Sounds

Sound Journal 1

I’m sitting in class. The professor’s voice is the main focus as it is bold and demanding. He rarely utters “Umm” or “hmm” but instead pauses for a moment to collect his thoughts, leaving the class in silence. He is fond of the phrase “At any rate.” I decided to keep a tally on how many times he says it and at the moment he is at 26. The classroom of around 40 is surprisingly quiet. There is an occasional shuffling of the feet or repositioning in the seats. I hear puttering and after a few seconds soft taps on the window across the room. I hear the rain fall at a faster pace and the drops hitting the ground as well as the window become much louder, diverting attention away from the professor’s voice, which isn’t affected by the sudden change in weather.  The class seems to come to life and I can hear more people moving around in their seats as they turn to look out the window. I’m sitting in the front so everything I hear is coming from behind me except for the professor’s still booming voice.

Sound Journal 2

I'm laying in my bed. My fan gets loud and then quiet for a brief moment as it oscillates. Every time it's at its loudest, it is accompanied by a popping sound followed by a second more faint pop. It's almost rhythmic as the fan turns and pops at the same intervals. The tv is on in the other room and I can hear it through the wall. There are a lot of hissing S's and an occasional laugh track. The repair man is in the laundry room fixing the washer, and there is a lot of metallic clanging. There was a louder bang followed by an "Agghhh shit." From his tone he seemed more disappointed with something he did than angry. My roommate got up and walked to the kitchen, each footstep seems to reverberate into my room and shake the ground below him. His steps are staggered and not evenly spaced, like he's really tired.

Response to Balazs

Silence seems to be something even more important than sound itself after reading what Balazs has to say. I’m reminded of one scene in particular that speaks to the effectiveness of silence in film. In Vivre sa vie, Nana watches The Passion of Joan of Arc and is overcome with emotions and begins to weep. The whole scene takes place in absolute silence, making the emotional impact of what is happening more intense. It felt real and like Balazs says, the silence makes us feel the scene’s weight, its menace, its tension. 

I don’t agree with Balazs when he says sound cannot be isolated or blocked out. I watched a short film recently called It’s Not You, It’s Me where certain sounds are isolated for dramatic effect and it plays a huge role in much of the video as these sounds are what makes Gillian Jacobs’ character go on a murderous rampage. The isolation gives the viewer an idea of what is going on inside her head as we hear otherwise mundane sounds from her perspective, and it is pulled off quite nicely.