The Art of Audio and Film
It is often that assignments or expressions are produced in the form of writing, and it has been this way for centuries. Through personal experience, I can confirm that the vast majority of the assignments I’ve turned in have been dominated by the writing format as opposed to an audio expression. Aural sensations are often overlooked and not acknowledged like writings have been, but can offer experiences that writing can not. While one can write in such a way to create a certain tone or mood, composing audio can incorporate background sounds and the complexity of your voice to create an entirely different environment. Writing is by no means inferior to audio, but they each have exclusive attributes one must choose between when creating the final media product. Writing and audio often work together when making a script for recordings or videos. A recording can contain resonance that a person can feel through the vibration originating from one’s voice or any sound. A harmony is created using anything the mind can come up with, not exclusive to a persons vocal chords, but can also be a train or the ocean breeze. Any environment imaginable can be recreated using certain sounds, and the technology used to attain such sounds has never been more accessible. A sound can reflect one’s culture, capture a sense of how someone feels, and create a connection with its consumer. It is common for audio to evoke instant emotion as I have experienced when listening to music, playing music, or getting lost in a podcast. Selfe’s, Hocks’, and Comstock’s writings highlight these complexities and significance of sonic rhetoric and how it should be used more often. This further relates to reviewing film in the format of an audio recording. To efficiently review a film I not only need to become deeply enthralled with it and review my thoughts for it, but I would also need to ensure that my audio recording accurately depicts how I want my audience to interpret my feelings toward the film. It can be difficult to produce a flawless work of art using unfamiliar technology, but I can likely create something that reflects how I feel towards the film. The content of my review would more specifically include a brief objective summary of the film, my cinematic experience, and an in-depth analysis.
Overall, audio is complexly created and consumed everyday by anyone who can hear but is under analyzed by most. The art of aurality uses a variety of sound to evoke emotion and create desired environments for the audience, and film critics can use this to their advantage when producing authentic reviews about cinema artwork.
