Investigating the Making of Cinematic Silence
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Investigating the Making of Cinematic Silence Hasmik Gasparyan PhD by Creative Practice University of York Theatre, Film and Television June 2019 Abstract Despite extensive research on the notion of silence across a wide range of disciplines (music, philosophy, literature, architecture, theology) little is known about silence in film. The key concerns in the published literature on the topic are the relative nature of cinematic silence and its intrinsic connection to sound. This research will study directorial approaches applied by selected filmmakers in the construction and use of cinematic silence. It will then explore, through the design and production of the creative practice pieces submitted (a short and a feature-length documentary film), the notion of cinematic silence as a strong narrative device that can contribute to the representation of human experience and bring attention to questions related to cinematic language. 2 Table of Contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 List of Figures 6 List of Accompanying Material 7 Acknowledgments 8 Author’s Declaration 9 1. Introduction 10 2. Methodology: creative practice based research 13 2.1 The investigator’s background: a note of intention 13 2.2 Research question and literature review 15 2.3 Research Design 15 2.4 Qualitative methods 17 2.5 Case studies 18 2.6 Interviews with sound practitioners 18 2.7 Filmmaking as a research method 19 2.8 Conclusion 22 3. The key developments of ‘silence’ in cinema 23 3.1 Introduction 23 3.2 The emergence of cinematic silence as a concept 24 3.2.1 The ‘sound’ of silent films: 1894-1927 25 3.2.2 Technological innovations with coming of sound: 1927- 1971 26 3.2.3 Film Sound: 1927- late 1971 28 3.2.4 The second coming of Sound: 1971 - present 34 3.3 Classifications of silence in film 37 3.4 The concept of cinematic silence 45 3.4.1 Sound - silence contrast 47 3.4.2 Extended duration 48 3.4.3 Non-dominant image 50 3.4.4 Repetition 51 3.5 Conclusion 52 4. Film Case Studies 53 4.1 Investigation of Akerman’s Cinematic Silence in D’Est 54 4.1.1 Influences on Akerman’s cinematic silence 55 4.1.2 Akerman’s filmic space, time and camera in D’Est 57 4.1.3 Musical and architectural aspects of composition in D’Est 62 3 4.1.4 Concluding remarks on Akerman´s D’Est 63 4.2 Cinematic Silence in Hidden (2005) by Michael Haneke 65 4.2.1 Hidden revealed in coldness 66 4.2.2 Concluding remarks on Haneke´s Hidden 72 4.3 Conclusion 73 5. Reflection on interviews with film practitioners 75 5.1 Cinematic silence in the age of noise 75 5.2 The notion of cinematic silence in film practice 78 5.3 A place for cinematic silence 81 5.4 Today’s audience and listening environment 86 5.5 Conclusion 87 6. Creative Portfolio 89 6.1 Three Pianos (2016) 89 6.1.1 Background 89 6.1.2 Synopsis 90 6.1.3 Main Characters 90 6.1.4 Storyline and shooting environment 91 6.1.5 Pilot filming: challenges tested during pilot shooting 92 6.1.6 A change in direction 93 6.2 Narara and Kiko (2018) 94 6.2.1 Background: the animation project Kiko 94 6.2.2 A Note of Intention by animation director Naira Muradyan for the Kiko project 94 6.2.3 A Note of Intention by a filmmaker Hasmik Gasparyan for the Narara and Kiko documentary film project 95 6.2.4 Main Characters 96 6.2.5 Challenges during shooting 96 6.3 Conclusion 97 7. Reflections on Three Pianos (2016) and Narara and Kiko (2018) 98 7.1 Three Pianos (2016) 98 7.1.1 Influence of logistics and practicalities on directorial decisions 104 7.1.2 Conclusion 106 7.2 Narara and Kiko (2018) 107 7.2.1 Background story to the production 107 7.2.2 Three main themes 109 7.2.3 Mixed narrative styles 115 7.2.4 A Note on Colour 118 7.2.5 Conclusion 119 8. Conclusions 120 4 Appendix 1 124 A1.1 Grid Analysis: D’Est (1993) 124 A1.2 Grid Analysis: Hidden (2005) 128 Appendix 2 133 A2.1 Interview with Larry Sider - 6 June 2017 (on skype) 133 A2.2 Interview with Paul Davies - 21 April 2017, London 145 Appendix 3 155 A3.1 Narara and Kiko screening at the AGBU Performing Arts ‘Open stage’ event 155 A3.2 Narara and Kiko screening at the 15th KIN International Film Festival 156 A3.3 Narara and Kiko screening at the Mapping Spaces, Sounding Places Geographies of Sound in Audiovisual media International Conference 157 A3.4 Narara and Kiko screening at the 16th Golden Apricot International Film Festival 158 A3.5 Narara and Kiko screening at the 14th Pomegranate Film Festival 159 Appendix 4 160 A4.1 Film Review 1 160 A4.2 Film Review 2 162 List of References 164 List of Films 175 List of Other Art Works 180 5 List of Figures Figure 1: ‘Filmic Silence: an Analytic Framework’ (Raemaekers 2014, 12) - p. 43 Figure 2: AGBU Performing Arts ‘Open Stage’ event- 13 June 2018, Paris, France - p. 155 Figure 3: KIN International Women’s Film Festival - 15-19 2018, Yerevan, Armenia - p.156 Figure 4: MSSP International Conference - 19-22 March 2019, Cremona, Italy - p.157 Figure 5: Golden Apricot International Film Festival - 7-14 July 2019, Yerevan, Armenia - p.158 Figure 6: Pomegranate Film Festival – 13-17 November 2019, Toronto, Canada - p. 159 6 List of Accompanying Material A memory stick that includes three files: Two MP4: ● Three Pianos (2016) - documentary short pilot film ● Narara and Kiko (2018) - feature length documentary film One PDF document: ● The Thesis 1. an academic dissertation: Chapters 1-6 and Chapter 8 (37 100 words) 2. two reflective essays: Chapter 7 (10 000 words) 7 Acknowledgments I am grateful to my supervisors Dr Sandra Pauletto and Professor Duncan Petrie. Dr Pauletto’s interest in the subject of my research and her support throughout my PhD study gave me confidence to move forward. Professor Petrie’s timely and generous input significantly refined my written work. I would also like to thank Dr Fiona Keenan for our fruitful discussions, her advice on the technical aspects of film sound during the production and her help with the final mix of Narara and Kiko in the post-production stages. The invaluable voluntary support during the post-production stages of Three Pianos (2016) and Narara and Kiko (2018) were provided also by Master students at the TFTV, Bianca Cassinelli, Ewan Marshall-Atherton and Samantha Bayram. This study has been funded by the Theatre, Film and Television Department at the University of York and the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU). This work is dedicated to my parents, Karine and Razmik Gasparyans, and my children - Elen and Arman. 8 Author’s Declaration I declare that this thesis, as well as two documentary films attached - Three Pianos (2016) and Narara and Kiko (2018) - are a presentation of original work and I am the sole author. The thesis has not previously been presented for an award at this, or any other, University. All sources are acknowledged as References. The initial idea for a case study ‘Investigating the making of cinematic silence in Chantal Akerman’s D’Est’ (Chapter 4) derives from a conference paper by the present author, entitled ‘Silence in Chantal Akerman’s films’. The author presented the paper for the ‘After Chantal’ International Conference at the University of Westminster, on the 6th November 2016. The present author was given the Award for Best Research Poster at the British Association for Film, Television and Screen Studies Conference (BAFTSS) on the 26th April 2019. The film Narara and Kiko (2018) had screenings at the following events: 13 June 2018 Premiere screening hosted by AGBU ‘Open Stage’ Alex Manoogian Cultural Center, at 118 rue de Courcelles, Paris 17, France 16 November 2018 KIN International Women’s Film Festival, AGBU centre, Yerevan, Armenia 20 March 2019 Mapping Spaces, Sounding Places, Geographies of Sound in Audiovisual Media International Conference Teatro Monteverdi, Cremona, Italy 8 July 2019 Golden Apricot International Film Festival, Moscow Cinema Opening film for ‘Artistic Portraits’ category Yerevan, Armenia 16 November 2019 Pomegranate Film Festival, Hamazkayin Theatre Official selection for a short film category Toronto, Canada 9 1. Introduction The context for this research by creative practice is the constantly evolving area of observational documentary. This form of filmmaking, known also as cinema verité, direct cinema or fly-on-the-wall, has been introduced in the late 1960s and holds an experimental status as it accepts no clear boundaries between narrative styles. To further refine the cinematic language within the context of observational documentary, the principal research question for this project is: What are the main directorial approaches in making cinematic silence? From this the following sub-questions are investigated: How can we understand the concept of cinematic silence? To what extent there is a tendency to fill any silence with music and/or speech/ in cinema? How is silence experienced by film audiences? The methodologies adopted to answer the research questions involve the analysis of film case studies which make use of cinematic silence - D’Est (1993) by Chantal Akerman and Hidden (2005) by Michael Haneke - and the analysis of the interviews focused directly on the aspects of the introduction and use of silence conducted with film practitioners, Larry Sider and Paul Davies. These analyses contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of silence in the filmmaking process, and inform a set of directorial techniques adopted in my own filmmaking process during the production of two original documentary films - Three Pianos (2016) and Narara and Kiko (2018).