Extending Visual Aesthetics: Audio Beyond Visuals

Donnelly, K.J. (2011) Extending Visual Aesthetics: Audio Beyond Visuals. In, Gorbman, Claudia, Richardson, John and Vernallis, Carol (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of New Audiovisual Aesthetics. New York, USA. Oxford University Press. (In Press)

Abstract

There is now little more than a permeable membrane between 'film music' (or music made for film) and music that is 'absolute' but can be combined easily with images. This chapter is interested in a significant area of influence for film music beyond film, as well as a reciprocal influence that certain music is having on music in film. Indeed, there has been an increased
'musicalization' of the film soundtrack, which has paralleled the expansion of traditional notions of music in the wake of musique concrete, later experimental music and peripheral developments in so-called popular music. Discussion in this chapter will include DJ Shadow's '...Endtroducing' album, Brian Williams's move from sonic artist to Hollywood sound designer, and David Holmes's records based on 'found voices' and dance beats which led to his scoring films like Oceans 11.

It is a notable issue that film soundtracks have become more musicallsy-inspired, utilising the abstract principles of sonic organization as much as traditional conventions of cinematic representation. At least partly, this can be accounted for by a musical sensibility in those creating film sound, added to a convergence between musical computer software and that used for putting together a film soundtrack. While Sergi, Whittington, and Grajeda and Beck have noted technological imperatives, they have failed to register any musical influence on the expanded and sumptuous soundtracks of recent years. This chapter will have an interest in technological developments as well as aesthetic practices that have fed in and defined not only the options for contemporary film soundtracks but also the extension of film soundtracks into a musical paratext beyond the cinema and the DVD.

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