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COM 494—Special Topics: Sound in Film & Television v. 1—1/12/15

Dr. Kim Neuendorf Spring 2015 Office: MU 241, 687-3994 Class: MU 107, 6:00-7:15 pm, M & W Office Hrs.: Tu & Wed 3:30-5:00 pm and by appointment CSU Emergency Phone: x2111/x2020 email: [email protected] and [email protected] website: http://academic.csuohio.edu/kneuendorf

Course Objectives This seminar is designed to provide an introduction to the range of knowledge needed to critically analyze and produce effective sound for film, television, and other media content. The goal of the course is to provide students with a background that will result in good practices for sound recording, manipulation, and editing.

Class Web Site Given the evolving nature of this seminar, the class web site will be the official record of what will occur each week in the class. Upcoming events, guests, lab periods, etc., will be announced. And, all handouts and other required materials will be posted to the class web site as the term progresses: academic.csuohio.edu/kneuendorf (go to Spring 2015, COM 494).

Readings There is no textbook for this class. Some readings will be posted as pdf’s on the class web site. And, some relevant web sites will be required reading. These will be listed (with links) on the class web site as the term progresses.

A bibliography of relevant materials is attached to this syllabus. Many of the posted readings will be from these sources.

Grading Grading will be based on three elements:

1. Final Project (30%)—The nature of this project will be discussed in class, and a separate handout will be generated describing the options and requirements. Due the last week of classes.

2. Take-home Exam (25%)—This will be a take-home exam, with questions given about two weeks in advance of the due date. Due during week 12.

3. Brief Assignments (45%)—approximately weekly, a brief assignment will be given, with deadlines assigned throughout the term. The activities may include the following: a. Listening assignments b. Viewing assignments c. Online exploration assignments d. Audacity assignments e. Foley/ADR activities f. Prep for guest appearances g. Field trips Thus far, two field trips are planned: 2

1. Cleveland Orchestra plays Vertigo. On Friday, February 13, 2015, all regular students enrolled in this class are expected to attend the 8:00 pm performance of the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall, in which the orchestra will accompany a screening of ’s Vertigo with the Bernard Herrmann score. Tickets will be provided FREE to the first 25 regular students enrolled in the class! Attendance at the event is required, as is a brief written assessment and “thank you” to the anonymous donor who has provided these $40 tickets. 2. Recording studio, TBA.

Incompletes University rules indicate that "a grade of Incomplete is given only by prior arrangement with the instructor and only when a course requirement is unfulfilled through no fault of the student." In all cases where there is a problem, talk to the instructor as soon as possible--an early good-faith effort is likely to be rewarded. After-the-fact pleas will be viewed in a much more negative light.

Attendance Attendance will be taken during each class period via a sign-in sheet or roll-call. On special class days (including those when there is a guest speaker), attendance may be required. For all other class days, three absences are allowed without penalty. Subsequent absences will result in a loss of points--3% for each absence. And, you are responsible for all lecture material, film content, clips shown in class, handouts, announcements, changes in assignments, etc.--in short, for everything that happens in class. Dr. N will not be held responsible for repeating in-class material outside of class, and there will be no "makeup" viewing of materials viewed in class (films, documentaries, film clips).

Cheating Cheating in any form will not be tolerated. This includes plagiarism (copying from a source without full and careful attribution), copying from another student’s assignment (all instances of identical and near-identical answers will be suspect), talking with others during an in-class exam, obtaining copies of an exam prior to the test date, etc. Please refer to the CSU student handbook for the university’s official stance. If you have any questions about this subject (e.g., how to adequately attribute source in a written assignment), feel free to speak with me. Any student caught cheating will receive a grade of zero for that exam/assignment and risks failing the entire course.

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TENTATIVE COURSE OUTLINE (as of 1/12/15)

This outline is intended to provide a guide to the various ways in which sound has been studied, and the ways we hope to examine sound in media this term. We will not cover these topics in order from top to bottom. The attached bibliography of recommended sources includes material on most of these topics.

SOUND

I—SCIENCE & ENGINEERING A. The physics of sound B. Acoustic ecology/(non-mediated) “soundscapes” C. Sound studies D. Acoustics and psychoacoustics E. Neurology (e.g., synesthesia)

II—THE HUMANITIES A. Music 1. Physics, acoustics, etc. 2. Musicology 3. Psychomusicology 4. Electronic music 5. Film music B. History of sound in media 1. Early efforts (e.g., Edison) 2. Film’s conversion to sound C. Aesthetics and critical analyses of media sound 1. Sound theory 2. Use of voice

III—SOUND PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY IN FILM/TV A. Pre-production 1. Design (see also post-production “sound design”) B. Production 1. Sound recording (mics, activities of the recordist, etc.) C. Post-production 1. Foley/ADR 2. Sound effects 3. Music scoring 4. Sound design: Mixing and editing D. Exhibition 1. Theatrical standards 2. Immersive sound

IV—SOCIAL/BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE A. Human perception of sound B. Effects of music on audience reception C. Effects of sound manipulation on audience reception

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Recommended Viewing

2001: A Space Odyssey (U.K./U.S., 1968, ) 8 ½ (Italy, 1963, ) American Graffiti (U.S., 1973, George Lucas) Apocalypse Now (U.S., 1979, ) Applause (U.S., 1929, Rouben Mamoulian) Barton Fink (U.S., 1991, ) Blade Runner (U.S., 1982, ) Citizen Kane (U.S., 1941, ) Cleo 5 to 7 (France, 1962, Agnes Varda) Close Encounters of the Third Kind (U.S., 1977, ) Das Boot (West Germany, 1981, Wolfgang Petersen) Delicatessen (France, 1991, Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet) Eraserhead (U.S., 1977, ) Fantastic Planet (France/Czechoslovakia, 1973, René Laloux) Hallelujah! (U.S., 1929, ) His Girl Friday (U.S., 1940, Howard Hawks) L’Atalante (France, 1934, Jean Vigo) Land Without Bread (Spain, 1933, Luis Bunuel) M (Germany, 1931, Fritz Lang) M*A*S*H (U.S., 1970, ) Melancholia (Denmark et al., 2011, ) Modern Times (U.S., 1936, ) Mulholland Drive (U.S., 2001, David Lynch) Nashville (U.S., 1975, Robert Altman) Once Upon a Time in the West (U.S./Italy,Spain, 1968, Sergio Leone) Play Time (France, 1967, Jacques Tati) Raging Bull (U.S., 1980, ) Ran (Japan, 1985, ) Red (France/Poland/Switzerland, 1994, Krzysztof Kieślowski) Rififi (France, 1955, Jules Dassin) Rules of the Game (France, 1939, Jean Renoir) Rumble Fish (U.S., 1983, Francis Ford Coppola) Saving Private Ryan (U.S., 1998, Steven Spielberg) Silence of the Lambs (U.S., 1991, ) Solaris (U.S.S.R., 1972, Andrei Tarkovsky) Star Wars (U.S., 1977, George Lucas) The Birds (U.S., 1963, Alfred Hitchcock) The Conversation (U.S., 1974, Francis Ford Coppola) The Deer Hunter (U.S., 1978, Michael Cimino) The Marriage of Maria Braun (West Germany, 1979, Rainer Werner Fassbinder) THX 1138 (U.S., 1971, George Lucas) Traffic (France, 1971, Jacques Tati) Various films by Jean-Luc Godard (France) Various films by Rene Clair (France) Various films by Robert Bresson (France) 5

Wall-E (U.S., 2008, Andrew Stanton, but sound design by Ben Burtt) Waltz with Bashir (Israel/Germany/France, 2008, Ari Folman) Warner Brothers cartoons (e.g., Bugs Bunny)

Bibliography—Recommended written materials

Abel, R., & Altman, R. (Eds.). (2001). The sounds of early cinema. Bloomingon, IN: Indiana University Press.

Altman, R. (Ed.). (1992). Sound theory, sound practice. New York: Routledge.

Ament, V. T. (2014). The Foley grail: The art of performing sound for film, games, and animation (2nd ed.). New York: Focal Press.

Baron-Cohen, S., & Harrison, J. E. (Eds.). (1997). Synaesthesia: Classic and contemporary readings. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

Beck, J., & Grajeda, T. (Eds.). (2008). Lowering the boom: Critical studies in film sound. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Bernds, E. (1999). Mr. Bernds goes to Hollywood: My early life and career in sound recording at Columbia with and others. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.

Cancellaro, J. (2006). Exploring sound design for interactive media. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Learning.

Chion, M. (1994). Audio-vision: Sound on screen. New York: Columbia University Press.

Chion, M. (1999). The voice in cinema. New York: Columbia University Press.

Chion, M. (2003). Film, a sound art. New York: Columbia University Press.

Collins, K. (2008). Game sound: An introduction to the history, theory, and practice of video game music and sound design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Cooke, M. (2008). A music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cox, T. (2014). The sound book: The science of the sonic wonders of the world. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Cross, M. (2013). Audio post production for film and television. Boston, MA: Berklee Press.

Cytowic, R. E. (2003). The man who tasted shapes. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Eisenstein, S., Pudovkin, V., & Alexandrov, G. (1928/2004). Statement on sound. In L. Braudy & M. Cohen (Eds.), Film theory and criticism (6th ed.) (pp. 370-372). New York: Oxford University Press.

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Ellis, J. (1992). Visible fictions: Cinema, television, video (revised ed.). London: Routledge.

Farnell, A. (2010). Designing sound. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Gorbman, C. (1987). Unheard melodies: Narrative film music. London: BFI Publishing.

Holman, T. (2010). Sound for film and television (3rd ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Howard, D. M., & Angus, J. A. S. (2009). Acoustics and psychoacoustics (4th ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Kadis, J. (2012). The science of sound recording. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Kalinak, K. M. (2010). Film music: A very short introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.

Kerner, M. M. (1989). The art of the sound effects editor. Boston, MA: Focal Press.

Kozloff, S. (2000). Overhearing film dialogue. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Larsen, P. (2005). Film music. London: Reaktion Books.

LoBrutto, V. (1994). Sound-on-film: Interviews with creators of film sound. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Murch, W. (2001). In the blink of an eye: A perspective on film editing (2nd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Silman- James Press.

Nyre, L. (2008). Sound media: From live journalism to music recording. London: Routledge.

O’Brien, C. (2005). Cinema’s conversion to sound: Technology and film style in France and the U.S. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Ondaatje, M. (2002). The conversations: Walter Murch and the art of editing film. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Pinch, T., & Bijsterveld, K. (Eds.). (2012). The Oxford handbook of sound studies. New York: Oxford University Press.

Prendergast, R. M. (1977). Film music: A neglected art. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Rossing, T. D., Moore, F. R., & Wheeler, P. A. (2002). The science of sound (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Addison Wesley.

Russell, M., & Young, J. (2000). Film music. Boston, MA: Focal Press.

Senior, M. (2011). Mixing secrets for the small studio. Burlington, MA: Focal Press.

Sider, L., Freeman, D., & Sider, J. (Eds.). (2003). Soundscape: The School of Sound lectures 1998-2001. London: Wallflower Press.

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Sonnenschein, D. (2001). Sound design: The expressive power of music, voice, and sound effects in cinema. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions.

Sterne, J. (Ed.). (2012). The sound studies reader. New York: Routledge.

Thom, R. (1982). Audio craft: An introduction to the tools and techniques of audio production. Washington, DC: National Federation of Community Broadcasters.

Vernallis, C. (2013). Unruly media: YouTube, music video, and the new digital cinema. New York: Oxford University Press.

Viers, R. (2008). The sound effects bible: How to create and record Hollywood style sound effects. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions.

Viers, R. (2012). The location sound bible: How to record professional dialogue for film and TV. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions.

Weis, E., & Belton, J. (1985). Film sound: Theory and practice. New York: Columbia University Press.

Whittington, W. (2007). Sound design & science fiction. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.