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 FILM SOUND TERMINOLOGY

G LO S S A R I E S:    
Dilettantes Dictionary
Audioterminology in these digital days
Dolby Laboratories'
Film Sound Glossary
Queen´s Film studies:
Sound perspective 
Balance
Microphones
Sound Terms
from Arizona State University Theatre Departments Electric Shop
"What’s a Binky?"
Larry Blake's Film Sound Glossary
Griptionary
Dictionary of Grip Terms
 

Walter Murch's Classification
DENSE CLARITY - CLEAR DENSITY 

  Michel Chion´s Terminology

 

Acousmatic sound 
- sound one hears without seeing their originating cause  

Acousmêtre 
- akind of invisible voice-character with mysterious powers  

Added Value 
- the expressive and/or informative value with which a sound enriches a image 

Audiovisual Contract 
- an agreement to forget that sound is coming from loudspeakers and picture from screen   

Anempathetic Sound 
- music or sound effects that seems to exhibit conspicuous indifference to what is goingon in the film's plot 

Chronography   
-  the stabilisation of projection speed madecinema an art of time  

Empathetic Sound 
- music or sound effects whose mood matches the mood of the action 

Extension(of SoundSpace) 

External logic 
- the logic by which the flow of sound includes effects of discontinuity as nondiegetic interventions  

Internal logic 
- the logic by which the sound flow is apparently born out of the narrative situation itself   

Magnetization (spatial) 
"mental pan" of the sound source 

Materializing Sound Indices (M. S. I.)  
- sonic details that "materialize" the sound source 

Rendering 
- the use of sounds to convey the feelings or effects associated with the situation on screen

Synchresis 
- the mental fusion between a sound and a visual when these occur at exactly the same time   

Temporalization 
- influence of sound on the perception of time in the image 

Vococentrism 
- the privilige of the voicein audiovisual media 


"Chion is a poet in theoretician's clothing" 
-Claudia Gorbman writes about Michel Chion

Book Review: Michel Chion, Audio-Vision (Escom Newsletters)   
- by NicolaPhillips Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge

 

 
  Robert L Mott's Nine Components of Sound
    
Every sound has its own distinctive wave form.  
Nine components must be considered to successfully reproduce or create new sounds. 
 
Musical components:   Sound envelope components: 
Record and playback component: 

 

  David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson's  Terminology
 (They use mostlymusical terms)
Acoustic properties:  

Loudness 
- sound volume  

Pitch 
- the perceived "highness"or "lowness" of the sound 

Timbre 
- a sounds "color" or tonequality

Dimensions of Film Sound:  

Rhythm 
- sound's rhythmic qualities 

Fidelity 
- sound faithful to itssource  

Space 
- sound's spatial dimension 

Time 
- simultaneous and nonsimultaneous sound

 
"Not a singlesound in cinema can be adequately  
describedwith musical terminology" 
Rich Altman criticizes musical terminology

 
  Film Sound Terminology 
 
ADR 

Ambience 

Directsound and Reflected sound 

Characteristicsound 

Diegeticsound 

Emotionalrealism 

Establishingsound 

Foley 

Hyper-realSound 

MOS 

Non-diegeticsound 

Naturalsounds 

Locationsound

Point-of-auditionsound 

Presence 

ProductionSound 

RoomTone 

Semi-sync 

Sounddesigner 

Soundhermeneutic 

Soundmotif 

Soundloop 

Soundscape 

SupervisingSound Editor 

Sweeten 

THX 

Walla

 

Marwin K Kerner's Classification
The Purpose of Sound effects


Tomlinson Holman's Classification
Roles of sound



Philip Brophy's Adiovisual Concepts
- Lectures in note form from the Media Arts BA @ RMIT University

BECOMING AWARE OF SOUND

BERNARD HERRMANN: Psycho

CATEGORIES OF SFX

ENNIO MORRICONE: Once Upon A Time In The West

FOLEY PERFORMANCE & RECORDING

JACQUES TATI: Playtime

LEVELS, LAYERS & MIXING: Orson Welles & Citizen Kane

MUSIC CUES

NON-SYNCH SOUNDTRACKS

NOUVELLE ROMAN CINEMA: Last Year In Marienbad

OPERA & LYRIC DRAMA: West Side Story

POST-DUBBING: Way Of The Dragon

ROBERT ALTMAN: California Split

SILENT CINEMA: Giorgio Moroder's Metropolis

SOUND DESIGN - Close analysis: Blood Simple

VOLUME, PERSPECTIVE & DENSITY: The Birds

 

Visit Phil Brophy's website




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