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Occult aesthetics: synchronization in sound film

Occult aesthetics: synchronization in sound film
Occult aesthetics: synchronization in sound film
Moments of precise synchronization in films are the key moments for pulling together physically unconnected image and sound tracks into an illusory whole - both in experiential as well as industrial terms As such, it is surprising that there has been no sustained consideration of the phenomenon of synchronization. The ‘lock’ of audio and visual exerts a synergetic, what might be described as an occult effect: a secret and esoteric effect that can dissipate in the face of an awareness of its existence.

The starting point for this investigation is the observation that film tends routinely to move between moments of synchrony between sound and image and points where there is no apparent synchronization. Approaching audio-visual culture from this, more abstract, perspective illuminates it in a form that removes the overfamiliar aspects that have militated against sustained and detailed theorization of sound in films, and the notion of ‘sound films’ more generally
978-0-19-977349-7
Oxford University Press
Donnelly, K.J.
b31cebde-a9cf-48c9-a573-97782cd2a5c0
Donnelly, K.J.
b31cebde-a9cf-48c9-a573-97782cd2a5c0

Donnelly, K.J. (2014) Occult aesthetics: synchronization in sound film , Oxford, UK. Oxford University Press, 272pp.

Record type: Book

Abstract

Moments of precise synchronization in films are the key moments for pulling together physically unconnected image and sound tracks into an illusory whole - both in experiential as well as industrial terms As such, it is surprising that there has been no sustained consideration of the phenomenon of synchronization. The ‘lock’ of audio and visual exerts a synergetic, what might be described as an occult effect: a secret and esoteric effect that can dissipate in the face of an awareness of its existence.

The starting point for this investigation is the observation that film tends routinely to move between moments of synchrony between sound and image and points where there is no apparent synchronization. Approaching audio-visual culture from this, more abstract, perspective illuminates it in a form that removes the overfamiliar aspects that have militated against sustained and detailed theorization of sound in films, and the notion of ‘sound films’ more generally

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More information

Published date: 30 January 2014
Organisations: Film Studies

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 153095
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/153095
ISBN: 978-0-19-977349-7
PURE UUID: 1a49fc3a-cce7-4a0a-943a-d0490dcc8919

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 20 May 2010 10:50
Last modified: 10 Dec 2021 18:07

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