Comparative Literature 397S - ST-Cinema and Sound

Explores various aspects of film sound from an historical and theoretical perspective. The course is divided into four main sections: historical and theoretical questions; the voice in cinema; music in cinema; and contemporary sound design. The historical scope of the course will include the entire history of cinema sound, from the so-called "silent" era to the present; but we will focus on two particularly salient turning points: the introduction of synchronous sound film in the late 1920s and the deployment of Digital Surround Sound (DSS) systems in the 1990s. Assigned readings and case studies will provide a strong foundation for audio-visual analysis by equipping students with a critical vocabulary for communicating effectively about sound in cinema. As a means of further developing our critical ears, we will also be audio-viewing and discussing a group of self-reflexive films that take sound technology as their subject. Such films may include Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952), The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974), Blow Out (Brian De Palma, 1981), Berberian Sound Studio (Peter Strickland, 2012), and Hacked Circuit (Deborah Stratman, 2014). Examining the ways in which these and other self-reflexive films narrate or express certain potentials and anxieties particular to sound recording and representation will help us to better understand the social and cultural meanings associated with mediated sound and listening in various contexts.