images as the source of emotions (p. 376), and can be used to mediate culture if they are given the due attention (Guide to the Years Work 377). The poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, claims that the eye rhyme associates with the corresponding parts of the picture or motion in the performance (Guide to the Years Work 378), and the ear is the most important of the five senses as he alludes in his poems. The 20th century writers have translated their writing to films that incorporate visual motions and sound. However, the content of the films is not very different from the content in the 18th and the 19th century poems and portraits (Spielmann 278). For instance, in the writing of Tennyson, D.G. Rossetti, and Morris, the inclusion of music resonates well with the words and the image in the film “The Palace of Art”, giving the film an aesthetic feeling. It depicts harmony in the tone of the poet, the music, and the visual expression of the whole presentation. When the sound, image, and content are combined with the musical instruments, they form constant process of interference and synesthesia. Sound is the internal quality that is heard and can also be reflected by a machine that reproduces and records sound. Use of technological devices has expanded the field of sound to the very forms that cannot be detected with a naked human ear. The discovery of phonograph transformed the understanding of sound from a single to a world of sounds that has also contributed in information and film industry (Spielmann 277). The technology has been quite useful in fusing the music, sound, and the extra-musical noise to overcome and improve the traditional art work of the 18th and 19th centuries. Noise was considered as an element of music derived from two schools of thought. These differing standpoints were the ‘simultaneous poetry’ movement and ‘The Art of Noises’ by Luigi Russolo. The first group referred to noise as graphic-inscriptive practices, and the second group conceptualizes it as ‘Resident noise’. The idea of resident noise changed the way sound and music was viewed, and as a result, more vocabularies were invented. There was significant noise, inaudible sounds, small sounds, silent sounds thus, negating the proposition that there is a time when sound does not exist. There was a conviction that all sounds can produce music if they were well coordinated, using modern technology. In a film called Baz Luhrman’s Australia, the audience hears singing of native birds, nature sounds and sounds of string instruments long before they see any image (Candusso and Thompson 8). After considerable suspense, the image of an aboriginal elder and a small boy appear on the screen. The opening scene of sound introduces the audience so as to position for the next event in the film in an engaging manner. The auditory senses are already provoked to visualize in a three dimensional space before the content or image is presented to the audience (Candusso and Thompson 8-9). Sound design is the various ways in which sound is manipulated to produce effect on the audience and close the distance between unrelated spatial environments. After the boy in the film identifies himself in the broken Aboriginal English, the audience feels as though it is part of the untold story. Synchronized music from the background adds on the other elements to create socio-cultural responses on the audience. The opening scene of the film ‘Baz Luhrman’s Australia’ synthesizes the visual and the aural elements to depict the cultural history, social, indigenous soundscapes, and the weather of the location where the film is performed. The audience is placed at the middle of the film, thus taking the role of a participant and not just an observer (Candusso and Thompson 9). King George and the boy Nullah, characters in the film, have their voices technically manipulated to suit their roles and give the film the aesthetic form it deserves. Sound design is as important as the music or the cinematography, because it has a unique way of connecting the audience’s emotions and the journey on the screen which is the sole intention of the film-maker. It is mainly determined by the expertise of the film-maker to manipulate the sound recording and, variation of volume levels of the various sounds at the same time. In addition, sound design involves altering the sound frequencies to relate close sounds. The relationship between these aural practices and associated visual media In order to explore possibilities of improving the connections between music, image, and transferring sound into visuals, Steina and Woody Vasulka developed computer tools (Spielmann 277) in 1970. The film composer, Michel Nyman, and the film-maker, Peter Greenaway, have obtained image-sound relationship and have worked on structural principles in theory on hearing and seeing (Spielmann 277). Musical patterns have been incorporated in films while comparing the outcome when image, sound and text are integrated. Computers have proved to be reliable in providing the required sound mixing by determining the right parameters. The audience can differentiate the sound that has been technically synthesized, and sound that has not, just by perception through the senses. The 20th century saw integration of sound arts and visual arts by using the modern technology tools which resulted to drastic changes. Advanced technology, such as recording enhances the sense of hearing which increases the audience’s concentration on the film events. Manipulation of sound through techniques such as sound compression, reduction, reproduction, sound openness, and fluidity enhance combining of the visual and written art, hence increasing the space for effective perception by the audience. The physical body of the actor, which is the focus of the audience while expressing the art, is also closely related to the voice of the artist. Therefore, it is difficult to separate the audio and the visual since they are inter-woven in the artistic practices (Spielmann 278). When a performance lacks in well-organized sound, voice, and music, it is imbalanced and the audience may not be drawn into the world of the artist. In the film, ‘Suite Habana’, by the Cuban film director Fernando Perz’ of 2003, sound is used to modify the film’s foundational ideas and the visual elements by forming an aural imagination that shows reality in the film. Sound links characters in the film that would otherwise not be related at all and connects the space on the screen to the space of the theater in a magical manner in the imagination of the audience. Film maker’s intent is to use their skills and expertise to produce a film that represents the reality to the audience. A phenomenon that Fernando admits takes combination of visual, aural and technological elements in all perfection. Sharp criticism was directed to the Bollywood films due the lack of synchronization between the songs in the film and the content (Goswam par 1). The criticism was directed to the imbalance between the songs, the sound and the content, thus losing the aesthetic function each ought to play. Although the films have gained acceptance locally and the local audience appreciates the cultural representation in the films, the missing aesthetic practice can be created for future viewing. According to Goswam, the perception of the song must go hand in hand with the lyrics in order to achieve visual and musical success (par 1). In addition, the song needs to encompass the theme of the film and express the feelings of the characters, while displaying its fantasy (Goswam par 15). Creative synthesis balances the aural and the visual aspects of the film while integrating the visible and the invisible (Goswam par 18). The place of music in art cannot be ignored, since a well-defined “visual perception of a song creates a film within a film” (Goswam pars 16-19) The film ‘Picture of Light’, directed by Peter Mettler displays the technique and technology to produce the integration of sound and aura. Mettler emphasizes that the images employed in the film need to be organized in an abstract manner such that they flow with the music, but not the other way round (Clarkson 72). Similarly, the recorded content should be done such that they align with the sound track aesthetically. Mettler stages a film to demonstrate the origin of Northern lights and show the necessary ingredients of a reproduction so as to perfect the process of film production. The film opens in an industrial freezer where the film crew appears to prepare for action. Mettler ensures that all sound is captured by putting the microphone at a convenient position. A scene of a train moving as if on a journey towards the North appears where the video displays a train environment and the passing landscape. The video and the sound blend beautifully where the sounds of the train and moving air are heard alternately soothing the audience. As the train moves on, the camera-man is conscious of space, and therefore, adjusts to picture the horizon, as well as the near distance in order to engage the mental and the emotional person of the audience. In addition, Mettler emphasizes the need to integrate images and the sounds in the audiences’ mental picture. The film demonstrates this when the train in the film arrives at the station, and appears to move out of the screen (Clarkson 74). The audience jumps out their seats in fear that the train was continuing motion outside the television set. Moreover, Mettler shows the importance of technology in film production by displaying two videos that are taken from the same background, but different tools. One footage is produced using a normal video camera and comes out with loud sound and distorted results. The video footage that is taken using the film camera, and at the same time being on the television, produces sound that is smoothly blowing over the open space. The difference in the sound produced is, the use of a shot-gun microphone in the film camera and lack of it in the video camera hence, the aesthetic role of technological tools is magnified. The film ‘The picture of the Lights’ is a perfect example of relating the visual and the aural elements in it forming mutual experience between the film and the audience (Clarkson 73). Works Cited Candusso, Damian1, and Jen2 Thompson. "How Sound Design Shapes The Audiences Response In Baz Luhrmanns Australia." International Journal Of The Image 5.1 (2014): 25-31. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 25 Nov. 2014. Clarkson, Nathan. "Aura, Aurora And Aurality: The Narrative Of Place In Picture Of Light." Brno Studies In English 39.2 (2013): 71-88. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Nov. 2014. Goswami, Namita. "The Empire Sings Back: Aesthetics, Politics, And Postcolonial Whimsy." Contemporary Aesthetics (2009): Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Nov. 2014. Guide To The Years Work." Victorian Poetry 50.3 (2012): 317-411. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Nov. 2014. Spielmann, Yvonne. "Noise, Water, Meat (Book Review) (Undetermined)." Leonardo 34.3 (2001): 277-279. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 26 Nov. 2014. Read More