Music, Sound and Image Theory

Some of the most exciting theoretical moving image work in recent years has centered on the problem of the acoustic sign in cinema and especially around the relation between image track and sound “track.” This course rethinks the history and theory of cinema from the point of view of sound: effects, dialogue, music. From cinematic sound recording and play-back technologies through Dolby sound enhancement and contemporary digital audio experiments. Revisiting basic theoretical concepts from the pov of sound: realism (sound perspective, dubbing), anti-realism (contrapuntal and dissonant effects), genre (the leitmotiv), perception (the synaesthetic effect). The silent to sound divide considered relative to the *19th* century Romanticism of the classical Hollywood score associated with the Viennese-trained Max Steiner to the scores of John Williams.